Berube welcomes challenge of building talent-laden Leafs to push over playoff hump

The opportunity to give a talented team the extra boost it needs was enticing for Craig Berube.

Berube was introduced at a press conference as the NHL team's newest coach on Tuesday. He takes over the job from Sheldon Keefe, who was fired on May 9 after Toronto was eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by Boston.

"Well obviously, if you look at the roster first and foremost, there's some great players here," Berube said. "And great opportunity to build a team that can move forward and become something, not better, but get over the hump a little bit here."

Keefe put up a combined 212-97-40 record over parts of five campaigns in Toronto, but was just 16-21 in the post-season, including a 1-5 series mark.

The Leafs failed to achieve sustained success after finally breaking out of the first round for the first time since 2004, when they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in 2022-23.

"Watching the playoffs this year with them, I thought that there was already that change kind of going on with how they want to be built and play and that's [general manager Brad Treliving] bringing that in," Berube said. "Talking with Brad and [team president Brendan Shanahan] we're on the same page."

Berube, 58. was hired on Friday as the 32nd head coach in franchise history after five-plus seasons in St. Louis. He was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award in 2019, when he led the Blues to a Stanley Cup title.

The Calahoo, Alta., native said the Leafs' playoff failures are not a focus of his.

"That stuff's in the past," Berube said. "I'm focused on now and the future. I'm going to, obviously, bring my own style here and how we want to play the game. And again, Brad and Brendan are on board with that."

"Competitive,