Keefe was coaching an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena for the first time since being fired by the Maple Leafs on May 9. Having been hired by the Devils 14 days later, he’d faced his former team twice this season, both at Prudential Center.
This was different.
This was Toronto, where he’d had his first NHL coaching job and led the Maple Leafs to a regular-season record of 212-97-40 after replacing Mike Babcock on Nov. 19, 2019. He ranks fifth in coaching victories in Maple Leafs franchise history, trailing only Punch Imlach (370), Pat Quinn (300), Hap Day (259) and Dick Irvin (216).
But he won only won Stanley Cup Playoff series during that time, a blemish on his record that he readily admits was legitimate grounds for his dismissal.
When he got the New Jersey job, the family decided that his wife Jackie and teenaged sons Wyatt and Landon would remain behind at their home in Oakville, 20 miles west of Toronto. The boys, ages 12 and 14, are deeply involved in minor hockey and lacrosse, and the Keefes did not want to disrupt that.
At the time of his hiring, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald gave the coach his blessing to return to Ontario on off days to see his family.
“Hey, I understand the importance of family,” Fitzgerald said. “I still have my place in Boston where my kids were raised and still get up there.”
He laughed.
“The difference is, as the GM, I don’t have to be at practice first thing the next day. As the GM, you set your own schedule. And I’ll say this for Sheldon: when he shows up the next day for work, he’s ready to go. It’s all business.”
Keefe tried to follow that game plan on Thursday. He drove in to the rink like he’d always done with the Maple Leafs, including encountering the same traffic congestion he’d been a part of for so many days on the Gardiner Expressway from Oakville to Toronto during his time here. He took the same entrance into the bowels of Scotiabank Arena, only to go into the visitors room rather than the home digs.
“It was a great day,” he said. “I got to see a lot of people like I expected. But once the puck was dropped I kind of forgot where I was. When you’re coaching, you are kind of in the moment.”
There was one special moment that had nothing to do with coaching. It came prior to the game when he got a photo taken with his entire family on the visitors bench, a picture that was posted on the Devils official social media account.
“It was terrific,” he said, adding that, “I’m trying now in my time in the NHL to make my family a part of it as much as possible, especially when they’re not with me full time.”
Once the game did start, he watched his Devils take three one-goal leads only to have the Maple Leafs tie the game each time, including a pair of goals by Toronto captain Auston Matthews in the third period. William Nylander then scored the winner on a breakaway at 1:10 of overtime to squash Keefe’s hopes of coming out of his homecoming game with two points.
“You can’t make mistakes like we did against a good team like that, and against a world-class player like Matthews,” Keefe said.
