Craig Berube details 'beauty' relationship with Toronto Maple Leafs' Nylander
When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Craig Berube a little over a year ago, one of the biggest questions that came up was how he would handle the personalities of the team’s top stars.
Known as a relatively even-keeled coach on the bench but also one of the NHL’s most aggressive players during his days as an enforcer, one of Berube’s key tasks in Toronto was to mesh with the Leafs’ key players, such as William Nylander, Auston Matthews, and Mitch Marner.
And while Matthews admitted he’d been dealing with a season-long injury that hampered his production, Marner hit a career-high 102 points while Nylander racked up a career-high 45 goals under Berube.
Berube hopped on the Nasty Knuckles to chat about his relationships with Toronto’s top players, which included delving into what he called a “beauty” relationship with Nylander.
The Leafs coach had joked earlier in the postseason that he just leaves Nylander alone and lets him do his own thing, but he opened up a bit on the podcast about the details of his coaching style.
“He is a good teammate and a good guy,” Berube said of Nylander. “He wants to win. Like all of us, there are always things to improve on and things we are going to demand from him more, just like the other guys. I enjoyed working with him.”
Of all the players on the Leafs, Nylander is perhaps best known for his off-ice fashion, even sporting a lucky suit throughout the team’s playoff run this year.
“He is quite the guy, though. Rolling in, muscle shirt on, earrings, hair all over. He’ll say to me, ‘Yeah, you lost me in that first period.’ I’ll go, ‘What are you talking about?’ He’ll say, ‘I need a lot of ice time to get going,'” Berube said with a laugh.
And it seems like friendly banter between the two is the key to getting Nylander to play his best.
“After a point-blank chance one time, I go, ‘You shot it right in the goalie’s glove! Can you not put it upstairs?’ He goes, “’Well, I wasn’t out there early enough. I wasn’t warmed up enough. I didn’t have enough ice time.”’ I am looking at him like, ‘What a beauty…’ He always has an answer for something.”
While there’s bound to be more questions about whether Nylander and Berube will ever bring playoff glory to Toronto, it at least appears that the relationship between the two is in a great place heading into next year.
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