Love him or hate him, Sheldon Keefe is the best Head Coach in the NHL right now, according to the numbers
Yes, you read that title correctly. Despite the failure of the Leafs to escape the first round with Sheldon Keefe at the helm, Keefe is currently the best regular season Head Coach in the NHL according to points percentage. Not only is Keefe currently the best regular season Head Coach, but he currently ranks second all time for coaches that have coached 100 games or more. That puts him ahead of the likes of Scotty Bowman, Alf Smith, Joel Quenneville and Mike Babcock to name a few.
After 208 games as the Head Coach of the Leafs, Keefe has amassed a 129-55-24 record. That record gives him a points percentage of .678 - the highest among all active coaches. I'm sure the "regular season doesn't matter" crowd will be all over this, because they haven't advanced past the first round, but that has been an issue for the Leafs for 20+ years at this point. It's not a Sheldon Keefe thing, it's an organizational thing. He has turned the team into one of the best defensive teams in the league over the past 3 seasons, where only one of which was a full 82-game season so far. When Keefe first took over for Mike Babcock, the issue was the defensive game and puck possession. The Leafs had no issues scoring goals and they still have no issue scoring, it has just taken the "Core 4", specifically Auston Matthews, longer to get going at times.
Now that the Leafs have a bottom-six that Keefe can trust defensively, fans are complaining they don't have enough secondary scoring. While that is true, the Leafs have had more blown third period leads than any other team that I can remember over the last decade or so and having two defensively responsible lines that can help preserve those leads has made a difference. Not only has Keefe turned the Leafs into the seventh best defensive team in the NHL at 5-on-5, but he has helped the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander improve their defensive games by leaps and bounds in three seasons.
For everyone that wants Keefe fired because of a slow start to the season or for not making it past the first round of the playoffs, who do you replace him with? There is literally no one better available, past or present. At this point, the Leafs are better served to allow Keefe, Dubas, Shanahan and the roster players figure it out and win when it matters, because bringing in just another one of the revolving door of veteran coaches who have worse records than Keefe will accomplish nothing.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 28 | 203 ANSWERS Love him or hate him, Sheldon Keefe is the best Head Coach in the NHL right now, according to the numbers Do you believe Sheldon Keefe is the best Coach in the NHL right now? | ||
| Yes | 107 | 52.7 % |
| No | 96 | 47.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
