The headline is the story: Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts episode for the Saturday opening of the Stanley Cup Final said that he thinks that the Leafs and Keefe have potential to agree to an extension. He said they've had initial meetings.
This is in the early stages, but the context for this news comes as Mike Babcock is confirmed to be the head coach in Columbus once his Maple Leafs contract ends at the end of this month.
Peter Laviolette and John Hynes are in the running for the open job in New York, but there aren't many other names out there unless teams want to look to promote some of the very successful AHL head coaches who seem ready.
In other Leafs-related content, you can listen to the stuff about Dubas saying he wasn't taking another job and then changing his mind if you like. I'm not terribly moved by this soap opera stuff.
Friedman is less convinced than the fandom that Brandon Pridham will leave the Leafs for the Penguins. The most logical thing, as Friedman details, is that someone not a usual name that comes up for GM jobs is going to get the nod in Pittsburgh while Dubas essentially runs the team.
At the end of the segment discussing Brad Treliving's presser, Friedman then mentions that Treliving has done the coach extension that went bad. And well... yeah. That's why he is even with the Leafs now. So this to me argues against a precipitous extension to Keefe.
On the other hand Brendan Shanahan just had the experience of leaving Dubas as the lame duck with no extension and look what that got him.
Inertia rules, though. The Leafs need a reason to change coaches, and they need a replacement. The most likely outcome is that they keep Sheldon Keefe until he gives them a reason not to.
