Are the Toronto Maple Leafs turning things around?

After a tumultuous week that saw fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs attack the intestinal fortitude of the franchise, back-to-back wins against Canadian teams from the Western Conference appeared to be the cure.

Last Friday’s 5-4 shootout win over the Calgary Flames and Saturday’s 5-2 shellacking over the Vancouver Canucks gave both players and the coaching staff a bit of breathing room ahead of their trip to Sweden, where they’ll play two games against the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild.

There was plenty of discussion as to whether head coach Sheldon Keefe should be worried about his future, considering the team started 6-5-2 before securing the two wins last weekend. Now as we get closer to U.S. Thanksgiving, the unofficial point of the season when teams reevaluate their rosters and coaching staffs, some wonder if the team’s most recent performances saved Keefe’s job.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Matt Larkin and Steven Ellis discussed coaching hot seats and if the Maple Leafs’ bench boss feels more confident about his place in the organization.

Matt Larkin: We’re gonna head out east to Toronto, and I’m wondering if we’re seeing the “cooling” of a hot seat. The Maple Leafs were struggling going into last week, they lost five of six, capped by an embarrassing collapse against the Ottawa Senators last Wednesday. They beat Calgary on Friday, they beat Vancouver on Saturday, and suddenly they’ve won three out of four.

For you, is Sheldon Keefe’s actually cooling down? Are you expecting the Leafs to be okay going forward?

Steven Ellis: My question is, was it ever really that hot in the first place? I feel like at the start of every season, we’re talking about the same thing. “Is this the end of Sheldon Keefe in Toronto?” Then he figures it out. I think if he was in danger, he made two decisions that really helped this team.

One was the John Klingberg “definitely being hurt” and missing a game (against Calgary) then returning the next night vs. Vancouver and playing a solid game. Sitting Ryan Reaves was the second thing that probably helped this team. When you look at Reaves, he does not bring a lot to the table. I don’t want to rehash the same old argument because he’s been a hot topic on Leafs Twitter. But you take him off, you put Bobby McMann on and “surprise!” the fourth line was maybe Toronto’s most effective line on Saturday night against the Canucks.

You can listen to the full segment and the rest of the episode here…