TORONTO – Craig Berube, the only head coach to ever lead the St. Louis Blues to a Stanley Cup championship, is set to join the Toronto Maple Leafs next season.

The Blues parted ways with Berube last December after parts of six seasons with the team, the last two in which St. Louis ultimately missed playoffs at the end of the season.

Berube will become the 32nd head coach in the history of the Maple Leafs, an Original Six NHL franchise. The Maple Leafs have the longest drought without a Stanley Cup title, dating back nearly six decades to 1967.

John Mozeliak: Accountability ‘starts with me’ as Cardinals limp to season’s quarter point

The Blues shared that distinction with the Maple Leafs when Berube first became head coach. He took over early in the 2018-19 campaign, turning a team that sat in last place in the Western Conference nearly midway through that season into a Stanley Cup winner.

Berube also takes over a Maple Leafs squad with talented stars in the likes of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, all capable of 100-point seasons. Toronto has only advanced past the first round of playoffs once since the 2004-05 season-long lockout. Their outlier resulted in second-round exit last year. With Berube, the team will hope for more sustained success in the regular season and beyond.

Close

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Daily News

The Blues, meanwhile, have committed to Drew Bannister as their official head coach for the 2024-25 season. This removed an interim tag he carried since Dec. 12 of last season. The Blues went 30-19-5 under Bannister’s first run to finish the 2023-24 season at 43-33-6 (92 points), though missed playoffs by six points.

Berube coached the Blues to four consecutive playoff berths from 2019-2022. He guided the franchise to a 206-132-44 regular season record before he was fired. His 206 wins are the third-most for a head coach in Blues history.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 2.