Rounding out his Maple Leafs coaching staff part of Berube’s agenda

Article content

Now, to round out his Maple Leafs coaching staff.

Article content

It’s on Craig Berube’s agenda sometime during the next several weeks.

Article content

“We’re going to look at all the areas, I know there’s coaches here already, one that I worked with before,” Berube said on Tuesday. 

That would be Mike Van Ryn, who was an assistant coach on Berube’s staff with the St. Louis Blues.

The futures of Guy Boucher, Dan Chynoweth, Manny Malhotra and goalie coach Curtis Sanford apparently also are to be determined.

Fans have no appetite to see Boucher, who oversaw a power-play failure (1-for-21) in the first round against the Boston Bruins, return.

Speculation has linked Calgary Flames assistant coach Marc Savard as a possible addition to Berube’s group. The Blues were third on the power play under Savard’s watch in his assistant coaching role on Berube’s staff in 2019-20, the year after they won the Cup.

Article content

And, way back when in 1985-86, Berube and Chynoweth were teammates with the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League.

There will be changes to the staff, no question. It’s rare for a new head coach to be hired and simply assume the staff that was in place.

With Berube hired, an off-season with precious few off days is just getting underway for general manager Brad Treliving.

“We have a staff to to look at and Craig will have those discussions with guys that are here and figure out where we go from there,” Treliving said. “We’ve got our amateur scouts in town. We’re going through our amateur scouting meetings, yesterday, today, tomorrow.

“We’ve got our pro scouting meetings beginning at the end of the week … we’ve got a busy summer ahead.”

[email protected]

X: @koshtorontosun

Share this article in your social network