Sheldon Keefe won't be a coach for Team Canada as long as Jon Cooper is there

New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe is fully focused on his second year with his second NHL team on the bench. After the Devils didn’t hit their goals in 2024-25, Keefe can now get his team more acclimated to his system and the impact it can have on wins and losses. His sole focus is going to be on the Devils after Monday’s announcement.

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is the head coach for Team Canada at most major international events. He was the head coach at the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this year, and he’s going to be the head coach when NHL players return to the Winter Olympics next year. 

It’s a great choice, as Cooper is one of the best head coaches in the NHL. His gameplans already take into account multiple great players, and he’s had different types of players come into the core, like Brandon Hagel, Jake Guentzel, and Oliver Bjorkstrand. That’s on top of superstars who they’ve drafted like Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, and Brayden Point. 

Nobody expected New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe to usurp Cooper as Canada’s head coach, but some might have thought he’d be up for an assistant role. However, Cooper went with the crew that he took to Montreal and Boston for the 4 Nations. 

That crew did work, helping Canada beat the U.S. in the championship game in that short tournament, but some of the coaches he had on that crew are in much different situations. Rick Tochett left the Vancouver Canucks and is taking over the Philadelphia Flyers. Peter DeBoer was fired by the Dallas Stars and hasn’t been re-hired yet. Misha Donskov is no longer with the Stars, either, but he is the Team Canada Director of Hockey Operations. Bruce Cassidy is great and nobody is questioning his status with the team.

Some might argue Keefe wouldn’t make the cut, anyway, but that seems hard to believe. He brings a very interesting coaching style that would honestly fit well within what Cooper is already doing. Keefe is great at getting star players to play defense, which will be important on the national stage. 

However, when looking at the history between Keefe and Cooper, it shouldn’t be a surprise that they don’t always mesh personalities. 

The most prominent example of this is when Keefe and Cooper met in the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Maple Leafs were obviously feeling the pressure of the first-round losses, and Keefe insinuated that Cooper was manipulating the referees in the series. 

Cooper quickly responded, as reported by Sportsnet, with a quip about the supposed compliment.

"“Manipulated the referees? I’m not sure what that means. But I would say this: When that hit happened, I think everybody watching at home and everybody in the building, including us, thought we were going on the power play."

Jon Cooper, Lightning Head Coach

Now, it's not the most pointed quote ever, but this is a coach who has no choice but to respond to something outside the hockey. He hates that.

There is a natural rivalry here, since Cooper and Keefe often met since they were in the same division with two of the best teams in the league. They faced off in the first round in back-to-back seasons, with Keefe’s only playoff series win coming against Cooper’s Lightning. That rivalry probably leads Cooper to go in a different direction.

Maybe with time, Keefe can change the narrative and coach for Team Canada. He’s no longer in Cooper’s division, and time heals all wounds. Also, Keefe needs to prove he deserves to be on the team. If he takes the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final, or at least to the Eastern Conference Finals before the next big international tournament, he could force the issue. 

For now, Keefe will spend the three-week Olympic break getting the Devils ready for the stretch run. He can watch the international tournament from home while taking notes from Cooper.