Whether they’re winning the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery or making a controversial General Manager hire, the Toronto Maple Leafs just can’t stay out of the headlines. And they somehow, yet again, found their way back to the centre of attention on Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday morning, the new General Manager, John Chayka, shared that the organization has parted ways with Head Coach Craig Berube.

In the short press release, Chayka explained that this was more of a reflection of a shift by the club, rather than on Berube as a coach:

“Craig is a tremendous coach and an even better person,” said Chayka. “This decision is more reflective of an organizational shift and an opportunity for a fresh start than it is an evaluation of Craig. We are grateful for his leadership, professionalism and commitment to the Maple Leafs organization and wish Craig and his family nothing but the best moving forward.”

Berube replaced Sheldon Keefe as the bench boss in Toronto following the 2023-24 campaign. In his first season with the Maple Leafs, the club won the Atlantic Division with a 52-26-4 record. In the first round of the postseason, Toronto took an early 3-0 series lead over the Ottawa Senators. The Senators nearly clawed their way back in the series to force a Game 7, but a pair of late third-period goals in Game 6 from Max Pacioretty and William Nylander helped the Leafs advance to the second round for just the second time since the 2004-05 lockout season.

This season, however, was a disaster. The Leafs plummeted down the standings, finishing last in the Atlantic Division with a 32-36-14 record. They failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the last 10 seasons. Berube seemed to lose the locker room, as his words in postgame press conferences didn’t always match what his players believed, so it appeared the writing was on the wall about his departure.

To put our Canucks-tined glasses on, this should worry some Manny Malhotra truthers. With the Canucks’ GM announcement expected any day now, the big question is what the new regime will do with Head Coach Adam Foote. They already have a prime candidate to replace him in-house: Manny Malhotra. However, Malhotra has ties to the Maple Leafs organization, having spent the 2020-2024 as an assistant coach in Toronto.

It’s a new regime there that doesn’t have the same ties to Malhotra. However, the ownership group remembers him. Malhotra could be a prime candidate for that job, especially if the Canucks don’t act fast.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced on Tuesday that they have suspended Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy for six regular season games for his slash on Buffalo Sabres forward Zach Benson. McAvoy will serve this suspension to start the 2026-27 season.

Here is the play:

After getting dumped into the boards by Benson late in Game 6 of their first-round series, McAvoy got up with a vengeance, raised his stick above his head and chopped down on Benson’s hand/chest area. McAvoy was assessed a five-minute slashing penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct on the play, while Benson got two minutes for tripping. With 1:31 to play, down 4-1, facing elimination, McAvoy got his wires crossed and sought out violence for getting dumped to the ice.

It was a challenging season for McAvoy. He missed 13 games this season, 11 of which were after he took a slapshot to the face that resulted in a serious jaw injury. McAvoy had a fractured jaw, lost teeth, and required surgery. The defenceman later shared that he lost nearly 20 pounds due to his liquid diet.

This will be McAvoy’s third suspension in his NHL career. The other two were illegal checks to the head, one game in May of 2019 on Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson, and four games in November 2023 on Florida Panthers defenceman and former Canuck Oliver Ekman-Larsson.