Mitch Marner responds to comments made by Sheldon Keefe following Monday's loss to Arizona
After Monday's poor effort that resulted in a 4-2 loss to Arizona, Sheldon Keefe called out Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares when he said, "Our elite players are not playing elite." The following day, Toronto media had a hay-day with that, asking if it was too soon for Keefe to call them out, or if he was on the hot seat.
Today, Marner was asked about Keefe's comments saying that he and the others were not playing "elite" level hockey. Marner didn't go into details, not that anyone was expecting him to, saying, "He (Keefe) explained what he meant to say and how it came out and everything and I will leave it at that." Marner also indicated that Keefe's comments didn't bother him or anyone else in the room for that matter.
No one knows what is said behind closed doors, but we have had glimpses of how Keefe handles things with players from the "All or Nothing" docuseries and the behind the scenes of the "Leafs Blueprint" videos. Just from watching those videos, you know Keefe doesn't sugar coat things when mistakes are made but is also reasonable in his expectations from different players.
There is no doubt Keefe is looking for a response from the entire team Thursday against Dallas after calling out his stars and it will be interesting to see if the message was clear enough and was received by the players.
