Dakota Joshua might not know many players on the Toronto Maple Leafs yet, but he has familiarity with head coach Craig Berube.
Before joining the Vancouver Canucks in free agency during the summer of 2022, Joshua spent his first two NHL seasons with the St. Louis Blues. There, the 29-year-old developed an understanding of what the league is like under a Berube-led team.
The coach and the Blues had just come off a Stanley Cup win a year prior when Joshua arrived in the mix. Despite only averaging nearly nine minutes of ice time per game in those two seasons under Berube, Joshua grew to like the grizzled player-turned-coach.
“He's a very straightforward coach. You know what he expects out of you and easy to play for in the fact of there's no gray area,” Joshua said on Monday at the Leafs and Legends Charity Golf Classic.
“He likes to north and south, get up and down, and just compete is the main thing. So as long as you can compete, then he's a great coach to play for.”
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Joshua has transformed his game significantly since leaving the Blues' organization.
In his first year with the Canucks, he played a career-high 79 games, with 11 goals and 12 assists in that span. Joshua levelled up again the next season, scoring 18 goals and 32 points in 16 fewer games.
The most difficult part of his career came last summer when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Joshua underwent surgery in Sept. 2024 and didn’t return to the Canucks' lineup until Nov. 14.
“It was a difficult time and tough to go through. But in the end, I'm very lucky and thankful that I got it taken care of early on and no real major, I guess, side effects after recovering,” said Joshua.
“Just to go through that and be thankful to still be playing at the highest level and then, once again, putting it behind me and just moving forward and getting back to the player I know I am.”
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MILTON, Ont. —<a target="_blank" href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/AP0FeYxTStEji0FG4TR9">Nicolas Roy</a> has been in Toronto for three weeks working with some of his new <a target="_blank" href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/morgan-rielly-pictured-with-son-mccormick-while-preparing-for-maple-leafs-training-camp">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> teammates and has been impressed with everyone he has skated with. But one player in particular caught his eye.
That player: a big, strong, and physical forward who plays a mean north-south game. And if Joshua can produce similar numbers to his 2023-24 season, plus play with plenty of snarl, he’ll be adored by Maple Leafs fans.
“I like to really bring it all. I can bring physicality. I also think I have a good scoring touch and just a good team guy that can play anywhere in the lineup and on the PK,” he said.
“I'm very highly motivated, like I said. It was a rough year last year for me, so I know the things I need to do to put that in the past and make this a good one.”
Vancouver and Toronto are similar, given each market treasures its hockey team. In some cases, even, Canucks fans might be more ruthless than Maple Leafs fans. Regardless, Joshua is eager to play under the microscope in Toronto and showcase what he can bring to the club.
“The Canadian markets love hockey,” he said, “but as a player, you love that aspect of it. It makes it all that more fun.”
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