<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs’ search for their 32<sup>nd</sup> head coach is complete, and it was a short one. <a href="https://x.com/frank_seravalli/status/1791561756885860570">Sources told Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli</a> Friday that Craig Berube would be named to the job, with an official announcement expected shortly thereafter, and <a href="https://x.com/MapleLeafs/status/1791574496282907024">the Leafs made it official late Friday afternoon</a>.</p>



<p>The news comes eight days after they fired Sheldon Keefe following their seven-game defeat to the Boston Bruins in Round 1 of the 2023-24 Stanley Cup playoffs.</p>



<p>Berube, 58, was unemployed as a head coach for roughly five months. The St. Louis Blues fired him in December following a 13-14-1 start this season. Despite his ousting from the job, he’ll forever be a legend in St. Louis, having coached them to their one and only Stanley Cup. In 2018-19, Berube took a Blues team that was last overall in the NHL standings as late as Jan. 3 and guided them on an improbable run that culminated in them defeating the Bruins in Game 7 of the Final, ending a 51-season championship drought that began with the franchise’s debut in 1967-68.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="180"></div>



<p>Berube spent parts of six seasons behind the Blues bench, compiling 206-132-44 record and .597 points percentage. Previously, he coached the Philadelphia Flyers in 2013-14 and 2014-15, going 75-58-28 (.553).</p>



<p>Berube also spent 17 years in the NHL as a player, functioning primarily as an enforcer, compiling 159 points and 3,149 penalty minutes across 1,054 games. His playing career include a 40-game stop in Toronto in 1991-92. He was shipped to the Calgary Flames partway through that season as a piece of the blockbuster trade that brought Doug Gilmour to Toronto.</p>



<p>The Leafs are hoping Berube’s playoff coaching pedigree helps their star-studded roster break through after losing in the first round seven times in eight seasons of the <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/players/news/auston-matthews/2433">Auston Matthews</a>/<a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/players/news/mitchell-marner/2475">Mitch Marner </a>era. The Leafs have won a single playoff series and have gone 0-6 in do-or-die games during that time. Across Berube’s tenure in St. Louis, the Blues won five playoff series and two Game 7s.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="156"></div>
