What Berube said about Toronto Maple Leafs' Game 7 disaster
If the context of the entire franchise history of the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t exist, Craig Berube could be evaluated as having had a pretty good first season as head coach.
Under Berube, the Leafs won the Atlantic Division, won just their second playoff series since 2004, and took the defending Stanley Cup champions within one game of elimination by forcing a Game 7 against the Florida Panthers.
“We won our division, 108 points. Changed our style,” Berube said at his end-of-season media availability on Tuesday. “Overall, I think we accomplished a lot.”
But the Leafs also were blown out of their own barn in that Game 7, losing 6-1, and failed to advance to the Eastern Conference Final (or further) once again. Dating back to 2002, the Leafs have now failed to get past the second round of the playoffs in their last 11 playoff appearances, while going 0-8 in winner-take-all games, including seven Game 7 losses.
“We lost our structure for a bit. Cost us three goals,” Berube said of the team’s breakdowns in the second period of Game 7 that effectively ended their season. “I really liked this team. I think this team is a very good team. To get over that hump, we have to learn from this Game 7 here going forward, and we will learn.”
Previously having won a Stanley Cup as the head coach of the St. Louis Blues, Berube shook off any questions about whether the pressure of playing in a rabid market like Toronto affected his team’s psyche.
“This is a hard market. It’s a great market, though. That’s the way you have to look at it, I think,” Berube said. “Pressure comes from inside the locker room. That’s it.”
For the Leafs, much of the offseason conversation circles around a pair of key unrestricted free agents: John Tavares and Mitch Marner. The players are expected to meet the media later on Monday, but their future is still uncertain as they come off a combined cap hit of just under US$22 million per year.
“Love coaching him, love his energy,” Berube said of his first year coaching Marner, who came off a career-high 102-point season. In the postseason, Marner put up 13 points in 13 games, second on the team behind William Nylander’s 15.
Tavares, meanwhile, put up 74 points in 75 regular-season games at age 34, while putting up five goals and two assists for seven points in 13 playoff games.
Tavares gave a short answer on Sunday when asked about his desire to return to Toronto, giving reporters a brief “yes.”
Berube kept the same tune up on Tuesday, simply saying he’d “100 per cent” want Tavares back in Toronto.