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Brad Treliving was asked last week when discussing the extension to Auston Matthews where negotiations with William Nylander and head coach Sheldon Keefe stood, but the Toronto Maple Leafs GM was mum on the subject. Less than a week later, the club announced that Keefe was signed to a two-year contract extension.
The 42-year-old Keefe replaced Mike Babcock is November 2019 and has a 166-71-30 record (.622 winning percentage) with the Leafs through four-plus seasons, which rank him sixth in wins in the franchise history.
Under Keefe, Toronto set franchise records for most wins (54) and points (115) during a single season (2021-22) and the club ended their 19-year playoff drought with a first-round victory over Tampa last season.
“Coaching this team has been a great privilege, and I'm truly excited at the opportunity to continue building towards our ultimate goal,… Keefe said in a press release. “I’m thankful for the support from MLSE and its ownership along with Brendan Shanahan and Brad Treliving, who I've really enjoyed getting to know and work with this off-season. We have so many great players and people within our organization that I'm grateful to work with, and together our commitment to team success remains steadfast.…
🖊 We’ve signed Head Coach Sheldon Keefe to a multi-year contract extension.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) August 30, 2023
Keefe joined the Leafs organization in 2015 as head coach of the AHL Toronto Marlies after serving as head coach of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds under former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas. He led the club to a 199-89-22-9 record and won the franchise's first ever Calder Cup championship in 2018.
“When you've got good people, you want to keep them, and so it made sense to me. I think a byproduct and a lot of people may speculate that the reason it's done is the noise and the distractions. As a manager, you're always trying to eliminate distractions. But I want to be clear, this gets done because I really think we've got a good coach here." Treliving indicated in a Zoom media conference call on Wednesday. “The more I went through this process with Sheldon, the more it made a whole lot of sense to get something done, get him looked after, get that behind us, give him some peace of mind and get everything focused where it needs to be, which is the start of camp and getting our team up and going.…