Maple Leafs hire Stanley Cup-winning coach after latest playoff failure

The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Craig Berube the 41st head coach in franchise history. He will begin a four-year contract with the team next season, shares Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The team will hold a news conference on Tuesday to officially introduce Berube.

This news caps off a head coaching pursuit that quickly developed into a saga. The Leafs dismissed Sheldon Keefe on May 9, following the fourth first-round exit of his five-year tenure with the team. Toronto has since engaged multiple candidates, including former Los Angeles Kings coach Todd McLellan and even acting Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour. But in the end, there was no hiding that Keefe’s dismissal was closely tied to postseason success and so the Leafs now replace him with one of the only coaching candidates to coach a Stanley Cup winner.

Berube formed the St. Louis Blues into a powerhouse when he took over their coaching role in the 2018-19 season. The Blues managed an impressive 38-19-6 record under his guidance, after starting the year at 7-9-3. That gave St. Louis plenty of momentum for the postseason, carried on the back of then-rookie goalie Jordan Binnington and the commandeering style of Berube. Those forces were strong enough to push St. Louis through 26 playoff games – just two shy of the longest a playoff run can go – ultimately culminating in a Game 7 win over the Boston Bruins to win the first Stanley Cup in Blues franchise history. Berube has served as St. Louis head coach in the four seasons since, leading the team to postseason appearances each season between 2020 and 2022 but missing the last two playoffs.

Berube will now move to a Toronto club with much more starpower than the Blues. It seems changes are still incoming for the Leafs – with Mitch Marner a rumored trade candidate and Tyler Bertuzzi rumored to return – but there’s no doubting that the trio of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares has Berube excited. Berube should also be a good match for Toronto’s gritty young forwards like Matthew Knies, Connor Dewar and Fraser Minten. Berube accrued 3,149 penalty minutes in 1,054 career games during his own playing career and carried over that hard-nosed mindset into his coaching style. At the least, his appreciation for physical, endurance-based hockey should be a welcome change in perspective as Toronto gears up for another strong playoff push next season.