Berube, Keefe, Babcock: How The Maple Leafs’ Last Three NHL Head Coaches Fared In Toronto

It’s been over two weeks since the Toronto Maple Leafs decided to part ways with head coach Craig Berube. It marks the third instance in which the coach of the Maple Leafs has been fired in the Auston Matthews era.

As Toronto’s GM John Chayka and senior executive advisor Mats Sundin search for a new bench boss for the Leafs, it’s a good time to reflect on the recent history of coaches with the franchise.

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Beginning with Berube, here are the last three coaches of the Maple Leafs, how they fared in their stint with the team, and an overall recap of their tenure in Toronto.

Craig Berube (Hired May 2024, Fired May 2026)

Berube was the coach who took the Maple Leafs the furthest of the team’s last three coaches. He was in Toronto for two full seasons, leading the Leafs to Game 7 of the second-round series against the Florida Panthers in his first year.

There was a real possibility for the Maple Leafs to build on that progress, as it was the furthest the team had gone in the Stanley Cup playoffs since Toronto advanced to the conference final in 2001-02.

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Though 2024-25 was promising, everything changed in 2025-26. Superstar Mitch Marner was no longer on the team, and the GM at the time, Brad Treliving, tried to make up for his absence by bringing in forwards Nicolas Roy, Dakota Joshua, and Matias Maccelli.

Disaster struck early for Berube and the Leafs. They lost five of their first eight outings of the campaign, and went through a five-game losing streak in early November. Toronto had a hill to climb early in the year and was truly never able to grab hold of the season from that point.

Whatever went right for Berube in his first year did not translate to last year. He didn’t get the same goaltending to bail out the defense, blueliners couldn’t break out of their own zone cleanly, and they were getting outshot on a nightly basis.

In the end, Berube’s heavy, direct and simple approach to the game didn’t rub off the right way on the Maple Leafs, specifically in his second season.

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Sheldon Keefe (Hired November 2019, Fired May 2024)

Sheldon Keefe’s Maple Leafs struggled to win a series or be successful in the post-season. But in hindsight, he was the coach who best suited the team’s style of play. After all, despite just one series win in five years with the Maple Leafs, he never missed the playoffs.

Under Keefe, Matthews won a Hart Trophy, a Ted Lindsay Award, and three Rocket Richard Trophies. Marner had three 90-plus-point seasons, was a Selke Trophy finalist, and was one of the best playmakers in hockey. William Nylander molded himself into the superstar that he’s known as today, recording a career-high 98 points in 2023-24 and earning his eight-year, $92-million contract.

Even Morgan Rielly, who had a rough pair of campaigns under Berube, averaged about 0.70 points per game with Keefe leading from behind the bench.

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Again, what’s most important in playoff success, but it’s fair to say that the big names on the team were performing at their best when Keefe was around.

The furthest Keefe was able to take the Maple Leafs was to the second round of the post-season in 2022-23, losing to the Panthers in a five-game series.

He was also at the hands of some inexcusable first-round exits. That includes the 2019-20 qualifying round against the Columbus Blue Jackets, blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens the following year, and being unable to get past the Boston Bruins in his final year with the Leafs.

Ultimately, the partnership between Keefe and Toronto ended after the 2023-24 campaign, and that decision was made by Treliving. Keefe is now the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, preparing for his third season with them.

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Mike Babcock (Hired May 2015, Fired November 2019)

Mike Babcock is certainly a polarizing figure in the hockey community. Several stories about his coaching philosophies and the way he interacted with his players over the years.

But during his tenure with the Maple Leafs, his job was to develop a very young and talented team and help them grow into NHL stars.

Aside from the trio of Matthews, Marner and Nylander, players such as Zach Hyman, Kasperi Kapanen, Connor Brown and Rielly were all at critical moments in their careers. And for the most part, all of them are still effective roster players in the NHL.

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Despite Babcock being assigned a more growth role in the franchise, he still led the young Maple Leafs to the playoffs twice before Keefe was promoted from the Toronto Marlies to replace him in November 2019.

Today, Babcock doesn’t coach in the NHL. His last opportunity to coach in the league was when the Blue Jackets hired him in July 2023. However, he was fired in September, before the 2023-24 regular season even began, because of crossing personal boundaries with his players.

And not long after Berube’s firing, TSN’s Darren Dreger reached out to Babcock to gauge what his interest was in returning to the NHL as a head coach. He replied, “Dregs, I’m retired. Loving it.”

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