Keefe poised to take the fall for the failings of others

The Toronto Maple Leafs' coach is certainly not without his shortcomings, but the poor play of his team is a direct result of the roster and the person who constructed it

Sheldon Keefe is squarely on the hot seat after his team’s 4-4-2 start.

As surely as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano every spring, Toronto Maple Leafs’ coach Sheldon Keefe will be fired if his team’s current level of play continues. He might get fired even if it doesn’t, since the Leafs don’t play again until Thursday. If things go poorly during an upcoming tough stretch against Philadelphia (wait, what?), Boston Bruins, Carolina, Vegas and Pittsburgh, Keefe’s prospects for future employment don’t look particularly promising.

And as is almost always the case, the team will fire the person who is least responsible for its poor results. The Maple Leafs, who for some reason have been touted as a serious Stanley Cup contender (when they’re not and never have been – second-tier contender at best) over the past couple of seasons, find themselves with an unimpressive 4-4-2 record. And that is squarely on the players and, by extension, the management group that has been responsible for their assemblage. It’s almost always that way when a coach gets fired, but in this case, it’s even more stark and egregious. That is not to say Keefe does not have his shortcomings as a coach – he’s been seriously out-coached in the Leafs’ well-documented and futile post-seasons – but he is not the biggest problem here.