Stanley Cup champion Craig Berube is named head coach of the Maple Leafs for 2019.
Craig Berube has been handed the keys to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
It will be up to the 58-year-old to deliver something the Original Six franchise hasn’t experienced in more than a generation — sustained playoff success.
The Leafs named Berube their new head coach Friday after another post-season flop that cost predecessor Sheldon Keefe his job last week.
He will be tasked with getting the Leafs’ offensively gifted — and playoff-challenged — core led by Auston Matthews to the next level with Toronto having lost eight of nine series dating back to 2017.
Berube, who won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, takes over a team that lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games this spring despite trailing the first-round matchup 3-1.
Sent packing by St. Louis in December after missing the playoffs last spring, the Calahoo, Alta., product owns a 281-190-72 coaching record over parts of eight NHL seasons with the Blues and Philadelphia Flyers.
He was promoted from an assistant’s role to the top job in St. Louis on an interim basis in November 2018 before leading the Blues to the franchise’s first title some seven months later.
A finalist for that season’s Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year, the Leafs said Berube will be formerly introduced at a press conference Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET at Ford Performance Centre.
The bruising forward put up 60 goals, 159 points and 3,149 penalty minutes in 1,054 games across 17 NHL campaigns with the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, Calgary Flames, New York Islanders and Leafs from 1987 through 2003.
He added three goals, an assist and 211 penalty minutes in 89 playoff appearances.
Berube also had a supporting role in one of Toronto’s franchise-altering moments.
