The Toronto Maple Leafs brought in Craig Berube to introduce a new era of toughness and accountability. Yet, just over a month into the 2025-26 season, the team appears stuck between its old habits and a new identity that has not yet fully taken hold. Familiar defensive breakdowns and a lack of consistent structure are undoing flashes of offensive brilliance.
As early challenges mount, the conversation around Toronto is starting to sound eerily familiar, raising an uncomfortable question for a fanbase desperate for real change.
Is Craig Berube Walking the Same Path as Mike Babcock?
Craig Berube’s early run as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs has drawn uneasy comparisons to a previous tenure behind the bench. The team’s 8-8-1 start in the 2025-26 season, combined with inconsistent defense and underwhelming special teams, has sparked questions about whether the Leafs are once again repeating history rather than rewriting it. This situation feels reminiscent of the early struggles under Mike Babcock, whose 2019-20 team battled similar identity issues before he was ultimately replaced.
While Berube’s team holds an 8-8-1 record with a -3 goal differential, the numbers are not drastically different from Babcock’s 9-10-4 record and -8 differential at a similar point. Offensively, Berube’s Leafs have shown significant firepower, averaging 3.13 goals per game, which ranks third in the league. This is a noticeable improvement over the 2.51 goals per game under Babcock, which ranked fourteenth.
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) November 12, 2025
However, the defensive issues tell a more troubling story. Under Berube, the Leafs have allowed 3.51 goals per game, ranking thirty-second in the league, a significant drop from the 2.85 allowed under Babcock’s group, which ranked twenty-sixth. The underlying metrics suggest that the problems are deeply rooted.
The expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) is nearly identical for both coaches, with Berube’s team at 47.0% and Babcock’s at 47.1%, both ranking near the bottom of the league. This indicates that, despite the coaching change, the team is generating and creating chances at a similarly poor rate.
The struggles extend to special teams. Berube’s Leafs currently rank twenty-sixth on the power play and seventeenth on the penalty kill, which is comparable to Babcock’s units that ranked twenty-first and twenty-fourth, respectively. While effort is not the issue, as Berube’s teams are known for playing with grit, the execution and overall balance remain elusive.
Also read: Ex-Maple Leafs Enforcer Gives Up on Toronto After Auston Matthews’ Injury
Ultimately, the Leafs are still trying to figure out how to blend their offensive flair with the defensive responsibility that Berube demands. Until that happens, Toronto risks a repeat performance where a new coach inherits the same unresolved flaws. Berube’s challenge is not just about fixing systems, but also about reshaping the mindset of a team that has consistently failed to perform under pressure. If he cannot find that balance soon, his tenure could end with the same disappointment as Babcock’s.
This team like Canada weak woke rotten no heart no commitment fans becoming like team don’t care anymore.