Speculation surrounding an eventual Craig Berube dismissal from the Toronto Maple Leafs has quieted slightly since the holiday break, but it was one of the hottest topics in the city through December.

Amid that chatter, it was longtime NHL coach Pete DeBoer whose name floated into the rumour mill as a possible replacement. That was until DeBoer reached out to Berube last week to shut down any speculation that he was gunning for the job.

DeBoer joined Nick Alberga and David Pagnotta on Leafs Morning Take and addressed his message to Berube on Tuesday

“It happened organically,” DeBoer shared. “I was talking with a close friend of his and I just felt that I wanted to relay that message to him. Don’t listen to the noise, keep doing what you’re doing, there’s no truth to this.”

Having spent his fair share of time behind an NHL bench, DeBoer is all too familiar with the pressures that come with slumps like the Leafs have faced, which prompted him to reach out.

“The main reason for it is that I’ve been on the other side of that,” DeBoer said. “When you’re in that spot, and I’ve been in that spot, you’re having sleepless nights as it is without the extra burden of unsubstantiated reports going on … that job’s tough enough, the nights are sleepless enough without that added element to it. So I just felt having been on the other side of that, if I could at least get him another half hour of sleep by not worrying about Pete DeBoer, then I was happy to do that.”

DeBoer most recently coached the Dallas Stars before he was dismissed last summer. In addition to rumours of his interest in the Toronto coaching job, his name was also floated as a potential new bench boss for the struggling Los Angeles Kings. While neither of these narratives carried much weight in the end, DeBoer shared what he’s looking for in his next coaching job.

“I want to win a Stanley Cup,” he said. “It’s the one thing I haven’t done. I’ve been close enough to taste it on a number of occasions, I’m really proud of that fact, that I’ve been to the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals as much as I have. But when you get that close, that itch just gets bigger and bigger to get across the finish line.”