Breaking down the top options to replace Keefe as Maple Leafs head coach

In his final address as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sheldon Keefe shouldered the blame for his club bowing out of the playoffs in the first round for the seventh time in eight seasons, the fourth with him at the helm.

“We didn’t get results, and we haven’t met expectations. As head coach, I take responsibility for that,” Keefe had said earlier this week. Three days later, general manager Brad Treliving and the rest of the Maple Leafs brain trust suggested they felt the same, announcing Thursday that Keefe’s tenure in Toronto has come to an end.

“Leafs Nation, the time has come to say goodbye,” Keefe said in a video message shared via social media Thursday. “I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, a dream come true for a boy from Brampton. … It was an incredible honour to coach the Maple Leafs, and try to deliver for you.”

The Brampton product moves on from Toronto as one of the most respected coaches in the game. Playoff disappointments aside, Keefe’s work in guiding the Maple Leafs to their place as one of the winningest regular-season clubs in the league each year should ensure he isn’t out of work long, particularly with the glut of head-coaching positions open around the league.

For the team he leaves behind, plenty of question marks remain, even without him.

There will be roster turnover on the fringes, the blue line will be rebuilt, perhaps more major surgery will come in the case of Mitch Marner and John Tavares’ futures. But in the wake of Thursday’s news, the first order of business is finding a new voice to lead this group, to move them from regular-season juggernaut to post-season performer.

Finding that perfect option — the right voice, at the right time, for a particular group — is an imperfect science. There are the player-friendly leaders who empower young stars, the elite tacticians who blend skill with structure, the old-school veterans with a stiffer approach. Ideally, the Maple Leafs want someone with a piece of each of these elements — look to the clubs still playing for the Stanley Cup, and you find examples of what that looks like.

As Treliving and Co. compile their list and mull the options for what will be a crucial decision at this point in the Matthews Era, let’s take a look at the candidates who could get the call.

Craig Berube

All the chatter to this point has focused on one name: Craig Berube. The former St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers coach has a 281-190-72 record to his name in the regular season, and a 27-31 record in the post-season. His teams haven’t exactly been dominant, but there is, of course, one crown jewel on the longtime NHLer’s coaching resume: a 2019 Stanley Cup — won over the Boston Bruins, in Game 7.

Cup-winning experience aside, it’s more Berube’s general demeanour and approach that seem to have him atop the list of likely candidates to take the helm in Toronto. After a half-decade of Keefe, who at times seemed to be working alongside his stars to find a path forward, the club and its fanbase appear to have an appetite for a different style, a coach who will hold players accountable, without catering to the club’s crowd of highly-paid stars. And, most importantly, a coach who will shift this team’s identity away from one that allows for high-flying regular-season success, and towards a style that will bring results in the post-season. Berube appears to be that, at least, his team’s hallmark being a relentless work ethic and a hounding forecheck — elements that at times have seemed sorely needed for these Maple Leafs.

Gerard Gallant

If Berube — who has plenty of suitors around the league at the moment — doesn’t land in Toronto, Gerard Gallant is another veteran option waiting in the wings. The Summerside, P.E.I. product amassed a 369-262-4-70 regular-season record, and a 31-29 playoff record, over the course of his time with Columbus, Florida, Vegas and New York.

While he doesn’t have a Cup ring, Gallant does have a Jack Adams Award to his name, earned for his sterling effort in 2018, when he guided the Golden Knights to a Pacific Division title and Stanley Cup Final appearance in their inaugural campaign. Embracing a relentless, on-your-toes style similar to Berube’s, Gallant’s most recent big-league stint came in New York, coaching the star-studded Rangers — led by all-world talents Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Adam Fox — to back-to-back 100-point campaigns.

Todd McLellan

If Treliving and Co. want experience, Todd McLellan is certainly in the conversation as well, the Melville, Sask., product having been behind the bench for more than 1,000 big-league games. Through runs in San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles, McLellan put together a 598-412-134 record in the regular season, and a 42-46 record in the playoffs.

His greatest successes came in San Jose, when he led the star-studded Joe Thornton-Patrick Marleau-led Sharks to a string of Pacific Division titles and Conference Finals runs. He led the Oilers through the beginning of the Connor McDavid Era after that, before helping the Anze Kopitar-led Kings become a playoff mainstay once again — only to see his tenure in L.A. come to an end after running into McDavid’s Oilers in back-to-back first-round matchups. While he doesn’t boast the Cup Final experience Berube and Gallant have in their pockets, McLellan has nearly two decades of experience coaching some of the game’s most dominant talents. 

Bruce Boudreau

Another well-travelled veteran, Bruce Boudreau isn’t exactly the hard-nosed general the Maple Leafs might be looking for, but he’s one of the most experienced coaches in the history of the game. The Toronto native — and former Maple Leafs centreman — spent parts of five seasons coaching a Capitals team led by prime Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, then five seasons coaching a Ducks team led by Teemu Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf, before more recently leading the Wild for three years, and the now-dominant Canucks for parts of two seasons.

Amassing a 617-342-128 regular-season record and a 43-47 playoff record, Boudreau has a lengthy history of regular-season success — among the 34 coaches who have been behind the bench for more than 1,000 games, only one has a higher winning percentage than Boudreau’s .568 (Scotty Bowman’s .581). Post-season success has largely escaped him, though, his furthest run being a 2015 Conference Finals appearance with the Getzlaf-led Ducks. That said, the 2008 Jack Adams winner his led his clubs to a division title eight times, a Presidents’ Trophy once, and like McLellan, has plenty of experience coaching elite NHL talent.

Dean Evason

He doesn’t have the experience the names above boast, but Dean Evason brings the same no-nonsense approach. Behind the bench for parts of five seasons in Minnesota, Evason finished with a 147-77-27 regular-season record, and an 8-15 post-season record, before his tenure came to an end. A quartet of first-round post-season exits wound up getting Evason bounced from Minnesota, which surely counts against his chances of taking over in Toronto. Still, there’s no question the Manitoban bench boss raised the level in Minnesota when he arrived, his passion spurring the team on and turning them into a more tenacious opponent than the listless group they’d been before.

Maybe more importantly, the hallmarks of Evason’s style seem to align with the criticisms of these Maple Leafs over the past half-decade: his team found success through structure and discipline, he granted ice-time based on performance, he put his lines in a blender to shake up his lineup’s hierarchies, he pushed his players to establish a culture of winning and lead themselves. How all of that would play out with a team stocked with far more skill, and salary, than the Wild team he coached is unclear, but there’s no question it would be a different approach.

The Longshots: Rod Brind’Amour, Jon Cooper, Mike Sullivan

There are three other veteran options the Maple Leafs would surely covet, whose names have been circling the rumour mill of late: Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour, Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan and Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper.

In the case of all three, there’s little reason to believe, at this time, that their current clubs will part with them. Brind’Amour is two games into a second-round battle, his Canes among the favourites to lift the Cup, and the latest reports have him nearing an extension with Carolina. Cooper remains among the very best coaches in the sport, and his GM, Julien BriseBois, recently waved away any notion of Cooper not sticking in Tampa Bay. Sullivan would appear to be the most likely of the three to become available, the two-time Cup winner having seen his once-elite Penguins miss the playoffs for two straight seasons now, but Penguins president and GM Kyle Dubas has made clear he feels Sullivan is still the man for the job, and an assistant coach shake-up seems to be the preferred change.

If any of those three situations changed, though, there’s little question any of these three would become the most coveted candidate for Treliving and the Maple Leafs.

In Brind’Amour, you have a coach who’s all passion, an exceptional leader and motivator who’s led a team similarly focused on elite offence to much more impressive results — in the regular season and post-season. In Cooper, you have the coach who guided the closest thing the league’s had to a dynasty in recent years, the Maple Leafs having seen up-close Cooper’s approach to guiding the star-studded Lightning through the post-season gauntlet. And in Sullivan, you have arguably the perfect blend of hard-nosed motivator and player-empowering communicator, the former Bruins coach taking over an underperforming Penguins group in 2015, showing quickly he had no qualms with pushing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and earning two Cup rings as a result.

At this point, landing Brind’Amour, Cooper, or Sullivan seems beyond a longshot, their current clubs seemingly just as convinced of their ability to lead an NHL bench. So, the Maple Leafs must settle for the next best option — and act quickly, before more of their preferred names are taken off the board.

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