It didn't take long for the irritated Craig Berube to emerge as the Maple Leafs coach took a question from Leafs media leaving him quite perplexed at the notion.
The Toronto Maple Leafs desperately needed a new gameplan and identity going into 2024-2025 and they did so in spades. They added a premier backup goaltender, shored up their blueline with actual elite defenders, and added some veteran scoring depth to a team sorely lacking anything after the Top-6. But the biggest change was booting out Sheldon Keefe and hiring Craig Berube to be their new head coach.
Berube is known for his no-nonsense style of coaching that not only maximizes the potential of every player on the ice, but expects everyone to fulfill their role les they be punished. Berube has no qualms about telling it like it is, and his often sarcastic and irritated responses give the polar opposite aura as Keefe once did with his quiet demeanor. It didn't take long for Maple Leafs media to get under his skin, as during an interview after their preseason loss against Ottawa on Tuesday Berube was asked about how worried he is about the team and if panic was set to be induced.
Berube, in his usual self, answered quite plainly so there is to be no mistake about his thoughts so far on the team:
''No. It's preseason. It's preseason, so... We're looking at preparing for the regular season. It's the second game. We're looking at young guys. We're looking at players. So, you know, that's what it's about.'
The look of bewilderment on Berube's face is one that many Maple Leafs fans share, and it's a hilarious little glimpse into the man leading the team behind the bench. It's also key to mention that the team Toronto put out for the second preseason game was mainly made up of AHLers with some possible NHL prospects such as Easton Cowan and Nikita Grebenkin; it wasn't the A-squad, and no big stars were really on the ice such as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner etc.
Berube's candidness is something that Toronto has been sorely lacking since the days of Paul Maurice and Pat Quinn; coaches like Sheldon Keefe, Randy Carlyle, Ron Wilson, even Mike Babcock weren't good for the media (Babcock for an entirely different reason) but they all felt hollow at times. Now with someone willing to say it as it is, there's no excuses for players to not be held accountable, and he'll keep the media in check too. He did so in St. Louis, where he came in after the firing of Mike Yeo after a disastrous start to 2018-2019 and led the team to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
He took a team that was dead last in the NHL and still had tensions even after his hiring, but after the shift to Jordan Binnington as their star goaltender; someone Berube clearly had faith in (much like a position Joseph Woll is in) and that transition led them to complete a miraculous turnaround. St. Louis went a fantastic 30-10-5 over the last half of the season and found themselves in the playoffs. Backed by Binnington and a roster full of deep scorers and shutdown defenders, they ended up beating Leafs rival Boston to secure the victory.
A lot of hype has come from the hiring of Craig Berube as head coach for the Maple Leafs, and his toughness and passion for the game as a whole shines in all facets of his job; from behind the bench to behind the microphone. His willingness to say it as candid as can be is a breath of fresh air for a Toronto team that's felt clouded in recent years. He did it before in St. Louis and the roster constructed here seems very similar to the one in 2018-2019 for St. Louis.
This could be their year and Berube is going to set them right, one way or another.
