Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe leaves after speaking to the media in Toronto on Monday May 6, 2024, after his team's season ending loss to Boston Bruins in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. The Maple Leafs have fired Keefe.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Sheldon Keefe.
The team made the announcement Thursday after the Original Six franchise lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs
Keefe had a 212-97-40 record over parts of five campaigns in Toronto, but was just 16-21 in the post-season, including a 1-5 series record.
Despite finally getting the organization over a painful playoff hump last spring when the Leafs advanced to Round 2 for the first time in nearly two decades, Keefe was unable to keep that momentum going.
Toronto bowed out in a tepid five games to the Florida Panthers in the second round in 2023 before Kyle Dubas was fired as general manager less than two weeks later.
That dismissal following a roller-coaster stretch led to questions about Keefe’s future, but new GM Brad Treliving elected to keep the Dubas loyalist after taking the reins, and then inked the Brampton, Ont., product to a contract extension through 2025-26.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2024.
