“Wes has treated me like a true professional since I’ve been in this league” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe on referee Wes McCauley

With Wes McCauley announced as one of the officials for Sunday night’s Game 3 matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers, it is once again a talking point in the hockey world.

The focal point of this discussion is the potential connection and conflict of interest between McCauley and Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe. McCauley is the brother-in-law of David Frost, a former minor hockey coach and agent of Keefe during his playing days. Frost formed the hockey cult “The Brampton Boys” that included Keefe, and manipulated their behaviors as they worked their way through major junior.

However, Keefe doesn’t believe that to be an issue.

Sheldon Keefe on his relationship with referee Wes McCauley. pic.twitter.com/2ftCcOeaxn

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 7, 2023

“First of all, officials don’t have an impact on the game. That’s not my focus,” said Keefe to the media ahead of Game 3. “Wes has treated me like a true professional ever since I’ve been in this league and I’ve been very appreciative of that.”

Under McCauley’s officiating, the Leafs have an 0-8 record in the postseason, including an 0-4 record in win-or-go-home Game 7s (or Game 5 in the case of their 2020 play-in series with the Columbus Blue Jacket). One loss came earlier in the 2023 playoffs in their 7-3 Game 1 loss in their first round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

However, only half of those games came while Keefe was the head coach of the Leafs, while the other half were during Mike Babcock’s tenure, and the Leafs were also 5-0-1 in the regular season when McCauley was officiating.

There’s also a lot of unknowns in the relationship between Keefe and Frost that poke holes in this theory. The biggest one surrounds what’s been said on Keefe testifying against Frost during his 2008 trial for which he was acquitted of four accounts of sexually exploiting young players. However, the records of the testimony are sealed, so it’s unknown whether or not Keefe testified against Frost or for him. For a deeper dive on Keefe and the Leafs relationship with McCauley and Frost, Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin took a closer look earlier in the playoffs.

The Leafs will hope to snap this 0-8 postseason record under McCauley’s officiating on Sunday, as they desperately need a win to get back into this series. They are currently down 2-0 against the Panthers after dropping game one 4-2 and game two 3-2 on home ice, making for a tough hole to crawl out of.