Maple Leafs fire coach Craig Berube after two seasons, last-place finish in Atlantic Division

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Maple Leafs fired coach Craig Berube on Wednesday, John Chayka's first major move since taking over as general manager following the team finishing last and missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

The move ended Berube’s two-year run with the Maple Leafs. They had 108 points in 2024-25 and reached the second round of the playoffs before struggling this past season.

Chayka said the decision was made shortly after he met with Berube.

“This was the right decision on the path ahead,” Chayka said at a news conference. “It was a difficult decision. It was not a verdict on Craig’s coaching. I think it stands for itself.”

Chayka suggested that Berube hoped to return next season.

“I think Craig, his heart’s in it,” Chayka said. “That’s the kind of guy he is. I think he felt like he had a lot of unfinished business, and I think he’s got a lot of great connections with the players here — and it was only a discussion about the path ahead.”

The path ahead is clouded by the uncertain future of captain and top player Auston Matthews, who has two years left on his contract and a full no-movement clause to control his next destination, if he so chooses.

Asked what impact Matthews’ status had on the decision to fire Berube, Chayka said: “None. Zero.”

Chayka said he didn’t “make this decision in a vacuum” and that the coaching change was part of a broader restructuring with senior executive director of hockey operations Mats Sundin.

“Mats and I have spent the last 10 days or so meeting with everyone from the chefs to talking with some of the players and everything in between,” Chayka said. “Just feel like there’s some things we need to change and do better.”

Chayka was hired earlier this month. He succeeded Brad Treliving, who was fired in March, and said he will conduct a “wide-ranging” search for Berube’s replacement.

“We’ll take our time and try to get it right,” Chayka said. “It’s the most critical decision as a general manager.”

Toronto won the NHL draft lottery last week. The Maple Leafs are expected to pick either Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg with the first overall pick on June 26 at the NHL draft in Buffalo.

Berube, 60, went 84-62-18 with Toronto, but the Maple Leafs were just 32-36-14 this season. The drop in points — from 108 to 78 — was the team’s largest year-over-year points decline.

The Maple Leafs had embraced Berube’s straightforward, no-nonsense, north-south approach in 2024-25 after Keefe was unable to get the same talented group over its playoff hump but didn’t come close to duplicating that success a second time.

Defensive deficiencies also caused glaring problems for a club that finished with the second-worst goals-against mark and was outshot a league-worst 66 times.

“They played with more passion than we did,” Berube told reporters in December after a particularly ugly 4-0 road loss to the Washington Capitals. “That’s what it boils down to. It looked to me like they had way more urgency in their game, more passion in their game. That’s the difference.”

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