Leafs’ Shanahan confirms Keefe, Dubas will return next season

Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan confirmed general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe will return in 2022-23 despite the team’s sixth consecutive exit in the opening round of the postseason.

“As we look forward to next year, there’s always going to be new faces. That being said, we will not be making changes just simply for the sake of saying we made changes,” Shanahan told reporters Tuesday, according to Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva.

“I think that Kyle built a very good hockey team. … I think Sheldon is an excellent coach. As we look forward to next year … I think it’s important to state that I see both of them as being extremely important in getting us to the next level.”

Dubas echoed Shanahan’s sentiment when discussing the Maple Leafs’ roster.

“I don’t think we want to start making changes that may be lateral or make us inferior as a team just to change something,” he said, per TSN.

Dubas added that he believes in Keefe and hasn’t considered the availability of more veteran coaches like Barry Trotz, according to The Leafs Nation’s David Alter. Trotz was recently fired by the New York Islanders.

Keefe coached his first 82-game campaign with the Leafs in 2021-22, guiding them to a franchise-best 54-win regular season, but the team was eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

Shanahan was named president of the organization in 2014, while Dubas just finished his fourth season as general manager.

“There are lots of different ways to win a cup, and we have to figure out our way,” Shanahan said, according to TSN.