New Head Coach search

[HersheyBob27]

Keefe is the best coach available. Hope they move quickly and get him over the line

Please stop it he is not the best coach available. He failed over and over with all kinds of different iterations of that team. Boston is not even a great team and he could’t find a way to beat them. We need a strong voice - Fitzy has already stated that. The bickering that happened on his bench against boston was a joke

 

[guitarguyvic]

I would love to have a coach with the systems track record of Keefe who is also a great motivator or disciplinarian when needed. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s anyone available who checks each box, the available choices require a sacrifice be made somewhere. If I had to choose one or the other I’d probably lean towards systems being the priority.

One thing is for sure…if it winds up being Keefe…the Facebook crowd is predictably gonna be crying about it all offseason like it’s the worst decision in the history of the franchise.

 

[Bcap88]

Keefe and Toronto lost to

Columbus year 1
Montreal(Stanley cup finalist) year 2
Tampa (Stanley cup finalist) year 3
Florida (Stanley cup finalist) year 4
Boston year 5

Keefe brings defensive structure without neutering the offense and has a very good track record

Would be a home run hire

 

[guitarguyvic]

Please stop it he is not the best coach available. He failed over and over with all kinds of different iterations of that team. Boston is not even a great team and he could’t find a way to beat them. We need a strong voice - Fitzy has already stated that. The bickering that happened on his bench against boston was a joke

Different iterations of mediocrity. The best defensive group he had to work with was something akin to the post-Stevens/Niedermeyer era devils, except without a hall of fame goalie behind them. And they still managed to have a great regular season record, and were extremely solid defensively throughout including the playoffs. They lost because they have no forward depth and no game breaker on defense. They also seem to wilt under to the pressure of being the leafs. This year’s version of the team was easily the worst since Keefe took over.

 

[Bleedred]

I’m not in love with Keefe, but I don’t blame him for choking.

The Leafs were choking under Babcock even before Keefe and while they had the closest thing to an elite goalie that they’ve had in the Matthews era.

 

[JrFischer54]

Keefe and Toronto lost to

Columbus year 1
Montreal(Stanley cup finalist) year 2
Tampa (Stanley cup finalist) year 3
Florida (Stanley cup finalist) year 4
Boston year 5

Keefe brings defensive structure without neutering the offense and has a very good track record

Would be a home run hire

Whoever the coach is I’m good with they all come with pros and cons.

If those leaf teams were in the metro not Atlantic i think they make conference finals 3 years at least

 

[Bcap88]

Whoever the coach is I’m good with they all come with pros and cons.

If those leaf teams were in the metro not Atlantic i think they make conference finals 3 years at least

Ideally you want a coach who can bring structure to the d zone without sacrificing offense and Keefe in my opinion does the best job of the remaining coaches

I’m ok with keefe/woodcroft

Leaning more keefe as the days go

Like you said there isn’t 100 percent perfect coach out there

 

[HersheyBob27]

Keefe and Toronto lost to

Columbus year 1
Montreal(Stanley cup finalist) year 2
Tampa (Stanley cup finalist) year 3
Florida (Stanley cup finalist) year 4
Boston year 5

Keefe brings defensive structure without neutering the offense and has a very good track record

Would be a home run hire

Probably the only reason to interview him is to make daddy dubass nervous and pull the trigger on sullivan

 

[BurntToast]

There are only a few “hard nosed” coaches left. Many are retired, others are exiled, and Torts still has a job.

If they hire Berube, I won’t be upset. He has a cup under his belt but the Blues’ underlying numbers were trash under him. Plus, they got progressively worse. Was it just lightning in a bottle situation?

 

[OmNomNom]

i'm team keefe, leafs are horrible and i think their locker room is the issue. so top heavy w their contracts too

 

[Devils Pride 26]

I do not understand why people think killing penalties is the apotheosis of defensive play. Pavel Bure was notoriously awful defensively and killed penalties. Meanwhile Holik was great defensively and hardly did it in New Jersey. It's just a totally different game 4v5, but any forward can do it, especially used as Kovalchuk was, late in penalty kills, and almost always changing on the fly.

That said, Kovalchuk didn't transform - they got him to skate around in the D zone without the puck. That was an alteration to his game for sure, as he used to stand almost stationary waiting for the correct breakout pass, but Kovalchuk was still lousy defensively and a terrible F1 forechecker, which also impacted his defense.

Yet in the 2012 playoffs he wins game 6 ecf at the garden by buying in and being an excellent f1 in the corner. That’s how you play the game

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

what does Ilya Kovalchuk from 12 years ago have to do with anything?

 

[Guadana]

When I think about Keefe can teach our guys more structured game and more defensive game, I can not be more excited. Because this is a new level for our top guys to achieve, may be Nico will not pick higher. But in the same time all of leafs stars reached very high productive numbers. Overall Keefe defense was really good with all those bad defensemen he operated. With goalies he controlled his team to quite nice results. Depth issues didnt help in tight series like Boston, Tampa or Mtl.

 

[Bleedred]

Please stop it he is not the best coach available. He failed over and over with all kinds of different iterations of that team. Boston is not even a great team and he could’t find a way to beat them. We need a strong voice - Fitzy has already stated that. The bickering that happened on his bench against boston was a joke

I’m pretty sure they do beat Boston if they didn’t go into the series with the guy they waived in December and a guy that’s been historically bad in his NHL career on two different teams.

If they wouldn’t have waited until they were down 3 games to 1 to make a goalie change then they probably do win that series.

Unless of course Woll gets injured by game 3 or 4 and then they’d lose anyway.

And yes, that part does fall on Keefe for trusting Samsonov. That’s what got them knocked off.

 

[Devils Pride 26]

what does Ilya Kovalchuk from 12 years ago have to do with anything?

Sorry I don’t have a chart for it so some may struggle with this point. The correct coach getting through to a player to buy in has transformational positives well after the coach is gone.

 

[JrFischer54]

what does Ilya Kovalchuk from 12 years ago have to do with anything?

Man Kovy was beast! They should consider him for ring of honor

 

[The Grinder]

This is kinda how I see it shaking out:

Berube to Leafs

And then either-

Sullivan let get, Keefe to Pens

Sullivan to Devils

Or Keefe to Devils strait up.

Either way I think I am ok with that. Would prefer Keefe.

 

[forceten]

Where is Brind'Amour if they get swept by the Rangers? Does Carolina make a move?

And if they do, is the CAR job more attractive than the NJD job?

 

[TBF1972]

Keefe signed an extension before the season. He is still under contract to TML

that's how toronto gains a competitive advantage over their competitors. they sign, extend and cann the best 50 coaches and give no permission to other teams to talk contract with them.

 

[Guadana]

Where is Brind'Amour if they get swept by the Rangers? Does Carolina make a move?

And if they do, is the CAR job more attractive than the NJD job?

I think NJD job is attractive. Even with our bad goaltending everything Fitz should do is saying - I will target it. Having Luke, Jack, Nico, Bratt, Timo, Nemec (all played well for their amount of game and experience) is quite nice. Still have Mercer, Holtz, Gritsyuk, Casey as young actual or future complimentaries to sell this roster as even more talented team potentially. There is Dougie and free 20 mil under the cap. May be someone will think that Carolina is more attractive, but we can sign all hurricanes from the market to support Rod with his boys if he want it.

 

[Oneiro]

Carolina will have a lot of roster turnover this year and the next. It's more unclear how good they'll be vs. how good we'll be.

 

[TBF1972]

Svechnikov also disappears a little in the playoffs. He's been disappointing this year as well, only his 2nd goal last night. They have talent, but Rod is definitely getting more from them then you'd expect on paper.

svech struggled the last two seasons with injuries. if he could stay healthy, i easily can see him at point per game with 35+ goals for the season.

To be honest i think even Bratt is a step above Aho. Part of Aho’s production is a de facto result of him being the best center on the team. Someone’s gotta get the points, and if you give a guy 1C ice time and 1st PP time, he’s gonna score, like Granlund going from a 40 point pace to a 70 point pace with San Jose.

Ideally i think Aho’s more like Hischier where he should only be your best center if you have multiple all star level wingers around him (kinda like Toews? maybe that’s a bad comparison). Luckily the Devils kinda have that AND a Jack Hughes.

still hischier is deployed as the 1c in new jersey. i am still waiting on jack to take the reign.

 

[TBF1972]

i'm team keefe, leafs are horrible and i think their locker room is the issue. so top heavy w their contracts too

and shouldn't a good coach handle a difficult locker room?

 

[Forge]

Where is Brind'Amour if they get swept by the Rangers? Does Carolina make a move?

And if they do, is the CAR job more attractive than the NJD job?

I don't think they'll make any changes, tbh

 

[TBF1972]

Tv ratings

Original six >>>>>

Is what it comes down too

last season i just tuned in to watch them lose in the first round.