In line with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Toronto Maple Leafs might not know in the event that they’ll be retaining the companies of head coach Sheldon Keefe but, however the bench boss has met with new common supervisor Brad Treliving twice now and if Keefe is sticking round, the assumption is that Treliving will instantly supply the coach an extension.
It’s an intriguing twist for the narrative that Keefe is perhaps the subsequent to go in Toronto, however NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported in the course of the second intermission of Recreation 1 of the Stanley Cup Ultimate: “If he’s again, I believe we’re in a scenario the place they received’t go in with him in his final 12 months, I believe there might be an extension if he returns as coach of the Leafs.”
The pondering right here might be twofold. First, no crew desires the cloud of a training extension hanging over the crew for a whole season. The coach actually doesn’t need it and because the Maple Leafs attempt to make the postseason and go farther than the second spherical, it is smart for the gamers to know the individual behind the bench is the one whose system you’ll be following all season. Second, the Leafs want these gamers who’re staying to purchase in.
The Gamers Must Be on the Similar Web page As Their Coach
By both firing or extending Keefe, Treliving and the Maple Leafs are basically telling their most necessary gamers that ‘that is our path. You’re both on board otherwise you’re not and we’ll attempt to discover a new dwelling for you.’ If the group exhibits its religion if Keefe, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner then have a call to make.
Are they supportive of their coach and share his imaginative and prescient? Or, are they bored with the identical messaging and wish to go elsewhere? If it’s the latter, that message is probably going delivered to Treliving early and Keefe is launched within the subsequent couple of weeks.