After losing to the Boston Bruins, has Keefe coached his last game with the Toronto Maple Leafs?
After losing to the Boston Bruins, has Keefe coached his last game with the Toronto Maple Leafs?
BOSTON — Has Sheldon Keefe coached his last game with the Toronto Maple Leafs?
It's a question that isn't expected to linger for a long time following his club's opening-round playoff exit at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
As he took the podium following his team's 2-1 overtime exit at TD Garden, Keefe talked up his club's ability to fight back in the series after going down in the best-of-seven games 3-1. He acknowledged the many issues his club had in generating offense. But he also had a very odd explanation as to why his club, loaded with some of the most gifted offensive talents around the NHL has consistently lacked production in the postseason.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vH_G-uXRvs[/embed]
"It's very evident when teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves," Keefe said. "And I thought we did that in Games 3 and 4. We beat ourselves with how we played at home."
Keefe went on to explain his team's disciplined defensive approach helped them push the series to seven games but they just didn't get the offense they were looking for. Most notably on a power play that went 1-for-21 in the series.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSXBtj4cSTg[/embed]
"You got to be really patient and earn the offense," he said "Now obviously you need your special teams to be the difference, and they weren't able to be that."
Keefe spent last summer wondering about his job security when the Maple Leafs elected not to renew general manager Kyle Dubas following the club's second-round exit against the Florida Panthers.
Team president Brendan Shanahan left that up to new GM Brad Treliving to decide Keefe's fate. Treliving met with Keefe and signed him to a two-year extension which kicks in this summer. By no means does that give Keefe job security as coaches around the NHL have been dismissed with terms on their deals as recently as this season.
The Maple Leafs were limited to 12 goals over seven games. Much of that is on the players involved but Keefe's inability to unlock more from his players over repeated years may finally fall on him this time around.
The Leafs will hold an end-of-season availability in the coming days. Will Keefe still be the bench boss before that happens? That's to be determined.
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