Craig Berube was hired as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 17.
The 58-year-old replaces Sheldon Keefe, who was fired on May 9. Berube had served as an analyst with Turner Sports since being fired by the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 12.
"We're not waiting," Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said May 10. "We're going to be thorough. This isn't something that's going to be hastily done, but we certainly know that there's some quality candidates out there. We want to get them as fast as we possibly can."
Berube is 281-190-72 in 543 regular-season games coaching the Philadelphia Flyers and Blues. He's 27-31 in 58 Stanley Cup Playoff games and guided St. Louis to the Stanley Cup in 2019 after taking over that season after Mike Yeo was fired Nov. 20, 2018.
The Maple Leafs lost to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round in seven games this season and have advanced beyond the opening round of the playoffs once (2023) since 2004. They went 46-26-10 in the regular season to finish third in the Atlantic Division with 102 points. They have not won the Stanley Cup since 1967.
Keefe, 43, was 212-97-40 and 16-21 in the playoffs in five seasons with the Maple Leafs, his first coaching job in the NHL after he replaced Mike Babcock on Nov. 20, 2019. Toronto went 1-5 in playoff series under Keefe. Just once in their past 14 postseason games have the Maple Leafs scored more than two goals in a game, when they defeated the Bruins 3-2 in Game 2. They were 1-for-21 on the power play (4.8 percent) in the series after they were seventh in the regular season (24.0 percent).
"We had gotten to a place where just a new voice was needed," Treliving said. "And that's the unfortunate part of this business. I do not believe that you turn coaches and you keep turning coaches. I don't think that is the recipe for success at all. I just felt at the end of the day, when I look at the totality of his time here, a change was required."
Three teams are without a coach: the San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets. The Buffalo Sabres hired Lindy Ruff on April 22, the Ottawa Senators named Travis Green coach on May 7 and Keefe was hired by the New Jersey Devils on May 23.
