With Craig Berube out, who will be the next head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs?

More change is coming in Toronto.

It’s didn’t take long for the new regime of John Chayka and Mats Sundin to start putting their fingerprints over the Leafs as it was announced on Wednesday that head coach Craig Berube will not be back behind the bench next season.

This is a real turning point for the franchise. The team missed the playoff for the first time in a decade this season and the future of captain Auston Matthews is seriously in doubt. With a pretty bare cupboard in terms of draft picks and prospects, Toronto needs to get the hire of their next head coach right.

So, who’s in line to be the new bench boss in the NHL’s loudest market? Let’s get into it.

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Bruce Cassidy

Bruce Cassidy is biggest name available and he’s exactly what Toronto needs. Cassidy is a tough, no nonsense leader with a winning track record that includes guiding the Vegas Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup in 2023.

However, the Leafs will have to play the waiting game when it comes to Cassidy. The Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings are reportedly trying to interview the former Vegas bench boss and it’s believed Edmonton is his first choice if the Oilers can get permission from the Golden Knights.

Patrick Roy

Roy is in a similar position as Cassidy. Both were surprisingly fired late into the season and both have reputations as demanding coaches who instil a strict atmosphere of discipline, toughness and accountability.

While Roy is used to demanding hockey markets from his playing days with the Montreal Canadiens, I don’t see him as a fit in Toronto. He’s never won an NHL playoff series as a head coach and the Islanders essentially said they didn’t trust him to develop last year’s first overall draft pick Matthew Schaffer. The Leafs would be smarter to take a head coach with a better pedigree as they develop their own future first overall pick next season.

Bruce Boudreau

Bruce Boudreau is a hockey lifer and he loves his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. Boudreau has experience coaching in a tough Canadian market with Vancouver and he knows how to handle an elite scorer like Matthews from his time coaching Alex Ovechkin in Washington.

But, this just feels like another long shot. The 71-year-old hasn’t coached in a few years and his playoff history is all about coming up short of expectations. The only way I see the Leafs hiring Boudreau is if they’re planning a full rebuild and by all accounts that’s not the case.

Peter Laviolette

Peter Laviolette is one of the most experienced free agent coaches on the market. Laviolette led the Carolina Hurricanes to a Stanley Cup championship in 2006 and he is the fourth coach in NHL history to lead three different teams to the Stanley Cup Finals (Carolina in 2006, Philadelphia in 2010, Nashville in 2017).

However, Laviolette’s old school approach seems to be wearing thinner in recent head coaching stints. He only lasted three years with the Washington Capitals (2020-2023) and spent just two with the New York Rangers (2023-2025).

Gerard Gallant

Gerard Gallant has had a lot of success as an NHL head coach. Gallant is a three-time finalist for the Jack Adams Award as Coach of the Year and he won it in 2018 when he led the Vegas Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season.

Unlike most of the coaches already mentioned, Gallant has never lasted long wherever he ends up, regardless of his success. He was fired midway through his third season in Columbus, Florida and Vegas and he only lasted two years in his last NHL coaching gig with the Rangers from 2021 to 2023.

Dark horse candidates

Derek Lalonde:

If the Maple Leafs want to go internally with their next head coaching hire, current assistant coach Derek Lalonde is the obvious choice. Lalonde has NHL head coaching experience with the Detroit Red Wings (2022-2025) and he’s won two Stanley Cups as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He also has experience developing young players in the NCAA, something that will be crucial next season with Toronto’s first overall draft pick.

Manny Malhotra:

Longtime NHLer Manny Malhotra is also getting a lot of attention and it seems like only a matter of time before he gets a head coaching job. Malhotra won a Calder Cup last year in his first season as head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks and he has ties to the Toronto organization as a former Leafs assistant coach.