Sheldon Keefe, the head coach of the Maple Leafs, signed his letter of resignation.
Since Keefe became the team’s head coach, the Leafs have performed poorly in the postseason. But under his leadership, they have enjoyed significant success in the regular season. Following Mike Babcock’s dismissal in the 2019–2020 campaign, Keefe assumed the bench, and the Leafs triumphed in 27 of their final 47 regular season games. That was sufficient for the third seed in the competitive Atlantic Division playoffs.
The Leafs easily won 35 games in the shorter 56-game season of the previous year. With Keefe serving as their full-time head coach, they ended up leading the Canadian division. They did, however, fall in game seven of the first round of the playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens.
It’s evident from Sheldon Keefe’s extension that the Leafs’ executive leadership like having him in the lineup. Keefe coached for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and the Toronto Marlies before taking over as head coach of the Maple Leafs. With the latter team, he won the 2018 league championship.
While Keefe’s resignation would seem to suggest team success, this Leafs club is far from that. The Leafs will probably have one more season to win a postseason series after their first-round playoff elimination before major changes occur, most likely the trade of one or more of their “big four” forwards.
It is Keefe’s responsibility to guide this young but talented club all the way to the postseason. Longtime Leafs Zach Hyman and Frederik Andersen’s departure from the organization this summer means Keefe will be depending on a lot of new faces to help him finish the job.
In order to add some additional scoring depth, forwards Nick Ritchie, Michael Bunting, Ondrej Kase, and David Kampf are expected to be added to the team’s opening day lineup. Meanwhile, goaltender Petr Mrazek, a free agent acquisition, will try to reinforce the team’s net play alongside Jack Campbell.
In order to prevent significant changes in the near future, Sheldon Keefe and the Maple Leafs will both need to figure out how to overcome the teams’ lack of playoff success.
