No. 3: Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe Get Fired
This is a funny reality because all Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe have done in their tenure in Toronto, is win. I know it hasn’t translated into Leafs playoff success yet, but they won a Calder Cup together with the Marlies and have been regular season warriors for the past few years.
Winning in the playoffs is everything and they haven’t passed that test yet with the Leafs, but continuing to set franchise records in winning percentage should mean something. However, in a crazy hockey market, it feels like this could be their last year together if things go sideways.
Keefe still has term, but for all we know, this is Dubas’ last season under contract. He’s been a “lame-duck GM” all season and there haven’t been any reports that he signed an extension during the regular season.
After years of losing in the first round, it seems eminent that Dubas will get fired if this team loses to Tampa Bay and since him and Keefe have always been a package deal, they would probably fire Keefe at the same time as Dubas and start fresh.
The Dubas-Keefe combo works and if they got fired, another organization would hire them in a second, so in my opinion, firing them would be a terrible decision. But, as the old saying goes, “you can’t fire the players”, so the GM and head coach are usually first to go.
All of these realities make the Leafs a worse team, so let’s hope the organization doesn’t have to think about doing anything and the team just wins in the First Round and goes on a long playoff-run, instead.