Confirmed with Link: Sheldon Keefe to be named the next head coach of the New Jersey Devils

[Guadana]

Toronto

half of the cap for 4 players
below average to bad defensive players
no depth
bad goaltending

still good defensive game
all his star players produced on their ceiling and show great defensive game
even when he lost his play off series - his team was competent and tried hard.

LET'S GO, DEVILS!

Fitz picked my candidate again. And again. Fitz has vision and I understand it. Doesnt mean it will work in the best way, but Keefe should teach our players to play more structured game.

I like it. Im happy to be the first one who promoted Keefe candidature.

 

[forceten]

Considering our problem was defense this is really good.

Add Lovejoy and CUP.GIF!

 

[TBF1972]

My sources were correct

View attachment 874461

where couch?

 

[Emperoreddy]

THERE COACH! KEEFE COACH

 

[HersheyBob27]

YES, love this hire.



Now we reach out to Bob for comment:

View attachment 874463

Of course you love this. You clearly set the bar low

 

[Lou Bloom]

Always tough to tell with coaches how much of their success/failures are due to situation vs their actual coaching ability. With that said he had a stellar regular season record with Toronto despite a lack of quality depth and quality goaltending. Feel like you can't go wrong hedging your bets on a young coach with a 212/97/40 regular season record (.665% Points percentage).

 

[TBF1972]

I am thrilled. This is a great upgrade. Might even like this more than Brunette.

@Cheddabombs as associate coach?

chin up @ jay woodcroft

 

[Ripshot 43]

I am thrilled. This is a great upgrade. Might even like this more than Brunette.

@Cheddabombs as associate coach?

Assistant to the Associate at the very least

 

[Guadana]

Of course you love this. You clearly set the bar low

He can say - of course you dont, of course your favorite was Berube.

If we will play in the second round next year, will you cook the crow steak to eat it? Medium rare.

 

[youryeah]

love it! can't wait to see how he does with this group. sounds kinda lame but this definitely increased my excitement for the season even before we signed anyone lol

 

[Da Cool Rula]

Leafs fan here for 60 years.
Big reason he failed was he catered too much to the spoiled brats like Marner etc. They could do no wrong.
He also is too loyal sometimes to lines, Samsonov etc... slow to make changes. Drove me crazy sometimes.

Maybe getting out of the crazy media & pressure of Toronto things will change.

 

[Captain34]

Leafs fan here. Great coach, and an even better person. He has adapted this past season to a more demanding coach who disciplined some of his non performing players, albeit, very rarely the stars.

Biggest problem with Keefe was the often lack of team structure and inability to adapt tactics in the playoffs and too reliant on core players essentially cementing the division between the core 4 and the rest of the roster.

With your roster, he'll do amazing things. Congratulations!

 

[Cheddabombs]

I am thrilled. This is a great upgrade. Might even like this more than Brunette.

@Cheddabombs as associate coach?

 

[AfroThunder396]

Best hire we could have made IMO. Once it became obvious that RBA and Sullivan weren't going anywhere, I think he became the obvious answer.

Keefe is a pretty significant upgrade over Ruff and has experience coaching similarly constructed rosters. I think he can elevate this team.

 

[devilsblood]

Leafs fan here for 60 years.
Big reason he failed was he catered too much to the spoiled brats like Marner etc. They could do no wrong.
He also is too loyal sometimes to lines, Samsonov etc... slow to make changes. Drove me crazy sometimes.

Maybe getting out of the crazy media & pressure of Toronto things will change.

Some here will probably see this as a positive.

Less so when being loyal to a struggling goalie.

Definitely a lesser media presence here in NJ.

 

[R8Devs]

I like it, lots of experience for someone his age (one of the youngest coaches in the NHL) so plenty to learn from without having to deal with the Toronto media pressure now. Maybe the Devils could get Woodcroft as an associate now since he's not the leading candidate for any of the other HC jobs and the Devils associate job now seems to be a jumpstart for a guy who wants to be a head coach the following season lol

I also like that he doesn't seem to have a direct connection with Fitz like the past HCs had before the job. Should help create a better environment

 

[Emperoreddy]

Getting this team to be a yearly regular season power house is the first big step we need to see next year and Keefe absolutely has experience getting that done.

 

[Andre Palot]

THERE COACH! KEEFE COACH

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!

 

[Camille the Eel]

Good hire. Should command respect in the locker room and be a good fit with our emerging stars, including developing the young defensemen. Let’s see who the assistants will be.

 

[HoliksGhost]

Great hire

 

[HersheyBob27]

Leafs fan here for 60 years.
Big reason he failed was he catered too much to the spoiled brats like Marner etc. They could do no wrong.
He also is too loyal sometimes to lines, Samsonov etc... slow to make changes. Drove me crazy sometimes.

Maybe getting out of the crazy media & pressure of Toronto things will change.

‘Slow to makes changes’ part is absolutely gonna kill us

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I like it. Can’t wait to see what he cooks up with Luke, Nemec, and a healthy Dougie.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Getting this team to be a yearly regular season power house is the first big step we need to see next year and Keefe absolutely has experience getting that done.

That’s what it comes down to for me. This will be panned by some due to Keefe’s playoff record but these guys need to bounce back after what was a big step back last season. Despite poor depth, defence and goaltending for a good chunk of his time in Toronto he was able to maximize that roster and get the most out of their star players. Cross the playoff bridge when we get there. I’m confident he learned a lot in the Toronto pressure cooker.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Toronto was a playoff failure even with Babcock before Keefe got there. He somehow got good defense out of a core made up of Morgan Reilly and a bunch of spare parts. The whole roster outside of the big three is meh. It blows my mind that people think the leafs are this Uber talented team that played below expectations, quite the opposite.

 

[Forge]

Okay. That's fine