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Lou Lamoriello has not wasted much time attempting to get the New York Islanders house in order, as he relieved GM Garth Snow and head coach Doug Weight of their coaching duties.
This means that the former Maple Leafs GM is now looking for a bench boss for his new club and a couple of the potential candidates are within the Toronto organization.
Former Islander D.J. Smith and Toronto Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe are considered top options for NHL jobs in the near future.
Smith, 41, was a 1995 Islanders draft pick and was part of the deal that brought Wendel Clark back to Toronto in 1996. After winning a Memorial Cup with the Oshawa Generals in 2015, Smith was hired as an assistant coach and has served as part of Mike Babcock’s staff with the Leafs the last three seasons.
With Lamoriello firing Garth and Doug Weight, New York will be looking for a new bench boss. Two names that could get some consideration are former Islander D.J. Smith (a #Leafs assistant under Mike Babcock) and #Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe.
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) June 5, 2018
In March, a poll of NHLPA members had Smith as assistant coach that should be the next NHL head coach and Babcock hardily endorsed that sentiment.
“The thing with D.J. is, in my opinion he’s going to be a good NHL head coach. I always look when I’m hiring for serial winners: Wherever they’ve gone, they’ve won,… Babcock said in an article by Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. “(DJ has) got a good ability to talk to people under him. He understands the game. He’s been around here three years now and has a real good understanding of what the NHL is all about and what it takes, and I think he’s going to have good success as a [head] coach.…
Keefe has served as Marlies head coach the last three seasons and has compiled a 150-63-15 record and has Toronto’s AHL affiliate in the Calder Cup Final for the first time since 2012.
He has a long association with Leafs GM Kyle Dubas, who hired Keefe as head coach in Sault Ste. Marie before being given the Marlies job and his part in developing the Leafs prospects has emboldened his reputation as a potential head coach, but with no NHL experience, the 37-year-old might need to move up as an NHL assistant, but that trend may not be necessary with a number of NCAA coaches getting jobs in the league recently.
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The Toronto Marlies hope to shake off their first defeat in over a month when they take on the Texas Stars in Game 3 of the Calder Cup Final on Tuesday. After a run of 10 straight playoff wins and seven straight victories at Ricoh Coliseum, the Stars evened the best-of-seven series with a a 2-1 win on Sunday, something that Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe knows his team will have to bounce back from.
“Now we get a chance to respond,… Keefe said, “We are going to go out on the road, we haven’t been there, but we expect it will be a difficult place to play. It’s going to be loud, they play tough at home just like we do. It’s going to be a challenging task of course, but one I think we will be real excited for.… Toronto has being unable to corral the Texas power play throughout the first two games, as the Stars scored a pair of goals with the man advantage in Game 1 and Gavin Bayreuther’s game winning goal in the third period on Sunday.
A growing concern for Toronto has to the be the play of the top line of Carl Grundstrom, Miro Aaltonen and Andreas Johnsson. For the second game in a row, the trio was held off the score sheet and limited to only three shots on goal after scoring a collective 35 points in 13 playoff games.
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