The Toronto Maple Leafs Top 5 Mistakes of the Summer
By James Tanner
Toronto Maple Leafs Top 5 Worst Moves of the Summer: Sheldon Keefe
The irony of the Leafs summer is that if they had kept Kyle Dubas, as was their plan and first choice, they would have probably had to fire their GM’s good friend.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were in need of a big change, and if Dubas returned, I feel reasonably confident in my guess that that change would have taken the form of a new coach.
There were a lot of good choices, and I would have picked Claude Julien if it were up to me.
Big surprise however – it’s not!
The Leafs decided to keep Keefe in a transparent attempt to have a mid-season bullet.
Maybe we’re just a bunch of cynical jerks (or maybe the Leafs are) but if you watch sports at all, you know that new GMs inevitably want to hire their own coach.
But they also always have to fire that coach to save their own butt.
If you keep the incumbent, you can fire him unceremoniously the first time things go awry and get yourself a second-bullet.
If Sheldon Keefe makes it all the way through the next Toronto Maple Leafs season, you can bet they’re competing for the President’s Trophy. If not, expect him gone at the first sign of trouble.
Not only do I hate this transparent move, but I don’t like Keefe as a coach either.
He makes weird decisions, doesn’t trust young players, and doesn’t take advantage of his high-flying roster enough for my tastes. This isn’t to say he hasn’t done a good job, just that I’m not a huge fan and this was an easy way to change up the team.