There are two things that are readily apparent, as the Toronto Maple Leafs search for their next head coach: prior NHL experience isn’t a prerequisite, and the next hire will have to be the anti-Craig Berube. David Carle fits the criteria to a tee, and is considered by many to be the premier coach outside of the NHL. Carle navigated the University of Denver to three NCAA titles in five years (2022, 2024, 2026), recently defeating Wisconsin in April to reign supreme.

Toronto will chart a new direction, aided by winning the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery. Penn State forward Gavin McKenna is widely expected to be the pillar of a new era of Maple Leafs hockey, where he would join Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan as the team’s key under-25 pieces. Carle’s ability to work with younger players, and provide a new, fresher voice to the incumbent veteran core led by Auston Matthews and William Nylander, would surely be viewed an asset, especially when the NHL is becoming younger and more agile, both on the ice and behind the bench.

“I was told about him: that to get him away from Denver, he needs what he refers to as ‘life-changing’ money,” Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek recently said on The Sheet. “I could’ve seen him in Chicago, but would Kyle Davidson be able to go to the Wirtz family with the number that he wants?”

This is where the Maple Leafs should wield their institutional advantages. In a salary cap world, the fact that the Maple Leafs print money doesn’t materially affect the roster, but the team can spend lavishly on head coaches and executives. It’s precisely, on a larger scale, why some were puzzled that the Maple Leafs would elect for a relatively inexperienced duo to run their new leadership team. If it’s merely about money, and in this case, prying Carle away from the NCAA may be about comfort and job security, the Maple Leafs should offer Carle a blank cheque, if he’s viewed as the best candidate.

MLSE CEO Keith Pelley alienated the old guard during the team’s search for their general manager. Pelley refused to interview St. Louis Blues president of hockey operations/general manager Doug Armstrong for the role, and the finalists were largely analytic-driven assistant general managers who didn’t have prior experience with final say on major, large-scale organizational decisions. Name-brand familiarity doesn’t always equate to the best candidate. Carle’s success and resume at the NCAA level doesn’t require further introduction to the hockey world. He’d surely be welcomed in Toronto, where he’d have to navigate two duelling timelines, in which the Maple Leafs need to win-now to salvage what’s left of the Matthews-Nylander era, while ushering in McKenna as the eventual face of the franchise.

There’s nothing left for Carle to prove at the NCAA level. Carle appeared on Leafs Morning Take during the May 7 episode, where he liked McKenna to Nikita Kucherov. Perhaps that’s an incentive to leave the safest job in collegiate hockey. And perhaps Pelley, Chayka, Mats Sundin and the MLSE board can appeal to Carle’s competitive spirit. If he can win with the Maple Leafs, especially during this particular moment, where every aspect of the team is in a state of transition, he’ll be celebrated as one of the greatest hockey minds of his generation. Carle is the right age, has a sparkling resume, and the correct communication style to thrive in the modern NHL. If the Maple Leafs have every avenue available to find their next head coach, Carle should be made a lucrative offer that may prove impossible to turn down.

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