Report: Devils Receive Permission to Speak with Former Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe
New Jersey has reportedly received permission to speak with Sheldon Keefe as a part of their hunt to fill the team's Head Coach vacancy.
A day removed from his termination, former Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe has already drawn interest from an NHL organization, the New Jersey Devils. As The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported Thursday, the club had an interest in interviewing the Brampton, Ontario, native to fill their vacancy behind the bench. On Friday, shortly after the Maple Leafs’ management concluded their end-of-season availability, LeBrun took to ‘X’ stating that the Devils have now “sought and received permission to speak with Sheldon Keefe.”
The Maple Leafs extended Keefe back in August of 2023 following the club’s first playoff series win since 2004. His extension kicks in for the 2024-25 season with two more years remaining on the contract. After being relieved of his duties by Toronto General Manager Brad Treliving, Keefe is the second straight coach alongside Mike Babcock, to have been let go with term remaining on their contract. Given he is still under contract with the Maple Leafs, permission to speak with Keefe was warranted from any outside organization – with the Devils in this case, assuming that money.
Treliving “felt strongly that a new voice was needed,” he said in Friday’s end-of-season press conference. Not downplaying his ability to coach, Treliving and Co. had to look at his tenure from a broader perspective – the totality of his time in Toronto which amounted to just one playoff series victory in five seasons.
“We had gotten to a place where a new voice was needed. And that's the unfortunate part of this business. I just felt at the end of the day, when I look at the totality of his time here, a change was required,” Treliving told reporters.
“I know Sheldon's not going to be out of work long. This is a really good coach. He's going to do a lot of really good things moving forward.”
And he may be right. Although Keefe addressed the fact that he was uncertain of what lay ahead in his video message to Leafs Nation he posted on ‘X’ Thursday stating, “I don’t know what comes next, but I’ll be ready for it,” Sheldon may not be out of work for long – at least it doesn’t seem that way.
With the Maple Leafs, Keefe is the all-time leader in points percentage as a Head Coach with a 212-97-54 (.665) record in his five seasons with the organization. Given that an opportunity with the Devils may be on the horizon, Keefe’s coaching abilities are seemingly wanted elsewhere, with more opportunities not to be taken out of the equation given the recent turnover we have seen with NHL Head Coaches.
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