Insider reports that Keefe may be used as a scapegoat in-season

"If Treliving was going to make a coaching change he would've done it already. Let's see how things start for the Leafs. that's a decision that Brad Treliving may have to make in-season. Unless something dramatic changes in the days ahead here, I believe that Sheldon Keefe will be on the bench to start the year," said Dreger.

If the Leafs, who typically have slow starts don't get off to a good start this season, Sheldon Keefe may find himself unemployed. According to Dreger, keeping Keefe behind the bench to start the season allows Treliving to have a scapegoat in case things get bad and his roster changes don't pan out the way he expected them to.

Keefe is entering the final year of his contract and previous reports had indicated that he and Treliving had been in extension talks, but does Treliving want to go down the same road he did in Calgary where he fired Darryl Sutter before his extension even kicked in? And do the Leafs want to go down the same road they just did with Kyle Dubas in having a "lame duck" enter the season without an extension? Those are two things that the organization will need to figure out sooner than later so that they can work on more pressing issues like Auston Matthews' extension.