Sheldon Keefe blows a gasket on the Leafs during practice, curses at the entire team
After having Monday off, the Toronto Maple Leafs returned to the ice yesterday and again this morning for back-to-back days of practice. Today's practice started differently, with players on one pad while the goalies worked with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford on another. Once the players and goalies grouped up, a more standard practice took place. Unfortunately for the Leafs, it was not up to the expectations of Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.
In the middle of a drill, Keefe did not like what he saw and instantly became very heated and animated, blasting his players with a profanity-laced outburst.
Tony Ambrogio, who was covering the practice for TSN in the absence of Mark Masters, questioned if this was the norm for Keefe as he felt it seemed out of character. It could be out of character, but maybe, without Kyle Dubas as GM, Sheldon Keefe isn't holding back his frustrations with the team and players anymore.
Last season, we saw Keefe call out Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Mitch Marner publicly for not playing like the stars they're being paid to perform like, before walking back his comments a day later. So far this season, Keefe has called out Marner and Matthews publicly and has not walked his comments back. In both instances, Marner and Matthews responded with what Keefe called their best games of the season.
With an "old school" GM in Brad Treliving now in charge, it looks like Keefe is more comfortable calling out players when they need to be called out without having to worry about being told to rephrase his answers or control his emotions. Given how the Leafs have responded or not responded to Keefe in the playoffs the last few seasons and how they have struggled to string a consistent effort together game after game this season, the lashing out from Keefe is warranted, if you ask me.
It'll be interesting to see how the team responds during tomorrow's game against the Ottawa Senators following his outburst.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 6 | 766 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe blows a gasket on the Leafs during practice, curses at the entire team Do you think Keefe's blowup was warranted? | ||
| Yes, the team has been so inconsistent | 527 | 68.8 % |
| No, everyone has off days | 52 | 6.8 % |
| A little tough love never hurt anyone | 187 | 24.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
