Keefe takes a bullet for his top players
Sheldon Keefe kept his chin up Monday. Whether Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving delivers a knockout blow in the next couple of days remains to be seen, but if Keefe has coached his last game with the Leafs, it didn’t sound like it will come as a surprise to him.
A couple of days after the Leafs lost in Game 7 in Boston against the Bruins on an overtime goal by David Pastrnak, marking another early post-season exit for the Leafs, Keefe was honest and direct in meeting the media at the Ford Performance Centre.
In his opening remarks, Keefe took full responsibility for the Leafs’ first-round elimination at the hands of the Bruins, and when we asked him what is his level of expectation that he will get another chance to get it right as Leafs coach, he doubled down.
“My job is to continue to work to find solutions and continue to improve as a coach,” Keefe said.
“At the same time, take accountability for the fact that we haven’t met expectations and the decisions like you’re alluding to are out of my control.
“But I certainly would like the attention and focus to be on me, because as the head coach, you’re the leader and you have got to be accountable when you don’t meet expectations.”
Treliving is scheduled to meet with media on Thursday. It’s entirely possible that he will be discussing why he came to the decision to relieve Keefe of his duties.
Some of the problems that have eaten away at the Leafs in past playoffs were not corrected this time around; namely, the ability to consistently produce offence, whether it was at five-on-five or on the power play.
The regular-season excellence in the Keefe era — which began in November 2019 when Mike Babcock was fired — continues to be overshadowed by post-season failure. Yes, a lot of that falls on a core that, when the chips are down, is not as good or resilient as former GM Kyle Dubas thought it was going to be.
Captain John Tavares said it again on Monday, stating that he thinks the Leafs are “right there” in regard to realizing post-season success. In reality, though, the Leafs continue to be a team that can’t get it right in the first round, and when they did actually advance to the second round last spring, they were spanked by the Florida Panthers and sent on their way.
If we’re talking about expectations, there is every expectation Keefe’s feet should be held to the fire for the team’s inability to not only get past hurdles in the playoffs, but to win more than one round.
“Today is always a difficult day and really the worst day of the season,” Keefe said before taking questions. “It should feel that way when you don’t meet expectations and today is certainly one of those days. We’re in the results business and we didn’t get results. We haven’t met expectations. As a head coach, I take responsibility for that.”
“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 need to succeed at the most important time of year. We haven’t done that.”
Keefe deserves credit for getting this team — one without an elite No. 1 defenceman and with a bunch of depth players in the defence corps — to play the kind of defence that it did against the Bruins. Even as the Leafs again put up another 100 points during the regular season, it did so with a defence group that didn’t have observers brimming with confidence that it could buckle down in the playoffs. As it turned out, team defence was not the Leafs’ issue.
It was the offence, led by the well-paid stars whose paycheques scream that they should be difference-makers, that couldn’t provide an edge in tight fiveon-five hockey, or worse, on the power play.
Holding themselves accountable is something the Leafs’ stars mostly avoid doing, but their coach took that offensive bullet for them.
“As a coach, it’s more how you can help your players through that,” Keefe said. “Also, how can you generate more of it? We faced a goaltender at the other end (Jeremy Swayman) that is putting up top numbers in the league.
“That’s part on the goaltender and the team that you’re playing against and the job that they do defensively. My job as a coach is to find more ways to get through to that.”
Keefe added: “I believe in myself greatly. 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.
“I know I’m in a good place. That decision is out of my control. My job is to continue to work to find solutions and continue to improve as a coach.”