Sheldon Keefe Finally Reveals the Toronto Maple Leafs Biggest Problem
Sheldon Keefe parted ways with the Maple Leafs this past summer, and now he has identified why the team struggled so much in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The New Jersey Devils do battle with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second time this season on Tuesday night, and unsurprisingly, the media was once more interested in talking to Sheldon Keefe about his former team after he was unceremoniously fired in the summer.
Unsurprisingly, Keefe didn't call out the team or make any bad comments about the organization he spent five years with as the Head Coach, but there were some very interesting comments in his interview with The Athletic.
When asked about what went wrong in Toronto, specifically in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, this is what the former boss had to say:
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."
With such star power offensively, the rather thin blue line often took the majority of the criticism in Toronto, with the team scoring four or more goals just six times in their 22 playoff games over the past three seasons, while allowing just 12 in the final six games of their series with Boston in 2023/24.
Under Craig Berube, we are yet to see Toronto in playoff action, so it's tough to see whether or not things will change, but with their three biggest stars rolling offensively once again, the regular season is once again a spot where they are thriving.
During his time as Head Coach, Keefe was not shy about calling out his top forwards, but ultimately he just couldn't get the best out of them, so Maple Leafs fans will no doubt be keeping an eye on New Jersey to see what he can do with them if they make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.
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