Sheldon Keefe escaped the Maple Leafs only to land in the same mess in New Jersey
Photo credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Sheldon Keefe is facing an evaluation in New Jersey after missing the playoffs. It feels exactly like what happened in Toronto a year ago.
With the Devils not exactly cruising into the postseason and finding themselves on the outside looking in, there's a lot of changes that are going to be happening in order to bring New Jersey back to relevance.
One year doesn't make or break a franchise however the steep fall off has led to the team parting ways with President and GM Tom Fitzgerald and it sounds like the changes won't stop there.
Keefe being evaluated in New Jersey and it's a scary parallel to what he faced in Toronto
According to sources, head coach Sheldon Keefe is going to be evaluated after the season to see if he continues to be a fit for the team or if they are going to decide to go in a different direction:
It's deja vu for Keefe, who is going to be under a lot of pressure much like he was in Toronto. When he was booted out ahead of the 2024-25 season, it was due to a lack of postseason success despite a bevy of stars — something eerily similar to the situation in New Jersey.
Much like Toronto, there were a ton of expectations that never were lived up to, injury issues, and unable to unlock their offensive potential when it mattered most.
The Devils have posted a 40-34-3 record this season, a drop from the 42-33-7 record they had last year and were swiftly eliminated in five games by the Carolina Hurricanes.
With Fitzgerald out, the Devils are clearly looking in a different direction and unless Keefe can sell the new management team on the fact that he had to deal with with a slew of injuries and could use one more year — he's likely on the outs.
Should the Maple Leafs bring Keefe back into the fold? Absolutely not; but it won't stop them from trying
Now comes the question: Does Toronto bring him back? If Keefe is out, there could very well be a reunion between the two however it has to not be in a head coaching capacity.
Let him run the power-play, he's clearly a much more up-tempo coach, and could help spark the team.
But it would also make a lot of fans very frustrated if the team does decide to essentially go backwards. With all the promises about change and fixing what's broken, going back to an old face just trashes that change before it even had a chance to get off the ground.
Keefe isn't a bad coach, he wouldn't have stuck around as long as he did nor would New Jersey had been so adamant about hiring him. He has a career 212-97-40 record but is 17-25 in the postseason so there's questions about winning the big one no doubt.
But much like Craig Berube in Toronto, it seems that ownership and management felt a change may be necessary and while it doesn't mean the coach is outright fired — it doesn't look great.
Keefe should not be brought in again but not because he doesn't deserve to catch again in any capacity, but due to him not mixing with Toronto's new vision.
For him though, he shouldn't be too worried as there's undoubtedly some teams just waiting for the chance to bring him in — but not the Maple Leafs.
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