SportsHockeyMaple Leafs

Leafs coach Berube gets a little feisty with Toronto media

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
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Apr 30 2025, 7:51 pm
Leafs coach Berube gets a little feisty with Toronto media
John E. Sokolowski/Imagn Images

In his first year at the helm of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Craig Berube has mostly kept himself out of too many headlines.

Winning the division in his first year with the team, something no other Leafs coach has ever done, Berube’s kept himself relatively clear of most critics, including the occasionally vulturous Toronto media.

With Toronto taking a 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators to start their playoff series, Berube was well on his way to exorcising playoff demons that his predecessors in Sheldon Keefe and Mike Babcock couldn’t move on from.

But with the Leafs now dropping two games in a row, Berube and the Leafs had the detractors out in full force after their inability to close out the series on home ice on Tuesday.

Much of the discussion about the Leafs’ playoff failures in recent years has centred around a group long dubbed the “Core Four,” Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner.

With the group of forwards raking in a cap hit this season of more than US$46 million (almost exactly half of the team’s entire payroll), they’ve been held to a combined one goal scored in Toronto’s last two losses.

With the subject prompted in a media availability today, the usually monotone Berube got a little feistier than usual in his answer.

“It’s on everybody on the team,” Berube said. “I get it. That’s all I hear around here: core, core, core, the Core Four. But it’s on everybody on the team. We’re a team; it’s on the whole team. It’s not just four guys.”

Through five games, Marner ranks tied for eighth in NHL playoff scoring with seven playoff points, while Nylander and Tavares are tied for 15th with six each. Tavares sits tied for 21st with five points.

“There’s things that we can do better offensively that we need to look at and go and do them,” Berube added. “I think they defended well and we did a lot of good things in the game, but there’s more there. That’s my job to try to get them out of it, and their job. We’ll discuss it as a team and go over things, and we’ll be hopefully better.”

The Leafs and Senators renew their hostilities on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre for Game 6, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. ET.

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