Toronto Maple Leafs
Only Playoff Series Wins Will Erase Maple Leafs Fans’ Anger
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost again in the first-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. What do they have to do to reestablish fan support?
During his postseason interview, the questioner couldn’t have been more straightforward. He asked the Toronto Maple Leafs’ head coach if, even though he’s only been the coach in Toronto for what amounts to a season and a half, whether he understood why the fanbase is as angry as he’s seen it in decades.
Specifically, he asked Keefe if he could put himself in the shoes of a Toronto-area kid and come to understand their anger and their wrath. Keefe, whether he meant it or not, thanked the questioner for the question and made a number of points to suggest that he understood the anger from Maple Leafs’ fans. Then, he even went further to suggest that he thought that anger was justified.
Related: Maple Leafs’ Dubas: I Won’t Dump 2 Stars for Not Scoring in 1 Series
What Sheldon Keefe Said
In short, Keefe said that he gets it. You can see him do so in this interview.
Keefe’s Seven Points in Response
Point #1: The Fans’ Anger Is Justified
I do understand the fans’ anger, and it’s justified. We failed to deliver yet again for a team that had earned the confidence and the expectations that the fans had put upon us this season.
Point #2: We Wanted This Playoffs Series to Come, and We Messed It Up
We were excited to play in the playoffs with the opportunity to erase history and push past it. We obviously failed to deliver on that. We own that. I as the coach in the organization own that. Every ounce of criticism or doubt that comes from our results is justified, and we own that.
Point #3: We Made It Work During the Regular Season, But …
We have to continue to work as a team and organization to build something that will sustain itself through difficult times in the playoffs.
Point #4: Part of the Problem Was We Made the Fans Believe in Us
Part of the disappointment in this loss that the fans feel, and we would feel within the organization, and that the media would be portraying here, is because of the work that the team put in this year, because of how the players came together, the regular season that we had, our ability to win the division and finish as the first seed and to gain control of a playoff series.

Point #5: The Same Players Who Created the Dream Didn’t Deliver
That’s the same group of people that didn’t get it done in the end. It feels so disappointing because the belief in the team was there. There the belief in the team was there and the players are in that belief ultimately didn’t deliver on it.
Point #6: There Was Progress Made (Sub-text, Just Not Enough or Soon Enough)
But I do believe inside of that there’s some progress made. It doesn’t feel that way today and it won’t feel that away for quite some time. Really probably until we get chance to compete in the playoffs again and redeem ourselves and push past this once and for all.
Point #7: We Shouldn’t Be Rash About What to Do
But as leaders in the organization, as the dust settles, we have to reflect appropriately learn from this and continue to push the individuals and the collective unit as a team to have something that’s sustainable not just through regular season success but onto postseason success.
Related: Agent Denies Zach Hyman Turned Down $5M Offer from Maple Leafs
The Bottom Line
For Keefe, his response to the anger of Maple Leafs’ fans is to acknowledge the truth of it. Based upon expectations his team had built throughout the regular season, the fans were right to expect more.
That the team could not survive or prosper in the postseason is something that needs to be addressed, but Keefe suggests it should be addressed without being rash and tearing the house down.

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