Craig Berube pushes back on the idea that he's struggling to motivate the Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told reporters his honest feelings after being pressed if he's doing enough to motivate the team during this current rough patch.
Toronto is headed into Dallas with one more real shot to turn it around or there is likely going to be some changes. Whether that starts and ends with Craig Berube is up for debate, but something needs to be fixed somewhere in Toronto if they don't want this season to be a complete disaster.
A lot of discussion is over whether or not Berube has lost the locker room, and more specifically the stars of the team. He's been seen barking at William Nylander, and his indirect disagreement with Auston Matthews shows a clear disconnect.
Craig Berube says motivation not the issue with him
But to him, he's just doing what he can with what he has. Being asked by reporters ahead of Sunday's game vs. Dallas, Berube was candid when asked if he's doing enough to motivate his players:
I don't have an issue motivating the team... That's my job. It's not difficult for me.
For Berube it's definitely not a hard thing to do, considering it's been his modus operandi as a head coach ever since he broke into the league with the Flyers as a bench boss.
But it's less about him being able to motivate the players and seemingly more about whether or not they want to listen to him in the first place.
You can tell that whatever Berube tells the team and what they do with that is comparing apples to oranges. He doesn't belittle or berate the team, and is honest in what needs to be done.
Don't blame Berube for this one
If the star players are having such an issue with that, that's on them and not the head coach. There are certainly egos in the locker room as much as Toronto wants to try and play things cool, and it's clearly causing friction.
Like, what is Craig Berube to do when you have Matthews barely scoring, defensively inept, and part of a wider-reaching issue. These big boys are not showing up whatsoever.
Six points, only two goals and an absurd minus-24 rating for the top four stars on the team over the last four games. That's unacceptable and inexcusable, especially from decade-long veterans.
It's time for the team to check their egos at the door and do what Craig Berube told them do to in practice.
Was it to be better? Stop acting so careless? No. He simply asked them to play for each other; something the team has barely done since the season began.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 21 | 2630 ANSWERS Craig Berube pushes back on the idea that he's struggling to motivate the Maple Leafs Do you think Craig Berube should stay on as head coach for the Maple Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 1207 | 45.9 % |
| No | 1423 | 54.1 % |
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