That Sheldon Keefe would replace Mike Babcock as coach of the Maple Leafs was totally expected earlier this summer.
It’s just no one saw it coming before the 2020 playoffs at the earliest and certainly not prior to this American Thanksgiving. But club president Brendan Shanahan had seen enough troubling signs from his under-achieving team and its cap-maxed roster of misfiring young stars to cash in a 700-win bench boss for his heir apparent.
In firing Babcock Wednesday after a sixth straight loss in Las Vegas the night before, Shanahan and general manager Kyle Dubas are hoping to steal a page, or at least a paragraph, from the Louis Blues, who were in last place at mid-season of 2018-19, replaced Mike Yeo with Craig Berube behind the bench and won the Stanley Cup. But right, now management and an antsy ownership group would settle for getting back in the playoff hunt.
Toronto Maple Leafs President and Alternate Governor Brendan Shanahan announced today that Mike Babcock has been relieved of his coaching duties and Sheldon Keefe has been named the Club’s new head coach. #LeafsForever
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 20, 2019
Four points out of a wildcard spot with a record of 9-10-4, despite more games played than most NHL teams, things went south on the Leafs too quickly this autumn. An optimistic start with a slew of new players, Toronto had points in seven of its first 10 games.
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Update 4:24am, November 22nd, 2019:
(1) Leafs play smart hockey to give Keefe his first win in his first game
