Decision Day For Sheldon Keefe? Maple Leafs Reportedly Pondering Head Coaching Change
Toronto Maple Leafs management is set to speak to the media on Friday. But will a decision on their head coach come today?
Sheldon Keefe's fate as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs could be decided on Thursday.
According to TSN's Darren Dreger, he feels "the writing is on the wall" that the Leafs might move on from their head coach and install someone new in place. However, Leafs GM Brad Treliving has yet to make that determination.
Dreger points out that a decision to replace Keefe would less be put on him and more to do with the club's past failures.
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An experienced replacement would be desired according to Dreger, with former St. Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube seen as a frontrunner. Todd McLellan is also another potential candidate.
The Maple Leafs were eliminated in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs after losing to the Boston Bruins in seven games. Keefe spoke twice in the aftermath of the defeat. Once after the game and then again on Monday during the club's end-of-season locker clean-out.
"We're in the results business here and we didn't get results and we haven't met expectations and as a head coach I take responsibility for that," he said. "You have a team that has expectations and has goals in mind and you don't reach them, it's not a good feeling. My job as a head coach is to find solutions and chart a path ahead for the group to come through and to succeed at the most important time of year and we haven't done that."
Keefe is the Maple Leafs all-time leader in points percentage for a head coach, having gone 212-97-540 (.665) in his five seasons coaching the club. He's ranked fifth on the club's all-time wins list. But his performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is what he is currently being evaluated on, having one just one round in five seasons at the helm.
Keefe's status with the club wasn't immediately clear following elimination on Saturday. Treliving gave Keefe the option to join him in formal end-of-season interviews with the players but elected not to take part.
Keefe signed a two-year extension which kicks in this summer.
The Leafs are scheduled to hold a news conference on Friday where Treliving, team president Brendan Shanahan and newly-installed Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley.
The Leafs are built around five core players: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly. All have no-move clauses attached to their deals through next season. Tavares and Marner are unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2024-25 season. If the Leafs want to move any of the players to another club, it'd require asking them to waive the clause.
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