Craig Berube reveals his coaching plan for the upcoming season
Looking to be the change Toronto needs, the newly hired Craig Berube has just revealed his coaching strategy for the Maple Leafs in the upcoming season.
Toronto fans have had to wait longer than anyone to see their team win the Stanley Cup, now at 57 years of drought. With only one advancement into the conference semi-round finals during his tenure, Maple Leafs management fired Sheldon Keefe from his role as head coach. Not long after,the team announced they would hire a former NHL forward who coached the St. Louis Blues break one of the longest-ever Cup droughts in the league in 2019: Craig Berube.
During his first media availability in the new role, Craig Berube shared his preliminary vision for the Toronto Maple Leafs moving forward, looking for a fas, heavy, and structured team.
"You know, we want to play in north game. We want to play fast. We want to be a heavy team. When I talk about heaviness, it's not, you know, running guys through boards and fighting and all that stuff, you know. Listen: The game's changed, but you still have to be strong on pucks. You got to win puck battles.
Those are priorities for me. And, just playing predictable and north, and playing as fast as we can, that's - structure's huge, and we've got to have structure in all three zones, and that's going to be a priority."
Those are priorities for me. And, just playing predictable and north, and playing as fast as we can, that's - structure's huge, and we've got to have structure in all three zones, and that's going to be a priority."
Craig Berube already seemed to have the right idea with the Toronto Maple Leafs, as too much of the time in their last playoff run, they gave up on plays that could have helped them take down the Boston Bruins. Yet, in a recent interview with a contributor for the Stratford Beacon Herald Steve Simmons, he dove further into detail about what he plans to do as a coach and what results he is looking for. MmBerube reiterated the necessity of aggressive gameplay and structure.
However, he added two major points worth addressing. The first is the need for true teamwork and not individual competition. The second is utilizing everyone to their potential.
"We want to be a team first. When I look at teams that win, it's always about the team and what's best for the team. It's not about individuals.
We want to play aggressive, physical hockey. I like to have a heavy team. And we want to play fast. And when I say heavy, I don't mean running around and fighting people. Our team in St. Louis probably had the least number of fights in the NHL. We just played hard hockey, good in front of both nets.
Everybody needs to have a role and be used. When it gets down to the nitty gritty and the playoffs - and I really don't want to talk about playoffs now - you need everybody chipping in.
Right now, I want to focus on camp. That's it. Don't get ahead of yourself. I don't like to do that.
We want a team that's hard to play against. We don't want to just outscore our problems. We want to play good, sound, structured, disciplined, hard hockey."
We want to play aggressive, physical hockey. I like to have a heavy team. And we want to play fast. And when I say heavy, I don't mean running around and fighting people. Our team in St. Louis probably had the least number of fights in the NHL. We just played hard hockey, good in front of both nets.
Everybody needs to have a role and be used. When it gets down to the nitty gritty and the playoffs - and I really don't want to talk about playoffs now - you need everybody chipping in.
Right now, I want to focus on camp. That's it. Don't get ahead of yourself. I don't like to do that.
We want a team that's hard to play against. We don't want to just outscore our problems. We want to play good, sound, structured, disciplined, hard hockey."
These two additions ultimately suggest we can see more even playing distribution than observed under Sheldon Keefe's leadership. who has already demonstrated his tendency toward an even ice time distribution with the St. Louis Blues.
During their Stanley Cup-winning effort, Ryan O'Reilly was the only forward who had more than an average of 20 minutes of ice time. Alternatively, in the 2024 playoffs, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner each played more than 21 minutes on average, with John Tavares and Auston Matthews over 19. Together, they pulled in more than a third of their total points and half their goals, but a more even distribution can help the team learn to rely less on the Core 4 and take control of plays on their own.
Though you cannot expect miracles to happen overnight, it is clear Craig Berube is prepared for the long haul, and with his current plan and coaching record, he might just be exactly the right person to coach today's Toronto Maple Leafs.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 13 | 119 ANSWERS Craig Berube reveals his coaching plan for the upcoming season Will Craig Berube make the Toronto Maple Leafs a more aggressive team? | ||
| Yes, completely | 72 | 60.5 % |
| Yes, mostly | 39 | 32.8 % |
| No, they will stay the same | 7 | 5.9 % |
| No, they will be softer | 1 | 0.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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