Keefe had a "good sense" Leafs would fire him when they did
Getting fired from a job could come as a shock to some people. Others, though, see it coming. That was the case of former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, who was let go from his post after five years earlier this month.
Shortly after the Leafs replaced Keefe with veteran bench boss Craig Berube, the 43-year-old accepted another head coach position with the New Jersey Devils.
Meeting with reporters at the Prudential Center on Tuesday, Keefe opened up about the end of his Toronto tenure, revealing that the feeling that he would lose his job kept him awake the night before it happened.
Jersey looks good on you, Sheldon. pic.twitter.com/mxlmLALdBP
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) May 28, 2024
“I had a pretty good sense that that day I was going to wake up and be called into work for a meeting, and knew what the result was going to be,” he said. “Didn’t sleep much that night, was up around 3 am and rolling around in bed.”
Keefe’s sleepless night ultimately inspired him to record a thank-you video at his “happy place,” which he shared to social media once the news was public.
“I went directly from my meeting with (Leafs GM) Brad Treliving that morning to go down and shoot the video and get my message out,” he added.
One reason the Brampton native made the move to another market so quickly was to find some closure from his Toronto journey that began nearly a decade ago when he assumed a head coaching role with the Leafs’ AHL affiliate.
“I did know that I wanted to bring some closure to the situation in Toronto… I was gonna be excited for whatever was going to come next.”
As for parallels between the Leafs’ and Devils’ rosters, there are a few in Keefe’s eyes.
“The major parallel that I’m focused on is that this is a good team with really good players, great resources and high expectations,” Keefe said. “I’ve never coached a game at any level of any team where I didn’t expect to win every single time we put our gear on and went out to play. That was really important to me (…) but this is a fresh start and a great opportunity ahead.”