The Toronto Maple Leafs closed their season with a 3-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators and a 32-36-14 record in a campaign that ended much earlier than the franchise expected.
For the first time in a decade, Toronto won't take part in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, prompting changes at the top and leaving uncertainty around several key figures, including head coach Craig Berube.
With the front office in transition and a new general manager coming following the firing of former GM Brad Treliving, Berube addressed his future during the team’s year-end media availability.
Berube was asked if he's received any message from Maple Leafs CEO Keith Pelley regarding his future in Toronto as the head coach of the Maple Leafs, and if the expectation is for him to stay put for another season.
John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
“No, I haven’t heard anything about that,” Berube said. “You know, same as you guys heard. When the new GM gets hired, the people there, they’ll make a decision.”
Toronto’s season included a sharp decline after the Olympic break, with the team falling out of a playoff position and winning only five of their last 25 games. That said, the Leafs started the season on the wrong foot and never truly recovered, already entering the break at 29-21-9.
Despite the overall results being clearly bad, Berube pushed back on concerns about issues inside the locker room.
“I think our culture is good in here, I don’t have a problem with the culture,” Berube said. “I have a problem with how we performed on the ice. The room is really good. The guys are good with each other. The culture’s good around here.”
Berube, nonetheless, took responsibility for the season’s outcome.
“It’s on me. It’s on everybody,” Berube said. “You know, we didn’t perform at the level we needed to perform to get back to the playoffs.”
