Confirmed with Link: Craig Berube named the 32nd Coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs

[Sypher04]

Let me ask you this, what has Matthews shown in his career to make you think it's not all about him?

Aside from his contract demands which people get unreasonably pissy abou (he is one of the very best players in the league and he demands to be paid as such) he’s never said or shown anything that would indicate it is all about him. Won’t stop people from trying to make mountains of mole hills however

It's pretty telling of your argument that the only one that's debatable is the weakest one, and even then he blew Matthews away early in their careers. And now they've been about even despite Matthews having the other 3 to keep him company. Who does Pasta have to get points with? Marchand and a bunch of 2nd liners.

Pastrnak has had one really standout playoff run in 17-18 while playing for Boston teams that were noticeably better built than any of the incarnations of the leafs we have seen. Otherwise he’s comfortably below a point per game in the playoffs.

Pastrnak led Bruins have been nothing special in the post season.

This is also ignoring the countless other players who make 50-75% of what Matthews does yet constantly out perform him and are rarely if ever in the Hart trophy conversation in the regular season. Guys like Miller, Guentzel, Trochek, Aho, Marchand, Zibanejad.. They're all supposed to be "worse" yet here they are

Already said he needs to be better. He’s in no way immune from this along with his teammates. He is imo however the least of our problems among the core 4

 

[OVO16]

If he's so great then why didn't another team hire him after he got fired

He got fired midway thorugh this past season. Why you acting like he's been on the market for 3 years

 

[Darcy Tucker]

He got fired midway thorugh this past season. Why you acting like he's been on the market for 3 years

People are moving goal posts to hate on Berube already. Leafs nation is hungry for a Cup and we have a coach who just won one 5 years ago now. Give him a season or two before we judge him. Let the Chief cook.

 

[OVO16]

People are moving goal posts to hate on Berube already. Leafs nation is hungry for a Cup and we have a coach who just won one 5 years ago now. Give him a season or two before we judge him. Let the Chief cook.

People forget the Sens were the first team this offseason to interview him and wanted to offer him a contract but he said No lol

 

[hotpaws]

Tavares, if extended, will be cheap. Mitch, if extended, will break the bank. No thanks.

I'd much rather overpay a very good player than endlessly make excuses for a mediocre player and what do you mean by cheap ? 1 to 2m cheap or 5-7m cheap and we come up with a story how some mystery team was going to offer him 8-10m x 7yrs so we can say good ole Johnny did us a solid .

also who's going to carry Johnny if we trade Mitch , all i heard was constant whining how Willie wasn't good enough to be his winger so which wingers are next up to be run out of town like Mitch to deflect criticism away from JT ?

 

[WillyC]

Welcome back to HogTown, coach Berube.

 

[Stephen]

If he's so great then why didn't another team hire him after he got fired

Seemed like he didn't want to coach Ottawa cause he was waiting for the "big job". Aka us.

 

[Stephen]

At the end of the day if he scores 35 or 75 goals it really doesn't matter if the playoff results continue to be abysmal for a player that's supposed to be as good as he gets credit for.

Score 45-60, but demolish other playoff contenders, mix in your greasy in tight goals and start backing off guys from tight checking with an array of reverse hits, ugly stick work, errant elbows. Develop a taste for driving into traffic, mix in more playmaking prowess and facilitate others to score, play with more pace and urgency, develop a more alpha personality about carrying the puck in commanding fashion through center ice.

 

[studebaker17]

Score 45-60, but demolish other playoff contenders, mix in your greasy in tight goals and start backing off guys from tight checking with an array of reverse hits, ugly stick work, errant elbows. Develop a taste for driving into traffic, mix in more playmaking prowess and facilitate others to score, play with more pace and urgency, develop a more alpha personality about carrying the puck in commanding fashion through center ice.

Not asking for much lol. He is so who he is. He may be able to be pushed harder and game plan him better too push to the net harder but think that's about all you'll get which would be fantastic.

 

[TS Quint]

This is why I said it depends on how he means the comment. Obviously Berube is going to come in an make things more uncomfortable and challenge players publicly who are not performing to their full capability.

But I think the comment was intended to insinuate that this type of coaching will rattle Matthews in the sense that he won’t handle it well which I don’t see. Matthews strikes me as a guy who just wants to be the best he can be but might need a little push to take the next step.

Didn't Keefe try to rattle the core? Something about their best players needing to be their best players? Didn't Marner come out and say him and they boys had a talk with him about that? Then Keefe had to call a press conference to apologize? Maybe I got that wrong.

Maybe with a new Boss Shannahan might be realizing he needs to put playoff success over his children or he's going to be out of a job.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Score 45-60, but demolish other playoff contenders, mix in your greasy in tight goals and start backing off guys from tight checking with an array of reverse hits, ugly stick work, errant elbows. Develop a taste for driving into traffic, mix in more playmaking prowess and facilitate others to score, play with more pace and urgency, develop a more alpha personality about carrying the puck in commanding fashion through center ice.

Yeah he's scored 169 goals over the past 3 seasons. Imagine he goes for 60 again. I wonder how many players in history have gone off for 3 60+ goal seasons in 4. Generational numbers and a Selke nomination. Not too shabby like Grapes used to say. But I like what you're saying it would be nice if he developed a nasty streak to go with his scoring like a Draisaitl. I think keeping Reaves around and players like Domi and Edmundson will open him up to playing with more edge. Maybe it will rub off on Marner too because they have both been made to look like wusses at times during their development years.

 

[thinkblue]

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Wait what. No. Not happening. Lol why?

 

[studebaker17]

Just thinking to myself what needs to be improved upon from a coaching aspect. Aside from system .

Have the players more focussed and ready for 60 entire mins . Leafs are notorious for coming out flat or taking the foot off the pedal . Way to many games they went to overtime or lost that they seemed not focussed.

I actually was impressed with keefe down the stretch how he mixed the lines and spread out the tallent. Seemed to coincide with the heavy threats of being fired so he may of thought he'll go out on his terms then. Injury forced some of it with rielly and marner injuries but he kept doing it.
that said , he started panicking in the play offs and blendering lines when it wasnt necessary like game 7 .
I would hope cb cont to make it a team not a few individuals who are important.

Pp , probably asstant coach role but hopefully completely different approach in pressure and point presence although lilly i thought was a lot better than rielly.

Pk wasnt very good but partly due to not great players available. We got better after couple d added but the d are mostly slow and not great puck movers .

Holding players accountable for fly bys , not finishing or taking checks and not doing their defensive assignments . Keefe was slow to do that although he did, but when he did he was mostly appologetic after .

Hope cb is quicker to react to whos hot and whos not in real time and adjust the ice time to who deserves it.
To stop sending the 4th line out after every goal .

 

[theTTC]

Has Berube’s relationship with Mark Hunter been discussed? And the obvious implication that he may see Marner through a different lens?

I posed the question about Marner’s form and motivation in another thread, asking the question: Could Cowan bring out the best of Marner? A return of the player who didn’t avoid the net or the middle of the ice.

Because a motivated Marner is a player we wouldn’t trade away.

His recent, successive playoffs play demands a trade. I get that and agree.

But in the other thread where I ask a couple of questions to the pint above, I ask does anyone remember that former, better, pre-big money version of Marner?

If the right conditions return to maximize him, would it be better to keep him outright, or keep him long enough to raise his value?

I confess: I would have a tough time trading a return to form Marner. And I think as is customary with our fanbase, we’d note Kadri, Kessel and Hyman and ask ourselves, what is it that deforms our thinking in seemingly every situation.

Might just boil down to: Leafs need his cap space. Like I pointed out earlier, trade Mitch for picks and prospects to restock the larder, and spend his cap hit on free agents. Personally, I'd want to keep Mitch, but when Leafs currently have $40M for 19 other players besides the Core Fore... geez.

 

[centipede2233]

Here’s a cool stat, there has only been one coach in the last 30 plus years to have won the cup with 2 different teams, Scotty bowman with Detroit and Pittsburgh.

 

[Jmo89]

Here’s a cool stat, there has only been one coach in the last 30 plus years to have won the cup with 2 different teams, Scotty bowman with Detroit and Pittsburgh.

That's fine, all other streaks shrink beneath the 58 year one.

 

[Da Cool Rula]

Here’s a cool stat, there has only been one coach in the last 30 plus years to have won the cup with 2 different teams, Scotty bowman with Detroit and Pittsburgh.

Well let's hope Berubes becomes the 2nd coach to do it.

Might just boil down to: Leafs need his cap space. Like I pointed out earlier, trade Mitch for picks and prospects to restock the larder, and spend his cap hit on free agents. Personally, I'd want to keep Mitch, but when Leafs currently have $40M for 19 other players besides the Core Fore... geez.

Problem again. Even if he agrees to a move you are going to have to take money back too.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Please no.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

Well let's hope Berubes becomes the 2nd coach to do it.

Peter Laviolette can do it in a few weeks. With the way Shesterkin and Kreider are performing it might just be a reality.

 

[Warden of the North]

Rumour 4 players have waived their NMC.















j/k

That's a mean joke.

 

[Captain Crunch]

I suppose it could be exciting watching the team drive for that final wildcard spot once again.

I could care less if they only got a wildcard spot. To me, it's all about the compete level from the players from top to bottom, where they leave NOTHING on the ice, they compete EVERY shift, they take a hit to make a play, they block shots, and more. If they do this and lose, I will be okay with that, especially if they are accountable for their play.

All the talk about this core and how they are such great players. Even with all the regular season success they've had, they have NEVER won the division once, let alone even a hint of the President's Trophy! Of course that does not guarantee any playoff success, but it does show that

You presuppose that a coach has a shopping list to give to a gm upon hire. These are discussions had with team management. Berube didn't build the roster in St Louis. He got the roster to work and likely brought up issues with that after the fact. IMO, he will differentiate coaching styles from Keefe. If it's primarily a roster problem, Keefe likely wouldn't have been fired. The frenzy around here is akin to Lord of the Flies". If that is how MLSE runs...and it has in the past...this team will continue to be doomed. A new coach is a major development. Any trade done in the short term will not be because of Berube. It will be because management has a deal that it considers to be incrementally better.

Agreed, but don’t you think that they will also be looking to add players who fit the mold/style of play that both Tre and Berube prefer? I know that Berube doesn’t have an actual say in who they acquire (and if I’ve said that before, which I probably have, then I was totally wrong), but more to how they both have an affinity towards those type of players.

 

[Leafsfan74]

Let's hope MLSE lets Berube be himself. That means his undiplomatic opinions of players and whatever issue of the day. We don't need more scripted responses and interviews, we need tough reality. Leaf fans are viewed as zombies just for being fans, we don't need zombie interviews too.

My belief is that guys like Matthews and Nylander prefer the direct stuff. Keefe was never shy about calling out Nylander, they knew each other well and Nylander didn't duck or whine, he was accountable.

The greatest leaders in any pursuit accept responsibility. They prefer a coach who kicks players in the ass when warranted as it keeps everyone equal to the same demands without exception. The players can then demand it of each other.

That is how you win as a team.

 

[Captain Crunch]

Every coach, in every team sport, says literally the exact same thing.

Leafs fans fall in love with guys the way a 13 year girl falls in love with boy bands. Let's see the results first. Berube was hired because he was simply the biggest name available right now. Same way Treliving got the job. Unless the roster changes, there is no amount of motivational wisdom that will work.

I agree 100% with that. However, the reason I’m feeling differently now is the players Tre has been acquiring/looking for, as well as how defeated Shanahan looked at the presser. That especially spoke volumes to me.

By all accounts Savard Is coming in But he's not a former NHL head coach

No, but apparently the Blues had a fairly successful PP when he was helping run it there (although some say it was Montgomery who was the main reason why).

 

[ToneDog]

I'd much rather overpay a very good player than endlessly make excuses for a mediocre player and what do you mean by cheap ? 1 to 2m cheap or 5-7m cheap and we come up with a story how some mystery team was going to offer him 8-10m x 7yrs so we can say good ole Johnny did us a solid .

also who's going to carry Johnny if we trade Mitch , all i heard was constant whining how Willie wasn't good enough to be his winger so which wingers are next up to be run out of town like Mitch to deflect criticism away from JT ?

Tavares is too well regarded in the game. He's gonna be here: