Sheldon Keefe out as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs

The decision came down on Thursday, with the Maple Leafs' management group relieving head coach Sheldon Keefe of his duties after Round 1 loss to the Boston Bruins.

Obviously, nobody is exactly shocked by this news, but it is the first domino in what we can expect to be many dominoes to fall this summer.

Head had to roll following yet another 1st round loss for the Maple Leafs, marking seven 1st round losses in an 8-year span during the Matthews, Marner, Nylander era. Quite simply, it hasn't been good enough.

The Leafs have had two coaches in this era, with Mike Babcock being the one to kick off what was supposed to be an exciting stretch of years for the Leafs filled with lots of deep postseason runs. When Babcock's tenure ended prematurely due to his inability to get the job done, it was a younger and hungrier Sheldon Keefe who took over, shortly after winning a Calder Cup with the AHL's Toronto Marlies in 2018.


Keefe's tenure in Toronto ends with four 1st round losses in 5 seasons, despite a pristine regular season coaching record of 212-97-40. Unfortunately, his 15-20 record in the postseason leaves a lot to be desired and didn't lead to much success, aside from last year's Round 1 win over Tampa.

Keefe has 2 seasons remaining on his contract with the Maple Leafs, but quite simply put, it was time for a change.