A lot has gone on in Leafs land in the past two weeks. First, John Chayka and Mats Sundin were introduced as GM and Senior Executive Advisor of Hockey Operations. Then, the Maple Leafs miraciously won the NHL Draft Lottery. And most recently, Head Coach Craig Berube was relieved of his duties in what was John Chayka's first real move as General Manager of this squad.
When Berube first arrived on the scene, he was supposed to bring a winning pedigree and gritty mentality with him to Toronto, but it was very clear throughout the season that his voice had grown stale among the players and a chance was necessary. You would be hard pressed to find a Maple Leafs fan that was not a fan of the club moving on from Berube.
Now, with Berube gone, the question becomes, who replaces him? There are a laundry list of qualified names currently available on the market, including but not limited to: Bruce Cassidy, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, and Dean Evanson. My top choice? Bruce Cassidy.
Maple Leafs need to act fast and hire the perfect candidate
Realistically speaking, Bruce Cassidy should still be employed by the Vegas Golden Knights -- but he's not, and the Maple Leafs need to act quick to secure him before another club does.
Cassidy was shockingly let go by the Golden Knights with only 8 games remaining in the regular season, while Vegas was sitting 3rd in the Pacific Division at the time. Cassidy was replaced by John Tortorella and ultimately went on to leapfrog Edmonton and Anaheim and win the Pacific Division.
According to Elliotte Freidman on the most recent episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast, Bruce Cassidy seems to be a hot commodity, as both the Oilers and LA Kings have asked Vegas for permission to speak to Cassidy. Keep in mind, both the Oilers and Kings currently have a head coach. It would appear as if Toronto is going to have competition if they are indeed interested in bringing Cassidy in to be the new bench boss.
Craig Berube had two seasons left on his contract at $4M a season.
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