One of the Maple Leafs’ storylines this season was the possibility of a coaching change. The chatter pertaining to Craig Berube’s dismissal picked up around mid-December. The response from the organization was a vote of confidence for Berube and GM Brad Treliving.
That vote of confidence led to a resurgence for the Maple Leafs following the Christmas break. Momentarily, the Leafs climbed back into a playoff spot and seemingly looked poised to get back into the race.
Then, the bottom fell out. The Leafs lost six straight and pretty much fell off the radar entirely. The Maple Leafs are eight points out of a playoff spot, and the season essentially over. The talk regarding Berube’s dismissal has now picked up again.
But in the opinion of one notable analyst, it’s too late to head down that path. Daily Faceoff’s Carter Hutton broached the subject in a January 30 piece. In it, he declared that it’s too late to fire Berube this season. It seems like everyone has accepted their fate this season. So, it doesn’t seem like the right time for this sort of move:
“I think it’s too late. I don’t know if this falls on Berube… they just accepted the fact that this is who they are, and they’re going to have to try to figure their way through it.”
The Maple Leafs won’t have any miraculous trade deadline additions to spark a major turnaround. If anything, some faces will be heading out the door. Toronto will have to play out the string, hoping to figure out how to set itself up for a successful season next year.
Maple Leafs could explore coaching change in offseason
If there is a real possibility of a coaching change, it will be an offseason discussion. The time to make a change would have been at some point last November or December.
The offseason debriefing will likely look at just how much of this entire debacle is on Berube. Honestly, I have to side with Hutton. It doesn’t seem like this entire mess of a 2025-26 season is entirely Berube’s fault.
The Maple Leafs’ coach did what he could with the roster he was given. Yes, Berube reportedly had significant input into the team’s construction. But then again, much of what happened this offseason was the result of years and years of questionable decisions.
Similarly, it would be unfair to totally pin the entire situation on Treliving. While the Leafs’ incumbent GM hasn’t made many brilliant decisions, you have to wonder just how much the Mitch Marner situation handcuffed the team last year.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but how much different would things have been this season if Marner had agreed to the trade with Carolina? Would Mikko Rantanen have put the Leafs over the top last season?
Be that as it may, I wouldn’t bet on Berube getting the heave-ho. There will likely be a perfunctory press conference following the end of the season, reaffirming the confidence in Berube and Treliving.
There’s the possibility that the higher-ups will come out with the broom at the end of the season. It wouldn’t make sense to fire Treliving ahead of free agency and the 2026 NHL Draft. Unless the organization is willing to promote Brandon Pridham at once or hand the reins over to Shane Doan, Treliving likely stays put.
As for Berube, the players will have the most input. Perhaps the most powerful opinion will be that of Auston Matthews. If Matthews feels that Berube is a problem, the team may cut ties. Bringing someone new in during the summer would make for a much easier transition than now, when the ship has essentially sunk.
But I will say one thing: Unless someone like Peter DeBoer says after the Olympics that he wants back in, Berube will at least go down with this season’s ship.