Any team that faces a first-round exit will draw questions about the future of its management and coaching staff, especially so when it is the same result year after year. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t moved past the first round since 2004, meaning those questions are getting louder and louder. Today, Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan made it very clear during his end-of-year availability that the jobs of both general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe are not in jeopardy for next season.
Both will be back and have already started exit interviews with the Maple Leafs roster that failed to get past the Tampa Bay Lightning in round one. Shanahan specifically noted that they will “not be making changes just for the sake of making changes” and gave a full vote of confidence to Dubas and Keefe as important parts of the organization.
Since taking over behind the bench in 2019, Keefe has had one of the most successful starts to his NHL coaching career in history–at least in terms of regular season success. Through 185 games behind the bench, he has gone 116-50-19, a .678 winning percentage that is actually better than the likes of Scotty Bowman, Jon Cooper, and Joel Quenneville. Obviously, that kind of success doesn’t mean much if the playoff results don’t follow but it certainly would be difficult to move off the young coach so quickly.
For Dubas, the results are similar in the regular season, though there has also been criticism over the way some of his contract negotiations have gone–specifically with the young restricted free agents that were handed huge long-term contracts. As those players get closer to unrestricted free agency–Auston Matthews will be a free agent after the 2023-24 season–the pressure to win will be even more apparent on Dubas and his management staff.
For the first time the Leafs didn’t tank or choke in the playoffs…they just lost.
But, they are just built wrong.
Wingers are the least important commodity. If they want to shake it up, I’d trade Marner AND Nylander. Fill out the rest of the roster around the big two centers, find a top pair RHD and a real #3 center.
Yeah. I carry no water for the Leafs, but it isn’t exactly shameful to extend the defending Stanley Cup champions to seven games.
both? that is insanity. one sure but both takes away a lot of generated offense.
One thing this team needs to address is it’s physicality up front. When Pierre Engvall is arguably one of your top 5 physical forwards in the post season, you won’t go anywhere.
They need defence lol need to trade a high priced player marner or nylander
I would not trade marner. Nylander has value. Tim Micallef had right idea yesterday. Talk to wahington about Tom Wilson or player like him is what they need.
Insanity be damned, the front office has crossed over into cowardice.
Could Max Domi be an option. move bunting to 3rd line and add Domi in the top six…adds toughness and nuts maybe…
Or domi on the 2nd line with jt and nylander and leave the top line alone
It’s funny how people feel “different” about this Leafs team even though they still lost. Tampa was certainly a weaker team than they’ve been in the past. Their past two cup winning teams would’ve beat this Leafs team in five games easily. The team is flawed and resigning players like Spezza, Giordano, and Simmonds only makes the issues more glaring. Anyone who watched the Leafs documentary from last season should know that Keefe is not fit for the job, he simply can’t manage the highs and lows and it was evident again this season. Lastly, the best teams don’t care about what happened in the regular season yet all the Leafs keep talking about us how good their regular season was, that’s a problem.