The Toronto Maple Leafs have ended their search for a head coach as they named Craig Berube the 32nd head coach in franchise history. Berube was most recently the head coach of the St. Louis Blues, having been relieved of that position in the middle of December. He’ll now be in charge of the team with the most tortured fanbase in all of professional sports (just ask them, they’ll tell you).
Berube does have something that the previous head coach, Sheldon Keefe, didn’t have – his name on the Stanley Cup. In his first season with the Blues, Berube directed them to the Cup (the first of Pat Maroon’s three-in-a-row) by riding a hot goaltender and timely scoring. Throughout his coaching career, the former Flyer, Leaf, Flame, Capital, and Islander, has amassed a record of 281-190-72 with five playoff appearances in eight seasons.
This will likely be his toughest assignment as he takes over a club that hasn’t been able to make it to a conference final since the Bush Administration. In fact, the last time the Leafs were one round away from the Stanley Cup Final, Berube was still playing.
Having his head coach on board this early in the summer allows GM Brad Treliving to focus on fixing the on-ice product. Despite having some highly talented offensive players on the roster, they can’t seem to get their act together in the playoffs. Winning just one series in his four-year tenure doomed Keefe. Can Berube, who has only coached his team into the second round once since his Cup win, be the difference? Who knows?
Other Hockey News
Monsters 4, Crunch 1 – Syracuse Crunch
The Crunch scored first in Game 2 as Devante Stephens slapped home a power-play one-timer, but a questionable goal and then an ugly turnover that lead to another Cleveland goal proved to be their undoing as the Monsters take both games in Cleveland.
Jet Greaves had another strong game with 17 saves on 18 shots, but the real story is the Crunch’s inability to capitalize on their offensive zone time. For large portions of the first and second period, Syracuse was able to set up in Cleveland’s zone, but either tried to cut their shots too fine or saw their attempts blocked in front of the net. The Crunch just couldn’t get to the rebounds or deflections necessary to make Greaves’ night tough.
The series moves to Syracuse for Game 3 on Wednesday.
Mike Sullivan named head coach of Team USA for Four Nations and Olympics [Pensburgh]
Sullivan has a gig even if he loses his day job with the Penguins. Team USA named the Pittsburgh head coach as their bench boss for the upcoming Four Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Olympics. Sullivan was an assistant coach for the 2006 Olympic squad that went to Turin, Italy.
Sasha Barkov wins Selke Trophy [NHL.com]
It’s the second Selke for the Panthers’ captain who beat out Jordan Staal and Auston Matthews. Anthony Cirelli finished 23rd with 1 third-place vote and two fifth-place votes. Brandon Hagel received a single fourth-place vote.
Mark Wells, member of the 1980 Miracle team, passes away [Detroit Free Press]
The Michigan native was part of the squad that shocked the hockey world with their win over the Russians and had a goal and two assists in the tournament. Drafted by Montreal, Wells never made it to the NHL, but played in the minors for several seasons.
Story lines from the Boston-Montreal Semifinal [The Ice Garden]
The PWHL Final is set as Boston will take on Minnesota (oh look, another Toronto hockey team can’t get out of the first round), but our friends at the Ice Garden take a look back at the Boston-Montreal Semifinal series.
How Gen Z fans keep the league from getting stagnant [The Score]
Tik Tok. It’s all about the Tik Tok. Not really, but the league is having to adapt to how younger fans consume sports as a whole.
