We’re entering a new era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey. Within the first month of the offseason, GM Brad Treliving was fired after the Leafs missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Then, the Leafs hired a new General Manager in John Chayka, hired former Leafs captain Mats Sundin as Senior Advisor of hockey operations, and won the NHL draft lottery, being awarded the number one overall pick in next month’s draft.
On Wednesday, we had more news out of Toronto: Head Coach Craig Berube has been fired. To be honest, this move was about as predictable as an unmasking in an old episode of Scooby-Doo. Not only because the Leafs cycled through GMs and coaches like a revolving door in the last 15 years, but also because Craig Berube’s philosophy didn’t work. You can’t expect dump and chase to work if you have one of the slowest teams in the NHL.
Why fire Berube now?
GM John Chayka said the decision was made after discussing the future of the team with Berube. “This was the right decision on the path ahead,” said Chayka at a press conference on Wednesday. He added that the decision wasn’t made based on Berube’s coaching ability. Chayka says the Leafs will conduct a “wide-ranging” search for Berube’s replacement.
During Berube’s coaching tenure in Toronto, the Leafs went 84-62-18, which ironically is the only team he’s been over a .500 win percentage with. You can argue that Berube was at the helm of the most successful season in the core four era, coming one win short of the Eastern Conference Final. I’d argue that if the Leafs won Game 7 against Florida, they would’ve gone to the Stanley Cup Final.
2025–26 was a season from hell
However, when you follow that up with a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division, you’re going to be on the hot seat. Especially in Toronto, where expectations have been high every year since they last missed the playoffs.
The Leafs entered the 2025–26 season with very high expectations, as per usual, even with the departure of superstar forward Mitch Marner. The Leafs added players like Nic Roy, Matias Maccelli, and Dakota Joshua. Many people thought they would make the playoffs again.
However, with a laundry list of injuries up and down the lineup, along with issues to the power play, the Leafs looked like shells of themselves. Berube was more of a defensive-minded coach than Sheldon Keefe, which makes it even more surprising that the Leafs were second-worst in goals against and were outshot in 66 of 82 games this year, which was the worst in the league.
Who could be the new face behind the bench?
The Leafs are notorious for running it back with the same group of players and passing the blame around between management roles. I’d argue that Kyle Dubas was at fault because he paid his superstars before they accomplished anything, which is the opposite of how successful teams do it. However, at what point do you say, “We may have to make some trades because we’ve done the same thing for a decade and aren’t winning?” But there’s a reason I’m not an NHL general manager.
Some possible replacements for Berube may be Bruce Cassidy or Peter Laviolette, or I can even see David Carle, who’s built a national powerhouse at the University of Denver and won back-to-back World Junior golds in 2024 and 2025. Personally, I think it’s either Laviolette or David Carle. Having said that, Carle could be reloading the Pioneers through the transfer portal and the CHL to defend their national title as we speak. The University of Denver is rumoured to be the leader to land Everett Silvertips defenceman and projected number one pick of the 2027 NHL draft, Landon DuPont.
The Leafs have fired seven coaches in the last 20 years, and even though people had mostly negative things to say about Berube, he had the second-best points percentage among those seven coaches, at .567, only behind Sheldon Keefe. Between 2006 and now, the Leafs have had a few bad years, but, ironically, only Ron Wilson and Peter Horachek posted a points percentage below .500 during their tenures.
In the last 20 years, Berube is one of three coaches to have a 100-point season in Toronto, the other two being Mike Babcock and Sheldon Keefe.
A completely new direction for the Leafs
As we enter a new era of Leafs hockey with a new GM, evidently a new coach, and a potential young star coming in the near future, it’ll be interesting to see where the Leafs go from here.
