Craig Berube Is Certain About His Future With The Maple Leafs

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube

As the Toronto Maple Leafs conducted their locker cleanout on Thursday, there was a lot of uncertainty about where the franchise is headed. With no team president or general manager, it was very difficult for players to talk about their own futures, including captain Auston Matthews, who was very non-committal.

But one guy who seemed pretty sure about his future is head coach Craig Berbue, who said, flatly, that he expects to be back next season. 

Sure, his answer was a short, terse, "yes," with nothing else added. But until a new hockey operations boss is brought in, he really has no other option than to expect that he'll return. He does have two years to run on his pricey contract. 

Insider Nick Kypreos figures the argument in favor of Berube—one that coach is likely making himself—is just that he didn't have the players to properly execute his system. 

"If we really listened in on some conversations around MLSE, it would be, 'I never got the right guys'," said Kyper, before concluding with, "There's a chance that he's gonna stay."

Justin Bourne, however, feels it could ultimately come down to how Auston Matthews feels about going forward with Berube as his coach. 

"If Auston Matthews says, 'I don't wanna play for him,' I think he has the hammer... And they wouldn't want to risk losing (the captain)."

It might be worth keeping in mind that both Matthews and Berube each have the same number of years remaining on their contracts: Two. 

A lot of big decisions will be coming down the pike in Leaf Land over the next few weeks. 

Photo: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

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