"We're grown men": Leafs star players have closed-door meeting with Keefe

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe made headlines earlier this week with some rather, well, pointed comments following the team’s 4-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

Keefe appeared to call out his team’s star players for a lack of production early on in the season, as they fell to a 2-2-0 record.

“When you really look at it, the difference between us and Arizona is that we have elite players. Our elite players didn’t play like elite players today,” Keefe said following Monday night’s loss. “They couldn’t make the difference. In that sense, the game is going to be close. That is the way it goes when those guys don’t make the difference that they can.”

Toronto’s now dropped games to teams ranked 31st (Montreal) and 32nd (Arizona) in last year’s standings, while squeaking out a 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, a team that finished not much higher at 26th overall a year ago.

But at the team’s practice on Wednesday, Keefe attempted to clarify what his intentions of the comments were.

“I used some of the wrong words to try to describe what I was trying to describe, ” Keefe said. “The difference in the game I find that just we weren’t able to produce with our power play and five-on-five, but by no means did I mean anything beyond that.”

Leafs forward Mitch Marner didn’t seem too fazed by the comments and added that he had a closed-door meeting with Keefe along with other members of the team’s “leadership group” on Wednesday.

“He explained what he meant to say, how it came out, and everything like that. I will leave it at that. Like I said, we have closed doors here for a reason. We have talks without you guys for a reason,” Marner told the media.

Outside of William Nylander, no Leafs player has had more than a single goal through the team’s first four games.

“We had that talk today. We understand. We are grown men,” Marner added. “We had a talk. It was all good. That is part of this game — talking to one another and explaining what you meant. I don’t think anyone was hurt by the comments or anything like that.”

Auston Matthews also didn’t seem too concerned about the meeting.

“Obviously what’s said behind the doors and like private discussions is, you know, maybe different than how it’s interpreted out in the media,” Matthews said. “This is my seventh year now and I kind of understand how it works.  The conversations that go on behind closed doors without media and stuff are for more general discussions and communication rather than just you know, harping on guys.”

Toronto is back in action tomorrow night at home when they take on the Dallas Stars at 7 pm ET.

You might also like:
• NHL explains "hand pass" call that cost Leafs tying goal against Coyotes