The Toronto Maple Leafs fired head coach Craig Berube, the team announced Wednesday. Leafs general manager John Chayka said in a statement, “Craig is a tremendous coach and an even better person. This decision is more reflective of an organizational shift and an opportunity for a fresh start than it is an evaluation of Craig. We are grateful for his leadership, professionalism and commitment to the Maple Leafs organization and wish Craig and his family nothing but the best moving forward.”
The club said the next coach will decide on the remainder of Toronto’s staff; Derek Lalonde, Mike Van Ryn and Steve Sullivan all worked under Berube, the report says. Berube, 60, spent two years behind the Leafs’ bench after being hired by former GM Brad Treliving in May 2024 and guided the team to the postseason in his first year, advancing to a second-round series for just the second time since 2012-13, per the report.
Berube went 84-62-18 with Toronto but the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs this season after a 32-36-14 record, and the club’s points total fell from 108 to 78 — the largest year-over-year decline for the team, the report says.
The coaching change follows front-office moves this month: Treliving was fired in late March by Leafs CEO Keith Pelley, who replaced him with Chayka earlier this month, and Mats Sundin joined the team as a senior adviser, per the report. Toronto also won the NHL draft lottery last week and is expected to use the first overall pick on either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg at the June 26 draft in Buffalo, the report says.
The team entered the season with high hopes despite the loss of Mitch Marner and added forwards Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua and Nicolas Roy to try to replace those minutes by committee. The club, however, struggled through key injuries and absences, persistent power-play problems and defensive issues — finishing with the second-worst goals-against mark and being outshot a league-worst 66 times, according to the report.
Berube’s coaching journey began in the Philadelphia Flyers organization after he retired as a player, moving from the AHL to the NHL as an assistant in 2006-07. He became Flyers head coach early in 2013-14, later worked in St. Louis and was promoted to the Blues’ top job in November 2018, leading that group to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup before later departures and firings, the report says. Chayka will meet with the media Wednesday afternoon. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
