The Toronto Maple Leafs have extended Sheldon Keefe to remain as the head coach of their AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies. He has signed for a two-year deal. The financial terms of the deal are not yet known. This deal will carry him through the 2020-21 season.

NEWS: The @MapleLeafs have signed @TorontoMarlies head coach Sheldon Keefe to a two-year contract extension.

Details >> https://t.co/tj683YU9FZ#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/wXmB4iGA7R

— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) May 28, 2019

Sheldon Keefe Remains With the Toronto Marlies

Sheldon Keefe has continuously progressed coaching through different leagues, being one of the best coaches and having one of the best teams in each league he has coached in. With the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Keefe helped turn the team around, eventually coaching the roster to a franchise record of points, finishing with a 54-12-2 record. He won both the OHL and CHL coach of the year awards. His all-time record at the OHL level is 121-41-13, or a 0.729 points percentage.

In his time with the Toronto Marlies, Keefe coached the roster to incredible heights, winning the Calder Cup in the 2017-18 season and coaching some of the best regular season teams in AHL history. He has continuously helped develop lots of players that have graduated from the Marlies to the Leafs, such as William Nylander, Connor Brown, Zach Hyman, Travis Dermott, Andreas Johnsson, and Kasperi Kapanen as a few examples.

“Over the last four seasons Sheldon has done a great job developing our individual prospects into Maple Leafs while also guiding the Marlies deep into the playoffs in each of his four seasons with the organization, including the Calder Cup in 2018,” said Kyle Dubas, Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager. “Ensuring that Sheldon remains tasked with guiding the development of our prospects was very important to our program and the reason we began the discussion to extend Sheldon months ago.”

What This Means For the Future

For the Leafs organization, it is a big win keeping the coach that has helped develop so many graduates from the Marlies to the Leafs. It was rumoured that Keefe would be looking at an NHL head coaching job elsewhere, so having him remain in the organization is a very good thing for the future of both the Marlies and the Leafs.

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