3) He and Kyle Dubas have worked together for years
In 2012, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL were run by none other than Kyle Dubas, who at the time was a young general manager in his 20s who worked his way up.
After missing the playoffs for two straight season prior, Dubas’ forward thinking singled out Keefe as his choice for the Greyhounds new head coach.
Keefe went on to lead the team to three straight playoff appearances, two division titles and one conference title.
Dubas left the Greyhounds in 2014 for the Toronto Marlies general manager job.
This was right in the middle of Keefe’s tenure as coach of the Greyhounds. However, Dubas decided the two couldn’t be apart for too long, so in 2015 he hired Keefe as the Marlies head coach.
Now, their journey together has come full circle, all the way up to the NHL. That’s three levels of hockey, juniors, AHL and now NHL, where Dubas has hired Keefe to be his coach.