The Toronto Maple Leafs are still seraching for their new President and/or General Manager, yet head coach Craig Berube still has a job.
Is it just me or did it seem like Berube hated every player on the Leafs roster by the end of the season and every player had their worst season with him as the coach? He didn't allow the Toronto Marlies prospects to flourish and made Auston Matthews look like a third-line shutdown centre, yet he's somehow the guy for the future of this franchise?
Last year was one of the worst years in Leafs history. They fired their GM and an assistant coach midway through the year, yet their head coach seems like he's going to be behind the bench next October unscaved.
Depsite allowing the most shots on net this year and finishing fifth worst in the NHL, all signs are pointing towards Berube coaching this team next year which is crazy. The Leafs may have won the Atlantic Division during Berube's firsy year as coach but that only happened because his goaltenders were spectacular.
Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll were arguably the best tandem goalies in the NHL and it made up for their disasterous defensive stats. They finished eight worst in shots allowed last year, which was a stat that this team strived in.
The Leafs were never a team to allow a ton of shots under Sheldon Keefe but instead were a team driven by offense always controlling the puck in the offensive zone. Berube's teams are clearly different as he plays more of a controlled defensive structure which doesn't allow his offensive players to flourish.
Craig Berube's going to be the coach next year again, isn't he?
This is where things get tricky with Berube because he still has two years on his contract. From a financial perspective, MLSE is probably hoping that he stays so they don't have to pay two coaches at the same time, but wouldn't team success outweigh another brutal campaign under Berube?
The players haven't said anything too negative about the coach, while he also expects to be back next year, so this is a really weird position to be in. Everything is riding on that new GM on what they decide, but it's really hard to think that a new manager will come in and fire the coach immediately.
You typically want to hold onto that "bullet" during your first year as something you can change when things go sideways, so that's probably what will end up happening.
Berube isn't the worst coach in the world but he's clearly not a fit for these players. Either they change the roster and the coach looks better or they change the coach and the players look better, but it can't be the same players and the same coach next year, or you'll get the same result.
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