Sheldon Keefe wasn't without a job for very long after the Toronto Maple Leafs let him go after five seasons in blue and like I wrote about J.B. Bickerstaff with the Cavaliers, some times a coach can do a good job but the time has come for both parties to separate.
Keefe led the Maple Leafs to the postseason in all five of his seasons but Toronto escaped the first round only once in those five seasons and in that season, they lost in the second round, so it made sense that Leafs fans were ready to wave goodbye to Keefe.
When Toronto lost again in the first round of this year's playoffs (in seven games to the Boston Bruins). Keefe's fate was set but again, I'm not seeing a lot of blame for Keefe for that defeat.
Teams do need new voices some times when they hit a level they are unable to scale and I think that's the case with Sheldon Keefe.
All About The Jersey writes about Keefe's style of play and coaching and the Leafs tended to be a mixture of rush and possession rather than the Devils run and gun system under Lindy Ruff.
The Devils do have the defensive corps to be able to play a possession based system, so the transition shouldn't be one that is difficult to master.
The last time the Devils hired a head coach who had experience with the Toronto Maple Leafs, they won a Stanley Cup behind Pat Burns.
If the Devils have hired a coach as good as Pat Burns, Sheldon Keefe's hire will be a successful one.
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