‘New voice needed:’ Leafs fire Sheldon Keefe

Sheldon Keefe He took his place in front of a dozen television cameras.

The Maple Leafs head coach, center stage inside a small auditorium at the team’s practice facility, was optimistic about the future for both himself and the group.

Keefe He also understood that Toronto had yet to live up to expectations under his direction after its ultra-talented roster bowed out in the first stage of the postseason for the fourth time in five years.

He knew his job could be in jeopardy.

“Ownership and management make those types of decisions.” Keefe he said Monday afternoon. “I accept responsibility for not achieving results.”

That failure ultimately led to his firing about 72 hours later.

Leafs fired Keefe Thursday following the Original Six franchise’s loss to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

General manager Brad Treliving called the decision to move forward “difficult.”

“Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man,” he said in a statement. “However, we determined that a new voice is needed to help the team move forward and achieve our ultimate goal.”

The organization added that the search for a replacement has already begun and that decisions would then be made about the rest of the coaching staff.

Keefe He said in a video posted to Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, hours after the announcement that he would be “forever grateful” for the opportunity to coach the Leafs.

“I didn’t make it in the playoffs,” he said in a clip that lasted about two minutes. “I didn’t help push our team to get over the line and deliver.

“I accept responsibility for that.”

Keefe He thanked the players, support staff, management and media, but spoke more passionately to a Toronto fan base that hasn’t tasted hockey glory since 1967.

“You deserve your Stanley Cup,” he said. “Your passion at home and on the road is incomparable.”

Keefe He posted a combined record of 212-97-40 in parts of five seasons in Toronto, but went just 16-21 in the postseason, including a 1-5 mark in the series.

Although the organization finally overcame a painful hurdle in the playoffs last spring when the Leafs advanced for the first time in nearly two decades, Keefe He couldn’t maintain that momentum.

Toronto succumbed in five tepid games to the Florida Panthers in the 2023 second round before Kyle Dubas was fired as general manager less than two weeks later.

That situation raised questions about Keefe’s future, but Treliving decided to keep Dubas loyal after taking over, and then signed with Brampton, Ont., to a contract extension last summer.

Keefe guided the Leafs to third place in the Atlantic this season as sharpshooter Auston Matthews chased the league’s first 70-goal campaign since 1992-93 before falling one shy of his third Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy.

But Toronto’s series against Boston followed a familiar playoff script with poor special teams (the power play was a dismal 1-for-21) and goaltending was its ultimate undoing.

The Leafs came back from 3-1 in the series with a pair of close 2-1 wins, including one in overtime, before falling to the Bruins by the same score in overtime in Game 7 on Saturday.

A migraine that affected winger William Nylander’s vision and kept him out of the lineup for the first three games certainly didn’t help the cause, while Matthews battled illness and injury after a monster Game 2. He missed Games 5 and 6 before returning. for the end of life or death to much less than 100 percent.

Keefewho did not participate in the players’ exit interviews at the beginning of the week, remained optimistic about the path forward on Monday.

“Now more than ever I believe in myself and our team,” he told reporters. “That I will win and our team will win.”

Keefe He won in Toronto, but not enough in the playoffs.

He led the Leafs to franchise highs in points (115) and wins (54) in 2021-22, while Matthews secured his first Hart Trophy as NHL MVP after scoring 60 goals before the team lost in seven games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. .

Toronto took a slight step back in 2022-23, but Keefe He then led the Leafs to the franchise’s first series victory since 2004, when John Tavares scored in overtime of Game 6 in the rematch against Tampa, but they were no match for the Panthers.

The 43-year-old man Keefewho replaced Mike Babcock in November 2019, has seen his players score two goals or fewer in 13 of his last 14 playoff games in charge, which is not good enough for the so-called “Core Four” of Matthews, Tavares, Nylander and Mitch Marner. , which represent approximately half of the club’s salary cap.

Previously benched in early 2022-2023, Keefe’s other postseason setbacks came in the 2020 pandemic-necessary five-game qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets and a disastrous blown 3-1 lead in the 2021 series against the Montreal Canadiens.

Keefewho led the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies to a Calder Cup title in 2018, also appeared to be in trouble in May 2022 when Toronto lost to Tampa in that first-round series despite leading 3-2.

Treliving again held firm after initially taking the reins, but was ultimately forced to pull the trigger for an organization with a Cup drought that now stands at 57 years.

“There are no excuses,” Keefe he said in his video farewell speech. “That’s the job. I didn’t make it.

“It’s the reality of the business.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2024.