The St. Louis Blues have decided to run with Drew Bannister, who stepped in as interim head coach midway through the 2023-24 season to replace Craig Berube. Berube is the newly-hired head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs and will bring a lot of baggage from his time with the Blues.
That said, it should be an opportunity to do something different from his tough times with the Blues this season. Here is what Berube must do differently in his first season with the Maple Leafs.
Get Through to Mitch Marner
One of the main issues this season was the poor connection between Berube and forward Jordan Kyrou, even though the two were both part of the 2019 Stanley Cup-winning team. Sadly, this led to Kyrou getting booed on Dec. 14 in the Blues’ first game without Berube as their coach after he gave this response regarding the situation: “I’ve got no comment. He’s not my coach anymore.”
However, Kyrou’s situation and poor performance under Berube resemble Mitch Marner, who struggled when the Maple Leafs needed him most. He’s been a hot topic around Leafs Nation because of his poor performance in the playoffs, and many are wondering what Berube will do to get through to him if he remains on the team.
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I’m not saying that Marner and Kyrou are the same, though they have a similar playing style, but Berube could be what Marner needs: a coach who can get the best out of him and remind him when he is falling short. The Kyrou situation should be a learning experience for Berube, as he may have relied too much on Kyrou – one of the team’s best goalscorers; in this case, Berube should focus on Marner’s development rather than letting him perform as he chooses, as Sheldon Keefe did as head coach of the Maple Leafs.
We’ve already seen what Berube might want to do differently after a photo of Berube and Marner conversing over coffee went viral. This could be a sign of improved communication with his players.
Building a Team of Winners
Near the end of Berube’s time with the Blues, it became increasingly difficult for the team to succeed in the playoffs – if they made it there – and some players lost the motivation to push forward. It could be the same with the Maple Leafs, who have a very talented roster but have only made it to the second round once in eight years, and some blamed Keefe’s lack of urgency to wake up his team when it mattered.
Berube experienced a similar situation after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019; after that season, the Blues made it no further than the second round and did not qualify in his last full season behind the bench. Berube must get the best out of his talented players, especially in the playoffs. That starts with improving the power play. Berube turned the Blues into a top-10 power-play team, ranking eighth between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
With the Blues, Berube also had a team leader in Ryan O’Reilly; however, O’Reilly only arrived in their championship season. With the Maple Leafs, Berube has a leader in John Tavares, who is arguably a more consistent scorer than O’Reilly. Berube should use his experience with O’Reilly to help push Tavares, as he struggled in the team’s First Round loss to the Boston Bruins in this year’s playoffs, only scoring two points in the seven-game series.
Berube also knows how to work with an elite core of players. In St. Louis, he had Vladimir Tarasenko, Colton Parayko, Jordan Kyrou, Alex Steen, Alex Pietrangelo, Robert Thomas, and Brayden Schenn. In Toronto, he will have Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, and John Tavares. With the Maple Leafs, he’s inheriting a great lineup with a lot less talent than the Blues had when he was coaching there; the key difference will be to set the tone in the locker room immediately and try to keep good relations between his star players.
Things Berube Should Not Worry About
With all the drama surrounding him in St. Louis and now surrounding the Maple Leafs, some demons may follow Berube to Toronto. He will have to control the team narrative to build a winning team. So far, the Marner drama has developed. With multiple reports that the Maple Leafs are afraid to make a deal for fear of repeating the Nazem Kadri trade of 2019, Berube should tread carefully with Marner and make sure he remains a valuable asset to the team.
The next step would be to find time to connect with his players and build their trust. One of Berube’s mistakes with the Blues was that he could not manage the team when they were no longer contenders. A similar issue occurred with the Maple Leafs when we witnessed visible frustration on the bench in Game 4 of the Bruins series. Berube could have done more to keep the Blues a consistent contender after they won the Cup. He will have to be more attentive to cooling frustrations in Toronto.
Berube will also inherit a goaltending controversy. The Maple Leafs must decide whether to use Joseph Woll as their starter, re-sign Ilya Samsonov and Martin Jones, or bring in Matt Murray. However, this shouldn’t be a problem, as he experienced a similar situation when the Blues had Binnington and Ville Husso as their top two goaltenders. That tandem did not end well, as Husso was traded to the Detroit Red Wings after it seemed he was going out to outplay Binnington.
Berube has a lot of work ahead, but his experience behind the Blues’ bench should show him how to do a better job as he enters one of the biggest markets in the NHL.
