Who Will Be the Next Head Coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

For the first time in 10 seasons, the Toronto Maple Leafs have an active coaching vacancy. Mike Babcock was hired in the spring of 2015, and fired in 2019. He was replaced in-house by AHL coach, Sheldon Keefe, who held the position until Thursday afternoon. The Maple Leafs are one of the most coveted teams to coach in the NHL. With superstars, unlimited resources and the ability to pay more money than any other franchise, Toronto is an attractive place to coach.

Of course, it comes with increased scrutiny, high expectations and extraordinary pressure. There are more cameras and reporters for the Leafs on a Tuesday in February than there are for most teams in the second round of the playoffs. Let’s face the facts, Toronto is a hockey hotbed where the results have been categorically unacceptable and change is necessary. Toronto isn’t the place for a rookie coach, it is the place for a coach with experience, previous success and a strong personality that is unafraid of the public scrutiny that comes with the position. Moreover, the Leafs need a strong personality behind the scenes to manage the players who have effectively run roughshod over the dressing room. They need a coach who will publicly call them out for poor performances and hold them accountable for errors without walking it back.

Who is the next coach of the Maple Leafs? We may have our answer, soon. We’ll look into the favorite, secondary options and a dark horse. Let’s take a look at the odds on Fanduel.

The Favorite

The betting favorite is Craig Berube. The rumors, the whispers, the natural fit. It all makes sense. At +105, Berube has long been speculated as the change agent required to get the Leafs roster to perform. Sheldon Keefe was a calming presence, walked back comments about star players and likely lost his job because he allowed complacency to seep into the minds of the players. Craig Berube…he’s the exact opposite. There will be none of that. If you want a look into how these men motivate their teams, this 15 second clip is telling.

Craig Berube pulls no punches. He was a hard-nosed NHL player and he’s the same way as an NHL coach. If we’re being blunt, he’s more terrifying than any guy on the current roster. You want to send shock waves through a dressing room? You hire the guy who took a team from the basement of the NHL standings to the Stanley Cup over the course of 6 months. He’s a change agent and as far as “approved” available coaches go, he is the best option. At +105, there is no value.

The Dark Horse

For my money, he’s the one of the top-2 coaches in the NHL and he might not be two. Rod Brind’Amour is one of the most highly regarded coaches in the NHL and for good reason. Under his guidance, the Carolina Hurricanes have consistently been one of the best teams in the NHL. They don’t have a single superstar in the way the Leafs do, and they don’t need one. Brind’Amour’s systems are considered to be top notch, with quality penalty killing and sound 5on5 structure. More importantly, Brind’Amour is what hockey people consider to be a culture agent. He captained the Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup and if you want some insight into why his players will run through a wall for him, check this video out.

This guy gets it. Every single guy is important. Every guy plays a role. He was a top two-way player in his time as a player and he teaches his players how to play effectively at both ends. More than that, he’s a gym rat. It’s pretty hard to not get yourself in the gym when your head coach is beating you on the bench press, deadlift and squat racks. Brind’Amour is different than any other NHL coach in the sense that he will not ask a player to do anything he wouldn’t have done as a player. He holds everyone accountable and routinely gets the best out of his players. If he’s given a roster with the firepower that the Leafs have, there is no telling how far he can take them.

The problem is, he wants to be a Cane. He was their captain, he’s their leader and he is the face of their franchise. His contract is up at the end of the season and should be available, the Leafs would back the Brinks truck up to get him. The Canes’ owner is notorious for squeezing his players and staff on contracts. That is going to be tested this summer because the Canes will be outbid by the Leafs if it comes down to it. There is no doubt about that. Rod the Bod is a loyal guy, but when another club offers to pay you and your staff nearly double, that is something you have to think long and hard about. He’s not on the betting board, but if becomes an option, his line will have immense value.

The Guy With Baggage

At +500 sits Joel Quenneville, who is awaiting reinstatement from the NHL after his part in the Chicago Blackhawks/Kyle Beach scandal. Let’s face the facts here. Tactically and resume wise, there is no coach available that comes close to the pedigree of Quenneville. Multiple Stanley Cups, Olympics Gold Medals and he has the second most wins in NHL history by a coach. No, that is not a joke. Prior to the scandal, Quenneville was considered to be in the same breath as the legendary Scotty Bowman, the winningest coach of all time. We’re talking about a man who led the Blackhawks back from irrelevance and into a dynasty. He is the ultimate motivator and game manager. He understands what buttons to push and when to push them to get the most out of his roster. But there is a BIG problem…he’s not been cleared to coach.

There are whispers that he will be cleared by the NHL this summer and if that is the case, there is reason to believe the Maple Leafs will have significant interest. His transgressions in the Blackhawks scandal cannot be overlooked and will not be overlooked by the public. Maple Leafs ownership wants to win and it seems that they don’t care about anything else, including the baggage. If the Maple Leafs and the NHL are comfortable with the work that Quenneville has done to reform his behavior, he is the best X’s & O’s coach available and it isn’t particularly close. If he was cleared, we would be sitting here discussing him as the current Head Coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The only reason the odds are +500 to become the next Maple Leafs Head Coach is because of the lack of clearance. There is a large faction of twitter that would lose their collective minds if he was hired, believing he should not get another chance and they are within their right to have their opinion. They opinion however, means very little if the MLSE Board, run by telecom tycoons who don’t particularly care about public sentiment, decide that Quenneville is the man for the job. At +500, this is worth a value play, because his odds will likely jump to -200 if word gets out that he’s been given clearance.