Sheldon Keefe addressed the media on his first day as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Opening remarks:
Keefe: Very honoured and privileged to be here. To have a chance to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs is something you don’t really think about as reality, but I recognize the responsibility and the privilege. I am thrilled to have a chance to work with this group and be a part of it. I want to thank the ownership in Larry Tanenbaum, the MLSE board, and Brendan Shanahan for his confidence, and of course Kyle. I’m really excited to be here. It has been a bit of a whirlwind to get to this point over the last little while, but seeing on the ice with the guys this morning and having a meeting was pretty exciting. It just kind of felt like more regular routine coaching, and that was great. We’re getting right into it tonight with a game. Very excited.
How important is the fact that you’re not new to Kyle or the organization now that you transition into such a big new job?
Keefe: It really is a big help for me, particularly in these circumstances coming in in the middle of the season — or the early going of the season, I guess I should say. Knowing the faces — not just the staff, who I’ve worked with in camp — but even the players, I’ve had a lot of interactions with the players, those that have been here. I’ve coached a lot of them with the Marlies, of course, and through training camp. There is some familiarity that is a lot easier for me coming into the room today and being around the guys and talking to them. I wasn’t sure how it was going to feel and how it was going to be, but it really just felt like coaching. It was nice. Great support from the staff, both the training and equipment staff, to just have things rolling when we arrived. By the time the players got in the building, it just felt like another day.
What do you think the biggest challenges will be jumping in midstream?
Keefe: The first thing is trying to educate myself on exactly what has been happening. From a distance, you make your own sort of judgments on things, but really getting to know the players and getting their thoughts, and working with the coaching staff in terms of what they have identified as the issues and what has been done to this point to rectify them and try to get the team going. That is part of it — just to get up to speed and make sure that we are not going down the wrong road or a road that has already been exhausted, and bringing new ideas and fresh things that will help the team. That is part of it.
Of course, the relationships, building the relationships on the fly, and dealing with the different decisions you have to make and how that impacts different people — that, I would say, is my challenge, and then of course just getting to know the league and the opponents and those sorts of things. Fortunately, we have a great staff here that has done an unbelievable job just to keep things rolling and prepared for tonight’s game.
What all does it entail trying to make changes so quickly and jumping right into it in a morning skate?
Keefe: That was a challenge with the morning skate. Usually, you want to come in and you want it to be crisp and you want the puck flying around and you want to get the guys feeling good. Different circumstances, we felt we needed to touch on a few things today that we wanted to do. We slowed things down a lot more and did a little more teaching than you’d normally like to do in a situation like this. There are a lot of new drills and new patterns for the players to learn. That is not ideal on a game day, but we asked the players for their patience and understanding in that. They were great with it.
In terms of the changes, we, of course, want to make sure we can do a better job of reducing chances against and the things that are happening in front of our net. That is a real focus for us. That is something we felt we could address pretty quickly here today. It is going to take time to get it right on the ice in the games, of course, but the feedback was good. We just feel there is a lot of opportunity with this group and the skill set of the team to do different things offensively and just make us a more complete team in the sense that we feel with some of the offensive people we have and what we’re able to do, that will make us a better defensive team because we’ll have the puck a lot more and put the other team in tough spots that will limit their ability to transition and play against us with their speed.
We have a lot of work to do and a lot of things just to renew the spirit of the team. That is really the main focus. If we can tweak a few things that can inspire confidence, hopefully, we can build on that.
When this is all done, what kind of team do you expect to have?
Keefe: What I would like the team to look like: When we have the puck, we are going to capitalize and take advantage of it. We want to utilize the skill that we have. The team was built in a manner that it can’t capitalize when it has the puck. We want to make sure we put a structure in place where the players can learn that and give them the confidence and freedom to be able to utilize their skills.
Also, we recognize, of course, that when we don’t have the puck, we’re going to be looking to get it back in a very structured and competitive manner that is going to have a lot of pressure and force turnovers and give us a chance to transition and utilize the skills we are talking about.
Really, all of that will have to be on a foundation of competitiveness, work ethic, discipline and structure. If we don’t have those things in place, everything else is going to kind of fall apart at the seams. We’ll work on the foundation and continue to build on it. I think a lot of those things are in place. I looked at the way the team played the other night in Vegas and that was a very competitive, structured team that worked and played with a purpose. We want to utilize those types of samples for what the team is capable of and just build out from there.
You talked about needing to renew the spirit of the team. What are you seeing that makes you come to that [conclusion]?
Keefe: I think any time a team goes through a tough stretch like it has and wins are tough to come by, the vibe of the team is going to be tough. I haven’t necessarily witnessed it… I haven’t been around long enough to witness it. I thought the team was good and healthy today. Thee conversations were really good. Coaching as long as I have in my time, you know when you are going through a tough stretch, it takes its toll on you. That is more what i am referring to. We want to look to change that. The results won’t necessarily be the focus, but we want to get a positive result, of course, through a positive process and start off right. If we can get the players and the group in a situation where they are feeling confident and they’re thriving, that is going to really help all the pieces come together.
Results not being the focus in a results-based business can be problematic. What is a reasonable expectation for those?
Keefe: The reasonable expectation for me would be that we have good players here. We have a good team. I think my message to the players today is that I am not focused on what this team isn’t. I am focused on what this team is. We have a lot of good people here. We have a lot of talent. We have the ability to make life hard on the other team in a lot of ways. Focusing on that, we believe, will come with positive results because the players are good enough for that to happen. Putting together a good process and structure and following through on that on a daily basis will set us up for success, and results are going to come.
If we come in here today all tight looking to try to get a win and not focusing on the foundation and the things that are important, we are going to lose our way. We are focusing on putting together a good process. It is going to take us time to have it really look the way we want it to, but through a little extra spirit and changes that have come around, the players can go out and be confident and the results should follow.
Take us through your day yesterday and into arriving here today.
Keefe: It was a hectic day. It started at the Coca Cola Coliseum with the Marlies. it was a game day yesterday for us, so I got in there pretty early in the morning as we always do. Getting the team ready for the game yesterday, we did the morning skate there. I left the morning skate and between that time and coming back for the game, I got the call that things were moving forward and that I needed to be ready and we needed to move things quickly. From there, it was making a lot of plans to try to get things in order. My family — I wanted to get them organized and I’m fortunate that my wife and two boys are here, so it was getting them organized to make that happen and a lot of the details and making the important calls to get all that sorted. I got on a plane and got here and try to get us organized and ready.
It has been a bit whirlwind — up early this morning, getting to the rink and trying to get organized. It has been exciting and it has been nonstop. Coming to the arena here today and then starting to coach, that was when it really started to feel normal. I actually surprised myself a little bit just in how it felt really comfortable. It just feels like coaching. I feel good about that and I am looking forward to getting on the bench.
