Past and current NHLers weigh in on how Craig Berube will help the Leafs
Former NHLer Mike Commodore and current New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen have weighed in on what the Toronto Maple Leafs are getting in Craig Berube.
When the Leafs hired Berube to replace Sheldon Keefe, GM Brad Treliving said it was time for a different voice to help push the Leafs to the next level. According to Commodore, a former teammate of Berube's in Calgary, and Jake Allen, who played under him in St. Louis, the Leafs are getting exactly a good one.
"He seemed like a great guy. Anybody that knows him, loves him," said Commodore on Leafs Morning Take on Monday.
"I would say it's a great hire. He seems like an honest dude. I would put him in the same thing, if Rod Brind'Amour was my coach. immediately you have to respect the guy. He played forever, he was a f****** animal. If that guy tells me you need to do this, I'll be like, that guy probably knows what he's talking about so I'm going to try and do this, whatever the hell it is. If it was a country club before, I would say the country club is probably over."
"I would say it's a great hire. He seems like an honest dude. I would put him in the same thing, if Rod Brind'Amour was my coach. immediately you have to respect the guy. He played forever, he was a f****** animal. If that guy tells me you need to do this, I'll be like, that guy probably knows what he's talking about so I'm going to try and do this, whatever the hell it is. If it was a country club before, I would say the country club is probably over."
Separately, Allen was on the JD Bunkis podcast and was asked about one of the things that stood out to him about Berube when he took over and guided the Blues to the 2019 Stanley Cup.
"One of the first meetings we had when he took over, I can't really repeat what he said in that meeting, but I think we all got out of that and realized, alright, things are going to be different now," commented Allen.
"I think we all came out of there with a different perspective, a different mindset, a different understanding that it wouldn't be the same. I think that was felt between all 23 of us and if you ask any guy on that roster, they would all say the same thing. It took a couple weeks for us to adjust, but once we adjusted, and we really understood what was going on and what the message was consistently everyday - the same message, the same approach, we knew what we were going to get when we came to the rink and the coach knew what he was going to get out of the group.
If you look back at all the good teams in the league, consistency wins. Obviously you need good players, you need talent and you need some luck, but at the end of the day, if you have consistency throughout your group, from the GM to the players it brings success. It might not bring a Stanley Cup every year, but you're going to have success.
What these two players are saying has also been backed up by former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo during a radio interview just last week.
Berube's blunt and direct approach may not be for everyone, but it is something that gets respect from his peers and players, but it provides consistency, which is something the Leafs have struggled with for years. Whether that has been losing to teams they should beat or being able to play a full sixty minutes every night, having consistency will help the Leafs in more ways than people may think.
"I think we all came out of there with a different perspective, a different mindset, a different understanding that it wouldn't be the same. I think that was felt between all 23 of us and if you ask any guy on that roster, they would all say the same thing. It took a couple weeks for us to adjust, but once we adjusted, and we really understood what was going on and what the message was consistently everyday - the same message, the same approach, we knew what we were going to get when we came to the rink and the coach knew what he was going to get out of the group.
If you look back at all the good teams in the league, consistency wins. Obviously you need good players, you need talent and you need some luck, but at the end of the day, if you have consistency throughout your group, from the GM to the players it brings success. It might not bring a Stanley Cup every year, but you're going to have success.
What these two players are saying has also been backed up by former Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo during a radio interview just last week.
Berube's blunt and direct approach may not be for everyone, but it is something that gets respect from his peers and players, but it provides consistency, which is something the Leafs have struggled with for years. Whether that has been losing to teams they should beat or being able to play a full sixty minutes every night, having consistency will help the Leafs in more ways than people may think.
| POLL | ||
MAI 28 | 425 ANSWERS Past and current NHLers weigh in on how Craig Berube will help the Leafs Do you think Craig Berube was the right choice for the Leafs? | ||
| Yes, they need a hard-nosed coach | 298 | 70.1 % |
| No, the Leafs are too fragile for a coach like him | 35 | 8.2 % |
| We won't know until next spring | 92 | 21.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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