The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Doing Sheldon Keefe Wrong

The Toronto Maple Leafs need to make up their damn minds.

The fact that Kyle Dubas was fired nearly a month ago, and the Toronto Maple Leafs still haven’t said one way or the other whether Sheldon Keefe is coming back is not cool.

Give the guy an answer one way or the other, and stop letting him blow in the wind.

And do it last week, preferably.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Doing Sheldon Keefe Wrong

Sheldon Keefe might not be a great coach but he’s a human being, and regardless of the fact that he makes ridiculous money and has a dream job, it’s still mean to just let him sit there with no clarity on his future.

I understand that the new GM has to be diligent and that it may take time in order to get up to speed to the point where a decision can be made.

But still, get on with it.

My personal opinion is that the Toronto Maple Leafs should go in a different direction.  I wasn’t  a fan of the way Keefe made up his lineup after the trade deadline, often playing 11/7 and demoting William Nylander from the top power play unit.

I don’t think the Leafs rush the puck enough, or play in a way that generates enough rebounds. I think the Leafs need to take more penalties so they get more powerplays (I’ve been writing this same article for at least three or four years now).

I don’t think it makes any sense to ever finish a game where several defenseman finish with more time on ice than Auston Matthews. I don’t udnerstand why they stack one power-play unit, then only play it for half the power-play.

I don’t think Luke Schenn on the top pairing in the playoffs was a very good idea (in fact, I think it was quite idiotic, and one of the main reasons, if not the main reason, that they lost).

I don’t like how long it took for Keefe to realize that playing Ryan O’Reilly as the 3C was the optimal choice.

I also find him kind of smug and condescending in his post-game press conferences, and I’m not really a huge fan.

But I still think he deserved to be either fired or extended the same day they fired Kyle Dubas.

If it was up to me – which I can’t believe that it’s not – I’d hire Claude Julien to be the Toronto Maple Leafs new coach.

But whatever Brad Treliving and Brendan Shanahan decide, they better get on with it.