The Leafs fired head coach Sheldon Keefe on Thursday following the Original Six franchise's loss to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Maple Leafs head coach — on centre stage inside a small auditorium at the team's practice facility — was optimistic about the future for both himself and the group.also understood Toronto had yet to meet expectations under his watch after its ultra-talented roster bowed out at the post-season's first stage for a fourth time in five years.said Monday afternoon. "I accept responsibility for not meeting results.
Despite finally getting the organization over a painful playoff hump last spring when the Leafs advanced for the first time in nearly two decades,Toronto succumbed in a tepid five games to the Florida Panthers in the second round in 2023 before Kyle Dubas was fired as GM less than two weeks later. The Leafs battled back down 3-1 in the series with a pair of hard-fought 2-1 victories, including one in overtime, before falling to the Bruins by the same score in OT in Game 7 on Saturday.
Previously on the hot seat early in 2022-2023, Keefe's other post-season setbacks came in the 2020 pandemic-necessitated five-game qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets and a disastrous blown 3-1 series lead in 2021 against the Montreal Canadiens., who led the American Hockey League's Toronto Marlies to a Calder Cup title in 2018, also appeared to be in trouble in May 2022 when Toronto lost to Tampa in that first-round series despite leading 3-2.
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