The Toronto Maple Leafs are in search of a new head coach. Here are three candidates that should be a good fit for the role. Moreover, on Thursday, Leafs management believed it was time to move on and fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. Keefe took full responsibility for not being able to “push this team over the line,” and “didn’t get it done in the playoffs.” This was all said in a video message that he shared to express his appreciation for the opportunity and to thank the fans. Under the management of Keefe, the Leafs were finally able to surpass the first round of the playoffs in 2023. Other than that, it was a familiar ending, a first round knockout, for the other four seasons. With that said, it’s time to look ahead at who can become the 32nd head coach in Toronto Maple Leafs history.
Thank you, Leafs Nation 💙✌️ pic.twitter.com/WN4iXJZjjE
— Sheldon Keefe (@SheldonKeefe) May 9, 2024
Craig Berube
Berube’s name has come up a lot in rumours that he could be the next head coach of the Maple Leafs. All signs point to former St. Louis Blues bench boss being Toronto’s number one target. Above all other coaching attributes, a winning pedigree could arguably be the most important.
Berube was promoted to Blues head coach from associate coach midway through the 2018-2019 season. At the time that Berube was promoted, the Blues were 7-9-3. By the time January came around, St. Louis found themselves at the bottom of the NHL standings. However, under Berube’s guidance, they went on to become Stanley Cup champions, despite all the hardships early on in the season. Not only does Berube know what it takes to overcome adversity and win, he is a great motivational speaker. There’s an infamous clip of him pumping up his team before heading out for game seven of the Stanley Cup finals.
Also, he is not afraid to call out players who aren’t playing to the best of their abilities. For example, last season, Berube called out star forwards, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou for their effort. “They don’t play inspired hockey. You cannot play in this league without emotion, grit, being inspired. They’re getting paid lots of money and they’re not doing the job. End of story,” he said. Many fans would say that the Maple Leafs could use this sort of tough love behind the bench, in the locker room, and dealing with Toronto hockey media personalities.
Gerard Gallant
Gallant is a very experienced head coach in the NHL. He landed his first head coaching gig back in the 2003-2004 season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. From then, up until 2014, Gallant bounced around some different roles for a few different teams. However, he’s been consistently a head coach in his last ten employed seasons.
His greatest achievement was in 2017-2018 where he coached the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season. He led the new expansion team to a Stanley Cup Final appearance but fell short to Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. They finished that season with a 51-24-7 record and Gallant took home the Jack Adams award for best coach of the year.
In addition to that, Gallant most recently coached the New York Rangers and led them to a Conference Final in 2022. Also, in terms of a winning record, that was his best season of his coaching career. This proves that Gallant can fit in with big market teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs. Although, one thing to look out for in Gallant is, usually when he arrives at a new team, he’ll do a stellar job in his first season. However, he shows signs of slight negative linear regression as the seasons go on.
Dean Evason
Evason is another top coach that’s available on the market for the Leafs. He was let go early on in the season by the Minnesota Wild after a terrible start. But, in all fairness to Evason, the Minnesota Wild aren’t a team with an outstanding roster by any means. Also, Kirill Kaprizov missed time early in the season and wasn’t himself. That had a huge trickle down effect on the lineup given his individual dominance at times. Kirill Kaprizov scored 96 points in 75 games this year. If he wasn’t himself for a while, Evason would have naturally struggled to find answers.
Despite that, he has had some very successful regular season campaigns with the Wild. Including their run in 2022 where they finished with a 53-22-7 record. However, Leafs fans won’t like hearing that in the entirety of Evason’s pro coaching career, even as an assistant, he’s never been able to surpass the first round of the playoffs.
To give credit, he has only been an NHL head coach for three full seasons.
Honourable Mentions: Joel Quenneville
there are rumours out there that Quenneville is interested in coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, that process would be a little tricky as he would need permission from the league to return to coaching in the NHL. This is related to the Kyle Beach incident with the Chicago Blackhawks. If he can coach again, he’d bring that championship pedigree to Toronto as he won three Stanley Cups.
Todd McLellan
Very experienced head coach and has multiple 50+ win seasons. McLellan has dealt with star players before with his time in San Jose and Edomonton. In that time he’s coached, Joe Thornton, Connor McDavid, Patrick Marleau, and more. This shows that he can handle great deals of talent within his roster, just like the Leafs.
Main photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
