One major change that Craig Berube will implement right away in Toronto
One change the Leafs may see under Craig Berube helped the St. Louis Blues become Stanley Cup Champions.
Under former head coach Sheldon Keefe, the Leafs were a possession-based team, often circling back in the neutral zone when they were unable to attack with speed and enter the offensive zone. While it worked very well in the regular season, in the playoffs the Leafs struggled to score goals. With only Morgan Rielly and at times Timothy Liljegren as the only real puck movers it was more difficult for the Leafs to stretch out the opposing team.
The Leafs have added Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Chris Tanev in that regard, with Tanev giving Rielly more freedom to engage in the offensive side more aggressively. According to Downtown Sports host Stephen Brown, allowing Rielly to be more aggressive moving the puck up ice along with OEL is something that Berube would prefer given how aggressive the Blues were at stretching out the opposition when Berube had efficient puck movers like Alex Pieterangelo and Vince Dunn among others.
If the Leafs are able to maintain a more aggressive breakout throughout the playoffs, it should create more opportunity for them to score and prevent their opponent from being able to set up defensively. With a new bench boss, it wouldn't come as a surprise for it to take the Leafs some time to adjust to a more aggressive breakout during the regular season, but if successful, it may very well be what the Leafs need to help get them over the hump in the playoffs.
Source: Hockey-ReferenceCraig Berube coaching stats
| POLL | ||
20 JUILLET | 582 ANSWERS One major change that Craig Berube will implement right away in Toronto Will the Leafs be even more dangerous offensively under Craig Berube? | ||
| Yes | 371 | 63.7 % |
| No | 80 | 13.7 % |
| The offense isn't what I'm worried about | 131 | 22.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
