Craig Berube expects to return as Leafs coach in 2026-27

While changes are in motion in the front office in The Six, there might not be any seismic shifts in who’s running things behind the bench…at the moment.

During the team’s locker cleanout day on Thursday, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said he expects to be back at his post for the 2026-27 season. However, Berube was very ominous in stating that he hasn’t received any indication from MLSE CEO Keith Pelley about his future with the club.

The questioning of Berube’s status with the Maple Leafs comes after one of the franchise’s worst performances in a long time. The team not only missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign, the season before Toronto drafted current captain Auston Matthews with the first overall pick, but they also finished in the bottom portion of the league standings, “clinching” the fifth-best odds for the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery.

To say the season was a disappointment is a massive understatement. The Leafs went from winning the Atlantic Division and taking the eventual two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers to seven games in the playoffs, to being one of the more embarrassing teams in the NHL. Some point to the team moving on from star winger Mitch Marner as one of the causes for the team’s downfall, but even with Marner out of the picture, there seemed to be enough firepower – with the likes of Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares – to at least have the squad contend for a Wild Card spot.

The lackluster finish to the season and the fact that the Leafs had already fired general manager Brad Treliving made it seem as if Berube’s name was going to be on the chopping block. Yet, for now, he’s still the head coach in the hockey mecca of the world.

In two seasons in Toronto, the Leafs have a regular-season record of 84-62-18.