Leafs’ Chayka open to keeping Berube as head coach

TORONTO – If you were expecting clarity on Craig Berube’s head coaching status with the Toronto Maple Leafs at the introductory press conference for John Chayka and Mats Sundin, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

Berube’s job was already in question amidst a disappointing season for the Leafs, but when the team fired general manager Brad Treliving a few weeks before the end of the season, the hot seat grew even hotter.

However, as Chayka was introduced as the next general manager during a press conference on Monday, he wasn’t so quick to dismiss Berube, mentioning that he was open to keeping the head coach.

“I talked to Craig last night,” Chayka said during the press conference. “I’m lucky, he’s a guy that’s a respected leader over decades in the National Hockey League. I think he’s a tremendous coach, a Stanley Cup [winning] coach, and a good person. We had a good conversation. It was brief. We’re gonna get together later this week with Mats and go through it all. Mats and I are coming in as outsiders. He spent the past [two] years with the team, so we want to listen and learn, and understand his perspective and then go forward from there.”

“It’s hard to find great coaches. He’s a great coach,” Chayka said later in a scrum. “I was lucky to work with Rick Tocchet in Arizona. Obviously, there’s a deep friendship there, and I think they share notes and ideas on things. So I’m not starting from zero. And I think Craig’s a really, really good coach.”

Berube has spent two seasons as the head coach of the Leafs, his first coming with some success in an Atlantic Division title and a first-round series win, but his second being the complete opposite. The Leafs finished the 2025-26 season well out of the playoff picture, with their 32-36-14 record being the fifth-worst in the league, well below the expectations of a Leafs’ team with their star players in the primes of their career.