“Instead of bum Samsonov”: NHL columnist makes hilarious guess on Sheldon Keefe’s intrusive thoughts after Anthony Stolarz performance

By Mike Whitaker

Modified Dec 12, 2024 06:37 GMT

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For the second time this season, New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe was unable to get one over his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Leafs captain Auston Matthews scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Tuesday night, giving Toronto the 2-1 victory in overtime and defeating the Devils for the second time.

The Leafs were buoyed by a stellar performance in net from first-year Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz, who made 37 saves in the win.

NHL columnist Dave Feschuk feels Keefe demonstrated a "little tinge of envy" over Stolarz's performance and how it compared to former Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov during Keefe's years as Leafs coach.

"Well, did you notice what he said in the post-game press conference with just a little tinge of envy in his voice? Like, what happened the best goaltending in the league on the other side? You can almost, like (sense) what else was he thinking? Like, man, if I would have had that guy instead of that bum, Samsonov, you know. How would my career have changed? How many rounds would we have won? How big a hero would I be? Would my statue be going up now in Toronto, or would it be going up in a few years? Right?” Dave Feschuk said (2:30 onwards)

Like Keefe, Samsonov wasn't brought back to the Maple Leafs and signed a one-year contract with the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe this past offseason after another Round 1 exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Sheldon Keefe will forever be known as the first coach in Maple Leafs' history to lead them to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the late Pat Quinn in 2004.

Keefe and the Leafs avenged their 2022 postseason loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning the following year, beating them in six games. One of the more iconic moments after now-former captain John Tavares scored the game-winning, series-winning goal in overtime of Game 6 was the excited reaction of Keefe and the rest of the coaching staff on the bench:

But this past year, the Maple Leafs decided to go in a different direction after Keefe failed to replicate his opening-round success of the previous year; Toronto was defeated by the Boston Bruins in Game 7 in the opening round this spring.