New Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka will be meeting with head coach Craig Berube later this week to evaluate the position and get the bench boss’ perspective on why things went wrong this season.

At a press conference featuring Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Keith Pelley, senior executive advisor Mats Sundin, and general manager John Chayka, the latter two of whom were hired to their new positions on Sunday, Chayka addressed the Maple Leafs’ coaching situation and remained non-committal on Berube’s future until they meet, which will be later this week.

“I talked to Craig last night, he’s been a respected leader for decades in the NHL,” Chayka said. “He’s a tremendous coach, a Stanley Cup coach, and a good person. We had a good conversation, it was brief, we’re gonna get together later this week with Mats [Sundin] and go through it all.”

While Berube was behind the bench for the Maple Leafs’ longest playoff run in the Auston Matthews era, his second season couldn’t have gone worse. The Maple Leafs ended up at the bottom of the league in several categories including goals against and finished fifth-last in the league. Despite this, Chayka said he remains open to retaining Berube as head coach and stressed that good coaches are hard to find.

“Yes, of course,” Chayka said when asked if he would be open to keeping Berube. “It’s hard to find great coaches, and he’s a great coach. I was lucky enough to work with Rick Tocchet in Arizona, obviously there’s a deep friendship there and I think they, you know, share notes and ideas on things, so I’m not starting from zero and I think Craig’s a very good coach.”

Chayka was then pressed about the fact that the Leafs finished last in so many categories, given the fact that he’s a data-driven GM. He stressed that data simply one of the moving parts and that he plans to get Berube’s take on what happened in 2025-26 when the two have a proper meeting.

“I started a data company, as I’m sure you’re aware. I think data is one part of the puzzle, and I think you need to look at what a coach is given, you need to look at what he’s good with, we’ve got to to take it as part of the entire holistic review of things, but certainly, you know, I would definitely ask that question to Craig and we’ll get his input as well.”