Maple Leafs coach Berube greets former Blues players before 1st meeting

TORONTO — Toronto Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube spent his morning press convention making an attempt to downplay the truth that he shall be going through his former group, the St. Louis Blues, for the primary time on Thursday.

His actions, nonetheless, advised a distinct story.

When the Blues arrived at Scotiabank Enviornment for his or her morning skate, there was the 58-year-old Berube standing outdoors the St. Louis dressing room providing a heat handshake to a number of of his former gamers, some he coached to a Stanley Cup in 2019, and checking up on how they had been doing.

You don’t assist carry a championship to a group, a corporation, a metropolis for the primary time and easily flip the web page, as a lot as Berube would love you to consider. It’s not that simple.

“Chief, he’s a man that came to visit and was speaking to us earlier than we went on the ice,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn stated. “He’s a man that liked town of St. Louis and town liked him again.”

He requested concerning the gamers’ households, their well being and briefly exchanged hockey conflict tales with them.

“I textual content him at times so it’s simply the ‘Hey, the way you doing?’ sort of factor,” Schenn stated. “Nothing loopy. It’s simply good for him to come back over and present respect for the gamers.

“It’s all the time good to see him. All of the gamers, coaching workers and everybody, made certain to go over and say hi there.”

Such is the bond they constructed earlier than and after skating round TD Backyard in Boston with the Stanley Cup following a Recreation 7 victory in opposition to the Bruins. They might go on to take pleasure in their ring ceremony too, though Berube joked that he wasn’t certain the place his is.

“It is in all probability someplace at residence. My spouse’s in all probability acquired it. Perhaps she bought it, do not know,” Berube stated with a chuckle. “I have never seen it in a very long time, so I am unsure precisely the place it is at.”

Berube was fired as coach of the Blues after 5 seasons on Dec. 12, 2023, and employed as Maple Leafs coach on Could 17, changing Sheldon Keefe, who may by no means ship to Toronto what Berube did to St. Louis.

That’s why, when the Blue and Maple Leafs sq. off Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, BSMW) sporting equivalent 4-3-0 data, the laughing will cease and the intense enterprise begins.

With Toronto coming off its worst efficiency of the season, a 6-2 defeat on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the coach’s precedence is righting the ship.

“Clearly, you already know, there’s a variety of feelings,” Berube stated. “However as soon as the puck drops, it is over. We’re simply enjoying. Like, we want an excellent response right here tonight with our group. That is what I am centered on.”

Requested what occurred in opposition to the Blue Jackets, Berube replied: “We didn’t verify, it’s so simple as that.”

Schenn isn’t shocked that Berube is taking an all-business method to the sport. That’s “the kind of man he’s.”

“I don’t suppose he will get too excessive or too low with issues like this,” Schenn stated. “He simply sort of focuses on the day, focuses on the sport. And for him, it in all probability seems like simply one other recreation right here. I feel it’ll be slightly completely different for him when he comes again to St. Louis for the primary time on (Nov. 2).

“Like I’ve stated earlier than, you all the time know the place you stand with him. One minute he’s telling you it’s essential to get your butt in gear, then 20 minutes later he desires to know the way your day goes.

“He’s such an excellent man and good coach. It’s nice to see him once more.”