Sheldon Keefe explains why his tenure with the Maple Leafs was a failure

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Alexander Cole
December 10, 2024 (6:55 PM)

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New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe recently spoke about his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs and why the team was never able to go far in the playoffs.

Sheldon Keefe was the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs for a few years and during his time with the team, they were never able to get over the hump.

While they consistently made it to the playoffs, they only got passed the first round once, and even in the second round, they got absolutely obliterated.

Now, Sheldon Keefe is with the New Jersey Devils, and tonight, he must go up against his former team.

This will be the second time he has to do so this season.

Sheldon Keefe gets real about the Maple Leafs

Prior to the match, Keefe spoke to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic about his time with the Leafs and why it wasn't a success.

Keefe also talked about how he learned a lot of lessons that in the future, he will apply to his current tenure in New Jersey.

"I look back to my time in Toronto as hard to compute, quite honestly. Because we were one way in the regular season. At times, we scored a lot. At times, (we) didn't defend nearly well enough; at times, (we) did. I think we don't get enough credit for defending like we did.

And then we get into the playoffs and I don't think defending was ever really an issue. We couldn't score. That part of it is difficult.

But it's just a reminder for me of how hard we need to push to be able to learn to score in different ways in the regular season (with the Devils). So no matter what we approach in the playoffs, we can deal with it.

We talk a lot in Toronto about trying to be better defensively. I don't think that's ever why we lost in the playoffs.

You look back at all these Game 7s and all these series that we could have won before getting to Game 7, the number of opportunities we have to score goals or not being able to generate enough.

That's the big reason why we lost. And that doesn't necessarily jive with the perception of the team, say, in the regular season."

The New Jersey Devils are a team that has a lot of potential, and Sheldon Keefe is the perfect coach for them.

Meanwhile, Craig Berube is now out in Toronto, where he has brought the team to a record of 16-9-2.

This will be a very interesting game for the Leafs as they are coming off two-straight losses.

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DECEMBRE 10 \| 182 ANSWERS Sheldon Keefe explains why his tenure with the Maple Leafs was a failure Do you believe Sheldon Keefe deserved to be fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs?
YES	148	81.3 %
NO	34	18.7 %
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