Maple Leafs name Sheldon Keefe head coach of AHL's Marlies

The Toronto Maple Leafs' AHL affiliate has a new bench boss.

Sheldon Keefe has been named head coach of the Toronto Marlies, the Leafs announced Monday.

Keefe coached the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the last three years, earning CHL and OHL Coach of the Year honors in 2014-15 after guiding them to a league-best 54-12-0-2 record and a franchise-record 110 points.

"We would like to thank the Soo Greyhounds ownership group and general manager Kyle Raftis for giving us permission to approach Sheldon a few weeks ago,” Maple Leafs assistant general manager Kyle Dubas said in a statement.

“As we went through this process, given our goal of finding an elite young coach to develop our prospects with the Marlies, it was clear to our management group that Sheldon Keefe was the best choice for our organization."

Dubas said Keefe has demonstrated the ability to develop players while simultaneously building competitive teams.

"For nearly a decade - since he arrived in Pembroke and through his time in Sault Ste. Marie - Sheldon has simply excelled at maximizing each players potential while coaching very successful teams at the same time. That balance is exactly what we set out to find for the Marlies."

The Marlies announced last month that former head coach Gord Dineen would not return, offering him an associate role.

Derek King, who served in that position last season, was not retained by the club, and assistant coach Ben Simon was offered another position within the organization.