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06/05/2024 22:21

The lingering pall of disappointment is familiar for these Toronto Maple Leafs. So, too, is the extra salt in the wound, the added sting of a season cut short in the first round, again, by the Boston Bruins, again, in Game 7, again. But the fallout, this time, will be different.

After a near-decade of repetitive misery, the clamouring for this era to be ended, for change to come, has seemed to reach a fever pitch among the Maple Leafs faithful. And as focus now shifts to what form that change takes exactly, the man at whom it will most likely be directed took to the podium Monday and shouldered the blame.

"We're in the results business here," head coach Sheldon Keefe said as the dejected Maple Leafs convened at the Ford Performance Centre in Etobicoke, Ont., for the last time this season. "We didn't get results, and we haven't met expectations. As head coach, I take responsibility for that. You have a team that has expectations and has goals in mind, and you don't reach them. It's not a good feeling. My job as head coach is to find solutions and chart a path ahead for the group to come through and to succeed at the most important time of year. And we haven't done that. 

"I do feel a year ago we took a step in the right direction as a group. I love the resolve that we showed in this series, in Games 5 and 6 in particular, to give us a chance to compete in Game 7. But clearly that's not enough, and that sits with me."

Of all the changes that appear to be on the table for GM Brad Treliving and the rest of the Maple Leafs brain trust — questions hover around the future of core forwards Mitch Marner and John Tavares, and how best to build out the roster's fringes — a potential coaching change seems to be the first order of business.

Speculation surrounded Keefe's future with the team a year ago, too, after the Maple Leafs broke through with their first playoff series win in 19 years, only to bow out quickly in Round 2. It was former GM Kyle Dubas who wound up on the outside looking in by the time the dust had settled, while Keefe was granted a two-year extension.

Whether the coach's time in blue-and-white comes to end before that extension kicks in, time will tell. Until that word comes down, his focus remains solely on guiding his hockey club towards progress.

"I'm in the coaching business. And in the coaching business, you don't get to make decisions about your position. For me, it's out of my control," Keefe said of his future with the team. "My job is to find solutions and help direct and create a path for our team to continue to move forward — that's my focus. I understand that ownership and management, they make those types of decisions. And I accept responsibility for not meeting results."

Should Keefe's tenure conclude with the 2023-24 campaign, the 43-year-old Brampton, Ont., product will move on with a 212-97-40 record in the regular season, the team finishing among the Atlantic Division's top three in each of his four-and-a-half seasons at the helm. He'll also leave behind a 16-21 post-season record, Toronto bowing out in the first round in four of the past five seasons.

"I believe in myself greatly, I love coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs," Keefe said. "Now more than ever, I believe in myself and our team, that I will win, and our team will win. I've been through a lot as a coach in my career, to get to this level. I won a lot before coming here. The path always looks different, but you learn along the way, and I've learned a lot through my experience. And I know I'm in a good place."

While Keefe said he'll continue on with his coaching duties until directed otherwise, it's worth noting the coach opted not to conduct exit meetings with his players Monday.

"(Treliving) gave me the option to have meetings with players — in the past, his coaches haven't. I elected to not have them today, for myself, personally," Keefe said of the decision. "I just went with more casual interactions around the facility here today, seeing guys off, and opening the door for more meaningful conversations in the off-season. 

"I spoke with the team after the game, after the loss the other night, more so than I have in any season in the past. I let them know how I felt about the team and about the group."

There's no question Keefe's Leafs dealt with, and nearly overcame, their fair share of adversity over the course of their seven-game battle with Boston. Injuries to crucially important pieces at different times hampered their ability to ice the lineup they'd planned to send over the boards. And still the team managed to claw its way back from a 3-1 series deficit, to get as close to booking a ticket to Round 2 as is possible — Game 7 overtime.

"We're right there, we're one shot away from getting through," Keefe said of how it all could've ended, "and then quickly the narrative changes to 'The Leafs have figured out how to play tight games, win tight games, come from behind, show fight' — all these sorts of things that you're excited about. I came out of Game 6 feeling as good about the Toronto Maple Leafs as I've felt in this position, because of how we were playing and how the group had come together. So, to not get it done in Game 7 is quite disappointing."

Zoom out to the bigger picture, though, the greater sample size of what this team is in the post-season, and it's difficult to imagine them breaking through and accomplishing much more than they did in 2023's second-round. Resilience aside, there are also persisting issues that have yet to be solved, like the offence: Over the club's last 14 playoff games, they've scored more than two goals just once (while allowing more than a pair eight times in that span) — this despite the Maple Leafs icing one of the most prolific offensive units in the league during the regular season.

"You reflect on it and you discuss it. You know, I think in each of those playoffs, you think of some of the opportunities missed, and you wonder why," Keefe said of those continued offensive woes. "Clean chances, breakaways, two-on-ones, rebounds in tight, those types of things that tend to go in for you in the regular season, and now they're not. I think as a coach, it's more so, how can you help your players through that? But also, how can you generate more of it? I don't think we generated enough of those."

The offensive issues continue to be compounded by the club's perennial power-play struggles, too. Ranking among the league's top 10 on the man-advantage during the regular season, Toronto's power play went bone dry in the post-season, striking just once on 21 opportunities — good for second-worst among all 2024 playoff participants.

"In February, I think we were No. 1 in the league on the power play. We were clipping along at a real high rate. For years we've been a top power play in the league," the coach continued. "But our overall offensive game in the playoffs hasn't met expectations, hasn't delivered for us, hasn't executed. So, was it perplexing? We spent a lot of time searching for answers. … The skill is there. Throughout this season, we tried different things, we moved different things around. Through this series, we moved things around and tried many different iterations of what the first unit looked like. 

"Ultimately it comes down to execution. It comes down to competitiveness, winning little puck battles, winning faceoffs, and trusting it. Staying with it. And that becomes harder to do as that number starts to grow."

After years of trying to break down that door with the same group, and finding themselves on the wrong side of it time and time again, conventional wisdom suggests it's time for a new approach. But the club's on-ice leaders stopped short of adding to the chorus calling for that solution.

"I think he's been great," captain John Tavares said of Keefe Monday. "With the team, year in and year out, I think you see improvement in a lot of areas, the consistency the team has shown throughout his time here. And individually as well, the growth in players' games — I can speak to that for myself. So, I think he's done a really good job."

"I've had him for a long time," said William Nylander, the only Leaf to deliver meaningfully in the goals department in Round 1. "He's been here a lot of years. He's done a great job with our team. But in regards to what you're going to ask me about, his future — look, that's not my decision. That's for [management]."

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, management appears to be looking to turn the page.

"I do think the Maple Leafs are going to look at what else is out there," Friedman said during a discussion about Keefe's future in the latest episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. "Going back to last summer, before they committed to Keefe and extended him, they definitely discussed alternatives. Like, 'If we don't bring him back, if we don't extend him, who makes sense? Who would we bring in?' So, impossible to believe they don't have some ideas. 

"It's also impossible to believe, knowing the way this organization thinks, and knowing the way that they constructed their roster, especially during the season, that they haven't, or wouldn't have, considered someone like (Craig) Berube."

Should the Maple Leafs’ brass look to bring in Berube — who last coached the St. Louis Blues, leading the club to a Stanley Cup in 2019 — a decision would likely need to come sooner than later, Friedman added during a Monday segment on The Jeff Marek Show.

"I do think that [Berube] is somebody the Maple Leafs have interest in, if they make a change — I don't think there's any doubt about that. But you're probably going to have to make that call quick," Friedman said. "I do think he could be the Devils' guy, and you also wonder about any other potential situations that may open up. So, I think if you're Toronto and you have interest in someone like that, you have to do it quick."

As for Keefe, until a decision is made one way or another, all he can do is continue to coach his team.

"For me, it's looking for solutions, continuing to work," he said Monday. "The decision is out of my control. But I certainly would like the attention and focus to be on me. Because as the head coach, as the leader, you've got to be accountable when you don't meet expectations."