For the first time since 2015-16, the Toronto Maple Leafs are cleaning out their lockers and meeting with the media in mid-April. In past years, they’ve been able to push it to the first week of May, or perhaps even mid-May if they excel enough to advance past the first round. But that wasn’t in the cards this season, and with the Leafs missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, there are going to be some tough questions asked.

One of those tough questions will be the fate of head coach Craig Berube. While many coaches wouldn’t have lasted through the circumstances Berube and the Leafs were in, MLSE CEO Keith Pelley refused to fire Berube himself and said he would defer that decision to the new head of hockey operations, whenever they’re hired. Berube says he expects to be back because he hasn’t heard otherwise from brass.

“No, I haven’t heard anything about that,” Berube told reporters Thursday morning. “You know, same as you guys heard. When the new GM gets hired, the people there, they’ll make a decision.”

The Maple Leafs were in a playoff spot in early January before plummeting as soon as they came out of the Olympic break. The team finished last in a number of defensive categories including shots against and goals against, raising a number of questions about whether Berube’s system actually worked for this team and how much strong goaltending played a part in things last season. When asked about this, Berube insisted that his coaching staff made adjustments to work with the players and ran into the same outcome.

“Well, a system’s a system,” Berube said. “Again, we did modify it this year, at times, and it ended up being the same result. So it’s not like we’re not trying to work and help the players and try to get them to a different level, so I mean, systems are systems and they have to be executed to be successful.”

The Maple Leafs’ culture is always a hot button topic when they fail in the playoffs. Culture is one of those buzzwords that nobody outside of the organization can truly speak to, but if there were any culture issues in the Leafs’ dressing room this season, Berube isn’t revealing his hand.

“I think our culture is good in here, I don’t have a problem with the culture,” Berube replied. “I have a problem with how we performed on the ice…but I come in here daily and I see guys doing what they’re supposed to be doing and working hard in practice. You know, the room is really good. The guys are good with each other. The culture’s good around here.”

While Berube reiterates that the culture wasn’t an issue and that his staff tried their best to adjust the system when it wasn’t working, he did take accountability for the way the season went. Whether he gets a chance to make good on it remains to be seen.

“It’s on me. It’s on everybody. You know, we didn’t perform at the level we needed to perform to get back to the playoffs.”