Fifty-eight-year-old guided St. Louis to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2019, replaces Shelton Keefe; what can Toronto expect from a demanding coach
The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to make a home run hire for their head coaching vacancy after firing Sheldon Keefe on May 9.
They indeed did just that when they hired former St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube on Friday, eight days after cutting Keefe loose. Terms were not disclosed.
The 58-year-old, who was fired by the Blues on Dec. 12 after the Blues sputtered to a 13-14-1 record in his fifth season with the club; he will become the 32nd coach in Leafs history and join one of the Original Six clubs, who he was a former player of for half a season in 1991-92 (40 games; five goals, seven assists).
The Leafs, who were 46-26-10, good for 102 points this past season, finishing in third place in the Atlantic Division but were bounced in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in seven games by the Boston Bruins for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. And with a roster that boasts four players making $10-plus million in average annual value, the Leafs have been and will continue to be more than anxious to see regular-season results rewarded with some postseason success, and they hope that Berube, who guided the Blues to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2019, can guide the Leafs to the promised land someday.
Berube was 206-132-44, good for a .597 winning percentage, with the Blues and was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2019 after he took over for Mike Yeo Nov. 19, 2018.
We had them ranked from 1-5 where the best landing spot for Berube would be among the coaching vacancies, leaving out the Los Angeles Kings, who technically have a coaching vacancy but have not removed the interim tag from Jim Hiller, we had the Leafs right smack in the middle at No. 3.
This will be a cultural change for the Leafs and their roster moving forward. For a team that relied on its skill to win games with players like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander and others, Berube will demand accountability, hard work, a checking, physical style of game in order to implement things and make this group successful.
There will be a lot less east-west style of hockey. But this is a coach who will be honest with the players, sometimes in a brutal fashion, but he is a player's coach, one that will keep an open door of communication to them, good or bad, or honest.
When the Blues won the Cup in 2019, the skill players bought into the concept of blue-collar, lunch pail style of work that brought together everyone and got everyone on the same page.
The Blues, who were 7-9-3 when Yeo was fired, ripped off a franchise-record 11-game winning streak and seemed to catch their footing about the time goalie Jordan Binnington was brought into the fold on Jan. 7.
The question moving forward with some of the high-priced stars the Leafs have is are they going to be able to put their personal gains aside and put in the work necessary to take those next steps? That means perhaps Matthews may have to sacrifice some of his goal scoring, Marner and Nylander may have to sacrifice some of their play-making, the defensemen are going to have to play big and physical.
If the players don't adhere and buy into what Berube is trying to implement, some feelings will be stepped on, ice time will be taken away and given to those that are actually putting in the necessary and right kind of work.
During their Cup run, Berube would not hesitate to have fourth-liners Oskar Sundqvist, Alexander Steen and Ivan Barbashev on the ice for crucial moments to close out games, or to have that line start a game to set the tempo because he knew what he would get from that trio.
For this marriage to work, the current Leafs are going to have some rude awakening moments, and they better buy into the culture change they're about to find themselves in. It can work, without a doubt. They'll have to put their personal goals aside for the good of the group.
