The Maple Leafs Have Signed Sheldon Keefe To Two-Year Contract Extension

The Toronto Maple Leafs are giving head coach Sheldon Keefe a vote of confidence.

According to Pierre LeBrun, the Leafs and Keefe have agreed on a two-year contract extension. Keefe’s deal was set to expire at the end of the 2021-22 season and this contract will now take him through the end of the 2023-23 season.

Keefe and Kyle Dubas, Toronto’s general manager, have a long history of working together.

When Dubas was the general manager of the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League, he hired Keefe to be the team’s head coach. Shortly after Dubas was hired by the Maple Leafs to be the general manager of the Marlies of the American Hockey League, Keefe was again brought along.

Given this history, it always seemed inevitable that Keefe would be Dubas’ guy behind the bench of the Maple Leafs.

Dubas was named the Maple Leafs’ general manager ahead of the 2018-19 season. Mike Babcock, who had inked a massive eight-year contract in 2015, remained Toronto’s head coach through Dubas’ first season, but, after an ugly start to the 2019-20 campaign, he got sacked.

The Leafs put up a 9-10-4 record under Babcock and, following a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, he was fired and replaced by Keefe. The Leafs would promptly go on a three-game winning streak and post a 27-15-5 record under Keefe.

Babcock said a few months later that he knew he was going to wind up getting fired when Dubas took over for Lou Lamoriello.

“It wasn’t shocking to me. I knew when Lou left, I was getting fired,” Babcock said. “… The bottom line is, I really believe it’s important that every general manager and every coach have their manager and their coach, their guy. And that wasn’t me.”

Keefe has a 62-29-12 record in the regular season as the head coach of the Leafs but the team has choked in both playoff appearances since, losing in the play-in round in 2020 the Blue Jackets and then blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Canadiens in 2021.

Despite the new contract, the pressure will be on Keefe to win a playoff series this year, as Toronto hasn’t advanced out of the first round since 2004. The same goes for Dubas.