The first major decision for John Chayka and Mats Sundin was the right one. And it was a difficult decision to make.
Craig Berube is a better man than he is a coach. When you spend time around him, you truly want to believe in him. You listen to his words and his thoughts and his delivery and you hope they translate to performance on the ice. But they never really did — especially not in the disastrous past season for the Leafs. And for Chayka and Sundin, the odd combination now in charge of the hockey operation, really they had no choice but to get this right.
Berube lost his way and lost his team and in doing so, lost his job as coach. This wasn’t like the end for Sheldon Keefe, who was pushed aside when he couldn’t find playoff success with a team apparently built for it. This wasn’t like the end for Mike Babcock, who unlike Berube was not a great man. Babcock big-headed his way out of town. Apparently illness and fatigue ended his time with the Leafs. The club — the front office and the players — were sick and tired of him by the time of his dismissal.
Now it’s coach firing No. 1 for Chayka and Sundin which leads now to coach hiring No. 1 in Toronto. And, for those counting, this will be Auston Matthews’ fourth coach with the Leafs — assuming he’s back in October — and fourth coach for William Nylander in 11 seasons together. For Morgan Reilly, also assuming he remains a Leaf, he will be entering his 14th season and this will be his sixth different head coach.
But the coach hiring comes first and is hugely important for the future. The New York Rangers, for example, paid large money to bring in the decorated Mike Sullivan as coach. The Rangers were worse than the Leafs last season. Former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas hired little known Dan Muse as the head coach in Pittsburgh after letting Sullivan walk away. The Penguins shockingly made the playoffs and Muse is up for coach of the year. Sometimes what looks right from the outside — and even the inside — can turn out to be the opposite.
Coaching in the NHL has never been so superfluous. The easy move is always firing the coach, but it isn’t always the right move. Next season will be Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s 12th year together in Edmonton. Assuming that Kris Knoblauch will not be back as coach, that would add up to seven coaches for hockey’s greatest pair. The average length of coaching stay in Edmonton has been two years. The same length of time Berube lasted with the Leafs.
Why wasn’t Berube a good fit anymore?
The difficulty for Berube was fit: Where did he fit in with the franchise? If Chayka and Sundin are attempting to rebuild the Leafs, which isn’t out of the question, Berube wouldn’t be the kind of coach and teacher they would require. And if management is thinking like ownership — and attempting to compete next year as a playoff contender — Berube isn’t the modern style up-tempo coach needed to take them to the playoffs. If that is, in fact, possible.
Give Chayka and Sundin credit for one thing in ousting Berube: They didn’t get caught up in the financial aspects of the situation, which some thought might prevent a coach firing. Depending on who you believe, Berube has two years left on his contract which will pay him somewhere between $6 and $8 million to walk away. Some thought, reasonably, that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment would not be thrilled about that kind of payout. But the fact Chayka and Sundin were given the green light to make the change means, for now, they are in charge of the hockey operation and eating money these days is just part of the price of doing business in the NHL.
It shouldn’t have been difficult to decide Berube’s fate, especially if you take the statistical approach to hockey that Chayka takes. The difficulty would be in deciding that he wasn’t the man you wanted around after meeting him — because he can be that impressive in person.
Is this the end for Berube?
The undrafted Berube played more than 1,000 NHL games on big heart, big body and little talent. He then coached more than 1,500 games as a head coach and assistant coach in the NHL. That’s almost 40 years in professional hockey. That’s a lifetime and then some for player and for coach. If this is the end for Berube, he’s had more than a remarkable run.
For Chayka and Sundin, this really is the beginning. One of the few things Chayka did right in Arizona was hire Rick Tocchet to coach. So far with the Leafs, general manager Brad Treliving and his assistant, Shane Doan, have been shown the door. Now so has Berube. Soon there will be more front-office people exiting — some you may know, some you won’t. They have to build their operation with their eyes, from the ground floor out. It starts with a new coach. Chayka and Sundin need to get that one right. The search is already underway.
