Former Maple Leafs head coaches don’t usually get to return and see their own tribute video from the opposite bench at Scotiabank Arena.
In the past half century, of the 20 men hired and fired since Red Kelly, only five came back to take on Toronto in the employ of another club.
Thus Sheldon Keefe’s comeback on Thursday, eight months after being let go and resurfacing in New Jersey, is very noteworthy. His Devils have more points than the Leafs (57-56) and are in good shape for him to break 100 for the fourth consecutive year.
NHL Stats informs us that only 13 coaches have achieved 100 points in multiple seasons with one team and got that many the next year with someone else, including three times each by Scotty Bowman and, this century, by Peter Laviolette.
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That never has involved a former Leafs coach, though three went on from being fired here to win the Cup with another club — Pat Burns and Paul Maurice, who appear below, and Dick Irvin with the Montreal Canadiens in the 1940s.
A summation of how the five most recent ex-Leafs bench bosses fared the night of their Toronto rendez-vous:
Paul Maurice, Carolina Hurricanes at Toronto, Jan. 19, 2009
Mike Babcock was a few weeks away from strutting back on to Bay Street last year before his misdeeds got him the training camp hook from Columbus. So, skipping past Peter Horacek, Randy Carlyle and Ron Wilson (who suffered a 2016 stroke), the most-recently severed Leafs coach to re-appear before Keefe was Maurice, now with Cup-winning Florida.
Lots of deja-vu going on that night as Maurice had only been sacked the year before and had just replaced Peter Laviolette with the Canes after the latter took Maurice’s long-held post going back to the Hartford Whalers era.
But that year’s low-scoring Leafs offered little resistance, losing 2-0.
Pat Quinn, Edmonton Oilers at Toronto, March 13, 2010
This reunion took a while as Quinn was gone for four years. But after taking a sunset role with the rebuilding Oilers, he enjoyed a huge reception in the town he had won 300 games and twice took the Leafs to the conference final.
He dined with the club’s new hierarchy, GM Cliff Fletcher and president Brian Burke. The long scoreboard tribute — The Mighty Quinn from Manfred Mann was the soundtrack – clearly moved Quinn, as did the standing ovation.
“This was a terrific place for me, back when I was a player and for the years coaching here, terrific memories, ” he said. “I I think I’m an emotional person. The gesture was a very nice one. I think I had a bit of a love affair with the fans here and they showed they don’t mind me.”
The Leafs took the game 6-4. Quinn died four years later.
Pat Burns, Boston Bruins at Toronto, Dec. 31, 1997
Burns had come back to the Gardens for media work, but this game meant a lot to the often cantankerous ex-cop who started by nearly getting the Leafs to the ‘93 Cup and ended with them quitting on him a few years later.
“I was mixed up, It was a very hard time,” he recalled before the 2-2 tie. ”Now, I call every coach who gets fired, just to let them know it’s not the end of the world.
“I give (then-NHL president) Brian Burke a lot of credit. He told me to keep my head up. He said that everyone will call for a while, then nobody would call and that’s exactly what happened. You begin to feel like you’ll never work again.”
Burns certainly did, both in Boston and with the Devils, where he’d eventually win it all in ‘03. Like Quinn, he’d go to the Hall of Fame.
Fletcher, who was team president in ‘96, called firing Burns “one of the most difficult decisions I ever made. But I don’t think anything else could’ve been done at the time (after eight consecutive losses).”
Dan Maloney, Winnipeg Jets at Toronto, Dec. 31, 1986
After his young Leafs upset Chicago with a best-of-five sweep and got within a win against St. Louis from the Cup semifinal, Maloney made the mistake of asking cheapskate owner Harold Ballard for a raise.
Instead, Ballard bad-mouthed Maloney in the press and pushed him out to hire the eager John Brophy.
Maloney landed with the promising Jets, while many of the bonds he had created with young Leafs and Europeans were broken by the old school Brophy.
But Maloney wasn’t as successful with the Jets, losing this return engagement 6-1 among two sub-.500 seasons. He didn’t last more than half of ‘87-88, replaced by a young Rick Bowness.
Roger Neilson, Buffalo Sabres at Toronto, Dec. 13, 1981
Captain Video was fired twice by Ballard, once on national television (Ballard walked it back by asking Neilson to return to the bench with a paper bag over his head) and for real after Toronto lost a second straight playoff series to the Canadiens’ dynasty.
In his first of a couple of comebacks with various teams, the popular, if eccentric Neilson was a winner against Toronto, the 5-4 winner supplied by Lindy Ruff, who’d go on to coach the Sabres to many wins against their closest geographical rival.
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