Photo Credit: Azadeh Kashani, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Keefe Throws Players Under Bus
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach, Sheldon Keefe, was seen throwing his own players under the bus after their loss against the worst team in the league on Saturday night.
Keefe was careful to blame everyone but himself, putting it all over the Toronto Maple Leafs players, saying things like "I can't do the work for them." Keefe made it very clear who he blamed for the pathetic performance of this pretender team.
With team superstar Auston Matthews off injured, it appears Keefe grew a set of balls, and pointed the fingers at this pillow of marshmallows for a crew that couldn't be bothered to put out an effort for goaltender Joseph Woll's first game on home ice.
None of them should ever be allowed to feel happy again until they somehow make up for it.
With Matthews not in the lineup, Keefe has the luxury of knowing that unlike in times past when he called his players out, he could get away with it this time without any repercussions. The coach killer can't be a target of criticism when he's not even playing.
All this playing of "passing the buck" and "who said what" reminds me of the time I thought Auston Matthews got benched.
Auston Matthews Has A Big Mouth
He probably just learned it from Keefe.
Exactly one year prior, almost to the date, of Keefe being forced to "clarify" his infamous "soft and purposeless" comment, there was another instance involving the media that caught fans attention.
After losing 3-1 to the Edmonton Oilers, a real team with real players who actually want to contend, on January 20, 2021, Matthews went on record after the game saying things like "we have to play to win, not to contain two guys", and questioning the pre-game scouting report.
The next day after making these comments, Matthews was called down to the coaches office during practice, and went home shortly after and didn't play in the teams next game.
The official reason provided Matthews missed the game was because he was too sore to play.
Too sore. To play. One game.
One game.
It's Was All One Big Coincidence
At first I thought Matthews was benched, but upon reflection, I'm probably just reading too much into an article written by someone reading too much into what Kristen Shelton and Justin Cuthbert had to say.
Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
I'm sure the conversation Matthews and Keefe had in the coaches office was all about poor Matthews sore body. The RubA5-35 wasn't getting the "owie" out. Keefe told him to go home and smear Absorbine Jr all over everything but his balls.
Don't worry about the game.
That makes way more sense than thinking he got benched for calling out Keefe in media.
What was I thinking.
It's just a coincidence it happened to be the very next game after making those comments is all.
Unaccountable Coach Holds Unaccountable Players Accountable
After telling everyone that it was the players fault they lost to the worst team in the league, and not his, Keefe refused to take any more questions and made his way towards the team bus.
Upon reaching the bus, Keefe threw Engvall under it, saying something about "there's always room for one more".
David Kampf boarded through a window.