The newest Maple Leaf is overjoyed to be reuniting with his first NHL head coach in Toronto. Dakota Joshua will have a familiar face on the bench.
When the winger was able to break into the NHL for the first time, it was with the St. Louis Blues and it just so happens that the head coach of that team was Leafs head coach Craig Berube. It might have been just a total of 42 games split between two seasons -- all the way back in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons -- but the Toronto bench boss appears to have had a lasting impact on the physical forward.
“I spoke to him on the phone the other day,” Joshua said on Wednesday's episode of Leafs Morning Take with Nick Alberga and Jay Rosehill. “He’s a great guy and great coach. He was the one who kind of gave me my first shot in the league and I’ll forever be thankful to him for that. It was nice to see how he ran the team and obviously makes it that much more exciting to join and play for him again. Familiarity goes a long way.”
Through those 42 games, Joshua scored just four goals and nine total points but the major asterisk to that production is the fact that the winger averaged an extremely low 8:38 TOI while with the Blues.
We have to imagine that he will be used much more -- at least a 50 percent increase in minutes -- with the Maple Leafs for his second time around playing under Berube. With that, should come more points earned and him to not be underutilized while being led by the current Leafs head coach.
Joshua was acquired by the Maple Leafs from the Vancouver Canucks almost two weeks ago for a future fourth-round pick. A bargain-bin price due to his somewhat inflated cap hit that the Canucks don't want any part of, but the Leafs will gladly take on to get a physical winger that has the potential to contribute somewhat offensively. Joshua has three years remaining on a contract that carries a $3.25 million AAV.
It will be incredibly interesting to see if Joshua's previous experience with Berube will have any impact on his transition onto the Maple Leafs. Unlikely due to the limited minutes and true exposure, but we shall see.