Why did Sheldon Keefe choose the Devils? | Jay on SC

Why did Sheldon Keefe choose the Devils? | Jay on SC

what a treat we’re joined by a man who’s come off the road he’s been on the road throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs now he’s back home looking very sharp in a blue blazer at home it is our hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun and uh Pierre it’s great to see you and uh first of all thanks for being on the show i’ like to say that to you thanks for being on the show I missed you man and you know that when you throw compliments at me off the top it’s going to work I mean it’s going to be good for you if you go that route so thank you for knowing how fragile I am and for introducing me with lots of love listen Pierre we’re in TV we’re all fragile so I you know I get it trust me I get it more than anybody does um hey Sheldon Keith this is wild I thought maybe he’d go away for a couple of years uh he’d chill for a little bit he’d collect that Leaf’s paycheck but he’s according to you and Darren Dreer he is going to be the next head coach of the New Jersey Devils and you know before people say what about that two-year contract well I believe that’s going to be ripped up get a nice new four-year contract with the devil so it’s going to work out for Keith but it is kind of funny because you’re going from one team with high-end talent and iffy goal tending to another team with high-end talent and iffy goal tending why did he decide to to take the devil’s job well certainly the Devils aim to fix that I think they’ll try to reignite talks on Jacob marks but we’ll talk about that another time Trey talks with Calgary uh because they do need to upgrade their gold tend this was a really fascinating uh thing you may remember the day that Sheldon Keith got fired by the Leafs uh we reported that uh the Devils immediately picked up the phone and asked the leas permission uh to speak with Shel and Keef which they were granted by the Leafs but it wasn’t that easy I mean the Devils really have to stay at this because I think for Sheldon Keith this was you know he really took this hard this firing um and I think he really needed to decompress a bit before wrapping his mind around whether or not he could jump back in and and give this what he it needs to be given to be a head coach again and my understanding is a devil’s Jim Tom fitgerald has stayed at it stayed at it stayed at it remember the Devils interviewed a number of candidates they had a a couple of Craig bre a couple with Todd McCullen uh they went deep with Jay whip craft they had a few other candidates that they interviewed but they kept waiting to see if Sheldon Keefe would be open to this idea and ultimately he was and you’re right yeah I mean jeld and Keef could have stayed out at least a year he had a two-year extension coming up with the Leafs but the devil’s rip that up and give it give him a fresh four-year deal and you can read into that a raise on what he would have got on that two-year extension with the leaves and and I think you know I’ve talked to other coaches around the league the doubles are one of those spots Jay that they’re just primed for a bounceback this is a team that was over 100 points two years ago the big injury to douggy Hamilton uh the pressure of expectations Jack U’s in and out of the lineup this is a bounceback team certainly if they can fix their goal ending and I think Sheldon Keef should be a great fit there now obviously the Kings like what they saw from Jim Hiller as the interim head coach of the team for the latter half of the Season even though they had the first round exit he is uh had that interim tag taken off he is now their head coach uh but this is interesting Pierre during the exit interviews in early May Kevin fiala who’s now starring for the Swiss team at the world hockey championships expressed his frustration about the Kings playing that 131 neutral zone trap take a listen obviously it would be um fun to try something else I love that line obviously it would be fun to try something else in case we weren’t sure he’s confirming it would be fun so Pierre will it be more fun to play in LA next season yeah that’s definitely the plan and my understanding what happened there is Jim Hiller you know takes over in February for Todd mclen and they just didn’t think as an organization now’s a time to blow up the system and completely redo everything with with the Kings life and death to make the playoffs if you remember Jay so they really tried to just you know tweak a few things but but really just try to play Survival hockey and get in the playoffs and they did but the reality is part of the many discussions that GM Rob Blake had with Jim Hillary over the last couple weeks in the leadup to saying you know what this is our guy near the end of those conversations my understanding is that yeah we’re going away from the 131 and what does that look like in your mind Jim and and they went from there so the Kings will will play a different system next year we’ll see what that looks like next fall but uh you know good for a guy like Jim Hiller too who’s been around a long time right and it just shows you that you work away you work away and and one day you’ll get your chance it’s sorry only 32 jobs um now the other thing we should point out the Kings did not make this part official but expect an announcement at some point in the coming days DJ Smith the former senator’s head coach who had joined that staff for the rest of the year uh has also is also staying on they’ve resigned him and so he’ll stay part of Jim Hiller’s coaching staff let’s talk about the Winnipeg Jets we thought maybe all signs were pointing to Scott arneal after the terrific he do job he did uh filling in for Rick bonus over the course of the Season uh but where are the Jets in their search Pier because as of now doesn’t seem like anything’s happened yeah so listen I think they felt it important to certainly speak to other candidates we know they spoke with Craig rubbe uh they spoke with Todd mclen so it’s certainly not like they sat there and said you know we’re just going to hand this to Scott O’Neal without even having a process they’ve definitely had a process that process is still not over and it’s still not 100% but my sense of of it is that it’s most likely going to Scott O’Neal after having gone through this process um again uh I’m not ready to say that’s 100% but I think that’s where it’s uh that’s the leading indication and um and you know you you see this sometimes where you go through the process hear from other coaches which is a useful tool sometimes you know if you’re the Jets and other teams have done this where you get to hear from other coaches about what they think of your team Y and so it’s it’s it can be a fruitful exercise but all signs point this scot arneal let’s talk about the San Jose Sharks they are in need of a head coach and is it possible Pier that if you’re a sharks fan and boy if you’re a sharks fan you’ve dealt with some pretty rough times the last few years is it possible that a familiar face from the past might at least get a chance to interview for that head coaching job yeah what we’ve confirmed is that uh the sharks have sought and received permission from the LA Kings uh to speak with Marco ster uh a former shark star very popular player in that market so I I kind of love this as a fit Marco Sturm who has you know been a head coach with the Kings AHL team and cut his teeth there um and and obviously with Jim Hiller’s hire kind of roadblocked uh you know in terms of you know getting that head coach job in La so it does I’m not saying he’s necessarily going to get the job in San Jose the Sharks I’m told are still going through their process and look at at different options but they do intend uh uh to have Sturm as part of that part of that process so we’ll see where it leads to I love that idea too I think it’s a terrific idea I hope it works out uh the Leafs as you know introduce Craig buuy as their new new head coach on Tuesday we found out over the weekend yeah I know we did very little coverage on it but we touched on it and then uh and then Rod bremore of course staying in Carolina on a five-year deal and I know our mutual friend Jeff O’Neal uh you know as much respect as he has for barui was was very intrigued with the idea of brendam Moore coming to Toronto and Jeff might be a little biased because he played with the guy but I think a lot of Leaf’s nation was intrigued by the idea was there any sense Pierre in your mind that that was even potentially close for the Leafs in brendam more well yeah Jay here’s what I will say it’s not a coincidence the timing of all these announcements and events I mean the Leafs announced finalized and announced breu on the Friday uh the Hurricanes finalized a deal with brendam Moore I’m trying to remember now I think on Saturday night it doesn’t get made official until Sunday Y and then baru news conference on Tuesday so all these things kind of overlapping what I would tell you with confidence is that at the very least I think if Rod bremore had left Carolina the least would have sought permission to at least talk to him I’m not saying he would necessarily been the guy but they certainly would have want to find out what was going on there and I think they did have tabs on that whole situation before they ultimately finalized things with a guy they loved from the beginning in Craig breu so yeah it’s not a coincidence that all these things were lined up that way um but Rob renmore not only stays signs a 5year deal which is rare these days in the NHL coaching Carousel and uh took care of his assistance too which I know is really important to him um I love reading your columns in the athletic you shot down the rumors of a potential Mitch Marner to Nashville Union in the athletic on Wednesday so I guess my next question is where what what is the situation with martyr right now and do you think there’ll be any kind of resolution anytime soon yeah Jay I shot down in the sense that I actually understand why the idea is out there and why it makes sense I mean the Predators have made it a priority to upgrade offensively this summer and they also have a goalie they hope to extend in UC SOS a star goalie and if they can extend him you know maybe they trade him so I understand how a lot of smart people put some you know put some stars aligning together here and and and think that Nashville and Toronto could be a match but what I was trying to uh you know report is that I’m not saying you can’t ever come to that point where these two teams have that conversation I’m just telling you it hasn’t happened at this point right the two teams have not talked about Mitch mner and and part of that is at least were busy trying to figure out their coaching situation so they haven’t moved on yet to that part of the offseason um but you know part of what I wrote about too in that column is that this thing has a lot of layers I mean at the end of the day for example I have no evidence from making a few phone calls this week that Mitch marner’s Camp is preparing a list and going to hand over a list to Brad TR living the Leafs GM saying these are places we might go that’s not what I’m Vibes I’m getting there from the murder Camp it it it sounds very much like hey we have a year left on our deal we’re going to honor it and you know we love playing for the leash and it’s it’s important to note that at this juncture because Mitch maro’s a full no move so I guess it’s it’s my my my way of saying this still could go a lot of different ways including potentially a Marner trade this summer but it’s GNA have to come from the Leafs getting the kind of offer from somewhere else where they feel they have to bring it to to marner’s camp and not the other way around if that makes any sense you know Matthew kachuck two years ago his Camp handed a list of five six teams to Calgary that’s not the sense I’m getting that that at this particular juncture marner’s Camp intends to to go go that route but again it’s if anything if there’s one takeaway from my column is that it’s early and not a whole lot has happened on the mar front so let’s all take a deep breath well and Pier I’m sure that’s the last we’ll hear about it all summer I’m sure we won’t hear a thing oh my goodness um okay if I was better at an eye roll I would have done one right there but we’ll see if we can add an eye roll Emoji to this uh interview for for the show um you spent the last round following the Dallas Stars I love that you you got to see him up close in person the series against Edmonton starts on Thursday Western Conference Final based on what you saw Pierre do you think the Stars can contain the mcdavid’s and dry sidles the way they were able to contain uh the McKinnon yeah well you touched on something very important there is that they just had a similar matchup Chris tanov was deployed exclusively whenever Pete theor could could get it out there Chris Tanana versus Nate McKinnon and it was a fascinating matchup that went back and forth McKinnon had his moments but tanov had an unbelievable series after having an unb unbelievable series matched up against Jack eel in the first round so you know what Chris tanana’s job’s going to be in the Western Conference Final um I just don’t know if he can be out there as often as number 97 is out there for the Oilers but but that’ll be the key matchup of the series The Stars are the deepest team in the league I mean their depth is unmatched unrivaled but again Conor McD David and Leon dradle and EV Evan Bard have shown in these playoffs that while their team is topheavy when you’re that good uh you can carry your team through adversity so I I think this is going to be a seven game series and uh and again the key to me as obvious as it sounds but when you’re in the rink watching it like I like I did last round tan versus McKinnon TANF versus McDavid will be the series in my mind for

TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joins SC with Jay Onrait to share why Sheldon Keefe decided to join the Devils now, where the Jets are at in their head coaching search, where the situation is at between Mitch Marner and the Maple Leafs, and much more.