Leafs’ Sheldon Keefe Teases Future Plans in Exit Interview

Changes are coming to Toronto after the Maple Leafs couldn’t make it past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after reaching the second round last year.

It’d be reasonable to blame the loss on the odd-timed injuries impacting the availability of Leafs players for the series against Boston, but it’s also fair to say that the team simply underperformed and couldn’t adapt to the challenge posed to it by the Bruins.

As Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the Game 7 loss on May 4, “(when) teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves.”

That’s what Toronto did, although Keefe sounded confident he can turn the ship around as long as Toronto gives him another opportunity and doesn’t fire him ahead of next season.

 

“I believe in myself greatly,” Keefe told reporters during the Leafs’ end-of-season media availability on May 6. “I love coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now more than ever, I believe in myself and our team and that I will win and our team will win.”

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Will the Leafs Keep Sheldon Keefe in the Head Coach Position?

Keefe signed a two-year extension with the Leafs that kicks off next August, although winning one postseason series in four years has everybody guessing whether or not he will get fired before the summer.

The Toronto Maple Leafs scheduled their players and coach’s end-of-season media availability session for Monday, but they made an unexpected change moving the press conferences of general manager Brad Treliving, team president Brendan Shanahan, and CEO Keith Pelley to Friday instead of the originally scheduled date of Thursday, according to the Toronto Sun.

That has ignited rumors about a potential Keefe firing being announced by the end of the week, even with his extension yet to kick off later this calendar year.

“(I’m) looking for solutions,” Keefe said on May 4. “This series we just finished is the best that I have felt about our group in terms of its ability to perform and come through in the playoffs.

“In terms of our process, our buy-in, our physicality, defending, the patience that we showed throughout this series. To me, that is the recipe.”

With Keefe at the helm, the Leafs have won 14 postseason games and only advanced past the first round once in four years. They won three games in back-to-back seasons at the start of Keefe’s tenure in Toronto, clinched the second round in 2023 although winning only five games, and lastly won three games this year.

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The Leafs Might Not Have An Alternative to Firing Sheldon Keefe

Toronto finds itself in a precarious position of sorts entering the offseason. The Leafs boast one of the best rosters on paper but that comes with a huge caveat: all of their top-dollar forwards have no-move clauses in their contracts and moving them would take a mutual agreement.

More than $40 million of the Leafs’ $97 million payroll is devoted to Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander alone, according to PuckPedia.

With Marner’s contract expiring after next season, he looks like the most probable trade candidate if the Leafs pursue a retooling of their roster. That, however, will depend entirely on him and his waiving of the NMC.

Marner, however, stated on Monday, May 6, that he wants to sign a long-term deal with the Leafs.

If the Leafs cannot trade Marner, it’s going to be hard for them to move any of Tavares (lack of suitors), Nylander, and Matthews (both considered the two best players in Toronto).

The only alternative way for Toronto to foster some change that can carry the team forward and further is simply firing coach Keefe and going from there.

Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas and Andrew Raycroft on SiriusXM Radio on April 29, right before Game 5 between the Bruins and the Leafs, and also thought Keefe would be fired after failing to beat Boston.

Insiders Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie, on an episode of SDPN published on April 29, agreed that Keefe could be the odd man out of Toronto.

“(Toronto has no solution to the NMC problem) except fire Sheldon Keefe,” McKenzie told Johnston. “If all four of those guys say, ‘Hey, we’re sticking through it, we believe in this team, we think… you know what? Sheldon Keefe has to go.'”

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