Gerard Gallant
Gerard Gallant is a veteran head coach with a 369-262-4-70 record in 705 games behind the bench.
It is safe to say that Gallant knows a thing or two about coaching in the NHL. The fact that he isn't coaching this season is unbelievable. He coached the New York Rangers to a 47-22-13 record last season but was let go after the Rangers failed to advance to the second round.
Gallant has coached in 60 NHL playoff games with a record of 31-29. His most successful playoff run came in 2018 when he took the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup final in the team's first NHL season as a franchise. He took a team full of castaways from other franchises and turned them into a cup contender.
Gallant has coached some notable stars, such as Rick Nash, Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov, Mark Stone, Artemi Panarin, and Adam Fox. He'll know how to handle Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Morgan Rielly. Like Berube, I think Gallant will be able to get the most out of Bertuzzi, Domi, Noah Gregor, and other secondary scorers on the team.
Gallant would preach about the need to battle not just every night but on every shift. He will expect a lot from his star players, but he'll be just as hard on them when they underachieve. There is no time for taking a night off, and too often that's what Leafs players do. Gallant has the know-how to turn the Leafs into a team that's hard to play against.