The next Maple Leafs GM — whoever that may be — has a lot to do and almost no time to do it.
theathletic.com
1. Decide who’s coaching the team next season
In the simplest possible terms: Is it Sheldon Keefe — or not? Without Dubas around, the answer is very likely not.
Keefe has a sterling regular season record with the Leafs. In fact, only Oilers’ coach Jay Woodcroft (.683) has a better points percentage than Keefe (.678) among active coaches.
Obviously, the regular season isn’t the issue here. It’s the Leafs falling flat in the postseason in each of Keefe’s four seasons. Keefe did become the first Leafs coach since Pat Quinn to win a playoff series, but that was followed by a disconcerting five-game loss to the underdog Panthers.
One pretty consistent trend under Keefe is the Leafs struggling to produce offence in the playoffs to the same degree as in the regular season.
Case in point: The Leafs have scored 3.5 goals per game in the regular season under Keefe, but only 2.8 in the playoffs.
It’s the team’s stars in particular who haven’t produced to expectation. Most of those failings should fall on the players themselves, but also on the coach to some degree. What’s a coach for if not to pull out more from his players?
If the new Leafs GM decides to keep him, which again seems unlikely, the organization almost has to extend him — don’t they? Keefe would be entering the final year of his contract. Would the organization really want to go the lame-duck route again, only this time with the head coach?
If they do decide to pivot and move on from Keefe, which seems likely with a new GM coming aboard, the obvious next question is who replaces him.
The Leafs probably can’t afford to hand the keys to an untested coach (i.e., assistant coach Spencer Carbery.)
They would need a leader with instant credibility.
Joel Quenneville has the best credentials obviously, but he’s also carrying a lot of baggage and would need commissioner Gary Bettman’s approval to re-enter the league.
Peter Laviolette is available after being let go by the Capitals earlier this spring. He won a Cup with the Hurricanes way back in 2006 and has guided two other teams (Flyers, Preds) to the final. Has he lost his fastball? You can be sure that lifetime Leafs fan
Bruce Boudreau would want the job, but his recent record, not to mention his playoff record, isn’t all that inspiring.
Dave Tippett? Claude Julien? Gerard Gallant? Is Andrew Brunette, who briefly ran the Panthers last season, too inexperienced? Probably.
