Maple Leafs Nearing Decision to Hire Craig Berube as Head Coach

The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly close to naming Craig Berube as their next head coach, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Berube, who led the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup win in 2018-19 after taking over as interim coach, was fired midway through his sixth season in December.

The Blues had a 13-14-1 record under Berube early in the season but improved to 30-19-5 under Drew Bannister, who has since been signed to a two-year deal as head coach. Despite the improvement, the Blues missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Berube, 55, has a career regular-season record of 281-190-72 (.584) and a playoff record of 27-31 (.466) from his time with the Blues and Flyers.

Aside from the 2019 championship, he led the Blues to just one other playoff series win, a 4-2 victory over the Wild in the first round in 2022.

Berube quickly emerged as the frontrunner for Toronto’s coaching job after they fired Sheldon Keefe last week.

The Leafs also interviewed former Kings coach Todd McLellan and 2018 Jack Adams Award winner Gerard Gallant few days ago.