Sheldon Keefe has moved on from his Maple Leafs tenure

The New Jersey Devils introduced Sheldon Keefe as their new head coach not long after he was dismissed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he reflected on his time with the Maple Leafs in his press conference with the Devils.

“After five years and six playoff rounds, I’m a far better coach than when I arrived in the NHL,” Sheldon Keefe said, via Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

Keefe was promoted to head coach of the Maple Leafs in the middle of the 2019-2020 season, taking over for Mike Babcock, who was fired that season. Toronto was very successful in the regular season, but the postseason performances were disappointing and led to him being dismissed. He lands with a Devils team that is very talented, but disappointed in the regular season after coming into the year as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

There is a ton of young talent on the Devils, headlined by Jack Hughes, and Keefe will have a chance to get them back on the trajectory they seemed to be on after the 2023 playoffs. Keefe said he had an inkling that he would be dismissed by the Maple Leafs that day.

“I had a pretty good sense that that day I was going to wake up and be called in for a meeting,” Keefe said, via Johnston.

Although the firing was not long ago, Keefe said he has closure from his Maple Leafs tenure and is ready for this new challenge with the Devils.

“This is a fresh start and a great opportunity ahead. It’s completely unique and different,” Keefe said, via Johnston.

Devils looking for resurgence under Sheldon Keefe

In the 2022-2023 season, the Devils emerged as a young team that looked like a consistent Stanley Cup contender in the Eastern Conference, beating the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs that season. That series win took the excitement for the Devils to another level.

This past season, there were a lot of reasons that the Devils disappointed. One was injuries. There is no way to ignore the injuries that New Jersey dealt with this season that hampered its performance. The defensive performance suffered in part due to that, but the performance of players who were supposed to step up did not help either, and the goaltending was a problem as well.

The Devils were also 13th in the league in power play percentage, which given the talent on the roster, is disappointing. That is an area that Keefe hopes to help in.

It will be interesting to see how the Devils attempt to rebound next season after massively underperforming expectations. The addition of Keefe behind the bench is an intriguing one, as he is known for having regular season success.