Browsing: Berube

TORONTO — Craig Berube has a front-row seat to what is quickly becoming a horror show.

The Maple Leafs head coach thought his team was coming out of a defensive fog that plagued the group in the early part of the NHL schedule as it pivoted to the weekend.

After consecutive home losses accentuated by more breakdowns and egregious turnovers, Berube and his staff are going back to the drawing board — again.

Toronto blew a 4-2 lead in Sunday’s second period as part of a 5-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, some 24 hours after a 5-3 defeat to the Boston Bruins.

“It’s just a mindset,” Berube said after his team surrendered 46 shots and fell to 8-7-1. “If you want to be a good defensive team, you gotta check, you gotta have good sticks, you gotta be hard, you gotta win battles, and you’ve gotta have good structure.

“We don’t have any of that right now.”

The veteran bench boss saw encouraging signs in the Leafs’ approach without the puck ahead of the Boston contest thanks to three straight wins, but there remain clear deficiencies that must be rectified.

Toronto has allowed an average of 3.75 goals against per game — good for an ugly 31st in the 32-team league — after giving up a solid 2.79 per outing in 2024-25.

“I just keep working at it,” said Berube, who hoisted the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “You look at video, we gotta have discussions with players, with the team … we’re scoring enough goals every game to win games, but we’re letting in too many goals.

“Pretty much the season is, we don’t value the defensive side of the puck enough.”

Depth defenceman Philippe Myers, who’s in the lineup with shutdown option Chris Tanev out with an upper-body injury, had a second straight rough night, with his worst moment coming on a giveaway that paved the way for Carolina’s fourth goal. The usually steady Jake McCabe then made a similar blue-line gaffe in the lead-up to Sunday’s winner.

That came after the Leafs hung third-string goaltender Dennis Hildeby out to dry in the second with chance after chance, including a string of breakaways.

“Stuff that we just can’t seem to get right or we can’t seem to have a consistency over a full 60 minutes,” said Toronto captain Auston Matthews, who finished with a goal and an assist. “There’s gonna be times where there’s momentum shifts and stuff like that, but to break that momentum as quickly as possible and get back on the right side of things, we’re not doing that quick enough.”

Leafs centre John Tavares said the club is making errors that simply can’t happen in the NHL.

“At times we did some really good things, earned opportunities and were able to give ourselves the lead,” said Tavares, who had a goal and an assist. “And then our game, just for whatever reason, becomes really immature and we don’t manage the game very well.”

“We have a lot of very good hockey players,” he added. “We have a very veteran team, so it’s just the decision to do it shift after shift.”

Toronto winger William Nylander had two goals to round out the offence, but was guilty of giving the puck away for one of the second-period breakaways.

“We’ve just got to focus on that aspect and really bear down,” he said of finding consistency. “Just comes down to simplifying and not trying to make another play.”

Tavares said the Leafs aren’t panicking, but after their league-high 12th home game, the road is only going to get more difficult if the standard of work, commitment and attention to detail isn’t met.

“We gain some traction and then we shoot ourselves in the foot again and just put ourselves in a tough spot,” he said. “There’s a ton of hockey left to be played. We’ve just gotta pick ourselves back up and get ready for the next opportunity, and build from there.”

A disappointed Berube said Toronto, which is finally getting production from its power play, has to show a lot more when the opposition is on the attack.

“We were really trending in the right direction without the puck,” he said. “We’re scoring goals, but now we just went right off the rails the last two games defensively … it’s caused by puck play, costly turnovers.

“And the urgency that’s needed to defend.”Â

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If there’s anyone on the Toronto Maple Leafs who can come out on the good side of adversity, it’s William Nylander.

The 29-year-old has four points in his first three games, which, to some, is a good sign. However, his play hasn’t been up to the standard it usually is. Despite clipping at over a point per game, Nylander’s expected goals sit at 42.68 percent, the sixth-lowest among Maple Leafs, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.

Aside from his empty-net goal in the club’s season-opening win against the Montreal Canadiens, Nylander hasn’t scored for Toronto yet. One of his three assists also came on an empty-netter in that game.

“We need him to obviously score goals, right? That’s what he does, but more to his game than that. It’s not just on all Willy. It’s just, like I said, our guys got to put the puck in the net,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Tuesday morning, ahead of their game against the Nashville Predators.

“So that’s the side of it that I’m looking at when I talked last night. But it’s not all on Willy, it’s on all our guys that we depend on the score goals.”

Following Toronto’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, Berube admitted that he’d like more offense from his second line. Although he briefly mentioned John Tavares, the Maple Leafs’ coach preached for Nylander to shoot the puck more.

‘We Need More From Himâ€: Maple Leafs†Craig Berube Challenges William Nylander For Offense Following Defeat To Red Wings
The Toronto Maple Leafs fell 3-2 to the Detroit Red Wings on Monday afternoon at Scotiabank Arena, earning no points in the standings. Despite clawing back from a 2-0 deficit, Detroit’s Mason Appleton scored the game-winning goal with 45 seconds left in regulation time.

In three games, the forward has just three shots.

What has Tavares learned about Nylander when Berube pushes him?

“Well, I’ve always said, that’s why I think Willy does tremendously well in this market. I think, (Nylander), more than anyone, will look himself in the mirror, knows maybe that he can do more, he can play better,” Tavares said.

“He’s one of the best in the league. We’re very lucky to have him. We know what he’s capable of and his ability to respond, not only when he’s challenged from whether it’s anyone within our locker room, coaching staff, but just himself and the expectations he has for him, and the standards he set and how great he wants to be night to night, so he responds really well.”

What’s good about Berube and Nylander’s relationship is that the door’s always open for discussion. When Berube wants Nylander to play better, he’ll let him know. And vice versa when Nylander wants more playing time.

‘If You Stick With It, Good Things Will Come’: What Easton Cowan Will Remember About His NHL Debut With Maple Leafs
As Easton Cowan skated onto the ice ahead of his NHL debut, the crowd started cheering. Within all the noise, a song blared inside Scotiabank Arena: “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)”.

There’s always an open line of communication, which can be a positive thing between a coach and one of the NHL’s most skilled players.

“I mean, he always has good feedback to be honest with you. He sees things that maybe I don’t see that he talks about and where he’s at mentally and puck touches and stuff like that,” Berube added.

“These guys need to puck in their hands. They want to have the puck, and sometimes they’re not getting in enough, so they’re not feeling like they’re into the game. So those are the types of conversations we have most of the time, just different things like that. They’re good (conversations), though.

“I see his perspective where he’s coming from that maybe I don’t see. I’m not in his head, and what he’s feeling and what I’m feeling and what I’m seeing. So I think they’re good conversations. It’s really good feedback for me, and I just want him to hear me and what I think.”

With no lineup changes ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Predators, Nylander will line up again alongside John Tavares and new linemate Matias Maccelli. There’s hope that, with a bit of rest following their Monday afternoon game, Toronto’s top players can return to the scoresheet in a big way.

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While the Toronto Maple Leafs started their season off with a victory, Craig Berube knows there’s a lot of room for improvement

Speaking with Nick Kypreos and Justin on Real Kyper and Bourne,the Leafs head coach believes that there were things that need to be worked on, especially the top line, which featured Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies and newcomer Matias Maccelli.

“I think they had some good shifts where they’re possessing the puck and doing some good things, but obviously it wasn’t enough. We all know that,” Berube explained. “It’ll get better. I do believe that. I think some of their puck touches were not great. I didn’t think that we were making good plays with it or executing our plays with the puck. “So, like I said, we’ve got to keep working on that. You know, that’s something we’re going to focus on tomorrow at practice. Just making better puck plays, better decisions with it, a little more directness.”

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Coming into the game, Toronto had to make some lineup changes following the injury to Scott Laughton, which forced Max Domi off the top line right wing spot and back at third-line centre, which is where he played for the majority of last season.

Berube understands that it will take some time for the new players to get used to their new roles on the team, especially Maccelli, who is playing in a prominent spot on the top line.

“He can pass the puck, he can make plays. He made some plays last night,” Berube said, “But I think they need to find some chemistry between the three of them. A little more chemistry than they’re showing right now.”

Among the positives was the play of Morgan Rielly, who scored a goal and had an assist in 20:47 of ice time.

During training camp, the Leafs made it known that they expected a bounce-back season from Rielly, especially spending the entire camp working with Brandon Carlo.

“I’m very happy. I thought all camp he moved like that, so I wasn’t surprised,” Berube said about Rielly’ play. “He’s skating and doing the things that we want him to do and that he needs to do. I was pretty impressed with him last night. Great to see him come out and play a real good game right off the hop, contribute offensively, do the things he’s capable of doing with and without the puck. He put the work in all summer. He was prepared.”

When looking at the other newcomers, Berube saw some up-and-down performances from Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua. The Leafs coach believed Roy’s game got better as the night went along.

“Early, like a lot of guys, he was maybe a little hesitant with the puck, feeling things out, but as we got into the second and third periods, thatâ€s when you started to see the player we know,” Berube said. “He was strong down the middle of the ice, winning battles, responsible in his own end. His faceoffs got better as the night went along, and I thought he really showed that big, heavy presence that we were expecting from him.”

Berube did shuffle lines during the game and said that’s something to expect as the season goes along, as he tries to find the right combinations. He believes it’ll take some patience for things to come together.

One player who will need to be patient before he gets his first crack at NHL action is Easton Cowan, who found himself sitting in the press box with Calle Jarnkrok drawing into his spot on the fourth line.

While it’s tough for a young player to be sitting and waiting, Berube stressed the 19-year-old wonâ€t be sitting long.

“Iâ€ve got to make sure heâ€s not sitting out too long because he needs to play,†Berube said. “Weâ€ll find a way to get him in there. Itâ€s something we talk about all the time with Brad [Treliving] and the staff. Heâ€s a smart kid, heâ€s got a great attitude, and when heâ€s in, I expect him to play with the same confidence he showed in camp.â€

With the depth the Leafs have at forward, the team is not short of options to play in the bottom six, but it’s been made known that their desire to eventually add a top-six forward, especially one that can log top-line minutes.

However, Berube didn’t rule out players currently on the team being capable of handling that task.

“We have guys capable of getting there,†he said. “Not everybody can play that many minutes, but there are some with the motor to do it,” Berube said. “Watching Easton Cowan from junior to now, heâ€s got a motor on him. Thatâ€s still a ways away, but I do believe in time he could be that kind of player.â€

Berube acknowledged that trades are always an option down the road if the need arises, but for now, heâ€s focused on developing the forwards already in the room and seeing who can seize the opportunity to play more.

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TORONTO — Amid the chaos that’s surrounded the Toronto Maple Leafs for the past half-decade — the playoff collapses, the ousted coaches and…