Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has taken full accountability for the team’s disappointing 2025–26 campaign, admitting the team’s struggles were a collective failure. Due to this year’s disappointing performance, the Toronto Maple Leafs could not qualify for the NHL playoffs. According to the NHL standings, they had to face an early exit with a score of 32-30-13 and 78 points so far in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.Following the termination of general manager Brad Treliving in a major organizational shake-up, things have become very uncertain for Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube. Previously, during a brief interview, he turned down the idea that the team’s struggles were solely due to a cultural problem; instead, he stressed that the responsibility lies across the entire organization, players, coaches, and goaltending, and that the team needs to function more as a unit.
Craig Berube owns Toronto Maple Leafs’ disappointing season, saying, “It’s on me!”
Craig Berube has taken full accountability for the Toronto Maple Leafs’ disqualification from the NHL playoffs. He has admitted that they have collectively failed as a team this time. Speaking after a season that saw Toronto miss the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, Berube did not shy away from responsibility. “It’s on me. It’s on everyone,” he said, emphasizing that both coaching decisions and player performances contributed to the team’s downfall.Speaking at the Maple Leafs’ year-end press conference on Thursday morning, the head coach said, “It’s not like we weren’t trying to go out there and win hockey games. We didn’t get it done.” He further stated, “It’s on me. It’s on everyone. We didn’t perform at the level we needed to perform to get back to the playoffs.”
The Maple Leafs endured a dramatic decline, dropping to the bottom of the Atlantic Division after topping it the previous year. Their campaign was actually impacted by injuries, roster changes, and inconsistency on both ends of the ice.Earlier, amid the growing uncertainty, the coach highlighted the need for team-wide support around foundational players, stressing, “They need support. The team needs to play as a unit and a team. It is not just all on them. That’s everybody, goalie, coaches. That is what makes it go.”With the Maple Leafs entering a critical offseason with a new general manager and potentially fresh coaching decisions, Berube’s future and the team’s roster will likely be determined by the new routine of the organization.
