Sports media personality Sid Seixeiro delivered a heated assessment of Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube this week, calling for his immediate dismissal and questioning whether he ever had control of the team.
Speaking on The Sid Seixeiro Show, the ex-Breakfast Television host tore into Berube’s handling of virtually every aspect of the struggling franchise which currently sits eight points out of a playoff spot.
“My biggest takeaway from Berube right now is he got lucky with goaltending last year, and he’s never had a handle on this ever,” Seixeiro said. “So now focusing on this season, Berube has had zero handle on his goaltending.”
Seixeiro singled out Berube’s decision to reinsert struggling goaltender Anthony Stolarz in a recent game against Vegas as particularly egregious. Stolarz has posted a dismal 7-8-1 record this season with a 3.60 goals-against average and .882 save percentage, a decline from his stellar .926 mark last season.
Perhaps most damning for Berube, hired specifically for his defensive reputation after winning a Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019, is Toronto’s five-on-five defensive performance.
“Power play has been garbage. But wait a second, he’s a defensive coach,” he said. “They’ve allowed more five-on-five goals than anyone in the league. The league. He’s a defensive coach.”
Seixeiro reserved some of his harshest words for what he sees as Berube’s failure to hold star players accountable while making examples of younger ones.
“He was supposed to be the accountability coach,” Seixeiro said. “He has done nothing along those lines, other than make sure Easton Cowan learns his lesson up top.”
The 20-year-old Cowan has found himself in and out of the lineup despite contributing 17 points. Meanwhile, established stars continue to play major minutes despite costly mistakes.
Sid Seixeiro questions factor behind Craig Berube’s success in St. Louis
The veteran media personality suggested Berube’s success in St. Louis was less about his coaching acumen and more about having elite talent to lean on.
“Do you know who he is? He’s a guy who made his bones off having a guy like Alex Pietrangelo on his blue line,” Seixeiro argued. “You take Pietrangelo off his blue line, and he doesn’t look so tough, does he? He needs goaltending and a stud defenseman to look good, whether it’s Bennington or whether it’s the Leafs’ goalie from last year.”
Jordan Bennington won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP during St. Louis’s improbable 2019 Cup run, while Pietrangelo anchored one of the league’s best defensive units.
“Between the goaltending, the power play, and the team defense, there is no way Craig Berube comes back next year,” he said. “He has completely lost the plot with the roster, in the room, on the ice, and in the media. There is no accountability. He does not budge. These players are begging to get benched, begging.”
With the trade deadline looming on March 6 and the Leafs expected to become sellers, Berube faces an uphill battle to save his job. After less than a full season behind the bench, his tenure in Toronto appears headed for an unceremonious end.
Edited by Anjum Rajonno
