According to Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan of ESPN on Wednesday, the New Jersey Devils have named Sheldon Keefe of Brampton, Ontario as their new head coach. The Devils are the second National Hockey League franchise Keefe has been in charge of. He previously coached the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2019 to 2024.
In 349 regular season games coaching the Maple Leafs, Keefe had a record of 212 wins, 97 regulation losses, and 40 losses in extra time for 464 points and a winning percentage of .665. He also had a record of 16 wins and 21 losses in 37 postseason games. The lone playoff series win came in 2023, as the Maple Leafs eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games.
This past season in Toronto, Keefe guided the Maple Leafs to a playoff spot with 102 points. In fact the Maple Leafs had three straight 100+ point seasons with Keefe as head coach. One serious issue in Toronto in 2023-24 appeared to be team chemistry as the star players for the Maple Leafs were simply not getting along.
The Devils meanwhile surprisingly missed the playoffs in 2024 after reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2023. Two Canadians coached the Devils this past season. They were Lindy Ruff of Warburg, Alberta and Travis Green of Castlegar, British Columbia. Ruff is now coaching the Buffalo Sabres and Green is now coaching the Ottawa Senators.
As a National Hockey League player, Keefe was a right winger and played three seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2000 to 2003. In 25 games, he had 12 goals and 12 assists for 24 points and was a -25. Keefe had 78 penalty minutes, one game-winning goal, two power-play points, and 135 shots on goal. The game-winning goal came on March 10, 2002 in a 5-1 Lightning win over the Nashville Predators. Keefe scored on an all-Canadian goal at 17:26 of the second period. Brad Richards of Murray Harbour, Prince Edward Island and Canadian Olympic gold medalist Dan Boyle of Ottawa, Ontario picked up the assists. The goal put the Lightning up 2-1 at the time. Boyle won a gold medal for Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
