The Maple Leafs are getting closer to hiring Craig Berube as their head coach.

 

Craig Berube will likely be named the next head coach of the Maple Leafs "far down the road," according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Friday.

🚨 CRAIG BERUBE IS THE NEXT COACH OF THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 🚨 pic.twitter.com/y77xmcI8sW

— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) May 17, 2024

In mid-December, Berube, who had led the Blues to a Stanley Cup victory in 2018–19 after taking over as their interim coach in the middle of the season, was let go midway through his sixth season. Under Berube, the Blues started the season 13-14-1 but came back to finish 30-19-5 under new head coach Drew Bannister, who they recently signed to a two-year contract. They did, however, miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

The 55-year-old has made two turns behind NHL benches with the Blues and Flyers. His regular-season records are 281-190-72 (.584) and 27-31 (.466). He only led St. Louis to one other series victory, a 4-2 triumph against the Wild in the first round of the 2022 playoffs, aside from their 2019 championship.

Since Sheldon Keefe was sacked by Toronto last week, Berube has been seen as the front-runner for the vacant position. According to reports, the Leafs also spoke with 2018 Jack Adams Award winner Gerard Gallant in recent days, and Friedman revealed today that they also spoke with Todd McLellan, the former bench coach of the Kings.

A few weeks ago, he was also in quite advanced talks with the Senators, but in the end, Ottawa gave former Canucks coach and Devils temporary bench boss Travis Green a four-year contract instead. Berube has already had interviews for the positions with the Jets and the Devils, but they will now have to seek elsewhere.

According to Friedman's story, Toronto won't be hanging around to see if the Hurricanes follow through on their morning suggestion to trade Rod Brind'Amour. Brind'Amour is not signed for the upcoming season. His Carolina squad was just eliminated in six games by the Rangers in the second round.

Helping the Leafs get past their current postseason scoring problems will be Berube's primary responsibility in the hopes of a deep playoff run. The team has only won one series, against the Lightning in 2023, despite having made the playoffs eight times in a row—tied for the longest active streak in the NHL. They were restricted to 1.90 goals per game by the Panthers in the second round of the previous season, and they scored just 1.92 goals per game against the Bruins in this year's first-round loss.