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Leafs Front Office 2026-27 | Speculation, Discussion

I'd buy the "give him a chance" argument if he showed any willingness to change up the play style. There was a brief period in the middle of the season where the Leafs seemed to carry the puck a bit more and had marginally better numbers but they constantly reverted back to his collapse defence and dump and chase hockey that clearly didn't work.

I get that coaches have a certain way they like to play. But you need to adapt to the strengths of your roster. Having Nylander play dump and chase hockey is stupid. Matthews scores a lot of his goals off the rush. Having him dump and chase is stupid.
 
Bill_Berg said:
I don't like the comment that Matthews would wait to see what they do in free agency. What they do in free agency should depend on what Matthews decides!
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Haha, yes. EF followed that bit up with saying the Leafs don't want to wait until July for clarity from AM34.
Which is why I infer that this message to the Front Office (prior to the lotto) was about Matthews' general opinion about the coaching situation.
 
dappleganger said:
I like Berube. I think he got the Leafs the closest to being cup winners in 2024-2025 during the entire Matthews era. But they need a new coach if they're going to turn this thing around. Bruce Cassidy or David Carle.

I would even hire Bruce Boudreau, I have a lot of respect for him but that ship might have sailed.
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Great goaltending did.
 
herman said:
Haha, yes. EF followed that bit up with saying the Leafs don't want to wait until July for clarity from AM34.
Which is why I infer that this message to the Front Office (prior to the lotto) was about Matthews' general opinion about the coaching situation.
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I don't like all this innuendo and rumour talk but if your best player doesn't respect the coach then this seems to be an open and shut case to say goodbye to Berube.

You can easily replace a coach, you can't easily replace a Matthews.
 
herman said:
Haha, yes. EF followed that bit up with saying the Leafs don't want to wait until July for clarity from AM34.
Which is why I infer that this message to the Front Office (prior to the lotto) was about Matthews' general opinion about the coaching situation.
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Perhaps they will have a plan that Matthews is in on. If you don't this and that in July I will stay sort of thing.
 
Joe S. said:
Great goaltending did.
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Yup. The biggest difference between the two seasons was the quality of the goaltending. 24/25 goaltending was elite. 25/26 was . . . inconsistent at best. Overall defensive play/puck possession time continued the downward trend we saw happening last season, too, which is heavily on coaching. Like I've said before, I don't think it's a coincidence so many Leafs had their worst seasons under Berube and many of those that left the team saw their performances improve almost instantly. Special teams this past season were also pretty good (PK was 8th overall, PP was 4th in the games after Savard was fired) - and those are generally assistant coaches running them.

I get that they don't wanted to bring out the axes so quickly after being officially given the jobs, but I don't see how you can be data driven and not place a huge chunk of the blame squarely on the head coach. I'd lean towards keeping the assistants (definitely keep Sullivan, could go either way on the rest) but Berube needs to go.
 
Sullivan is staying in some way, as he both did nothing wrong and was an early Chayka believer (and interim GM'd after his departure from ARI), whether it be behind the bench or as an exec of some sort.

The only way I can see Berube staying* and being effective is getting a really really good assistant coach to run the actual tactics and 5v5 forwards, and a really really good assistant coach to handle the defense group. For all his flaws, Berube made a very good front-facing spokesperson for the team and the very bad season (of his making, granted) could have been played a lot worse under a less controlled coach.

* but if he's staying, Matthews is probably leaving, so everybody loses

In the classic Rogers way, just promote Berube up and out of the day to day. Sit him with Pelley and Teherany and see if they can figure out an AI agent to implement and motivate a committed forecheck scheme.
 
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herman said:
In the classic Rogers way, just promote Berube up and out of the day to day. Sit him with Pelley and Teherany and see if they can figure out an AI agent to implement and motivate a committed forecheck scheme.
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I've wondered if they would consider moving Berube to some "advisor" position within management instead of outright dismissing him from the organization. It's not entirely unheard of to happen, but obviously Berube would need to be on board with it.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
I've wondered if they would consider moving Berube to some "advisor" position within management instead of outright dismissing him from the organization. It's not entirely unheard of to happen, but obviously Berube would need to be on board with it.
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Seems doubtful to me. It's not as if he's on the verge of retirement.
 
ZBBM said:
Seems doubtful to me. It's not as if he's on the verge of retirement.
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Well if he was on the verge of retirement he would just take the paycheque and not accept any other role in the organization. If he wants to continue having at least a semi-active role in hockey taking a smaller role elsewhere here is probably his best shot. Something tells me teams won't exactly be lining up to get him as their head coach next season if he's dismissed.

Regardless I don't really care what he's doing next season as long as it isn't behind our bench.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
Well if he was on the verge of retirement he would just take the paycheque and not accept any other role in the organization. If he wants to continue having at least a semi-active role in hockey taking a smaller role elsewhere here is probably his best shot. Something tells me teams won't exactly be lining up to get him as their head coach next season if he's dismissed.

Regardless I don't really care what he's doing next season as long as it isn't behind our bench.
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Not that I'm saying they would/should do it...but wouldn't Berube be a great fit in Ottawa. They have mobile defence who can get the puck up the ice and forwards that are capable of forechecking. They seem like a much better fit with Craig than the Leafs.
 
Bender said:
Before Matthews makes a decision on what? He's under contract for 2 more years.
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If he wants out, he's getting traded. There's zero chance he's happy with the Leafs style of play or being saddled with Domi or being deployed like Kampf. Both he and 88 told management they need help up front and need better puck moving D.
 
Guilt Trip said:
If he wants out, he's getting traded. There's zero chance he's happy with the Leafs style of play or being saddled with Domi or being deployed like Kampf. Both he and 88 told management they need help up front and need better puck moving D.
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I think this is all crazy. Matthews is the captain of the team, but floating that he's contemplating a trade demand?

You're the leader of the team, supposedly, but you're threatening to leave even though you're under contract?

Guys, I don't think he can come back as captain from this. What's next, he comes back, they hit a rough patch, and he wants out again?

And if none of this stuff in the media was true, he'd be in front of a mic saying things like "This is all hogwash, I'm fully commited to this team, really excited we're picking first overall, can't wait to get back to work...blah blah..."

Honestly, if I'm the Leafs, I don't think there's much choice here but to move on. Does anyone want a captain that's only half in?
 
I'm just not convinced that Matthews is demanded a trade. I know I'm just making up my own narrative but I'm really reading this as more of a deal with the style of play and roster construction or I'm not committing to staying beyond the end of my contract situation
 
L K said:
I'm just not convinced that Matthews is demanded a trade. I know I'm just making up my own narrative but I'm really reading this as more of a deal with the style of play and roster construction or I'm not committing to staying beyond the end of my contract situation
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I hear you, and I'd like to think you're right, but that's not what I'm reading.

I'm reading that the Leafs are going to meet with him to convince their hesitant captain to return for this coming season...which he's already under contract for.

If Matthews was properly excited to lead the Leafs this coming season, I have to think his agent would be on Sportsnet suggesting that report was a bologne sandwich.
 
Frank E said:
I hear you, and I'd like to think you're right, but that's not what I'm reading.

I'm reading that the Leafs are going to meet with him to convince their hesitant captain to return for this coming season...which he's already under contract for.

If Matthews was properly excited to lead the Leafs this coming season, I have to think his agent would be on Sportsnet suggesting that report was a bologne sandwich.
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I guess my question is why does that matter? We all know the state of them. I want to be optimistic about them being able to turn the ship around but I also know it's an uphill battle. The PR nightmare of the organization deciding the best course is the part ways but have Matthews say he's committed to the team only to be traded mid season if things go south.. I'm not seeing the value in it. I think this is a no win situation and while guys like CJ and Friedman have reported on it too, it's mostly the daily nothing updates from shit stirrers like Dreger that make it an every day story.
 
Frank E said:
I think this is all crazy. Matthews is the captain of the team, but floating that he's contemplating a trade demand?

You're the leader of the team, supposedly, but you're threatening to leave even though you're under contract?

Guys, I don't think he can come back as captain from this. What's next, he comes back, they hit a rough patch, and he wants out again?

And if none of this stuff in the media was true, he'd be in front of a mic saying things like "This is all hogwash, I'm fully commited to this team, really excited we're picking first overall, can't wait to get back to work...blah blah..."

Honestly, if I'm the Leafs, I don't think there's much choice here but to move on. Does anyone want a captain that's only half in?
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I agree. And now the Leafs are in a great position to make this happen. Trade him for a high draft pick and draft the top notch defenseman we’ve been longing for for years to help built the team nucleus the proper way this time… with McKenna as the centrepiece
 
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