Toronto ex-head coach Craig Berube appeared on Toronto Sports Rush with E.J. Hradek, making several compelling comments about the team during his tenure. 

Fired after going 32-36-14 this past season, the 60-year-old emphasized that he has no hard feelings, interviewing with multiple teams this summer including the Edmonton Oilers before they selected Mike Babcock. Berube remains available, but with a .580 win percentage across over 700 regular season games, he should be back behind an NHL bench before long. 

Known for his spectacular turnaround to lead the St. Louis Blues to their first-ever title in 2019, Berube found immediate success with the Leafs in 2024-25 before falling short in Game 7 of the second round against Florida. What goes down as the final chapter of the “Core Four” era, he said that the pressure of a deciding game on home ice got to the group and zapped their patience. Considering everything that led up to that night, and what was at stake, it’s a reasonable explanation. Berube’s team offered a stronger bottom six than previous years, breaking past criticisms, but role players of the time such as Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell made the difference for Florida, according to the coach. 

He had praise for Morgan Rielly, saying that as part of his efforts to re-shape the team, he tried to sharpen the offensively gifted player’s defensive acumen. Berube suggested that it threw Rielly off his game contributing to what was a tough 2025-26. Connected to trade rumors constantly, Berube says that Rielly “loves Toronto” and doesn’t want to go anywhere, wanting to see things through.

The longest tenured player of the Maple Leafs, Rielly was thought to be out the door in late June, linked to San Jose. Instead they went for Darnell Nurse, and nothing has happened yet. Now in mid-July, the former Oiler didn’t require any salary retention at a cap hit $2MM higher than Rielly. Unloading him in favor of a marquee free agent would have made some sense, but at this point nobody up for grabs stands out for Toronto, and losing Rielly in a salary-shedding type deal would only leave a hole on their blueline. Facing the hardest workload year after year, the team finally brought in another top defenseman to help out, Darren Raddysh, and it could pay dividends for Rielly if he’s still in the blue and white next fall. 

As for what else went wrong this past season, Berube spoke on losing both Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz as their biggest issue, also missing the stable presence of Chris Tanev, gradually losing belief as a group after the Olympic Break and falling out of reach of making the postseason for the tenth straight year. 

Not naming names, Berube said that certain new players needed time to get going. In terms of individuals who fit that suggestion, Nicolas Roy, by no means expected to replace whom he was traded for by Vegas, was needed to chip in 30-40 points as a valuable third liner. Instead the 29-year-old had just five tallies in 59 games for the Leafs before being shipped to Colorado at the deadline. Mattias Maccelli had only 13 points by New Year’s, getting scratched and not meeting the hopes of a strong supporting piece alongside the club’s stars. He started to get going in the spring, finishing with 39 points, but the 25-year-old departed for the New York Islanders in free agency. 

All water under the bridge now, of course Mitch Marner came up, and Berube wasn’t shy in saying he was hoping the elite forward would stick around in Toronto, and he was a huge loss as a leader, the “engine” of the team. When asked if he had any instinct that a break-up was coming, “Chief” said that by the trade deadline in 2025, he knew Marner was not going to stay.

As for the opportunity to add Brad Marchand in free agency, Berube says that financial limitations got in the way but that the Leafs had serious interest in adding the veteran for both his on-ice play and overall energy. The longtime playoff nemesis re-signed in Florida on a six-year deal worth $5.2MM per, surpassing the point-per-game mark for the first time in four years, with 54 in 52 contests last season. 

Set to move on, the new regime of John Chayka and Jim Hiller are tasked with trying to make something of the Auston Matthews era before it is too late. One decade since a future which seemed brighter than ever, one has to wonder what the missing pieces really are for new management to finally uncover, with Berube far from the only factor to blame. 

Chayka hasn’t shied away from taking bold risks. On paper, Sergei Bobrovsky is far and away the most accomplished netminder Toronto has had since before the days of Matthews, but signed at $7MM for three years, it’s a roll of the dice. Florida was willing to let him walk away off a tough season where he had a goals-saved-above-expected of -12.2, ninth worst in the league among qualifying names. The Leafs will hope the 37-year-old has a resurgence in him reminiscent of Ed Belfour, another Stanley Cup champion who joined Toronto at the same age in 2002, proving that he still had something left in the tank. Connected from their time in Philadelphia, Berube spoke highly of “Bob” as well as other additions to help show Matthews their intent on contention. 

Wrapping up his conversation with Hradek, Berube reminisced on his playing days as a Leaf. He cherished his time at Maple Leaf Gardens, wishing he was never traded away, but being quite understanding of the deal to Calgary which fetched the Leafs a legend in Doug Gilmour. 

From teenager Gavin McKenna to an aging netminder in Bobrovsky who caused the team much pain in previous playoff meetings, Toronto has already gone far to revamp their roster with Rielly still in the fold. They had to have a bold offseason, and the Maple Leafs hope to find a level of optimism not seen since Berube led them into Game 7 in 2025, one win from reaching the Eastern Conference Final.

Image Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images