Keefe chasing some playoff silver despite good-as-gold coaching record
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Published Aug 30, 2023 • Last updated 25 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe watches play during the second period of the team’s NHL game against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 25, 2023, in Raleigh, N.C. Photo by Chris Seward /The Associated Press Article content
He doesn’t cut the cigar-chomping figure of Pat Quinn, won’t melt malingerers with the Pat Burns death stare or carry the Stanley Cup swagger of Punch Imlach.
But all three, who rank highly in the franchise coaching register, met ignominious ends in their Toronto timelines, fired or phased out in years the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs or exited meekly. Sheldon Keefe, with one playoff series win to the trio’s combined 21, has just been given another three years with a highly talented team to win hearts — and hopefully Cup hardware.
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If the regular season were all that mattered in the NHL, Keefe is already in exalted company. With 166 wins, he’s the most successful startup coach in league annals with a .622 winning percentage in a minimum of 250 games. An opening-night win in October would place him in the league’s top 100 for victories since 1917 and he’ll soon pass the $50-million man he replaced, Mike Babcock, for fifth in that column in Leafs lore.
LEAF NOTES: Cash infused Auston Matthews keeps Cup in mind Yet, as Babcock was hexed by an inability to get the most out of his team, especially its young guns when it counted most in spring, Keefe was perilously close to digging himself a similar hole. Other than the Tampa Bay series last year when the team finally found its killer instinct, Toronto’s record regular schedules all fizzled in a string of lost opportunities for deep playoff runs.
Part of those issues could be traced to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander learning the hard lessons of what’s required beyond the first 82 games, but Keefe’s overall game plans were also 0-for-3 in playoff series and 0-for-7 in elimination games before putting away the Lightning.
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Then the Core Four (which includes John Tavares as well) didn’t produce enough against the Florida Panthers in falling behind 3-0. General manager Kyle Dubas had given Keefe some of the best playoff resources possible via late-season trades, but it was the Panthers, who’d hired Paul Maurice as coach a year earlier, representing the Eastern Conference in the Cup final.
So when Dubas was fired, Keefe must have figured successor Brad Treliving would prefer his own coach, a fresh face or one from a large field of well-knowns looking to change jobs or those waiting to get back in the game.
And Treliving would not have been the first incoming exec to simply retain a lame duck behind the bench in his final year only to sacrifice him if things went south. His hemming and hawing whenever the topic of Keefe’s future came up in the media this summer led many to think the process might drag out for a while.
But Treliving has had a couple of months to get to know Keefe and to meet with Matthews, among other players, to assess the Leafs’ direction. He’d also observed from afar while running the Calgary Flames and, reading between the lines, agreed with endorsements other NHL people offered after each Leafs playoff setback: You still need a coach with a good record of getting to the dance, even if the door is blocked.
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A fifth trip next April for Keefe would be the most by a Leafs coach since Quinn.
Treliving acknowledged Wednesday that the contract extension effectively eliminates the “noise” around the team that would’ve been a major distraction, win or lose this winter. But re-upping Keefe wasn’t done for short-term convenience.
“I’ve spent a lot of time getting to know Sheldon, having a lot of discussions about the team. His overall thoughts of our group, what’s happened in the past and how do we best move forward.
“He’s smart, he’s dug in with this group, he’s a deep thinker, a great communicator and I think he relates well with the players.
“It’s not a popularity contest, but you can tell when a coach has had an impact on a team. They get pushed. They believe they’ve grown as a group. There’s a trust factor. He’s demanding. But it’s not about being liked, it’s about being respected.”
It’s also about translating that into meaningful months come spring.
Regular season winning percentage for NHL coaches
(Minimum 250 games coached, sudden-death overtime introduced in 1983-84 and shootouts to decide tie games added in 2005-06.)
Sheldon Keefe (.622)
Rod Brind’Amour (.611)
*Jon Cooper (.602)
*Scotty Bowman (.581)
*Bruce Cassidy (.580)
Bruce Boudreau (.568)
*Dan Bylsma (.566)
*Claude Ruel (.564)
Floyd Smith (.560)
*Joel Quenneville (.548)
* – Stanley Cup winners
Maple Leafs coaching wins
Punch Imlach (370)
Pat Quinn (300)
Hap Day (259)
Dick Irvin Sr. (216)
Mike Babcock (173)
Sheldon Keefe (166)
Pat Burns and Red Kelly (133)
Ron Wilson (130)
John McLellan (126)
lhornby@postmedia.com
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