TORONTO, Ont. – Sheldon Keefe was back into his routine.
The 44-year-old head coach left his house in Oakville, an area that sits west of Toronto. He drove down the QEW, Queen Elizabeth Way, fighting through traffic, on his way to Scotiabank Arena. He entered the building through the usual door and walked down the same hallway that he had for the previous five years.
But this time, instead of continuing all the way to the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room, Keefe stopped just short, and entered the visitors’ locker room.
“It feels similar. It was basically the same walk that I took every day coming in here,” he said. “I just stopped short a little bit this time.”
Keefe, now the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, spent the previous nine years coaching in Toronto, both in the National Hockey League with the Maple Leafs (2019-24) and in the American Hockey League with the Marlies (2015-19). Thursday marked the first time he has returned to Toronto to play the Leafs since his departure from the team in May.
“We were fortunate to spend nine years here,” Keefe said Thursday morning. “There’s the Leafs time and the Marlies time is equally special to me. I’m fortunate to raise my family there.”
New Jersey may be his new team, but Toronto is still home. His wife, Jackie, and their two sons, 12 and 14 years old, remain in Toronto during the current season.