Opinion: Will Sheldon Keefe's Ejection Light Another Fire Under the Maple Leafs?
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe was assessed a game misconduct in Tuesday's loss for arguing a call. Adam Proteau says it's part of the team standing up for itself.
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe is like any other NHL bench boss in that he’s always looking for ways to keep his team motivated and hungry to win.
To light a fire under their players, sometimes that means a coach has to make a public spectacle of himself – and that’s precisely what we saw from Keefe Tuesday night at the end of the Leafs’ game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
With Toronto trailing 4-2 late in the third period, the Leafs were assessed a minor penalty in a play that replays suggested should’ve not been penalized. And Keefe, knowing that the penalty pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of the Buds’ game plan against the Golden Knights, decided to give the officials a piece of his mind.
But never mind whether Keefe was right or wrong to challenge the zebras on their call – what really is clear is that Keefe wanted to show his players he was battling for them. This was similar to when Leafs blueliner Morgan Rielly cross-checked Senators forward Ridly Greig after a perceived slight and was suspended for five games. Even Rielly said the force and placement of the cross-check was not appropriate, but the Leafs won all five games in Rielly’s absence.
It’s not as if Keefe is regarded as a referee-hater. That said, in December 2022, he was fined $25,000 for “demeaning conduct directed at the officials” in a game against the St. Louis Blues. When he feels justified in doing so, Keefe is not above lashing out. But he picks his spots carefully, and on Tuesday, he wanted to show his charges that he’s out there and fighting for them.
Certainly, Keefe is under all sorts of pressure to provide wins each and every night. But he’s a proven winner as a bench boss – as evidenced by his AHL championship with the Toronto Marlies – and he’s a calculating presence who doesn’t spew hate like a firehose with nobody holding onto it. He knew as well as anyone that the minor penalty call against Vegas pretty much extinguished any hope the Leafs had of winning that contest, so he made a move he hopes will fire up his Leafs players for the next stretch of six or seven games.
Whether or not Keefe incurs another fine for his actions on Tuesday is really beside the point. The point is that it’s not easy to motivate players to play with a chip on their collective shoulder, but that’s what Keefe attempted to do by going off on the officials. Time will tell if the ploy worked, but you certainly can see why Keefe would try to invigorate his players into another lengthy stretch of intense, focused hockey.
You’re never going to agree with all the calls made for you or against you as a coach, but you can control your reactions to what your team is made to go through. That’s what Keefe did against Vegas. He recognized that one smaller fight was over, and he instead focused on the larger battle that remains ahead for the Leafs.
Coaches only have so many bullets in their gun in any one situation, and Keefe chose to use all of his ammunition to try and inspire his players with an “us-against-the-world”-type message that comes along with an ejection. He could’ve stayed quiet and walked away with the loss, but he walked away with a loss anyhow and decided to use the situation to try and make his team better the rest of the way this year. You can’t fault him for that.
