It feels like the Toronto Maple Leafs hired the perfect coach at the perfect time with Craig Berube.
Coaching is important in the NHL, but it's not everything. However, after six games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, it feels like Craig Berube has given this team a new identity.
Sheldon Keefe changed the Leafs and made practice fun again, from the previous regime of Mike Babcock. The team was down in the dumps, needed a spark and Keefe provided that. As much as the team only won one playoff round, they still went on the longest run of competitive hockey in franchise history.
Keefe was a great coach, but the Leafs needed a new voice and it's working out great so far.
Craig Berube is the perfect coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs
One thing I really like is that John Tavares isn't guaranteed top-six minutes every night. In fact, he's playing the majority of his time on the third line, and that's perfectly fine. I know he makes $11M but he's 34-years-old and is better suited as the 3C versus the 2C.
As much as you'd think this a negative for Tavares to play 3C every night, it should be a positive. If Tavares is your 3C, you're a good hockey team. Not only that, but if Tavares is playing third-line minutes every night, it means he's not facing the opponent's best defenders as well, so he should be able to take advantage of that.
Not only has Berube's decision to move Tavares been a positive, but his overall demeanor is something the Leafs need right now. It's not like Keefe was happy-go-lucky every day, but he was more of a pushover than Berube.
The biggest thing that I've appreciated from Berube in the first two weeks is that he knows it's not good enough. He's trying to force this team to play "playoff hockey" in October because he understands that it'll benefit them in the future.
When the Leafs went up 5-0 last week against the LA Kings, the old Leafs would have won that game 6-4 and it would have been fine. Sure they may have allowed a few late goals, but who cares, right? It's October, let's get the win and move on.
Berube, on the other hand, wasn't happy. He called a timeout when the Kings made it 5-2 and made them shut them down. He didn't want them to try and keep scoring, but instead, forced them to play shutdown defense to get the win.
The same thing applies with the power-play. In every press conference, Berube is hammering the power-play that it's not good enough. It's way easier to score 5v5 in the regular season versus the playoffs, and we all know that the team with the best power-play and penalty-kill is the one who wins the Stanley Cup.
The Leafs have some of the best offensive players in the NHL, yet they're 26th in power-play, while they're 11th in penalty-kill. Despite a great start, Berube knows that they need to improve those things immediately and I've liked what I've seen.
Toronto may not win a Stanley Cup this year, but in Berube I trust.