Maple Leafs Have Interviewed Craig Berube, Todd McLellan
The Maple Leafs have interviewed former Blues coach Craig Berube and ex-Kings bench boss Todd McLellan, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed on Monday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast (audio link). Adding onto heavy speculation in recent days, it appears they’re the favorites to take over as head coach in Toronto after Sheldon Keefe was fired Thursday. Berube was interviewed when Toronto’s search began over the weekend, while McLellan’s interview was slated for today, per Friedman.
Berube has also been linked to the Devils’ and Senators’ coaching vacancies this summer, but New Jersey’s attention has ironically drifted toward Keefe, and Ottawa ended up hiring Travis Green on a four-year contract. He’d spent parts of the past six seasons coaching the Blues, including winning the 2019 Stanley Cup as their interim bench boss, before being fired after a 13-14-1 start to this season.
Outside of the 2019 run, Berube’s Blues only managed to win a playoff series on one other occasion, taking down the Wild in six games in the first round in 2022. The blame is far from being square on Berube for that, though. Their aging defense has lacked identity and consistent puck-moving prowess for the past couple of seasons, resulting in St. Louis missing the playoffs entirely in consecutive campaigns for the first time since 2010 and 2011. St. Louis ended up going with interim replacement Drew Bannister as Berube’s full-time replacement after he led them to a 30-19-5 record in the last few months of the season.
Berube has what few other available coaches on this market do – a Stanley Cup ring. Only Joel Quenneville carries that distinction among names that have been truly bandied about in this year’s carousel, and he’s still not eligible for work in the league due to his involvement in the Blackhawks’ organizational cover-up of a 2010 sexual assault incident involving former video coach Brad Aldrich. Claude Julien won with the Bruins in 2011 and isn’t technically retired, and Dan Bylsma (Penguins, 2009) is still going strong as the head coach of the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, but neither has truly had their name connected to any vacancies thus far.
He had a .597 points percentage in the regular season with St. Louis, north of McLellan’s .550 run with the Kings over the past five years. Like Berube, McLellan was sacked midseason with a 23-15-10 record, influenced by a 3-7-5 slide in January.
McLellan, despite boasting over twice as many games coached as Berube, has more muted playoff success, though. His teams haven’t advanced to a conference final since the Sharks in 2011, and he failed to get out of the first round in two playoff appearances with the Kings. He has a career 42-46 record in postseason play – perhaps his most disappointing discrepancy coming during his time in San Jose (.637 regular-season points percentage, .484 playoff win percentage).
Canucks’ Carson Soucy Suspended For Game 4
After announcing a player safety hearing for Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy on Monday morning, the NHL was swift with its decision. The blue liner has been suspended one game for cross-checking Oilers star Connor McDavid, the league confirmed in a video release. As such, he’ll be unavailable as Vancouver tries to take a 3-1 series lead with a road win in Game 4 on Tuesday.
Soucy, 29, ended up in a shoving match with McDavid behind the Canucks net just after time expired in their Game 3 win last night. McDavid initiated extracurricular contact with a slash across Soucy’s hand, after which he retaliated in kind and then cross-checked McDavid in the face – only the last of which is being disciplined here. It’s worth noting that Soucy’s check hit McDavid’s face as the Oilers star was falling to the ice, as he’d been pushed by Vancouver defenseman Nikita Zadorov just prior to the point of contact.
Speaking to reporters earlier Monday after having his hearing, Soucy said there was no intent to cross-check McDavid in the face and believed he only did so because he was falling (via The Athletic’s Harman Dayal). Zadorov was fined for his involvement in a prior decision, and while the league acknowledged Soucy’s defense in their video statement, they didn’t view it as grounds for wiping supplemental discipline off the board entirely.
“This play happens well after the game has ended, and it is not a hockey play,” the league said. “In an altercation with an opponent, Soucy chooses to raise his stick to an unacceptably high level, draws the stick back, and delivers a two-handed blow which lands to his opponent’s head.”
Soucy has been fined and suspended once before in his NHL career, but neither influenced his suspension because they didn’t occur within the last 18 months. His prior suspension came as a member of the Wild in 2021, a one-game ban for charging then-Coyotes winger and current Canucks teammate Conor Garland.
After signing a three-year, $9.75MM contract with Vancouver last summer, Soucy had an injury-plagued regular season that kept him to two goals, six points and a +10 rating while averaging 17:29 over 40 appearances. He’s struggled in the postseason on a pairing with Tyler Myers, controlling a horrid 29.9% of expected goals through nearly 100 minutes together, per MoneyPuck. He has four assists in nine games, three of which came in Games 1 through 3 against the Oilers.
Flames CEO John Bean Stepping Down, Transitioning To Advisory Role
Flames president and CEO John Bean is stepping down and transitioning into a senior advisory role, reports The Athletic’s Julian McKenzie. Bean will stay involved with the club, as well as the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers and WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, as they transition out of their collective home in the Scotiabank Saddledome to the Calgary Event Centre arena complex, with construction expected to begin later this year.
Bean, the father of Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean, technically holds the president and CEO role for the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC), which owns the Flames, Hitmen and Wranglers, as well as the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League and the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He had been with CSEC since 2010, first as their senior vice president of finance and administration as well as their CFO. He was promoted to COO in 2013 before assuming the president title in 2018 and being named CEO one year later.
According to an internal memo Bean sent announcing his decision obtained by The Athletic, he informed CSEC ownership of his intentions to step down last year. His replacement, Robert Hayes, will begin work next month, per McKenzie. CSEC is also hiring Lorenzo DeCicco as their COO – neither he nor Hayes has experience in hockey management.
Similarly, Bean’s tenure as Flames president was his first time being affiliated with the management group of an NHL club. His tenure has overseen some rather tumultuous on-ice results for the Flames. They peaked with a 111-point campaign in 2021-22 that immediately resulted in leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau leaving for the Blue Jackets in free agency and star winger Matthew Tkachuk being flipped to the Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar after he informed the team he wouldn’t sign long-term. Tkachuk’s eight-year, $76MM deal in Florida looks like a bargain early on, while Huberdeau has failed to eclipse 20 goals or 55 points in a season despite carrying a $10.5MM price tag annually.
CSEC’s big decision with Bean as CEO was parting ways with longtime Flames general manager Brad Treliving last summer, replacing him with internal promotion Craig Conroy at the helm of their hockey operations decisions along with Don Maloney. Under Bean, the organization also relocated its AHL affiliate from Stockton, California, back to Calgary in 2022.
Afternoon Notes: Devils Coaching, Drouin, Zadorov
The New Jersey Devils have seemingly found their favorites on the coaching market, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting on the Jeff Marek Show that the team is currently favoring Sheldon Keefe and Jay Woodcroft (Twitter link). More specifically, Woodcroft was the favorite before Keefe’s firing. But the Devils were quick to interview Keefe when he became available, even going as far as requesting permission to interview him amidst his closing days in Toronto. The interview clearly went well, with Keefe now a favorite for what Elliotte Friedman described as the coaching role with the highest ceiling.
New Jersey would offer a similar backdrop for Keefe – boasting some of the strongest top-end forwards but struggling to find the same consistency in net. The Devils have the exciting advantage of a much, much deeper defense group than Toronto carried during Keefe’s tenure – with the core quartet of Dougie Hamilton, Simon Nemec, Luke Hughes, and Jonas Siegenthaler stronger than what most of the league offers. New Jersey’s season was marred by injuries, best exemplified by star centerman Jack Hughes missing 20 games and star defender Hamilton missing 62. The inconsistent lineup was too much for head coaches Lindy Ruff or Travis Green to handle, with the Devils ending the year with a 38-39-5 record.
But even after the slow season, the sky still seems to be the limit for the New Jersey Devils. A fully healthy season out of Jack Hughes, a full year of young defenders Hughes and Nemec, and a fruitful addition with the 2024 10th-overall pick should set the bar high for the skilled Devils lineup, giving them playoff aspirations under the right leader.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Colorado Avalanche could be set to add a top-six winger back to the lineup, with head coach Jared Bednar dubbing Jonathan Drouin as a game-time decision, per Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Drouin has so far missed every postseason game with a lower-body injury – but upgraded to a full-contact jersey, and top power-play unit reps, at the team’s Monday practice. Those are good signs of progress for Drouin, who recorded a career-high 56 points in 79 games this season. He’s seemingly found his footing in Colorado, and will now be set to add to his postseason career totals of 21 points in 33 games. His return should bump one of Joel Kiviranta or Brandon Duhaime out of the lineup, depending on if Colorado wants to prioritize skill or grit.
- The NHL Department of Player Safety has fined Vancouver Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov for cross-checking Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid at the end of Game 3. Zadorov hit McDavid right into Carson Soucy, who landed a cross-check on McDavid’s face. Soucy will have a hearing sometime today for the incident. And while they’re certainly holding their breath in anticipation of a possible Soucy suspension, the Canucks are certainly relieved that Zadorov avoided harsher punishment. He has been one of Vancouver’s best defensemen this postseason, posting four goals and seven points through nine games, while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time each night. Zadorov has brought skill, finesse, and grit to the lineup – although maybe a bit too much of the latter, as he’s now facing DoPS punishment.
Bruins Recall Brandon Bussi, Patrick Brown, Jayson Megna
The Boston Bruins have recalled three players ahead of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers, including forwards Patrick Brown and Jayson Megna, and goaltender Brandon Bussi. The team has also assigned goaltender Michael DiPietro to the AHL. These moves follow the Providence Bruins’ elimination from the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs, losing the Atlantic Division Semifinals to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Both Brown and Megna stepped into Boston’s lineup during the regular season, playing in 11 games and one game respectively. Brown was the only one to score, posting one assist in his bottom-of-the-lineup role. It’s the first year in the Boston organization for either player, with much of their season spent in the AHL. Megna made the most of the minutes, ranking second on Providence in scoring with 19 goals and 56 points in 69 games. Meanwhile, Brown posted a tamer 32 points in 42 AHL games. The pair will add stout depth to a Bruins team that played Game 4 without captain Brad Marchand. Justin Brazeau stepped in in relief, recording a +1 in 12:26 of ice time.
And while Brown and Megna will give the Bruins more options at forward, Bussi will serve as the team’s emergency third-string goaltender.The 25-year-old netminder is coming off a strong season with Providence, where he recorded 23 wins and a .913 save percentage in 41 games. It was another strong year for Bussi, who has now posted a save percentage above .910 in all three AHL seasons he’s taken part in. His career totals are up to 48 wins and a .918 across 78 AHL games, tying Bussi for the seventh-most wins and 14th-highest save percentage of any AHL goalie since 2021. He’s as strong of a third-string goalie that a team could ask for, though it’s very unlikely he’s able to crack the lineup ahead of superstar goaltender Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
Canucks’ Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Elias Pettersson To Stay In North America
The Vancouver Canucks will be adding two top prospects to the fold next season, with forward Jonathan Lekkerimäki and defenseman Elias Pettersson both set to move to North America, shares their Swedish club, Örebro HK (Twitter link). The pair both joined the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks following the end of Örebro’s season, each recording two points through six and eight games respectively. They’re now set to stay in North America, providing a major boost to Vancouver’s depth chart.
It’s likely that both players report to Abbotsford for the start of next season, though Lekkerimäki could be poised to rival an NHL spot. The 19-year-old winger was prolific in the SHL this season, netting 19 goals and 31 points through 46 games. It was the most a U20 player has produced in the SHL since Emil Bemstrom put up 35 points in 2018-19 and Elias Pettersson (the forward) recorded 56 points in 2017-18. Lekkerimäki earned the SHL’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ award with the performance, joining a talented list of winners including Nicklas Backstrom and William Eklund. Lekkerimäki maintained the strong production internationally as well, recording seven goals and 10 points in seven World Juniors games and five points in five friendly matches with Sweden’s U20 club. While his skillful, shoot-first style will need some refining before it’s fully NHL-ready, there’s no doubt that Vancouver is happy with the value they landed when they drafted Lekkerimäki 15th overall in 2022.
And while Pettersson – a third-round selection in 2022 – doesn’t offer the same ceiling as his Örebro teammate, his development has been just as worth following. Pettersson is an impressively fluid defender, keeping up with play well despite his 6-foot-4, 209-lbs frame. He’s aggressive in all aspects, using an active stick and physical presence to shut down opponents when defending the rush, and jumping at the bits to join the offensive rush whenever he can. Pettersson is reliable on the puck and finds teammates well, though he’s still refining his ability to be patient when creating scoring chances. He seemed to be adjusting to the AHL well at the end of the year, and could be poised for a big season next year should he add a bit more discipline.
Morning Notes: Brindley, Soucy, Reichel, Rangers
Team USA has added Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Gavin Brindley to their World Championship lineup, per Steven Ellis of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link). Brindley becomes the fourth collegiate athlete to join the squad, stepping into a room with World Juniors teammates Will Smith, Ryan Leonard, and Trey Augustine. The quartet played a major role in USA’s drive towards the 2024 World Juniors Gold Medal – and they’re now rewarded with an opportunity with the Men’s National Team. Brindley isn’t expected to line up for USA’s Monday matchup against Team Slovakia, instead joining Leonard and Matt Kessel as the team’s healthy scratches.
Brindley is continuing to have a fruitful off-season, signing his entry-level contract and making his NHL debut in early April. He received 12 minutes of ice time but wasn’t able to change his stat line. With Columbus’ season ending soon after, Brindley’s scoring this season was limited to the 25 goals and 53 points he managed in 40 games with the University of Michigan. He also added 10 points in seven World Juniors games.
Other notes from around the league:
- The NHL Department of Player Safety is expected to hold a hearing for Vancouver Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Soucy could be facing punishment for cross-checking Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid in the face, after McDavid was knocked over by Nikita Zadorov, during a late-game scrum. Soucy has been suspended once in his career, receiving a one-game booking for charging Conor Garland in March of 2021. He was also assessed a $2,500 fine for a roughing penalty in November of 2022. It will likely be Noah Juulsen who steps in should Soucy miss any time. Juulsen has played in one postseason game this Spring, recording a -1 in 11:24 of ice time. Juulsen is coming off a career-high 54 NHL appearances this season, though he only managed seven points.
- Team Germany has also made a lineup addition, bringing in Chicago Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel, per Ellis (Twitter link). Reichel has been a key piece of Germany’s international presence, recording 11 points in 13 games across the last two World Championships. He also joined the team at the World U18 Division 1-A Championship in 2019 and the World Juniors in 2020. Reichel is coming off an up-and-down year, scoring just 16 points in 65 NHL games. He’ll look to reestablish his scoring spark in the familiarity of international play, with five games remaining on Germany’s slate before the quarter-finals.
- The New York Rangers welcomed forward Filip Chytil back to practice on Monday, after he missed Game 4 with an illness. Blake Wheeler is also progressing from injury, upgrading to a full-contact jersey, shares Vince Mercogliano of USA Today Sports (Twitter link). Both Chytil and Wheeler should slot right back into the lineup, should both be cleared to play, likely bumping Jonny Brodzinski and Will Cuylle back to the skybox. Wheeler made a strong impact on the Winnipeg Jets’ first round run last season, scoring six points in five games to bring his career playoff scoring up to 45 points in 65 games.
Seth Appert Promoted To Buffalo Sabres Assistant Coach
The Buffalo Sabres have promoted AHL head coach Seth Appert to an Assistant Coach role with the NHL club, shares the Rochester Americans (Twitter link). Appert will slot in behind new head coach Lindy Ruff, backfilling the role that Jason Christie served behind Don Granato. Appert’s season just recently ended, following a 3-2 series loss against the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL’s North Division Semifinals.
Appert is coming off his fourth season as Rochester’s head coach. He’s led the Americans to the postseason in each of the last three years, going as far as Round 3 last season. The Americans have totaled a 123-94 record under Appert, despite having one of the youngest rosters in the AHL. Appert has been lauded as a development coach, after over 10 years in coaching roles across the NCAA and three years as a head coach in the U.S. National Team Development program. He’s vindicating those development skills now, doing well at supporting the many top prospects in Rochester. Both Jiri Kulich and Isak Rosen have carved out top-line, nearly point-per-game roles under Appert – but he’s also found ways to make Viktor Neuchev, Kale Clague, and Nikita Novikov look comfortable in their pro roles.
This move will offer Appert the first NHL role of his career. Buffalo is reportedly content with where their coaching staff sits after his promotion, with the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski sharing that the team is not planning to add anyone else to the NHL staff (Twitter link). Lysowski also shared that veteran NHL defenseman Dan Girardi, who’s served as a development coach for the Sabres since 2020, won’t be back with the team next seasons (Twitter link). These moves round out the Sabres bench and remove Buffalo from the long list of NHL teams currently reworking their coaching staff.
Team USA’s Alex Lyon Leaves World Championship Injured
Detroit Red Wings goaltender Alex Lyon has stepped away from the World Championship in Prague, after being injured in Team USA’s Saturday matchup against Team Germany, per Jon Morosi of NHL Network (Twitter link). Lyon left the game just 24 minutes in, suffering an undisclosed injury seemingly during a scrum in the crease. He was replaced by 19-year-old backup Trey Augustine, who saved 11 of the 12 shots he faced to become the fifth U20 goalie to record a win at Worlds since 2000. Augustine and Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic are now the only two netminders on Team USA’s roster, though the team could add another goalie at any time.
This news brings a sudden close to what was an exciting opportunity for Lyon, who earned the Team USA starting role after fighting into the same role with the Red Wings this season. Lyon was red-hot in the first half of the year, setting a 18-9-2 record and .912 save percentage through his first 29 games. His second half stalled out a bit, as the Red Wings went on a dismal losing streak, but Lyon still concluded the year with 21 wins and a .904 save percentage through 44 games, earning a confident role over James Reimer and Ville Husso. This year’s World Championship tournament was Lyon’s first chance to represent America internationally, with his only previous IIHF tournament coming in 2015, when he served as USA’s third-string goalie at Worlds. Lyon will now conclude this year’s tournament having allowed three goals on 50 shots, setting a .940 save percentage through two games.
All attention now turns towards who Team USA could bring to Czechia for the rest of the World Championship. Casey DeSmith led the squad at last year’s Worlds, posting five wins and a .918 save percentage through seven appearances. He’s currently busy backing up Arturs Silovs in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but USA could turn towards last year’s backups – Calvin Petersen and Drew Commesso – who are each enjoying their off-season. There are also plenty of high-upside choices now available, including Vezina Trophy finalist Connor Hellebuyck, who has an open schedule following the Winnipeg Jets’ first-round loss.
The Americans are facing a pivotal decision, with their goaltending room now trimmed to a collegiate teenager and fringe NHL starter. There are a lot of different ways they could turn, as they chase their first World Championship Gold Medal since 1960.
Five Key Stories: 5/6/24 – 5/12/24
With the offseason underway for most teams, the annual coaching carousel is now in full swing. Several teams made moves behind the bench which is among the news recapped in our key stories.
Coaching Positions Filled: A pair of coaches got good news in recent days. The Blues decided they liked how they finished the season so they rewarded Drew Bannister by removing the interim tag and signing their bench boss to a two-year deal. He helped lead St. Louis to a 30-19-5 record after taking over from Craig Berube back in December and will now get the chance to lead the team through what’s expected to be somewhat of a retooling process.
Meanwhile, Travis Green didn’t wait to see if he was going to have his interim tag removed by New Jersey. Having been granted permission to talk to other teams despite being in consideration to stay with the Devils, Green found a new home as he was named as the new bench boss for the Senators, inking a four-year contract. This will be the third team that Green will run having held down the top job having spent parts of five seasons with Vancouver while replacing Lindy Ruff for the stretch run this season. The Sens made another decision of note off the ice as well, electing not to forfeit their first-round pick this year from the penalty assessed in the vetoed Evgenii Dadonov deal two years ago. They’ll have to give up either their 2025 or 2026 first-rounder now.
Coaching Positions Opened: While two vacancies were filled behind the bench, two more opened up. The Jets are now on the lookout for a new head coach after Rick Bowness announced his retirement. The 69-year-old had contemplated retiring after being let go by Dallas in 2022 but decided to give it one more go with Winnipeg. The Jets made the playoffs in both seasons that Bowness was at the helm but they were ousted in the first round each time.
The other opening is in Toronto after Sheldon Keefe was let go after five years with the franchise. The Maple Leafs had plenty of regular season success with Keefe behind the bench; his .665 points percentage is third-best among all active coaches. However, the team hasn’t had much playoff success during that time as they won just one series and were ousted in the opening round by Boston.
IIHF Issues Sanctions: Given that Ivan Fedotov and CSKA Moscow defied the IIHF’s ruling early in the season that Fedotov’s contract with Philadelphia was valid and not theirs, sanctions were expected. Those sanctions were announced over the weekend. Fedotov has been suspended from international play for the next three seasons while also receiving a six-month suspension if he was to leave the NHL to play for an international club. (He does have a new two-year deal with the Flyers being next season so this one shouldn’t be a concern.) Meanwhile, CSKA will be banned from making any international transfers for a two-year period beginning on August 11th while being assessed a fine of $1MM Swiss Francs.
Bridge For Reichel: After a tough season, it was a foregone conclusion that the Blackhawks wouldn’t work out a long-term deal with Lukas Reichel but rather a bridge pact. They wasted little time getting that done as the two sides agreed to a two-year, $2.4MM contract. The deal is slightly back loaded as he’ll be owed a $1.3MM qualifying offer in 2026. A first-round pick in 2020 (17th overall), expectations were high for the winger after Reichel put up 15 points in 23 games with Chicago in 2022-23. However, he struggled in his first taste of extended NHL action, notching just 16 points in 65 contests. Despite that, they’ll still be counting on him to be an important part of their future plans.
Losing Leads To A Win: This season was an ugly one for the Sharks who allowed the most goals in the NHL by a considerable margin and scored the second-fewest, leading them to a 32nd-place finish and one of their worst seasons in franchise history. However, they were rewarded for their ‘efforts’ as they were able to win the draft lottery, giving them the first-overall pick, one that’s expected to be used on Macklin Celebrini. They also won the first two draws for the second pick but since they already had the top pick, they had to redraw until another team won that one. The winner of the second draw was Chicago, the one team who had fewer goals than the Sharks this season. Those two teams had the top odds going in and the draft order wound up being unchanged by the lottery for the first time since 2010.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.