Despite having a year left on his coach’s contract, and having every chance to bring in his own guy, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving signed Sheldon Keefe to a contract extension.
Don’t get me wrong, Sheldon Keefe has been a fantastic head coach within the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, starting with the Toronto Marlies eight years ago, but this move continues to showcase why Kyle Dubas should still be the man in-charge.
Heading into the last season of a contract can be uncomfortable, but that feeling can also add pressure, which is great in professional sports.
I know that the Leafs didn’t win the Stanley Cup last year, but Dubas’ moves last year were a result of being in his last year of a contract and the moves were all great additions. Unfortunately, Ilya Samsonov and Matthew Knies got injured, ran into the hottest goalie in the world in Sergei Bobrovsky and lost four of five games in Round Two, all by one goal.
The media, and more so, the public loves yelling at this team for not winning the Stanley Cup, but they were right there, once again last year. All of the moves that Dubas pulled off worked out well, but a serious of unfortunate events continued to haunt this team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Not Have Re-Signed Keefe
As previously mentioned, I think Keefe is a good coach, but ever since Brad Treliving has joined the team, he hasn’t done anything to put his stamp on the organization, except for overpaying role players and adding “tough guys.”
He’s continued to re-up on all of Dubas’ deals and hasn’t done anything to indicate that change is coming.
I like this team, but if you bring in a new GM, I want to see some change. I don’t need a full rebuild, but I’d like to know that there’s a possibility that someone is either getting traded or fired. Instead, no changes have been made to the core-four, Keefe is back for two more years after this, and it’s essentially a rinse and repeat of the last four seasons.
If the team is moving forward with Kyle Dubas’ vision, why isn’t Kyle Dubas still the one implementing it?
What is the point of bringing in a new boss if nothing changes?
Why in the world would the Leafs fire Dubas, who is the smartest executive in hockey, if the same actions are happening? With every Treliving move, I continue to get more upset because the Dubas firing hasn’t changed anything.
After only winning one playoff round with Auston Matthews in seven years, if the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to fire Dubas, they should have brought in an executive who was going to scare the rest of the room and put people on their toes.
Instead, nothing has changed and as a result, their playoff success will probably stay the same as well.