Though several players and staff are under pressure heading into the upcoming NHL season, the character facing the most with the Toronto Maple Leafs may not be who you think.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a tough time making their way further into the playoffs, only making it into the second round once in the last 19 years. This can ultimately create a lot of pressure on players, especially the captain. With the team passing down the role from John Tavares, Auston Matthews will certainly have a lot to live up to next season.
Despite this new role and the great burden of a supposed Cup curse, Auston Matthews is probably not the member of the Toronto Maple Leafs under the most pressure heading into the upcoming season. According to the hosts of TSN's First Up, this would be the team's new head coach, Craig Berube.
As they state, he will be working with the same core and much of the same roster, yet will have only a short time to turn the Leafs into a team that has what it takes to make it deep into the playoffs.
"A storyline that we don't have a handle on yet, because he's a man of few words, is how Craig Berube is going to change things. What is it gonna mean to have Craig Berube as your head coach? Because let's face it here; when you look at what the Maple Leafs have done, it hasn't been the kind of makeover that a lot of people expected - and I think a lot of people, including myself, think the Maple Leafs need - but without that makeover, you're putting a lot on the coach to change things.
"If you can't change the players, you gotta change the tone, you gotta change the mentality, you gotta change the way this team plays hockey in it's biggest moments and that's a lot on Craig Berube to do it in a very short amount of time here.
"The 6 months of a regular season is not a long time and we hear a lot of teams saying 'oh we need a lot more time to gel together with a new coach and a new system' and nobody wants to hear that in Leaf-land, people wanna see it work fast, people wanna see results in the here and now, people wanna see change. I'm not sure you're gonna get it but it's on Craig Berube to deliver it."
Craig Berube took over the role of head coach shortly after the Toronto Maple Leafs fired Sheldon Keefe following five unsuccessful playoff runs, and with much of the same roster, he is not working with much to increase their chances at success. Yet, he was the first coach to break the St. Louis Blues' Stanley Cup streak after 52 years. Hopefully, the pressure will not keep him down and his past victory demonstrates more of what is to come in Toronto.
