Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe Deserves to Stay

The Toronto Maple Leafs are apparently going to keep Sheldon Keefe on as their head coach for at least one more season.

It remains to be seen whether or not new Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving negotiates an extension to Keefe’s contract this offseason.

In any case, Keefe has done well enough to keep his job for now.

Keefe has accumulated an outstanding regular season record over four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The team’s points percentage is .678 under his guidance (per hockey-reference.com), which is the 2nd best record in NHL coaching history (among those who have coached at least 200 games).

Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe Deserves to Stay

The downside, as we all know, is that Sheldon Keefe’s NHL playoff record of 13-17 is less than stellar, having steered the team to only one series victory in five tries.

Read through some of the media coverage of the Leafs (and especially some of the reader comments) and you’ll see a common theory that Keefe “was outcoached” by the opposing bench boss time and again.  Rarely, if ever, do you read about concrete examples that back this line of thinking up.

Is Sheldon Keefe a perfect coach?  Of course not. Like all people, he makes mistakes.  He also likes to experiment with various lineups, different matchups, and even the dreaded 11-7 (horrors!).  Some things will work, others won’t.  A coach at the other end of the spectrum who rolls the same lines all season will catch lots of fan criticism as well.

Another argument the anti-Keefers like to make is that Keefe is too friendly with the players and doesn’t hold them accountable.  I have a feeling that the older generation (to which I admittedly belong) is much more likely to feel this way.  We have to realize, however, that today’s players are different from those of thirty years ago (just as society is different).

Modern NHL players work harder than ever before just to make it to the league, let alone keep their roster spot year after year.  Almost all of them love the game and are ultra-competitive.  People who say the players are lazy or don’t care about winning are simply wrong.

Like it or not, players are also less willing to follow old-school coaches who try to scream and intimidate their way to success.  Keefe is young enough to know this (he’s only 42), and in my opinion has done a decent job of balancing being a players’ coach while at the same time keeping individuals accountable.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ regular season record has to earn Sheldon Keefe at least some credit.  Some may argue that all those wins are due only to the talent pool and depth the team has acquired.  Fine, if that’s your argument, don’t turn around and claim Keefe’s poor coaching is the reason the team flames out in the postseason.  That has to be on the players too.

Sometimes changing the coach can bring an NHL team success.  Coaches can “lose the room”, or simply have the wrong philosophy or style for a given group of players.  I don’t see that being the case with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Brad Treliving’s efforts in reshaping the Leafs should focus on understanding and fixing what’s broken rather than making a coaching change simply for the sake of change.