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

[DarkKnight]

His biggest issue is translating to playoffs. He's been elite in the regular season (Mitch)

I just said that didn’t I?

 

[Gallagbi]

I just said that didn’t I?

I'm agreeing

 

[DarkKnight]

I'm agreeing

Agreed

 

[Gary Nylund]

As much as this condecending post was super helpful,care to explain? Maybe quote the posts in the thread critizing Matthews as well.

You said Marner is the only one getting blame, I told you if that's what you think then you haven't been paying attention. It's pretty straightforward, what's to explain?

People have been blaming not just Marner, but also Keefe, Nylander, Tavares, Rielly, Samsonov and many others.

Why are you asking me for Matthews quotes?

I don’t think he carried JT, but he scored a whopping 12 more even strength goals his entire career when he played with Marner that year. Easily his best season oin this league , it wasn’t coincidence.

I think we can still appreciate that Marner is a borderline elite star while still agreeing he hasn’t got the job done when it matters. Not you, but this place is always so black and white, and frankly the lack of nuance is a pretty boring read.

To make it more clear, he's great during the regular season but not so great in the playoffs.

 

[BayStBullies]

Honestly, it is hard to treat the NHL as a sport with the clear corruption. It becomes a healthier outlook to see it all as entertainment (please don't ever gamble against loaded dice). As such, Berube will shake up a lot and add chaos to a stale formula that was not working. So, it will be an exciting year. Enjoy your off season everyone.

 

[Confucius]

You are arguing for the sake of argument.
Hyman was never used the way Oilers used him when he was here and that goes back to Babs.
Hyman mainly played with AM and Willie, then JT and MM, then AM and MM. His role had always been to fetch the puck for the other guys. Also, his nickname was stone hands and where the plays die on his stick here.
Like many said, including me, many times, Hyamn will never be Hyman today if he stays in Toronto due to his role.
Kadri always had talents but he always stuck behind our top guys for mins and PP1 time. He was getting 3C mins the moment AM becomes our 1C. And Babs refused to use him as a winger unlike the Avs where he was used as a winger for a while.
Our core players for some strange reason just disappeared in the playoffs. It is really not for a lack of trying or caring but rather it is really them not adopting their games to beat what the opposing teams throw at them. The only one who seemed to be able to do that is Willie and that’s a reason why he seemed to scored as many goals as the other three combined in the playoffs.

Hallelujah brother. Hallelujah. Lol

 

[colchar]

Honestly, it is hard to treat the NHL as a sport with the clear corruption.

Wait, what?

 

[TS Quint]

Marner fans always talk about his point totals, how many of his points came from game 5 to 7? People call him out because he was nowhere to be found when the opponent deployed the stingiest defense in elimination games.

I'm not trying to be a Marner fan. Are Matthews and Nylander any better? Honest question. I don't know if any one of them are above the others. They all seem fairly similar when the chips are down. I feel like I'm just seeing a disproportionate amount of blame being put on Marner. We are talking about offensive players so I don't think it's crazy to look at the point totals.

 

[ToneDog]

I'm not trying to be a Marner fan. Are Matthews and Nylander any better? Honest question. I don't know if any one of them are above the others. They all seem fairly similar when the chips are down. I feel like I'm just seeing a disproportionate amount of blame being put on Marner. We are talking about offensive players so I don't think it's crazy to look at the point totals.

All three are disappointing but Marner's numbers fall off a cliff in games 4-7 and he shoots from 10-20 feet further out in the playoffs. Some will tell you that you do not trade a 69 goal scorer so he is staying. Willy is signed for 8 years and nobody is taking that contract. That leaves Marner and Tavares.

 

[TS Quint]

You said Marner is the only one getting blame, I told you if that's what you think then you haven't been paying attention. It's pretty straightforward, what's to explain?

People have been blaming not just Marner, but also Keefe, Nylander, Tavares, Rielly, Samsonov and many others.

Why are you asking me for Matthews quotes?


To make it more clear, he's great during the regular season but not so great in the playoffs.

You are the one who brought up yhe blame going everywhere, i was just asking for what I was missing. Seems pretty obvious. But maybe you can't do that. Can you show me the plethora of people blaming Nylander?

There's no need to get upset. There is no rule that says you have to reply to me. I sure wasn't looking for your opinion specifically. Everyone else has politely answered my questions. Maybe you could give it a shot, or not, whatever.

 

[Gabriel426]

I'm not trying to be a Marner fan. Are Matthews and Nylander any better? Honest question. I don't know if any one of them are above the others. They all seem fairly similar when the chips are down. I feel like I'm just seeing a disproportionate amount of blame being put on Marner. We are talking about offensive players so I don't think it's crazy to look at the point totals.

Do you know who scored the last three goals for the Leafs this past playoffs?
The narrative that MM is being singled out is overblown.
After last playoffs, you can question Wiilie’s engagement issue or whatever but he scored goals. The fact the he scored as many or more goals as AM, MM and JT combined in the past two series pretty much make him untouchable among the core 5.
Reilly had an okay playoffs and looked bad in the final play but overall, he is the only core who turn the switch comes playoffs.
AM had a statement game this past series and was physically battling. Not saying that’s enough bc that’s far from it. That’s why myself and others also said that he should be traded if a good deal is on the table.
JT is a sunk cost, the sooner he is off the team, the better it is for the team. As we don’t need a Captain to learn lessons, we need one to teach them.
MM seemed to get worse as the series go deeper. But the thing for me was what Ray Ferraro said the next day when Hayes asked him about MM in Game 7. He said MM is either injured or disinterested. Since there is no report that MM was injured, how can you possibly be disinterested in Game 7. I really think MM just doesn’t have the mental fortitude to play in a big market or at the very least, he can’t be a leader in the big market.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Why is Marner the only one getting the blame for their playoffs. Matthews is just as bad if not worse but he doesn't seem to get any heat for it, just a lot of excuses. When it comes down to it he's the league's highest paid player shouldn't the expectation be near McDavid level?

Matty's ppg dropped 52 points (1.32 - 0.80)
Mitch's dropped 80 points (1.23 - 0.43)
Willy's dropped 45 points (1.20 - 0.75)
JT's dropped 52 points (0.81- 0.29)

Mitch isn't the only one getting blame, but there is a good reason he gets more.

 

[Gabriel426]

You are the one who brought up yhe blame going everywhere, i was just asking for what I was missing. Seems pretty obvious. But maybe you can't do that. Can you show me the plethora of people blaming Nylander?

There's no need to get upset. There is no rule that says you have to reply to me. I sure wasn't looking for your opinion specifically. Everyone else has politely answered my questions. Maybe you could give it a shot, or not, whatever.

Are you new to this board bc there is no way you have not seen any posts blaming Willie.
The were plenty of posts stating and blaming him for not playing through injuries before he played Game 4.
There were even some posts blaming Willie didn’t cover Pastra on the series clinching goal.
Just wondering, are you part of the Marner security team that I have been hearing about over the past week.

 

[Notsince67]

No way I’d resign Marner regardless of what kind of season he has, once he’s gone and JT is either off the books or playing for peanuts the opportunity to rethink how the cap should be spent will be available, that and get rid of another cap anchor in Rielly, he’s going to be the next Brodie, book it………

The odds are against the Leafs letting him go for nothing.

 

[Gary Nylund]

You are the one who brought up yhe blame going everywhere, i was just asking for what I was missing. Seems pretty obvious. But maybe you can't do that. Can you show me the plethora of people blaming Nylander?

There's no need to get upset. There is no rule that says you have to reply to me. I sure wasn't looking for your opinion specifically. Everyone else has politely answered my questions. Maybe you could give it a shot, or not, whatever.

I didn't "bring up" anything. You brought up this ridiculous idea that only Marner is being blamed and I told you what you were missing - many, many posts in all kinds of other threads assessing blame to many, many other people. You are wrong, a number people have told you you're wrong and if you refuse to look at some other threads to see for yourself then that's fine but I have better things to do with my time than to find these posts for you. They're easy enough to find, all you have to do is look and if you're too lazy to click your mouse a few times in other threads and you'd prefer to stay ignorant in this matter, that's fine too.

If you're upset, I'm sorry about that. All I did was point out how wrong you are to think that only Marner is being blamed, and I find it hard to understand how a person who's been here since 2012 and has made almost 8000 posts could be so blissfully unaware of what's going on.

 

[TS Quint]

I didn't "bring up" anything. You brought up this ridiculous idea that only Marner is being blamed and I told you what you were missing - many, many posts in all kinds of other threads assessing blame to many, many other people. You are wrong, a number people have told you you're wrong and if you refuse to look at some other threads to see for yourself then that's fine but I have better things to do with my time than to find these posts for you. They're easy enough to find, all you have to do is look and if you're too lazy to click your mouse a few times in other threads and you'd prefer to stay ignorant in this matter, that's fine too.

If you're upset, I'm sorry about that. All I did was point out how wrong you are to think that only Marner is being blamed, and I find it hard to understand how a person who's been here since 2012 and has made almost 8000 posts could be so blissfully unaware of what's going on.

You're the one ranting and raving and then saying I'm upset. LOL. I asked honest questions and you are losing your shit. Either answer or don't. But getting this pissy over some simple questions make you seem a little unhinged. You seriously come to a hockey board to get angry over someone asking a question not even directed at you? You don't even back up what you are raving about. You just keep telling me you are the authority on this board.

If you notice, I'm not pushing the subject. Those who give me an answer get a "like" whether I 100% agree or not.

You want me to read every thread and every post? Go touch grass kid. You might have time to live on this board but some people have better things to do.

Try replying with something hockey based. Or cry more, both are entertaining.

 

[mikeyz]

Matty's ppg dropped 52 points (1.32 - 0.80)
Mitch's dropped 80 points (1.23 - 0.43)
Willy's dropped 45 points (1.20 - 0.75)
JT's dropped 52 points (0.81- 0.29)

Mitch isn't the only one getting blame, but there is a good reason he gets more.

Agreed 100%

 

[joepeps]

I just said that didn’t I?

I mean, hes elite against soft teams in the Reg season and gets most of his points against shitty teams or in blow out wins... Rarely does he do stuff in hard hitting games against top teams and playing well... I mean it happens but not often.

 

[Lightsol]

I see

All he had to do was do what Willy and Auston did; claim injury, miss half the series and then show up for a whole game.

 

[Gabriel426]

All he had to do was do what Willy and Auston did; claim injury, miss half the series and then show up for a whole game.

It is showing up for a whole game being the hard part, lol.

 

[JamieG19]

I have mixed feelings on Berube. On one hand, yes hopefully having a coach who won the Cup 5 years ago will motivate the players to buy in and follow bc they trust the coach to lead them to the Cup.

But TBH, it feels a lot like Randy Carlyle. A coach with a rep for being a "Hard-ass" who won the Cup 5 years ago. Everyone was applauding the hire and happy the Leafs hired a winner as head coach. Yet it didn't work out that way in Toronto.

It all depends on the unknowns of how Berube is going to deal with Matthews, Marner and Nylander. Will he cater to them and alienate the bottom part of the roster or will he be willing to go to war with them and will they quit on him and will he have the standing to survive if they complain to their agents/Leafs mgmt.

Lest we forget one of the reasons why Auston and Mitch didn't like Babcock is they wanted to play with each other because they knew playing with each other would be best for their point totals which is best for big money contracts. Babcock didn't let them make the line combos. And he got fired. Sheldon Keefe came in and made it clear that his goal was to make Auston and Mitch happy and they pretty much got their way on who their line mates were. They wanted to play together most of the time. Ok, that's the way it's gonna be.

Will Berube really be willing to pick a fight with them? I'm not so sure. It's easy for Leafs YouTube shows to play random audio of Berube in St. Louis swearing at the team saying they didn't give effort. But that doesn't compare to directly calling out top 10 players in the league and risking upsetting them.

It remains to be seen. Berube didn't have a superstar forward like Matthews in St. Louis. The closest he had was Tarasenko, who is a good player but he's not in the Hart discussion ever. So I think a lot of commentary is adding their wishful thinking and putting that onto Berube without knowing how he's going to actually deal with them.

And the other thing important to me that remains to be seen is how he develops younger players. Will he give Cowan and Minten a chance or is he typical old school coach that isn't going to allow a rookie to have a meaningful role on his team because rookies need to pay their dues like he did as a player....which is the mindset of a lot of old school coaches. We know he didn't get along with younger Jordan Kyrou in St. Louis.

 

[HOTD]

Do you know who scored the last three goals for the Leafs this past playoffs?
The narrative that MM is being singled out is overblown.
After last playoffs, you can question Wiilie’s engagement issue or whatever but he scored goals. The fact the he scored as many or more goals as AM, MM and JT combined in the past two series pretty much make him untouchable among the core 5.
Reilly had an okay playoffs and looked bad in the final play but overall, he is the only core who turn the switch comes playoffs.
AM had a statement game this past series and was physically battling. Not saying that’s enough bc that’s far from it. That’s why myself and others also said that he should be traded if a good deal is on the table.
JT is a sunk cost, the sooner he is off the team, the better it is for the team. As we don’t need a Captain to learn lessons, we need one to teach them.
MM seemed to get worse as the series go deeper. But the thing for me was what Ray Ferraro said the next day when Hayes asked him about MM in Game 7. He said MM is either injured or disinterested. Since there is no report that MM was injured, how can you possibly be disinterested in Game 7. I really think MM just doesn’t have the mental fortitude to play in a big market or at the very least, he can’t be a leader in the big market.

This is the first thing I thought of when reading the comments in this thread. What Ray Ferraro said was shocking, and I respect his takes. He’s well spoken and doesn’t just talk for the sake of talking. I also thought of a podcast (Jay Rosehill or Sean Avery) where one of them went off on the fact that Marner was golfing the day after being eliminated from the playoffs. I know it’s not his game, but it would be nice if he showed he cared. Words mean nothing, especially after 8 long seasons.

 

[Leafs1991]

I'm not trying to be a Marner fan. Are Matthews and Nylander any better? Honest question. I don't know if any one of them are above the others. They all seem fairly similar when the chips are down. I feel like I'm just seeing a disproportionate amount of blame being put on Marner. We are talking about offensive players so I don't think it's crazy to look at the point totals.

I mean, Nylander did far more this past playoffs in the games he was in than Marner did. Nylander was quite clutch.

 

[HOTD]

I mean, Nylander did far more this past playoffs in the games he was in than Marner did. Nylander was quite clutch.

He’s been clutch the last few years in the playoffs. I actually think that Berube will bring out the best in someone like Willie.

 

[Evilhomer]

I have mixed feelings on Berube. On one hand, yes hopefully having a coach who won the Cup 5 years ago will motivate the players to buy in and follow bc they trust the coach to lead them to the Cup.

But TBH, it feels a lot like Randy Carlyle. A coach with a rep for being a "Hard-ass" who won the Cup 5 years ago. Everyone was applauding the hire and happy the Leafs hired a winner as head coach. Yet it didn't work out that way in Toronto.

It all depends on the unknowns of how Berube is going to deal with Matthews, Marner and Nylander. Will he cater to them and alienate the bottom part of the roster or will he be willing to go to war with them and will they quit on him and will he have the standing to survive if they complain to their agents/Leafs mgmt.

Lest we forget one of the reasons why Auston and Mitch didn't like Babcock is they wanted to play with each other because they knew playing with each other would be best for their point totals which is best for big money contracts. Babcock didn't let them make the line combos. And he got fired. Sheldon Keefe came in and made it clear that his goal was to make Auston and Mitch happy and they pretty much got their way on who their line mates were. They wanted to play together most of the time. Ok, that's the way it's gonna be.

Will Berube really be willing to pick a fight with them? I'm not so sure. It's easy for Leafs YouTube shows to play random audio of Berube in St. Louis swearing at the team saying they didn't give effort. But that doesn't compare to directly calling out top 10 players in the league and risking upsetting them.

It remains to be seen. Berube didn't have a superstar forward like Matthews in St. Louis. The closest he had was Tarasenko, who is a good player but he's not in the Hart discussion ever. So I think a lot of commentary is adding their wishful thinking and putting that onto Berube without knowing how he's going to actually deal with them.

And the other thing important to me that remains to be seen is how he develops younger players. Will he give Cowan and Minten a chance or is he typical old school coach that isn't going to allow a rookie to have a meaningful role on his team because rookies need to pay their dues like he did as a player....which is the mindset of a lot of old school coaches. We know he didn't get along with younger Jordan Kyrou in St. Louis.

I think the notion that he will instill "accountability" is a nice narrative that can't actually be quantified in reality. It's a long season, and a long playoffs if you want to get to the Cup final. Screaming profanities might be motivational the first time you do it - by the 107th time you do it, the luster has worn off. If Berube gets this team to win in the playoffs, it won't be because he is a hard-ass or some magical motivational speaker. It will be because he has installed a system that all of the players buy into that works, and he gets elite-level goaltending from whoever is in net for the Leafs.

To put it more bluntly, and I think this applies to all professional sports, coaches are the tinsel on the Christmas tree - they add something to the final product, but they aren't the star of the show. This Leafs team will only win if it's best players consistently play like the best players in the league, and they have a goalie who is at least as good as the other team's goalie in any given series. No amount of hard-assing or accountability will change that.

Ultimately, Berube needs his roster to be better. That is on Treliving. I think they will make additions that will make this team much better, but it may come at the expense of removing Marner from the lineup.