Highlights from Keefe's Press Conference | BLOG

The Devils introduced Sheldon Keefe as the 22nd head coach in team history on Tuesday at Prudential Center.

The hour-long press conference highlighted Keefe's coaching style, development as a head coach, his vision for the team, and his determination to coach the Devils to their fourth Stanley Cup.

Read more below about Keefe's family, which coach influenced his coaching style, and his infamous selfie video following his time as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Family Man

Sheldon is a family man. Throughout his press conference he discussed his wife Jackie and her support throughout his career. Keefe is a proud father to two boys, Wyatt and Landon, and all three were in attendance for his first press conference as the Devils head coach. President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald started his remarks by thanking Keefe's family for supporting Sheldon to take on this new role:

“I really want to start by thanking Sheldon’s family, Jackie, Wyatt, and Landon, for really pushing this over the top. This wasn’t an easy decision for (Keefe), we knew that because of where he was, what he had down the road, and more importantly, his love and passion for (his kids) to be a full-time dad. We all know he’s one hell of a coach and we’re proud to have him as our coach so thank you for sharing him with us.”

In his message to fans following his time with the Maple Leafs, Keefe shared he was going to take a break and reflect. Jackie was a guiding presence through all of the changes and moving parts that followed over the next few weeks. Keefe made sure to give her credit not only for helping him through this process, but throughout his coaching career:

“I didn’t know what was going to come next, and that was real. I really didn’t. I do know that my time with my family is extremely important to me but yet with each day that passed it became clear to me (New Jersey was right), and it was really through the support of my wife Jackie who reminded me after a couple of days, you’re a hockey coach and you should take this seriously. Her support all through my career, from the time I made the decision to stop playing. To get involved in coaching, we moved out to a small town in Pembroke, Ontario. I started my coaching journey coaching seven seasons at the Junior A level, not the most glamorous level but it was an opportunity for me to learn. It was through her support, asking a girl from Scottsdale, Arizona to move up to Pembroke, Ontario and then off to Sault St. Marie, Ontario and then ultimately to Toronto, which has been an incredible run for us there to grow our family. But ultimately her support really allowed me to spend the time in the process and have the conversations with Tom, not knowing where it was going to lead.”

It led to today.

Who Inspired Him

Keefe went from playing professional hockey to being a Junior A team owner and coach in a blink of an eye. He started with the Pembroke Lumber Kings, a team he had worked with while he was injured during his playing career.

“When I made the transition from playing to being a coach, I knew I had a passion for teaching young players ... I had injured my knee and during rehab, my season was over, I ended up spending a (period of) time in Pembroke at the Junior A level and working with young players. It was very clear I was very much drawn to that. I was very much drawn to working with video in particular and spending time with it with players and trying to get an edge that way. So I was drawn to coaching, yet when I took on the role as head coach at that level, it was ‘OK, now I’m going to be a coach, I don’t know what I’m doing though.’ So what are you going to do to create your foundation and your core values as a coach, so you lean on your experiences as a player to do that initially."

Keefe credited his former coach, John Tortorella, for showing him how to build a successful team and the foundation a team needs to be successful. He reflected on Tortorella's impact on his own career:

"My time spent with John Tortorella and the Tampa Bay Lightning organization really set the foundation for me as a coach. I learned a tremendous amount from him that I apply to coaching and it was through the experience of being a part of an organization that was trying to raise the standard, when Tortorella came in, and went through some very difficult times both as the team, and with some of the individuals, some of the best players that were young and were trying to grow and were challenged by Tortorella on a daily basis to raise their standards. Ultimately the team got to the point where it was too good for me to play on anymore, but they won the Stanley Cup in 2004.

"While I wasn’t there, I was a part of that process of the team improving, and seeing Tortorella do his work on a daily basis, how he challenged the group. It was not easy, it was not comfortable but ultimately they got to win. That process really showed me what’s required in terms of creating, at times, uncomfortable situations, but showing love and commitment to your players. At the same time, knowing that you’re in it for their best interests and in it ultimately for the best interests of the team. Seeing Tortorella at work really set it up for me.

"When I started working in the NHL, I had an opportunity to thank him for that which was a great opportunity for me. He’s been incredibly gracious with his time since I’ve been in the NHL. He might not be as gracious anymore now that I’m in the division but that’s really where it started for me.”

Closure and Moving Forward

It's rare to hear from a head coach of any professional sports team on social media, let alone right after they were let go. However, for Keefe he felt it was important to address Toronto one last time and share appreciation for the fans after serving as the Toronto Marlies (AHL) and Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) head coach.

Keefe discussed filming the video and why he chose that approach in his press conference Tuesday:

“It was about bringing closure for the situation. I had a pretty good sense that day that I was going to wake up and be called in for a meeting, and knew what the result was going to be. I didn’t sleep much that night, I was up about 3 a.m. rolling around in bed, and knew I wanted to bring closure to the situation. Had the idea of having a video like that, it’s just an easy way. I didn’t want to spend much time going through any sort of media, but I wanted to be able to share a message to the fans and to everyone I’ve (worked with). I spent a lot of years in Toronto as the coach of the Marlies and the Leafs and I worked with some incredible people and I wanted to be able to control my message and get it out there. I had the idea of utilizing social media, had that spot picked out, which is not far from where we live. It’s my happy place to go down there, near the water, and spend some time there to clear my head.

"I went directly from my meeting with Brad Treliving that morning to go down and shoot the video and get my message out. From there I didn’t know what was going to happen next, quite frankly. It’s the first time I’ve been in this position, first time I’ve been let go, and unsure of what was going to come next, so didn’t quite know what was to come. I went from shooting that video to taking my wife Jackie out to lunch. During that lunch, we had already gotten a call from Treliving letting me know that Tom (Fitzgerald) had reached out and was wanting to talk. It wasn’t a whole lot of time to process things but it was very clear that I had to make a decision whether it was to engage in the process or take the time to recover and regroup from the situation in Toronto.”