Insider discusses the latest on the Sheldon Keefe situation in Toronto

With all of the focus in Toronto currently on the ongoing search for a general manager, some of the other important storylines have taken a back seat, or have been swept under the rug for the time being. One of those storylines involves head coach Sheldon Keefe and whether or not he'll be back with the team next season.

As far as the lead-up to Brendan Shanahan's dismissal of Kyle Dubas late last week, there was a strong belief in some circles that Keefe would not be back. In fact, we had a source share some pretty convincing information surrounding Keefe being on the cusp of being relieved of his duties as head coach ahead of the final year of his deal. However, with Dubas being let go by the organization, it sort of put everything else on hold - including some ongoing discussions with Luke Schenn on a contract extension in Toronto, as Schenn pointed out yesterday.

TSN's Darren Dreger discussed the topic of Keefe's future in Toronto yesterday on TSN1050's First Up and had stated that there's certainly a chance now that Keefe could return for the final season on his contract, but also stated that the decision has to be made by the new GM. This falls in line with what Brendan Shanahan had said during his press conference last week. Shanahan had not mentioned Keefe by name even once and when asked about Keefe's future in Toronto, Shanahan deflected, pivoting to the fact that the team's GM will be involved in that decision, as would AGM Brandon Pridham.




As we well know, typically a GM likes to have his own coach. If the Leafs truly are looking at Brad Treliving as their front-runner, Dreger wonders whether that has played into why Keefe has not yet been let go by the team. As we well know, Treliving doesn't really have "a guy" right now. We know how things ended in Calgary with Treliving and Darryl Sutter, so Dreger really doesn't think Sutter would be a guy that he'd look to reunite with in Toronto.

Naturally, everything is in a bit of a holding pattern right now, but in terms of where the club is at with Keefe, it's pretty safe to say that the Leafs' split with Kyle Dubas changed everything, at least for the time being. Unfortunately, we likely won't have a better idea of which side of what's coming until a new GM is named.