The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired coach Craig Berube after two seasons, the team unveiled on Wednesday. The decision to fire Berube is another major change for the franchise as shifts gears after snapping a nine-season playoff streak.
This move comes shortly after the Maple Leafs introduced John Chayka as their next general manager. In his introductory press conference, Chayka was non-committal about the future of Berube, but the team is now getting a clean slate in the front office and behind the bench.
“Craig is a tremendous coach and an even better person,” Chayka reported in a statement. “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.”
Former Toronto general manager Brad Treliving hired Berube in 2024, and in his first season with the Leafs, Berube led the team to the second round of the postseason before losing to the Florida Panthers in seven games. This past season, with injuries and age playing a factor, the Maple Leafs took a noticeable step back. They went 32-36-14 and finished 15th in the Eastern Conference. missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Once hired to push the team past its playoff hurdles, Berube exits Toronto with an overall record of 84-62-18 as the Maple Leafs only seemed to regress under his leadership.
Cratering performance and production
In the five seasons prior to Berube’s arrival, the Maple Leafs were led by Sheldon Keefe. While the underlying processes were often good under Keefe, the postseason results never came. Toronto — with its superstar-laden core — advanced past the first round once in 2023 before getting dispatched by the Panthers in five games.
The theory behind hiring Berube was that a Stanley Cup champion coach would maximize the roster when it mattered most. Although the Leafs came within one win of reaching the Eastern Conference Final in 2025, their underlying numbers completely cratered under Berube.
Under Keefe, the Leafs were typically a very strong five-on-five team. They don’t hand out banners for that, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a Cup champion that doesn’t control play at full strength. After Berube was hired, those underlying numbers slipped considerably in his first season before collapsing entirely in 2025-26.
Data via Natural Stat Trick
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Goal differential
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plus-32
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plus-33
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minus-35
|
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xG share
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51.5% (11th)
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48.5% (23rd)
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45.7% (29th)
|
|
xGF/60
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2.73 (9th)
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2.38 (24th)
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2.40 (30th)
|
|
xGA/60
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2.56 (17th)
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2.53 (20th)
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2.86 (27th)
|
Another concerning trend of the Berube era was the waning production of the Maple Leafs’ best players, especially Auston Matthews. After leading the NHL with 69 goals in 2023-24, Matthews didn’t score at anywhere near that pace under Berube.
Injuries played a role in that, forcing Matthews to miss 37 games combined over the last two season, but he still scored just 60 goals in 127 games. That’s quite a feat for most players, but it was a clear dip in Matthews’ career pace, which still sits at 0.62 goals per game.
Matthew Knies, who did break out in Berube’s first season with the Leafs, was a significant disappointment in 2025-26. After tallying 29 goals in 2024-25, Knies took a noticeable step back with six few goals (23) in one more game (79). Beyond that, Knies posted a horrid minus-14 goal differential at five-on-five.
Critical decisions for the Maple Leafs
Less than two weeks into the job, Chayka is faced with two decisions that will define his tenure in Toronto. The first is what he will do with the No. 1 overall pick after Toronto won the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery, and now he must hire a new coach based on his vision of the future.
At the center of those decisions is the future of Matthews, who has two years left on his deal at $13.25 million per season. Matthews hasn’t reported anything about wanting out of Toronto, but The Athletic has unveiled that the clock may be ticking.
So, how does Chayka play this? As far as the No. 1 pick is concerned, the simplest move may be to draft a dynamic playmaker like Gavin McKenna and give Matthews a running mate on an entry-level contract. That would infuse Toronto with some young talent while giving the franchise financial wiggle room to upgrade the supporting cast, defense and depth forward.
The more aggressive option may be to trade out of the pick in hopes of getting a true superstar who can help Matthews and the Maple Leafs compete for a Stanley Cup now. That path has obvious risks — including the fact that Toronto is without its first round picks in 2027 and 2028. If Matthews leaves in 2028 — or sooner — Toronto would bee looking at an arduous rebuild with a barren prospect pool.
The future of Matthews also weighs heavily on the coaching hire. Chayka could let input from Matthews guide his search, but can he guarantee the captain will still be on the roster in three years? Hiring a coach just to keep Matthews in place certainly has its risks, but it could be a worthwhile gamble if that coach can restore Matthews to the offensive force he was under Keefe.
Regardless of how Chayka arrives at his decision, the next coach must be able to get more out of the Maple Leafs offensively. Scoring was such a strength of this roster for so long, and Berube clipped its wings with an over emphasis on defense, which ultimately led to worse defensive results anyway.
The Maple Leafs are always under a microscope because they’re one of the biggest brands in the NHL, but that microscope will be even more powerful this summer. This is the most consequential offseason in Toronto since the team’s pursuit of John Tavares in 2018.
