The assistant coach behind Toronto's 31st ranked defense is being floated as the next head coach

Mike Van Ryn has led the Maple Leafs defence the past two seasons with Craig Berube. In that span they went from the eighth-least goals against (2024-25) to the 31st worst-team in the NHL (2025-26). He had pretty much the same defence corps when he found success, but couldn't manage to get them on track the entire year. And now the team wants to promote him. That means it's less of a roster issue but more a coaching problem, and even with Chris Tanev out for the year; they had more than enough bodies to replace him in the lineup.

He's a relic from Craig Berube, as he came to join him from St. Louis, but with him out of town and the team approaching a more modern and analytical approach, you'd think he would be one of the names headed elsewhere this summer.

Though according to a new report from Jeff Marek, that might not exactly be the case.

Marek appeared on Daily Faceoff Live where the topic of the Maple Leafs coaching search came up, and he mentioned that Van Ryn has been with the club the past two seasons and it seems like an obvious move for them to promote the assistant coach:

Van Ryn does have head coaching experience as he led the Kitchener Rangers during the 2015-16 season, and also led the Tucson Roadrunners in 2017-18 before becoming an assistant with St. Louis, then moving to Toronto.

So he wouldn't necessarily be inexperienced to a point, however the fact he's brought up at all is not sitting well with fans:

Though he has his faults, he is a person who is intimately familiar with the team and could have a much different voice despite being attached to Craig Berube.

This isn't personal and I am sure that he's an upstanding guy but Van Ryn is not the answer to Toronto's problems. Not only will this make no sense to Auston Matthews given that he wants to see real action, and simply keeping a mainstay of the Berube regime is just going to make him walk faster.

But it also makes no sense from a coaching or PR standpoint. Toronto wants a new voice and someone who isn't part of the system. They have been interested in everyone from Bruce Cassidy to Jay Woodcroft to NCAA legend David Carle. Toronto is leaving no stone unturned, but to just take what they already have after all that work is bizarre.

As we saw with the #BerubeOUT movement, fan outcry can be very persuasive and if the fans find Van Ryn leading the team, it's going to cause tension before the season even begins and it might push a lot of potential free agents away.

Toronto is trying their best to rekindle the passion and trust of their fans and the last thing they need to do is go against everything they've promised and make such a weird hire. While Marek may be onto something and the team will likely talk to him - it has to stay at talking only.

Mike Van Ryn will get his shot in the NHL as a head coach one day, but it's not going to be with the Maple Leafs. If it is? He's going to have a very tough road to navigate.

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