Earlier in the offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs fired their head coach, Craig Berube. After missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, the Leafs decided it was time to clean house. They fired Berube and the general manager, Brad Treliving, signifying a fresh start for the Leafs going into next season. The Leafs quickly replaced Treliving with John Chayka; however, they’re still searching for a coaching replacement.
A lot of people think the coach of the University of Denver, David Carle, is their guy. I disagree; I don’t think he’s going to leave his job in Denver, especially not in the middle of a dynasty. Denver has won three national championships in the last five years: in 2022, 2024, and 2026. I don’t see a scenario where Carle leaves.
Coach Joe Pavelski?
One unlikely emerging candidate is former NHLer Joe Pavelski. Seeing him as one of the candidates is honestly baffling. He retired at the end of last season after an 18-year career. So, for argument’s sake, let’s say he gets hired. There’s a lot of unknowns there: is he an X’s and O’s guy, is he a motivator? Is he going to be the type of coach that guys like Auston Matthews and William Nylander buy into? We don’t know because of his lack of coaching experience in high-level hockey.
Pelley’s new vision
If Pavelski gets the job, it’ll be very interesting. However, it won’t be shocking because Keith Pelley, the President and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, has always been a little bit of a risk-taker throughout his career. Most recently, with the hiring of John Chayka as the new GM. It’s a little different because John Chayka has NHL GM experience, but nobody was talking about him before he was hired. There’s an element of deja vu with what’s happening to the coaching job.
If Pavelski is hired, it’ll really speak to what a lot of people think Pelley is doing. With the Leafs, there’s always been this sense that the Leafs don’t do certain things because the market in Toronto is too crazy. As a result, they tend to play it safe; they hire the Mike Babcocks, the Ron Wilsons, and the Craig Berubes. Not just coaching either, guys like Brian Burke and Lou Lamoriello, on Overdrive on TSN, they referred to it as avoiding a guy who will be “absorbed by the market.”
I believe they’re realizing that this strategy when hiring guys isn’t working. They’ve won two playoff series in 20 years, and they haven’t been to the Conference Finals since 2002. The Leafs have refused to change during that time. When Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan were in charge, it was borderline insanity. For eight years, they refused to adapt and would be surprised when they had the same outcome of a first-round exit year after year after year when they had a team that many thought would be the next great NHL dynasty.
The Unknowns
The thing about this offseason is that nobody knows if this is actually their thought process. At this point, it’s all speculation. Nobody knows whether Chayka will work as GM or whether he and Mats Sundin will click in that regard. People also don’t know whether Pavelski will work as an NHL coach or even get the Toronto job. Being a former player always seems to help, but that may only get him so far.
I’m not going to state my opinion on whether Pavelski is a good coach or a bad coach because I don’t know enough about him as a coach to form an opinion. I don’t know what his system or philosophy is. I would assume he’s good because he’s a former player, but just like any sport, just because you played doesn’t mean you can coach.
Having said that, I think he’d be a good hire for the Leafs. I think hiring him would signify that Toronto is actually adapting, beginning to think outside the box a little bit, and abandoning its belief that Toronto is too crazy for a young, progressive coach. It’s a risky move, and I think it has two possible outcomes.
The first being it turns out to be an absolute disaster. Pavelski gets fired, Chayka gets fired, Matthews is gone, and we have no idea what the Leafs look like two to three years from now. The second outcome is that it works, and these two guys who came out of left field and took over are the ones who can finally take the Leafs over the top and win them their first ring since 1967.
