The Toronto Maple Leafs recently faced their former coach, Sheldon Keefe, and defeated his team on the strength of a hot goalie, while being completely dominated otherwise.
For the former coach, it was business as usual, as during his tenure with the Maple Leafs losing these types of games was essentially par for the course.
Keefe recently sat down with The Athletic to talk about all things hockey. Inevitably, the Leafs emerged as a topic of discussion. But if you were expecting bitterness or resentment from Keefe, he wasn't bringing that to the table - he seemed more interested in correcting one of the dumbest narratives Leafs Nation has ever seen (which is saying a lot).
Essentially: the Leafs, under Keefe, were actually a strong defensive team.
Sheldon Keefe Reveals what Held the Maple Leafs back in the Playoffs
Against the Bruins last spring (and previously before that against Florida and Tampa) the Leafs actually grinded out Playoff Style Hockey wins in a way that was both effective and impressive. Unfortunately, because of the narrative that had taken hold of Leafs Nation, it seems no one noticed.
Keefe discussed this with the Athletic and it seemed he was noticeably frustrated by the narrative that paints his team as "run and gun" and Craig Berube as some kind of Playoff Hockey defensive genius.
This is completley true and totally fair. Keefe was the scapegoat even though he took a team whose General Manager all but sat out the trade deadline, who had to start a goalie who had previously been on waivers just before the playoffs started, and whose three best players were all injured, playing hurt or sitting out. MItch Marner returned way too early from a high-ankle sprain and was playing on one leg, and while Matthews had a mysterious illness and Nylander was plagued by migraines.
What Keefe underscored as the main reason holding the Leafs back was the team’s inability to score. Specifically, Keefe referred to the Leafs’ “not being able to generate enough” goals during playoff games. According to Keefe, that perception of being unable to score in the playoffs clashes with the team’s performance during the regular season.
Perhaps loading up the team with defensive defenseman who couldn't move the puck to the team's elite forwards hurt more than it helped?
When you consider the blue-line that Treliving gave him to work with, and the injuries to Marner, Nylander and Matthews, it's obvious that Keefe has a good point here.
Now, Keefe isn't free of blame, and it probably was time to make a switch, but there is no question that the Leafs played a series of Playoff Hockey, without most of their best players, against a better team, and deserved to win, even if they lost in overtime of game seven.
What held the Leafs back in the playoffs was a lack of scoring. If Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner ever played up to their potential in the playoffs for Keefe, or if the team had any kind of depth scoring to speak of, he'd still probably be the coach
The lesson here is that narratives are nothing more than easy answers for casual fans. Those interested in the details of the game would do well to look beyond the easy answers offered by the majority of the media and go beyond the narratives.
Nothing wrong with Berube's commitment to defense, but let's not pretend the Maple Leafs weren't already playing a really strong version of Playoff Hockey before he got here.