The Toronto Maple Leafs preseason is now complete and we have gotten a taste of what Leafs hockey may be like under new head coach Craig Berube.
Aside from the high-scoring first game against the Ottawa Senators in which the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 6-5 in overtime, every game since then has been a low-scoring, tight-checking affair. As a matter of fact, Toronto hasn’t registered more than three goals in each of them.
But somehow and some way, the Maple Leafs managed to go 4-2 overall under Berube’s newly implemented system.
So this begs the question, is this going to be the new norm for the Leafs for the upcoming season under the guidance of their new head coach?
Is this the new norm for the Toronto Maple Leafs under head coach Craig Berube?
After all, for the past few seasons, the Leafs team has been built on speed and skill, with numerous times utilizing their offense to get themselves out of trouble. That said, the Leafs played excellent Playoff Hockey last spring, only to lose because of their offensive troubles.
One thing the Leafs did in last year's playoffs and which they will hopefully continue to do under Berube is minimize on committing errors in their own zone while focusing on capitalizing on scoring chances when given to them.
As we have seen in the pre-season this has helped inspire some corresponding strong goaltending from the likes of Anthony Stolarz and even rookie Dennis Hildeby along the way.
Well, we may actually be witnessing what may become a Cup winning formula for Leafs this year. If we need any proof of it, just take a look back at the season in which Berube led the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup back in 2018-19, although please do so with a grain of salt because it was one of the flukiest Cup wins of all-time.
After taking over from Mike Yeo 19 games into the season, Berube implemented his defensive system that brought huge success to the Blues in their drive to the championship. In the process, the Blues ended up having only three players reach more than 20 goals and 50 points that year, while producing some brilliant sub-2.00 GAA goaltending in the form of Jordan Binnington. (All stats from NHL.com)
Even though it may be just a small sample size right now, it sure looks like Berube is aiming to repeat that kind of style and success with the current 2024-25 version of the Maple Leafs. As a result, it may be disappointing that we may no longer see some record-breaking offensive stats this coming season from the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and company. But if the outcome of it ends up finally leading the team to the Stanley Cup, then we should all be here for it.