Maple Leafs fire Keefe after another early playoff exit
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 said in a video posted to the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, hours after the announcement that he would be “forever grateful” for the opportunity to coach the Leafs.
“I didn’t get it done in the playoffs,” he said in a clip that ran roughly two minutes. “I didn’t help push our team over the line and deliver.
“I accept responsibility for that.”
Keefe thanked the players, support staff, management and media, but spoke most passionately to a Toronto fan base that hasn’t tasted hockey glory since 1967.
“You deserve your Stanley Cup,” he said. “Your passion at home and on the road is unmatched.”
Keefe put up a combined 21297-40 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 succumbed 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.
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.