Sheldon Keefe's head coaching career has been up-and-down, but it's hard not to keep believing in him. After winning a Calder Cup with the Toronto Marlies in 2017-18, he was one of the best young coaches on the market, but the Toronto Maple Leafs stashed him in the minors for another year and a half before he became Mike Babcock's successor.
Keefe did nothing but win during the regular season while he was in Toronto, thanks to a high-octane offense that was near the top of the league in that category during most of his tenure. However, losing four of five opening playoff rounds proved to the front office that whatever he was selling wasn't getting through to the players when it came time for the postseason.
Keefe's final season with the Leafs, his winning percentage dipped to .622, which was the lowest of his five years. The Maple Leafs moved on, and the New Jersey Devils immediately snatched him up, hoping he could do for their offense what he had done for Toronto's. In his first season in charge, the team had a resurgence and claimed third in the Metropolitan Division, but again, Keefe failed to advance past the first round.
The Devils took a step back in 2025-26, missing out on the playoffs in large part because of the freak injury that knocked Jack Hughes out of the lineup, a time when the team went 8-13-0. The Devils are hopeful that a healthy season from Hughes will put the team back in the playoff picture.
Sheldon Keefe's seat is getting hot with Devils
If New Jersey has a slow start, the talks around Keefe's future with the team are only going to get more intense. With a healthy Hughes and the recent acquisition of Luke Evangelista to hopefully help the top six, there is no reason why the head coach can't get the offense clicking, as he has done before in his career.
The excuses are going to start falling on deaf ears if things go poorly in 2026-27. All the momentum Keefe had as a head coach is starting to slow down, and he is in serious danger of letting all that good fortune fall by the wayside. He was a commodity because of his championship pedigree in the AHL, but the last time he reached the third round of the playoffs in any league was the 2018-19 season.
The only big addition the Devils could make to help Keefe further is a Quinn Hughes trade or waiting it out to see if he will hit free agency next offseason. Keefe may not make it to next offseason if the Devils struggle, but if he does make it to the end of the season and they have an early exit, it would likely be beneficial for Tom Fitzgerald to add a new head coach to welcome in the Hughes Brothers era in New Jersey.
If New Jersey is looking for a coach to come out of the bullpen, the possibility of The Rock being the next home for John Tortorella is always out there. If not, and the Hughes dreams come true, a proven, longer-term head coach in Bruce Cassidy is also still out there.
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