Toronto Maple Leafs fire head coach Sheldon Keefe
Sheldon Keefe took his place in front of a dozen television cameras.
The Maple Leafs head coach — on centre stage inside a small auditorium at the team’s practice facility — was optimistic about the future for both himself and the group.
Keefe also understood Toronto had yet to meet expectations under his watch after its ultra-talented roster bowed out at the post-season’s first stage for a fourth time in five years.
He knew his job might be in jeopardy.
“Ownership and management, they make those types of decisions,” Keefe said Monday afternoon. “I accept responsibility for not meeting results.”
That failure ultimately led to his dismissal some 72 hours later.
The Leafs fired Keefe on 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 it a “difficult” decision to move on.
“Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great man,” he said in a statement. “However, we determined a new voice is needed to help the team push through to reach our ultimate goal.”
The organization added the search for a replacement has already begun and that decisions regarding the remainder of the coaching staff would follow.
Keefe put up a combined 212-97-40 record over parts of five campaigns in Toronto, but was just 16-21 in the post-season, including a 1-5 series mark.
Despite finally getting the organization over a painful playoff hump last spring when the Leafs advanced for the first time in nearly two decades, Keefe was unable to keep that momentum going.
Toronto bowed out in a tepid five games to the Florida Panthers in the second round in 2023 before Kyle Dubas was fired as GM less than two weeks later.
That situation led to questions about Keefe’s future, but Treliving elected to keep the Dubas loyalist after taking over, and then inked the Brampton, Ont., product to a contract extension last summer.
“Sheldon was really transparent and honest and accountable,” Treliving said in August. “I always think you have to first start with yourself and critique your own performance, which I think Sheldon has done.”
Keefe guided the Leafs to third in the Atlantic this season as sniper Auston Matthews chased the league’s first 70-goal campaign since 1992-93 before coming up one short in securing his third Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy.
But Toronto’s series against Boston followed a familiar playoff script with sub-par special teams — the power play went an appalling 1-for-21 — and goaltending its ultimate undoing.
The Leafs battled back down 3-1 in the series with a pair of hard-fought 2-1 victories, including one in overtime, before falling to the Bruins by the same scoreline in OT in Game 7 on Saturday.
A migraine headache that impacted winger William Nylander’s vision and kept him out of the lineup for the first three contests certainly didn’t help the cause, while Matthews battled illness and injury after a monster Game 2. He sat for Games 5 and 6 before returning for the do-or-die finale at far less than 100 per cent.
Keefe, who did not take part in player exit interviews at the start of the week, remained bullish on the path forward.
“Now more than ever, I believe in myself and our team,” he said Monday. “That I will win and our team will win.”
