The Toronto Maple Leafs have a problem with Sheldon Keefe

Sheldon Keefe won far more games than he lost as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, posting 171 regular season wins in 278 games and an outstanding .673 PTS% among the top coaches in the sport.
However, the Toronto Maple Leafs coach had a rough opening season, losing four of the five playoff series that the team is favored to win in the same postseason.
Despite the numbers and numerous postseason failures, what happened over the last few days made the Leafs’ decision to find a new coach more glaring than ever.
In a game between the Leafs and the Bruins on November 2nd, Timothy Liljegren was horribly injured in the first period by one of the dirtiest players in the league, Bruins captain Brad Marchand.
The Leafs D-Man landed feet first on the corner boards after Marchand tripped, prompting Liljegren to continue his LTIR for the foreseeable future. The play itself didn’t scream Keefe to me, but the response after the play did.
In the video that everyone watched afterward, Marchand walked onto the Leafs bench after the incident and could have heard a pin fall from the Maple Leaf bench, seriously injuring one of their teammates and their best defenseman.
Instead of losing a tool, the Toronto players were unconcerned by the fact that a division rival who played many dirty games against the team had just injured a player who had been with the team for five seasons.
The game came and went without a response to the incident, and days later, Keefe commented on the situation, saying that he “hates everything about it” and that “it’s not where we want to be.”

Well, Keefe, unfortunately the team is being judged and criticized based on your role as head coach. During his tenure, the Leafs were never a team full of emotion or reaction to those situations, and inaction was much more common than any reaction. While many want to blame former general manager Kyle Dubas for the Leafs’ “softness,” what responsibility do Keefe and president Brendan Shanahan have now that the team didn’t trade Dubas at the door?
Not only that, but newly hired general manager Brad Treliving has made it his mission to “change” the problem, bringing in names like Ryan Reaves, Max Dom and Tyler Bertuzzi to support the idea that things are changing.
It turned out to be just a superficial lipstick.
While it’s hard to gauge early in their tenure, Reaves in particular has been terrible. The 36-year-old was brought into the team to respond to such situations, and instead of improving things, the winger number 4 has been iced for eight goals and has yet to register a point in 11 games. is having the worst season of his career. Reaves also has just two hits and 22 sacks on the season and has played in every game and in key moments for a reason.
If Sheldon Keefe wants to keep his job with the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s time to put up or shut up about a different team. As a lifelong fan who never misses a game or a moment, the 2023 Maple Leafs look worse than a year ago and look like a team that still hasn’t learned the simple things about what makes a team a true contender come April and May. . and June.