Plan to ensure captain remains a long-term Leaf was not laid out Monday nor was head coach’s future in Toronto
Article content
If there’s a plan to ensure that Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews remains with the team, it was not laid out on Monday.
Advertisement 2
Article content
And if you’re in the group that thinks coach Craig Berube’s tenure behind the Leafs bench should be done after two years, you might be in for some disappointment.
Article content
Article content
Given the opportunity to explain how they might go about convincing Matthews that Toronto is the place to be, neither new general manager John Chayka nor Mats Sundin, who now is lugging around the clumsy title of senior executive adviser of hockey operations, had much to say at their introductory news conference at Real Sports.
Both Chayka and Sundin went out of their way to compliment Matthews, which anyone can do. He’s one of the best goal-scorers of his generation, if not the best. We get it. Few would argue with that.
Matthews was non-committal about his Leafs future last month at the conclusion of the season, saying he couldn’t predict the future.
Matthews is open to hearing what Chayka and Sundin have to say to him, but it remains a wait-and-see approach on his part regarding how the next few months unfold.
Your Midday Sun
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
How can the Leafs satisfy Matthews?
Chayka thinks the Leafs can win with Matthews. How the Leafs go about doing that and how quickly it comes came with few answers after a season as poor as 2025-26 was and with so many issues to address.
Matthews, who has two years remaining on his contract, can’t have been too confident if he happened to tune in on Monday. A text to Matthews’ agent Judd Moldaver was not immediately answered.
“This is his team,” Chayka said, referring to Matthews, during a post-podium scrum. “He lived it all year. I want to get together with him and hear his thoughts on things.
“That’ll kind of help sculpt our vision a bit as well. About communicating to him, it’s about letting him know that there’s still a window here where we feel like he’s one of the best players in the world for a reason. We’ve got some good pieces. We have a lot of work to do and we’ll walk him through how we want to go about doing that.
“He’s a 200-foot centreman who plays the game the right way. I came from an organization (the Arizona Coyotes) where we spent our entire existence looking for that exact player.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“It’s our job to sell him on what we’re capable of and reaching the ultimate goal because I know that’s what’s most important to him.”
Keep in mind that however they go about trying to improve the team, Chayka and the Leafs think Matthews can be the guy to lead the club to a Stanley Cup after having been a part of just two first-round wins in nine years.
RELATED VIDEO
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
What’s the plan with Berube?
Puzzling, too, was what sounded like the initial stages of a commitment to Berube.
This past season doesn’t need much rehashing other than to say that the team underachieved, the group was terrible defensively and Berube’s acknowledgement late in the year that any changes he tried to make didn’t work should have been enough to let him go.
Yet Chayka used “great” and “tremendous” to describe Berube as an NHL coach. That’s the opposite of what Berube was as the Leafs missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
We’ve said previously that no one who has paid close attention to the Leafs would have so much as blinked if the incoming GM or hockey boss made an immediate decision to relieve Berube of his duties.
Advertisement 5
Article content
That’s not going to happen, at least not right now, and perhaps not during the offseason.
Chayka said “yes, of course” when he was asked if he was open to bringing Berube back. He also wasn’t adamant that Berube would be retained.
Why does Chayka consider Berube to be great?
The Leafs’ poor defensive numbers were raised.
“I understand data,” Chayka said. “I think data is one part of the puzzle. You need to look at what a coach is given. You need to look at what he’s good with.
“Craig has been a respected leader for decades in the National Hockey League. We’re going to get together later this week with Mats and go through it all. Mats and I are coming in as outsiders. (Berube) spent the past few years with the team. We want to listen and learn and understand his perspective and go forward from there.”
You would think that Berube’s two years remaining on his contract wouldn’t play into the decision to keep him, considering Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment’s deep pockets. That speculation, though, persists.
Advertisement 6
Article content
If Berube indeed returns, what kind of enthusiasm will Matthews have for that, no matter that he said in April that he respected Berube and has “a ton” of respect for him?
Matthews hasn’t been the same player and hasn’t had the same kind of production under Berube that he did with Sheldon Keefe as Leafs coach.
If the Leafs keep Berube, being able to convince Matthews that Toronto is the place to be might take some of that sell job Chayka mentioned.
In general, little of what was said on Monday by any of Chayka, Sundin and Keith Pelley should leave Leafs Nation feeling rosy about the club’s future.
Clarity, whether involving Matthews, Berube or anything else, was not the order of the day.
Article content