Terrible news just dropped for the Maple Leafs and fans have had enough
Sheldon Keefe and Craig Berube now frame one awkward Maple Leafs reality that Toronto fans cannot ignore.
That old Leafs bench produced 3 NHL head coaches.
Keefe, Spencer Carbery, and Manny Malhotra once worked together in Toronto. Now all 3 are running their own benches elsewhere in the league.
That is not just a neat trivia note.
It is the kind of detail that makes people in Toronto stop and ask the obvious question. How did the Leafs have that much coaching talent in one place and still come out of it without turning that into something bigger?
Because this is where it gets uncomfortable.
Keefe already had the top job in Toronto and moved on. Carbery has built real respect around the league. Malhotra just landed his own chair too, and fans in Vancouver already sound fired up about the culture and voice he brings.
That is a serious coaching tree.
And yet when Leafs fans look back on that group together, the feeling is not pride first.
It is frustration.
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Things just got even worse for the Maple Leafs and fans are furious
That is the sting in this story.
The Leafs spent years trying to become one of the smartest organizations in hockey. In some ways, this proves they were onto something. They had bright people in the room. They had future head coaches on staff.
But what do they really have to show for it now?
Keefe is gone.
Carbery is gone.
Malhotra is gone.
And Toronto is still searching for answers behind the bench.
That is why the photo hits.
It is not only 3 coaches standing together in old suits on an old Leafs night. It is a snapshot of an organization that clearly had strong hockey minds around it and still could not turn that into a lasting advantage.
That is hard to miss.
It also says something about reputation.
Other teams saw value in these guys.
Other teams trusted them with their own rooms.
Other teams decided they were ready to lead.
Toronto had all 3 under one roof and still ended up starting over.
Maybe that is unfair to say too harshly. Not every assistant becomes the right hire in the same city. Timing matters. Roles matter. Opportunity matters too.
Still, Leafs fans are going to look at that group and wonder what might have been.
And honestly, they should.
Because when 3 men from one old bench all become NHL head coaches somewhere else, it does not only say they were good.
It says Toronto had more in that room than it ever fully turned into gold.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 2, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| K'Andre Miller | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Smith | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | - | - | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||