- Darren Dreger reports Patrick Roy and Peter Laviolette are interviewing with the Maple Leafs this week
- Laviolette pitched the gig as hockey’s “Cowboys” and “Yankees” on Leafs Morning Take back in May
- Read below for full details on Toronto’s expanding search to replace Craig Berube
The Maple Leafs’ coaching search just added two of the heaviest names left on the market.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Wednesday morning that Patrick Roy and Peter Laviolette are part of this week’s interview stage as Toronto looks to replace Craig Berube. A Hall of Fame goaltender and a Stanley Cup-winning bench boss landing in the same conversation moves the needle in a big way.
Roy ran the Islanders bench for most of last season before New York fired him with four games left and brought in Pete DeBoer. He went 42-31-5 there in 78 games, kept the Isles in the playoff race deep into March, and has built a coaching reputation around two Memorial Cups and the kind of fiery personality that tends to wake a sleepwalking room up in a hurry.
Laviolette has been out of the league since the Rangers parted ways with him after 2024-25. His résumé doesn’t need much of a sales pitch. He’s one of the winningest American-born coaches in NHL history, took the Carolina Hurricanes to the 2006 Cup, and has Stanley Cup Final runs with the Flyers and Predators sitting on the shelf next to it.
He also made it clear he wants this one. Laviolette went on Leafs Morning Take on May 14 and put Toronto in the same breath as football’s biggest brands.
“I think Toronto’s an unbelievable city. It’s the [Dallas] Cowboys, it’s the [New York] Yankees. It’s as big as far as hockey goes, so I would think that every coach out there that’s available would throw his hat in that ring, and I’m no different in that regard.”
Watch his full Leafs Morning Take appearance:
Brad Treliving’s group ran a wide Zoom round with somewhere around 20 candidates over the last few weeks. Frank Seravalli pegged Jay Woodcroft as the early front-runner on May 27, but Toronto didn’t request a follow-up with him this round.
Both candidates would bring a different identity, but each one packs the kind of presence Treliving is leaning into. The face-to-face stage runs through the week ahead of the NHL Draft.
