The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Friday that they have hired Craig Berube as their next coach.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff first reported the hire.
Berube will replace Sheldon Keefe, who was fired earlier this month following a first-round playoff exit to the Boston Bruins in seven games.
Berube most recently coached the St. Louis Blues for six seasons, having spent two years with the Philadelphia Flyers before that.
St. Louis lifted the Stanley Cup in 2018-19, Berube's first season at the helm. The Blues lost in the first round in the 2020 and 2021 playoffs, though, and only advanced to the second round in 2021-22. The team missed the postseason altogether the following campaign, and Berube was fired in December after a 13-14-1 start.
The Blues went 30-19-5 under his successor, Drew Bannister, but it wasn't enough to salvage their playoff hopes.
During TNT Sports' coverage of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Paul Bissonnette seemed to know something no one else did when he jokingly threatened to break the news that Berube would be installed in Toronto.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"I'm gonna break the news that you're the Leafs new head coach." <br><br>Biz said this to Craig Berube 12(!!) days ago 👀 <a href="https://t.co/Seh4qGrjZj">pic.twitter.com/Seh4qGrjZj</a></p>— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) <a href="https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1791565974312792455?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Plenty of fans will see Berube as a great fit for a franchise that has consistently failed to play up to its potential on the biggest stage. The Maple Leafs registered 100-plus points in each of the last three years and only once during that stretch did they advance out of the first round.
The bulk of Toronto's roster is signed through at least 2024-25, with Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi the most notable free agents. Especially with captain John Tavares and Mitch Marner due to hit the open market next summer, there may be an added level of urgency to win.
Berube has already shown he can guide a team to the promised land, and perhaps more importantly than that, he has demonstrated his occasionally direct approach with players can yield results. That might be a key distinction given the fact Keefe tried challenging the Leafs players at times, too, to no avail.
