New Maple Leafs coach will have difficult task

MONTREAL -- Here's the perplexing aspect of the truncated Craig Berube era with the Toronto Maple Leafs, which officially ended with the announcement Wednesday morning that he'd been fired as coach.

After Berube was brought in in the summer of 2024 to replace Sheldon Keefe, a hiring that was universally applauded around the NHL, it actually appeared that it would be a relationship that would work, even flourish.

Until it didn't.

Talk about a tale of two seasons.

Berube came in preaching a style of north-south ground-and-pound, a far cry from Keefe's high tempo flash-and-dash that proved to be successful in the regular season but produced just one Stanley Cup series win in his five seasons behind the Toronto bench from 2019-2024. Under Berube, the Maple Leafs finished with 108 points in his first season behind the bench, won the Atlantic Division title for the first time, and defeated the Ottawa Senators in six games in their best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series.

But there were warts, covered up at times as they were by a goaltending tandem of Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz that posted the fourth-best save percentage in the NHL (.905). Thanks in part to that, the Maple Leafs allowed 32 fewer goals during the 2024-25 regular season than they did the previous one under Keefe.

It was during the second-round series in 2025 against the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers that the issues became evident. While Toronto deserves credit for winning the first two games in the best-of-7 matchup, the latter part of the series features home ice losses in Game 5 and Game 7 in which there were elongated periods where the team simply could not get out of its own end, resulting in disgruntled fans chucking Maple Leafs jerseys onto the Scotiabank Arena ice.

Being eliminated by the Panthers in seven games was followed by the departure of forward Mitch Marner to the Vegas Golden Knights, leaving the Maple Leafs with a less talented roster. Even with that, that's no excuse for the team suffering a 30-point drop to finish the 2025-26 season with 78 and missing the postseason for the first time since 2016.

Moreover, there was the eye test. Some of the Maple Leafs more skilled players seemed frustrated at having their offensive creativity muzzled. Berube half-jokingly once said that he didn't even talk to forward William Nylander, who found himself benched during games on a couple of occasions. Defensively, Toronto finished 31st in goals against and 32nd in shots allowed.

The disconnect was real.

Now it's time for the incoming regime of general manager John Chayka and senior executive adviser of hockey operations Mats Sundin to change that, starting with the search for a new coach.

Chayka offered little insight to that end during a midday meeting with Toronto media Wednesday, other than to say there is no definitive timeline for a replacement to be hired. He also mentioned that Berube's dismissal was an organizational decision based on the direction it wants to head in, adding that the players had no input into the move.

Even with the hierarchy holding its cards close to the vest when it comes to what it is looking for in a new coach, there are certain characteristics that should be obvious.

First off, if there is a mandate to retool around the team's talented forwards like Nylander and Matthews, shouldn't the coach's philosophy be conducive to theirs? That's not an endorsement here that players should dictate how a coach coaches. History shows that is a recipe for disaster. But in the case of Matthews, who might want to be moved with two years still remaining on his contract if he doesn't feel the team is heading in the right direction, you might have to make an exception, rightly or wrongly, if you want him to stay.

Secondly, with the Maple Leafs having surprised the hockey world by winning the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft Lottery last week, don't you need a coach who you feel could confidently develop a young raw talent like Penn State wing Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick, and bring him to the next level?

Finally, with Chayka having said last week that one of his goals is to redo the Maple Leafs defense, they'll have to find a coach who can play a more suffocating structure in their own zone while allowing the players up front to flex their offensive muscles when needed.

Easier said than done. Those are some significant boxes that need to be checked.

Topping the list of candidates should be Bruce Cassidy, who was fired by the Vegas Golden Knights late in the regular season. However, Toronto would need permission from Vegas to hire him since he is still under contract with the Golden Knights, despite being fired.

Cassidy should be remembered as the man who guided the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023. Under his watch, Jack Eichel, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft by the Buffalo Sabres, played the best two-way hockey of his young career.

Cassidy also led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2019, where they were defeated in seven games by, ironically, the Berube-coached St. Louis Blues.

There are other intriguing names out there, ranging from University of Denver coach David Carle, Toronto Marlies (American Hockey League) coach Jon Gruden and assistant Steve Sullivan, veteran NHL coach Peter Laviolette, Kitchener Rangers (Ontario Hockey League) coach Jussi Ahokas and Abbotsford Canucks (AHL) coach Manny Malhotra.

Whatever decision is ultimately made, it will define how the Chayka-Sundin combo comes out of the gate. Indeed, when all is said and done, their first major hiring may end up being their most important one.