Toronto Maple Leafs Management Needs To Take Control Back from the Players
Players Still Dictate How the Maple Leafs Brass Operates That Has To Change
The Toronto Maple Leafs made a coaching change on Wednesday, parting ways with Head Coach Craig Berube, who still had two years left remaining on his deal. This should come as no shock to anyone. New General Manager John Chayka and Senior Executive Advisor Mats Sundin want to reshape the organization, and they want their guy.
But it is clear, if it wasn’t already through the Brendan Shanahan, Lou Lamoriello, Kyle Dubas, and Brad Treliving eras, that the top players are still dictating how the organization is being run.
And those who read this will say it is an outsider's perspective, and that this is not how things are actually done. That is all fair and true. But perception sometimes is reality, and after meeting with some of the players, as Chayka indicated, he felt the organization needed to change directions
Don’t be naive to think those meetings didn’t influence the decision on Wednesday. The players made sure their feelings were heard about the season and Berube’s coaching style. A style that got them to Game 7 of Round 2 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Florida Panthers.
That same style had the Maple Leafs up 3-1 in Game 3 against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers, with a chance to put the series out of reach. But the Maple Leafs failed to close out that game and subsequently lost the series, with complete no-shows in Games 5 and 7 on home ice.
Changes came, and the team got worse. The players Toronto had on the roster didn’t fit Berube’s coaching style, at least the top players. As is happening in Edmonton, the top players didn’t like Mike Babcock and wanted Sheldon Keefe. After a while, Keefe’s words wore thin. Then Berube came in, and his words fell on deaf ears.
While there were injuries to star players this season, like Chris Tanev, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander, the Maple Leafs just didn’t buy into playing the way Berube wanted. Even goaltender Anthony Stolarz called his teammates out for their lack of commitment to playing the right way.
But again, the decision on Wednesday was to placate the captain. Fair or not, that is how it is coming off. Even though Chayka said the decision had nothing to do with some conversations with Matthews, think again. And they did speak to get an idea of the landscape.
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It is no secret that Matthews and others didn’t like Berube’s coaching style. It wasn’t what they were used to, but Matthews, who is also dictating terms here with his contract, was more of a support player than in years past due to lingering injuries.
Auston Matthews, who scored 69 goals, drives the offence and carries a line. He isn’t a support player. Again, you can see where things lined up to where if Berube was staying, then there is a good chance Auston Matthews was going. And the Maple Leafs don’t want to lose a cash cow like that.
However, for all we know, he still wants to leave even after everything is done to appease him. Again, from all reports, he wants to remain in Toronto and win, but if he doesn’t think he can, he will ask to leave. But nobody knows that because the meeting hasn’t taken place.
But in that meeting, as Chayka noted, it is a partnership with the players; management can cave to every demand. And in this case, if Matthews is uncertain, he doesn’t want to be in Toronto; he needs to tell them so they can move forward one way or another. There can’t be a waiting game, or else it is Mitch Marner all over again.
Unfortunately, this shouldn’t be the case in business. The players shouldn’t dictate how things play out. Yes, they have some say, no one is saying they shouldn’t, but new management is falling into the same pattern as previous ones, where if the players don’t like something, they will change or won’t do it.
Good organizations take control from the top, and the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have that right now. The perceived power Chayka and Sundin have, they don’t have, as Mike Richards of Sportsnet 960 The Fan out in Calgary told Full Press Hockey when discussing who is dictating terms with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So, the power comes from that management down to the coach, and that’s how it works. In Toronto, it was upside down. The players had all the control. Like the players ran the team. It’s like, do you want to be traded? No. Do you want to? No. Like, it was just whatever they wanted. It was just this Core Four and everything else that went with it. And basically, you cannot have players running the organization like what the play, so it’s players first.
Well, as much as you want to have a great relationship with your athletes, you want to have a good business relationship, as you said, they’re on good contracts, they’re treated well, like all these kinds of things, but it’s got to come from above. It has to start with ownership. Then it’s got to go into upper management, middle management, and then you have a coach. If you can give me that structure, then structure is what wins.
However, right now at this moment, it’s clear that the same structure that was in place for years still remains. If the Toronto Maple Leafs want to talk about changing the culture, it starts at the top by taking back the power they gave to the players.
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