Craig Berube’s tenure as Maple Leafs coach should be ending

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Craig Berube didn’t have much to say on Wednesday afternoon about his future as coach of the Maple Leafs.

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After the Leafs finished their morning skate at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa ahead of their regular-season finale against the Senators, Berube chuckled as he was being asked about the last day of the season.

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“I’ve thought about things a lot over quite a bit of time now,” Berube told media in Ottawa. “We want to come in tonight and play a strong game, do our best out there.

“For me, it’s a disappointing season, definitely. But that’s for me to internalize and go through and things like that. I’m not going to express all of my opinions to everybody. I’m going to keep that inside.”

Our view is pretty simple: The game should be Berube’s last as coach of the Leafs.

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It’s nothing personal. We hope that would go without saying.

Lack of success

Coaches are judged on the success of their respective teams and, for the Leafs in 2025-26, there has been none.

The season has been marked too often not only by bad performances, but by an inability on the part of Berube and his staff to make proper improvements.

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The coach has to bear the responsibility with a team that has dropped to 78 points (from 108 and an Atlantic Division title) and has entrenched itself in the running for a top-five pick in the 2026 National Hockey League draft. Entertaining such a thought on the eve of the season opener last October would have been, frankly, crazy.

General manager Brad Treliving was fired on March 30. Unless MLSE really is counting each penny and doesn’t want to pay Berube for the next two seasons to not coach, what evidence is there that Berube should be retained? At best, it’s scant.

The Leafs fell well short of expectations, both from within the organization and from the outside.

What has it meant to Berube to coach the Leafs for the past two seasons?

“I love it,” Berube said. “I love Toronto, I love the Leafs. Everybody talks about pressure and all this stuff, I think it’s great. I’d rather have the pressure of having to perform and win than not have it.”

How has Berube dealt with the disappointment of the season on a personal level?

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“Try to figure it out, try to get better, problem-solving,” Berube said. “It’s part of it all. Personally, how do I deal with it? I’m fine. You go through adversity in life and this is one of those times. You have to work through it and that’s what I do.”

‘Losing has to hurt’

Berube wouldn’t overly elaborate when he was asked about Rick Bowness’ post-game rant on Tuesday night. Bowness ripped into his team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, after their final game, implying the players didn’t hate losing as much as they should.

“I’m not in (Bowness’) head or (know) what he was thinking, but for me, losing has to hurt and it has to be vocalized in the room by your players,” Berube said. “When you’re losing and not winning, things have to be said in a not-so-nice manner and when that happens in a locker room enough times things are bound to change.

“You have to challenge each other and he’s not wrong.”

Does that need to improve in Toronto?

“I’m not going to talk about all that,” Berube said. “I’m not getting into that stuff.”

Berube might have more to say on Thursday, when this version of the Leafs gathers one last time for exit interviews.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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