New Jersey Hires Sheldon Keefe as Head Coach

On the morning of May 23rd, the New Jersey Devils officially announced that they had hired former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe as the team’s 31^st coach in the franchise’s history as first reported by Brian McGonagle aka “Rear Admiral” of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. A press conference to introduce Keefe is scheduled for May 30th.

Keefe coached the Leafs from 2019-2024, accruing a record of 212-97-40 record in his first stint as an NHL coach. In that span, Keefe’s .665-point percentage is the fourth best mark in the league.

According to TSN’s Darren Drager, Keefe contract with the Devils is for four seasons, including a raise, as Tom Fitzgerald & Devils ownership ripped up the remaining two-year deal Keefe had remaining in Toronto.

Heading into the into the 2023-2024 season, the New Jersey Devils had Stanley Cup aspirations under coach Lindy Ruff after exceeding all expectations last season where the team finished 52 wins and 112 points, all franchise records, and beat the New York Rangers in a seven-game series in the opening round of the playoffs.

Fans, analysts and everyone in the Devils building thought that series win of the Rangers was just the start to their Cup window. Instead, the Devils were fed some major humble pie, missing the playoffs entirely after an injury riddled season. In March, Ruff was let go after having a 30-27-4 record and Travis Green took over as the interim through the rest of the season.

After the season, Green was hired as the new coach in Ottawa and the process for New Jersey would begin.

They went into the interview process for their next coach with an open mind, bringing in as many candidates as possible. They included the likes of Craig Berube, Jay Woodcroft, Ryan Warsofsky, Todd McLellan and many others before coming to this decision.

New Jersey Devils owner Josh Blitzer had many positive things to say about Sheldon Keefe in the Devils press release. “Finding the right coach to lead this team was our top priority, and Sheldon impressed us during every step of the interview process. He shares in our goal to unlock the full potential of this roster and deliver a fourth Stanley Cup to our fans.”

Once Keefe was let go by the Maple Leafs after the team was eliminated in seven games in OT against the Boston Bruins, he quickly became the Devils number one target.

“Sheldon jumped to the top of my list when he became available, and I was thrilled when he agreed to be a part of what we are building here. He is an excellent communicator, believes in collaboration, and will take what he has learned previously to make this team a Stanley Cup contender”, said GM Tom Fitzgerald.

There were some rumors out of Toronto that Keefe could wind up taking some time off to spend with his family as the Leafs would still be paying him for the next two seasons if he didn’t get a new gig. In the end, Fitzgerald and the Devils get their guy.

A big reason that Fitzgerald landed on Keefe was their emphasis for finding someone that would be able to communicate and work with other departments in the front office. Another deciding factor in Keefe’s hiring was how very analytical friendly he is as a coach. That goes hand in hand with a Devils organization whose analytical department has grown each of the last few years.

In Jersey, Keefe will get to coach a similar type of roster comprised of young high-end talent with the likes of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes and many other pieces already on this Devils roster who are looking to get back to winning ways after a very disappointing 2023-2024 season.

When asked “why” he accepted the Devils job, here’s what Keefe had to say. “To have the chance to lead this young, dynamic team and to see the potential that can still be unlocked is all very attractive for me. After meeting with David, Josh, Tom, and other members of the organization and in talking with my family, this was an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down. I know this organization has a great history of winning and I look forward to getting started to work on leading them back to that level.”

Keefe brings a winning pedigree to NJ despite only winning one playoff series in his five seasons. In Soo Saint Marie, the only thing that stopped Keefe and the Greyhounds was Connor McDavid.

With the Toronto Marlies, Keefe won 199 games and lead the team to a Calder Cup in 2018. With the Maple Leafs, Keefe made the playoffs every year, led the team to three straight 100-point seasons and is the second youngest coach to 200 wins in NHL history.

Heading into the Sheldon Keefe era, Devils fans should expect much of the same when it comes to the style of play on the ice. Up in Toronto, the Leafs were a high-flying offensive juggernaut under Keefe and players like Auston Matthew, Mitch Marner and William Nylander all blossomed into NHL super stars under Keefe’s tenure.

Under the tutelage of Keefe from 2019-2024, Matthews (444, 5th), Marner (415, 7th) and Nylander (366, 16th) are all in the top 20 in the NHL for points.

Keefe was able to go from the AHL to the NHL and help get the most out of his players from an offensive standpoint, culminating in turning Austin Matthews into one of the top five best offensive players in hockey as he took home the Hart Trophy in 2022 and the Maurice Richard Trophy in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

From a “team” aspect, the Leafs were an offensive super-power in the NHL. In five seasons under Keefe, Toronto averaged 3.52 GF/GP, tied for the second best in the league in that time span with Florida and just behind Colorado (3.54 GF/GP).

That 3.52 is also the same number of goals for per game the Devils scored in their franchise setting season in 2022/2023. Those numbers just show you the consistency that Keefe was able to maintain in time up in Toronto.

Looking at special teams the Devils should improve as well under Keefe. The PP up in Toronto was clicking at an impressive 24.4%, only behind Edmonton (28.5%) and Tampa Bay (24.9%). Now the Leafs had Auston Matthews and co leading the way, but fans should expect a massive improvement on a PP in New Jersey that is just scoring 18.7% of the time since Jack Hughes stepped into the league in 2019.

For Tom Fitzgerald, this hire seems like a big coup. Keefe is a winner at every level, the only thing that holds him back is the playoff success that Toronto didn’t have. That ultimately comes down to the Leafs having one of the most top end rosters in the league.

With New Jersey locking down its young superstars for the next five years plus to excellent contracts, Keefe will finally have some cap space and roster flexibility to help him mold this Devils team into a future cup contender. Not having 65% of your cap space tied up in five players will be a massive help.

Keefe will have to deal with the questions of, “is can he get this Devils team over the hump?” In Toronto his high paced, offensive style of play dried up in the playoffs. Was that down to coaching or was it down to personal? Has he learned from his undoing’s in Toronto or will Keefe just bring his playoff heartaches to New Jersey?

Originally when the Devils were heading into this process for a new coach, I thought the Devils should go in a different direction and hire Craig Berube. The thinking being that this high skilled team needed to learn how to be tougher and grittier when playing springtime hockey. In the end, I think Tom Fitzgerald made the right call.

With Sheldon Keefe moving out of the hockey capital of Toronto, the “pressure” to be a savior is finally off his shoulders. There will be pressure from fans and the front office to win in New Jersey, but it will be far less than the weight of expectations and intense scrutiny that he faced in Toronto for an original six team.

This Devils team has some big needs heading into the summer, an elite number one goalie and upgrading the bottom six forwards, but if Fitzgerald can make those additions, Keefe and the Devils will be a really dangerous hockey team in year one. Get your Sheldon Keefe “Jack Adams” Award bets in now.