Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe's job in jeopardy?
The Toronto Maple Leafs may not be looking too bad on paper, holding an 11-6-3 record through 20 games, but their actual on-ice play has been somewhat mediocre for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
It was another off-season that brought about lots of changes on and off the ice. Brad Treliving was brought in to replace Kyle Dubas, Sheldon Keefe remained as head coach, and the Leafs added Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, John Klingberg, and Ryan Reaves to replace Michael Bunting, Ryan O'Reilly, Alex Kerfoot and Luke Schenn, among others.
As things currently stand, the usual suspects - the team's 5 core players - pace the club in goals and points with William Nylander at the top with 27 points, followed by Auston Matthews' 21, Mitch Marner's and John Tavares' 20, and Morgan Rielly's 16. After that, it's a steep drop-off and you can't blame Keefe for his most recent outburst on the bench in Tuesday's shootout victory.
Keefe was absolutely livid with how the Leafs were playing and he let every single player know how he was feeling, except he didn't seem to get a response from anyone. As his face turned red, his hands in the air, and temper rising, not one player batted an eye-lash, especially Bertuzzi who got the better end of his tirade.
After the game Keefe wanted to address his outburst and point out that it's not specifically Bertuzzi he's aiming at, it's the whole team, but Bertuzzi didn't help his case with another lackadaisical game.
Head coaches have a shelf life in sports and the NHL is no stranger to that phenomenon. There aren't many coaches that last beyond 5 years as eventually they get tuned out by the team, are labelled as the black sheep when changes are needed, and usually get the hook first before anyone else. If the Leafs are employing this tactic, they made that rather obvious on Tuesday night.
We all know what happened to the last head coach the Leafs began to tune out in Mike Babcock. So does Sheldon Keefe, as he was the one who came in to replace him. His seat must be feeling pretty hot right now.
Keefe is in his 5th season as head coach and is currently 5th all-time in franchise history with 177 victories as the bench boss. If the team is indeed tuning him out, you have to wonder how much longer he's going to last.
| POLL | ||
30 NOVEMBRE | 858 ANSWERS Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe's job in jeopardy? Will Sheldon Keefe make it past Christmas? | ||
| No | 341 | 39.7 % |
| Yes | 349 | 40.7 % |
| He'll finish this season at the very least | 168 | 19.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
