Can’t Blame Leafs Coach Keefe For Quashing Potential Fire Among His Stars

Earlier this week, in the wake of a hugely disappointing, losing effort against the lowly Arizona Coyotes, the Toronto Maple Leafs met with the media. And in his media availability, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe expressed frustration with his top players.

“Our best people have not found a rhythm,” Keefe said after Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Coyotes. “The difference between us and Arizona is that we have elite players. And our elite players didn’t play like elite players.”

That was a pretty straightforward and fair assessment by Keefe. After all, Toronto’s top line of superstar center Auston Matthews, star winger Mitch Marner and winger Michael Bunting were largely ineffective: Neither Matthews nor Bunting registered a point against the Coyotes, and the team didn’t have a shot on net in any of their first four power plays. It’s not wrong for Keefe to point out his team’s deficiencies, but after his words Monday night, Keefe felt the need to clear the air and make clear his intentions.

“I used some of the wrong words to try to describe…that the difference in the game, I find, is just we weren’t able to produce,” Keefe told reporters Wednesday. “Whether it’s power play or five-on-five, that’s really the difference with all the puck time we had. By no means was I meaning anything beyond that, which is what I wanted (Leafs players) to be sure of. As it turned out, they didn’t know what I was talking about, which is a good thing. But at the same time, it was important that they know where I was coming from.”

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Some observers may have seen that as a backtracking maneuver by Keefe, but really, it was about trying to get out in front of the story before it mushroomed into a Toronto-specialty overreaction. Keefe wasn’t about to let the “coach-can’t-work-with-his-top-players” narrative take over, so he made a point to specify he wasn’t pointing out specific players. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Long gone are the days NHL coaches could go bananas on their top contributors and still expect to work with them and have their total buy-in and trust. And Keefe knows that.

Indeed, when you look at Keefe’s career trajectory, you’re seeing a guy who is very adept when it comes to being a proactive force, and a confident asset-builder who isn’t interested in standing on a player’s neck just to underscore his own competitiveness. Remember, Keefe has an American Hockey League Calder Cup championship to his credit. You don’t stumble into a championship at any elite hockey level, and Keefe has proven he can give a team enough structure and sense of self-worth to propel them to glory.

While it’s true an NHL coach can’t alienate his players, it’s also true the opposite end of that spectrum is a country club environment that also is incredibly damaging. Keefe is well-aware of the coaching balance that’s necessary in today’s game, and if the frustrations of one game’s effort leads to words that can be hyper-focused upon by media and fans, it’s on the person who said those words to circle back and pour cold water on what otherwise would become giant embers of fire.

Keefe realized he wasn’t general enough in his dismay with the Leafs after Monday’s loss. But you can’t fault the man for stamping out a potential problem before it turns into a genuine problem. Toronto is the hockey fishbowl market of all hockey fishbowl markets, and by deflecting blame from his elite talents, Keefe was doing whatever he could to keep the Leafs’ keel as even as possible.