HIGHLIGHTS
- The Maple Leafs fired Craig Berube on Wednesday after two seasons
- Bruce Cassidy is the early favorite for the job
- Read below for our top 5 candidates for the job
The coaching search is on in Toronto.
The Maple Leafs fired Craig Berube on Wednesday after two seasons, ending a tenure that produced one first-round exit and one missed playoffs. New general manager John Chayka made the call less than two weeks into his own tenure, and he promised a “wide and deep” search for the next coach.
Toronto allowed the second-most goals in the NHL this season and finished fifth-last overall. They are also drafting first overall in June. The next coach will be inheriting a roster in transition, a generational prospect, and the same playoff pressure that has crushed every Leafs coach in this era.
These are the top five candidates to take the job.
1. Bruce Cassidy
Cassidy is the obvious choice and probably the runaway favorite. He has a Stanley Cup ring from Vegas in 2022-23, he has never missed the playoffs in nine years as an NHL head coach, and he already coached this Leafs core in Boston for parts of six seasons.
The catch is competition. The Edmonton Oilers want him too, and the Golden Knights have refused to grant Edmonton permission to interview him. Vegas is still paying out the last year of Cassidy’s contract at $4.5 million, which gives them the right to block any in-division move.
That same leverage does not exist for Toronto. The Leafs are in the Atlantic. If Cassidy wants this job, Vegas has no reason to stand in his way.
I would be stunned if Chayka does not at least make the offer.
2. David Carle
Carle just won his third national championship at Denver and his fourth title in four years if you count the 2024 World Junior gold he coached for Team USA. He is 36 years old, runs the best development program in college hockey, and has never been higher on the NHL radar.
The fit works given the No. 1 pick. If the Leafs draft Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, hiring the college coach who already knows the modern NCAA pipeline becomes a real selling point.
Carle has coached or recruited a lot of the players coming out of the U.S. development system.
The downside is the obvious one. Carle has never coached a single NHL game. Throwing a college coach into the deep end of the Toronto market is a swing, and the Leafs do not have much margin for swings right now.
3. Peter Laviolette
Laviolette is the safest bet on the board. Seven different NHL teams, more than two decades of head coaching experience, a Stanley Cup with the 2006 Hurricanes, and an Eastern Conference Final run with the Rangers in 2024. He just finished his run with New York and is available.
The Leafs have done the “experienced veteran coach” thing before. It is hard to argue Laviolette would represent a meaningfully different direction than Berube. But if Chayka wants a calm hand in a chaotic market, this is the guy.
4. Jay Woodcroft
Woodcroft took over the Oilers mid-season in 2022 and led them to the Western Conference Final that spring. He was fired the following season after a slow start, but his coaching résumé features stops as an assistant in Detroit, San Jose, and Edmonton.
He is a player-first guy by reputation. After two years of Berube’s harder edge, that pivot might be exactly what Toronto’s veterans need.
5. Manny Malhotra
Malhotra is the dark horse. He just won a Calder Cup in his first season as the AHL Abbotsford Canucks head coach, he was a Leafs assistant from 2020 to 2024, and Elliotte Friedman has reported that Toronto will absolutely have him on its radar if Vancouver lets him go.
There is something to be said for hiring a coach who already knows the players, the building, and the media market. Malhotra also fits the “wide and deep” search profile Chayka talked about. He is not the splashy name, but he is the one with the most relationships in the room.
The Wild Card
Kris Knoblauch is the name nobody is saying out loud. The Oilers head coach is taking heat for another playoff disappointment, and rumors of his future come up every time Edmonton stumbles. If he becomes available, every team in this list gets bumped.
I’d still put real money on Cassidy. The Vegas-Edmonton standoff is doing Chayka a favor, and the fit is too clean to ignore.
