Pelley acknowledged on Tuesday that the decision on whether to keep or fire Berube is up to the next head of hockey operations, adding that, if a decision is made to move on, it'll be brought to the MLSE board.
Craig Berube isn't losing sleep over the possibility of not being head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after this season.
"I'm focused on coaching the team, honestly," he told reporters following Toronto's first practice without general manager Brad Treliving at the helm. "Whatever happens, happens. But I'm the coach here now, and my focus is on the team, that's it."
It was nearly two years ago that Treliving, Berube, Brendan Shanahan, and MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment) CEO Keith Pelley sat in front of the media inside Ford Performance Centre, unveiling Berube as the club's next head coach.
Since that day, Toronto has won the Atlantic Division and made it further than any other Maple Leafs team in the Auston Matthews era, falling in the second round to the Florida Panthers in seven games — both moments to build upon — before careening off a cliff this season.
You could name off several reasons as to why this year didn't work out for Toronto.
But after a 15-15-5 record through their first 35 games, which put them last in the Eastern Conference, Treliving fired assistant coach Marc Savard. It was Dec. 22, and the hope was that the shock to the system would awaken the hockey club.
It didn't.
Three-and-a-half months later, with the Maple Leafs set to miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, Treliving is axed by MLSE. All while Berube's future with the hockey club hangs in the balance.
But as Pelley said on Tuesday, there won't be any decision on Berube's future until a new "head of hockey operations" is brought in.
"Once we have a new head of hockey in place, if that recommendation is around Craig Berube at that particular time, we will listen and something as big as Craig Berube would go all the way to ownership," Pelley said.
Despite the constant noise, Berube isn't thinking much about the future, aside from the game that's in front of him and the Maple Leafs. He's, of course, upset about losing a "friend" in Treliving, but also understands how much of a privilege it is to coach in the NHL.
"This is what I like to do," Berube said.
"It's been my life. So whether we're in the playoffs, out of the playoffs, I get it, and there's all this uncertainty. I just, I mean, this is what I do. I come to the rink with the same attitude. That's the truth. I come with the same attitude every day, and I coach (the team) the same way."
Berube also mentioned, following Wednesday's practice in Anaheim, that he and Pelley have spoken since Treliving's dismissal. "We talked today, actually," Berube said. "And I've talked to him, you know, in the past two years a lot. He's been around, and so we have conversations about a lot of things."
It'll be a fascinating few months as MLSE searches for a new head to run the Maple Leafs. Amidst all of that, though, one thing is certain: if Berube is fired after this disaster of a season, the news likely won't come from another conversation with Pelley.