The Toronto Maple Leafs have made their choice and veteran head coach Craig Berube will become the new bench boss of the franchise, per insider Frank Seravalli.
A press conference will be held on Tuesday to make the official announcement
Berube had been a front-runner for Toronto’s vacancy ever since the Maple Leafs parted ways with Sheldon Keefe. Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report that the Maple Leafs and Berube were far down the road on the process of becoming the team’s next head coach.
The 55-year-old won the Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2018-19 after taking over as their interim coach midseason. He was fired by St. Louis through his sixth season at the helm in mid-December.
It is sort of a comeback to Toronto for Berube, who played 40 games for the Maple Leafs in 1991-92 before he was included in the massive 10-player trade that brought Doug Gilmour from the Calgary Flames. He spent a total of 17 years in the NHL as a player, mostly as an enforcer, putting up 159 points and 3,149 penalty minutes across 1,054 games.
As far as coaching go, Berube spent parts of six seasons with the Blues, compiling a 206-132-44 record and .597 points percentage. He had previous coached the Philadelphia Flyers in 2013-14 and 2014-15, going 75-58-28 (.553).
Throughout their search, the Maple Leafs were said to have also inteviewed former Los Angeles head coach Todd McLellan and spoken with veteran bench boss Gerard Gallant.
Chatter had also linked Carolina Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour, who remains without a contract extension in Raleigh, though Friedman had reported earlier on Friday that the Maple Leafs would not wait to see if Brind’Amour would stay put in Carolina.
They didn’t and have named Berube as their new head coach. Welcome to Toronto, boss!
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