Coach Sheldon Keefe was fired as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday. However, no successor has been named yet.
The Maple Leafs have lost seven games to Boston in the first round and have advanced past the opening round of the playoffs just once since 2004. They achieved a 46-26-10 record in the regular season and finished third in the Atlantic Division with 102 points.
“Today’s decision was a tough one,” Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said. “Sheldon is an excellent coach and a great person, however we felt that a new voice was needed to help the team move forward and achieve its goals. We thank Sheldon for his hard work and dedication to the organization over the past nine years and wish him and his family the best. “
Only once in the last 14 playoff games have the Maple Leafs scored more than two goals in a game, despite the fact that offense has always been something they could boast about in the regular season. In the series with the Bruins, they were 1/21 on power plays (4.8%) after being seventh (24.0%) in the regular season.
After Toronto’s 2-1 overtime loss in Game 7, Keefe was asked about the future of the regular season and whether he thought it might eventually come through.
“We’ve been here since the results and they haven’t come in,” Keefe said Monday. “We didn’t live up to expectations and as head coach I take responsibility for that.”
“You have a team that has expectations and goals, and when you don’t reach them, it’s not a good feeling,” he added. “My job as a coach is to find a solution and set a path forward for the team to push forward. We need to succeed at the most important time of the year and we didn’t.”
The successor has already been hotly discussed in recent days. Clues lead mainly to Craig Berube.
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