If the Leafs want to move on from Sheldon Keefe, there's a pretty solid replacement available
The Toronto Maple Leafs suffered yet another loss to a team at the bottom of the NHL standings last night, courtesy of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Once again, defensive lapses and poor goaltending (to put it mildly) were the root causes of the overtime loss and Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe was very blunt about it during his post-game availability on Friday. Now, after another loss on Saturday, this time to the Carolina Hurricanes, is Sheldon Keefe finally officially on the hot seat?
Keefe, who signed an extension at the beginning of the season, has struggled to find a lineup that plays with any consistency or can string together more than a few wins and has certainly made some questionable decisions during games.
The Leafs did not want to enter the season with Keefe in the final year of his current contract, nor were they comfortable giving Keefe a long-term extension after another early playoff exit. It might be for the best that they didn't offer Keefe a longer-term deal, as he has shown an inability to find any real consistency this season. Some are beginning to wonder whether this may lead to GM Brad Treliving making a coaching change instead of a simple player trade. If Treliving decides to relieve Keefe of his duties, there is one particular coach who is available that could step in and help the Leafs - one who has won a Stanley Cup in recently as well.
A couple of short weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues fired head coach Craig Berube after five seasons and one miraculous Stanley Cup in 2019. Berube was hired around this time in 2019 when the Blues were in last place. He managed to turn the team around in a hurry and lead them to the franchise's only Stanley Cup. Could lightning strike twice? And would he consider taking on the head coaching gig in Toronto if he was presented with the opportunity?
Following the Blues' Cup win, in each of the following three seasons, they made the playoffs under Berube, but missed the playoffs last season and were on pace to miss them again this year before he was fired. Of course, that was after the Blues began parting out their veteran players, such as Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Berube went 206-132-44 in 382 regular-season games as the Blues head coach, and 24-27 in 51 playoff games. Under Keefe, the Leafs are a fantastic regular season team going 183-80-37 in 300 games, but it is the playoffs where the team has struggled going just 13-17 with Keefe in charge.
After so many years of the same message from Keefe, it appears as though it's now beginning to fall on deaf ears, and sometimes when that happens, a fresh voice is what is needed to get more out of the roster.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 30 | 1438 ANSWERS If the Leafs want to move on from Sheldon Keefe, there's a pretty solid replacement available Should the Leafs fire Keefe and hire Berube? | ||
| Yes, Keefe has lost the room completely | 736 | 51.2 % |
| No, it's on the players, not Keefe | 301 | 20.9 % |
| Fire Keefe, yes. Berube is not the guy though | 401 | 27.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
