Maple Leafs Sheldon Keefe surprisingly calls out Captain John Tavares
The Maple Leafs had a tough night on Monday against the New Jersey Devils, and their Head Coach didn't hold back with his criticism.
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The 2023-24 campaign has been a rollercoaster ride for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans, and after a big win on the weekend over the Edmonton Oilers, they followed it up with one of their worst performances this season against the New Jersey Devils.
The Maple Leafs have had some bad games this season, but this one may have been the worst of all, with Head Coach Sheldon Keefe coming out after the game to call out many of his best players.
«Instead of having a strong (second) period and building on it and continuing to do the things that we had done well, I thought we just overdid it,» Keefe said. «Really immature all the way through our game."
It's hard to argue with Keefe's criticism, as the team had a solid start, but fell apart after the Devils capitalized late in the first period to take a 2-1 lead, with the team simply falling apart after that.
Then, in a move no one saw coming, Keefe singled out Captain John Tavares, saying that he got carried away during the game, while still complimenting the work he's done overall as captain of the Maple Leafs.
"John Tavares has been the example for us. He's been outstanding for us for a long period of time. He himself got carried away tonight. That's our captain."
There's absolutely no doubting that Tavares has been a fantastic leader for this team over his tenure in Toronto, but with a career worst year, it may be effecting his work as captain of the team. John Tavares has been demoted to the third line for plenty of the 2023-24 campaign, and while it doesn't seem to be bothering him, Keefe's criticism could say otherwise, and now they'll look to desperately bounce back against Washington on Thursday.
Source - Blade of Steel:
| POLL | ||
27 MARS | 346 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Sheldon Keefe surprisingly calls out Captain John Tavares Can Sheldon Keefe and John Tavares lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup? | ||
| Yes | 84 | 24.3 % |
| No | 262 | 75.7 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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