The Toronto Maple Leafs reportedly had a prime coaching candidate lined up to take over for Craig Berube. The chatter surrounding Toronto’s coaching situation suggested that the organization could land Manny Malhotra as the successor to Berube.
The calculus changed when the Vancouver Canucks fired Adam Foote. And it’s precisely Foote who could actually become a solid candidate to take over for Craig Berube.
The situation here is that Foote’s dismissal will likely lead to the Canucks promoting Malhotra from the AHL to the NHL. With likely Malhotra off the board, the Maple Leafs will have to look elsewhere. University of Denver head coach David Carle has emerged as a candidate. Meanwhile, Bruce Cassidy is still out there.
But those coaches are far from a sure thing. If the Maple Leafs strike out with those candidates, the organization may want to kick the tires on the relatively novice Foote.
Unlike other coaches out there, Foote doesn’t actually fit into the NHL musical chairs trend. Foote only coached the Canucks for one season before getting the heave-ho along with his entire staff.
Plus, the Canucks dismal season really wasn’t his doing. When looking at the grander scheme of things, Vancouver didn’t do much to put Foote in the best possible situation to succeed. Those circumstances could be enough to absolve Foote of being responsible for Vancouver’s downfall this season.
So, it is reasonable to think that Foote could have plenty of tread left on his tires. And he could be the sort of coach who might offer a balanced approach to the Maple Leafs’ lineup. Foote is by no means the sexiest name out there. But he would be enough to keep the wolves at bay.
It wouldn’t be out of the question to believe that Foote, put in the right situation, could thrive. If he gets the support in Toronto that he didn’t in Vancouver, it wouldn’t be ludicrous to imagine that he could actually help the Leafs become a defensively-responsible team, while restoring the Leafs’ once-vaunted offense.
If bigger fish like Carle and Cassidy choose to pass on the Maple Leafs’ bench boss role, the Leafs may have to choose between an older coach or someone completely off the cuff.
Foote would ultimately be a fallback candidate. He wouldn’t be the flashiest option, but he wouldn’t tank credibility in the organization.
The biggest drawback Maple Leafs could face in hiring Foote
The biggest drawback to hiring Adam Foote could lie in the data-centric ethos now prevailing within the Maple Leafs’ organization.
The 54-year-old doesn’t strike most observers as a data-focused coach. And he is a bit older than Malhotra, and certainly much older than Carle. Would that age gap be enough to dissuade the Maple Leafs from hiring Foote?
Age could play a role if the organization felt that Foote might struggle with embracing analytics as deeply as management might want to.
In fact, Foote has publicly eschewed analytics, believing that numbers aren’t the end-all and be-all of decision-making.
here’s the Adam Foote clip about cigarettes and cashews pic.twitter.com/IpTZbcW55b
— Jeff Paterson (@patersonjeff) November 24, 2025
Foote certainly sounds more like an old-school sort of guy. In fact, some would say he’s a Berube-type of coach. But the Maple Leafs do need an adult in the room. If the organization is unable to land any of its preferred options, Foote might not be the worst thing in the world to fall back on.
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