Craig Berube calls out former Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe

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Graham Montgomery
May 22, 2024 (12:00)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs officially brought on Craig Berube to be the team's new head coach today and in his introductory speech, he seemed to take a shot at Sheldon Keefe.

It was a big day for the organization as they welcomed Craig Berube as the 40th head coach in Maple Leafs history. He is one of fourteen coaches to have played with the organization as well. The move comes after Sheldon Keefe was given plenty of opportunities to reach postseason success and failed.

Day one

As such, the Leafs as an organization are in a somewhat uncomfortable position. General manager Brad Treliving recognizes this and noted that the organization still has some tough, but necessary, decisions to make this summer. However, today was not about those decisions as they wanted to take a moment to breath and get to know the team's newest bench boss.

Treliving on Berube: «This time of year you have to push people and push them into uncomfortable situations. But first you have to connect with them.»

During his introductory comments, Berube briefly described his philosophy. He confidently proclaimed that he never wants his team to be outworked. Getting outworked means the other team wants it more and they will win most of the time under those circumstances, especially when the stakes are high.

"We don't want to be out-worked - ever. It's all about the team. Everybody's important, everybody has to be used, they all have roles. We want to play a north game, be fast, be a heavy team. Not running guys and fighting, but you have to be strong and win puck battles."

This could easily be seen as a jab against Sheldon Keefe, as his teams consistently appeared to be outworked when it came to difficult situations. Mitch Marner in particular has taken a lot of criticism for appearing to not care on the ice. Will Berube be able to get more out of these players?

The press conference wasn't all serious though. Leafs president and CEO Brendan Shanahan got an opportunity to talk about the time he dropped the gloves with Craig Berube when they were both players in the NHL.

Brendan Shanahan talks about dropping the gloves with Craig Berube back in the day

Hopefully the Leafs will be receptive to Berube's coaching style. If they are, the franchise may actually see some playoff success for the first time in a very long time.

Source: PuckReporter
Craig Berube takes a shot at Sheldon Keefe during press conference

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