On May 3, the Toronto Maple Leafs hired John Chayka as their general manager. More than a week later, on Wednesday, May 13, in an attempt to "start fresh," the team fired head coach Craig Berube. After making the move, Chayka made his respect for Berube clear.

“He did a lot of good things here, that’s not lost on me," the new general manager said during a presser at Toronto’s training facility in Etobicoke, Ontario. "I told him myself, I hope to lead with the same class and grace that he did in his time here.”

Chayka had brought the Leafs legend, Mats Sundin, as his new senior executive adviser alongside him prior to giving Berube his marching orders.

The writing was on the wall for Berube after a disappointing 2025-26 season, which saw the Maple Leafs finish bottom of the Atlantic Division. They missed out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs spot for the first time since 2017.

During his two full seasons for Toronto, the 60-year-old head coach had a decent record of 84-62-18 (.567 PPG).

In his first season as head coach, Berube guided the Maple Leafs to their second conference semifinal appearance of the Auston Matthews era. However, they eventually fell in seven games to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.

Other than the dip in their performance, there were a few factors that led Chayka to make the decision in the second year of Berube's tenure.

"Mats and I spent the last 10 days or so meeting with everyone from the chefs to talking to some of the players and everything in between," said the new general manager. "And we just feel like there’s some things that we need to change and do better."

Warning signs were everywhere over the last two years, especially in the case of Matthews.

Even though injuries affected his performance, the Maple Leafs were trying to mold him into a defense-first player. Berube also pushed them to play a more physical game, which did cost them in the long run.

John Chayka States the Maple Leafs Will Do a Wide Search to Sign a New Head Coach

Chayka did not disclose the candidates competing to be the new Maple Leafs head coach to the media. He alluded to doing a wide search to find the best possible candidate.

“Out of respect for the process and the candidates, I don’t want to get into that today," said the new general manager. "It also always seems like then it means that Craig was missing something, which I don’t think would be fair. We’ll have a thorough process — it’ll be a wide search.”

Berube had two more seasons as head coach left on his contract worth $4.5 million a year. So if he doesn’t find new suitors, then the Maple Leafs will have to pay the remainder of his contract.

Chayka reported that Toronto does not have a set timetable for naming a new head coach. Even with the draft approaching in roughly a month and a half, the Leafs will not be rushing to find a replacement.

Share your thoughts on the Maple Leafs' move to dismiss Berube.

Read more at NHL Central.

Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar