Midseason grades: Sheldon Keefe
It's difficult to find a bone to pick with Sheldon Keefe this season. The Leafs have an excellent record and they control the game with the best of them. Keefe has preached «Stanley Cup habits» and playoff style goals, and while it seems to be working, we won't really know just how well until spring. Still, it's time for those mid-term report cards to go out.
First we'll take a broad view. Keefe's Leafs are 21-8-2 this season and sit third in the Atlantic behind the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning, with games in hand on both teams. By points percentage they're actually ahead of the Lightning, but just behind the Panthers. The Buds also sit 9th league wide in goals per game.
Long story short, the Leafs are doing well. Very well actually, so any gripes I have are fairly small. The system that Keefe and his staff have in place is working well.
This isn't to say that Keefe has been perfect this season. His potentially fatal flaw seems to be his insistence on using Justin Holl, despite his struggles. For the record, I don't dislike Holl. He seems like a great guy and he was good to great for the Leafs last season. The fact is, he's looked lost this season and he's dragged Jake Muzzin down with him. When Holl finally became a non-option and Liljegren stepped in, suddenly Muzzin's play went back to what we had become accustomed to seeing from the veteran blueliner. This was clear as day to anyone watching, and also showed in the possession numbers, yet Holl is right back on the second pair and Muzzin is struggling again.
Related to the insistence on Holl is Keefe's unwillingness to give Timothy Liljegren a larger role. The kid has taken a huge step this year and played very well alongside Muzzin when he briefly took over 2RD duties from Holl. I don't understand why Liljegren isn't getting more of a shot.
With the forward group, the only real point of contention I have is that Nick Ritchie was left on the top line too long while the team got off to a slow start. Once that changed, the team started winning games and has not looked back. I believe that Keefe did the right thing in demoting Ritchie, I just wish he'd done it sooner.
Now, I've done a lot of writing here about Keefe's mistakes, but the fact is, I really had to think hard to find something I didn't like. Some of the choices on the powerplay setup haven't thrilled me, but Spencer Carbery has a lot of pull there. I'm giving Keefe a pass with the man advantage based on the fact the powerplay is sitting pretty as the second best in the league, only trailing the power play merchant Edmonton Oilers.
Overall, it's very difficult to rate Sheldon Keefe's season so far as anything other than a resounding success. No coach is perfect, but Keefe's guidance has propelled the Leafs to a truly impressive first 31 games. Now it's time to see what he's got planned for the next stretch, and, hopefully, a deep playoff run. A guy can hope right?
Final Grade: A-
