The Toronto Maple Leafs lack a goalie, a general manager, and a coach.
Sheldon Keefe, the soon-to-be former coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, had fun while it lasted.
Under Keefe and Kyle Dubas, the Toronto Maple Leafs had five of their best seasons after their previous title. They simply never seemed to get lucky during the playoffs.
For whatever reason, Keefe was never able to get any scoring from his best players come postseason time. That is ironic and damaging in light of the Leafs’ organizational structure.
Keefe is done with the Leafs, as has been evident to observers for some time now. Hey, it happens to the greatest coaches in history. It’s time for you to step up and provide the team with a fresh perspective.
Keefe will, fortunately, probably have a complimentary plane ticket to Pittsburgh ready for him whenever he wants it. He can relax knowing that this is not his fault, and he’ll be back in the NHL soon enough.
When his team is without a goalie or general manager, or at least not one who is performing his job, a coach has very little control over how the game turns out.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lack a goalie, a general manager, and a coach.
Keefe is done following yesterday night’s game against Vancouver, which was an excruciating defeat. Before tonight’s game, I doubt they’ll fire him, but I also doubt he’ll coach another one. If he plays his entire season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, I’ll eat my hat.
Brad Treliving, the name-brand consumer who struggled with his summer signings, is the main target of this, though.David Kampf was an absolute disaster. Ryan Reaves is a source of shame. Max Domi is a fool. Tyler Bertuzzi: That was simply unfortunate; that one ought to have succeeded. John Klingberg is likewise embarrassing.
But this team’s downfall was not caused by Treliving’s summer of torment. When he was called upon to act, he disregarded his obligation.
Treliving did nothing when Mark Giordano, Timothy Liljegren, and Jake McCabe were all hurt at the same time. He even passed up the chance to try out one of the team’s best prospects.
Treliving hasn’t taken any action, even though it was obvious—possibly even to the Toronto Sun—that TJ Brodie had drastically dropped.
And he did nothing when the squad found itself without a goalie as a result of Ilya Samsonov’s collapse and Joseph Woll’s (very predictable) injury. The Leafs have been depending on a goalie who passed waivers for more than 20 games, or a quarter of the season, after he failed to record a save percentage of.901 in five consecutive seasons.
The team was left without a goalie by the general manager for the whole quarter-season and beyond.
This is the worst GM performance I have ever witnessed in over 35 years of watching this team.
So keep in mind who is at fault when Sheldon Keefe gets the chop, whether it happens now or next week.
P.S. As a separate public service notice, you Leafs supporters should be aware that John Tavares is still producing strong advanced statistics, which clearly show that he is not suddenly declining despite his recent scoring dip.