OverDrive - Johnson on the Maple Leafs' foundational problems, Savard's dismissal and Berube's next steps

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the Maple Leafs' foundational issues, the team in a losing skid, Marc Savard's dismissal from the coaching staff, if changes are on the way, Craig Berube's viewpoint and his role and more.

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Visit yummymarket.com for their holiday menu. The Toronto Maple Leafs, how hot is the seat on the coach Craig Brubay in your estimation? I mean, it's quite hot. I don't have you seen the news. It's just breaking now, but his assistant coach Mark Savard has been fired by the team. You know, obviously under Savard's watch is the power play,

and that's been, I'd say, one of the main issues that's, you know, led to where the lease record is right now. You know, obviously, management is in a position where they don't want to fire Craig Brewery. I think that's pretty clear at this stage that, you know, if they were looking for any reason to, they've probably had them during the season, but they, you know, still believe in, you know, the success the team had last year and that there's a way to work their way through this. So, you know, when you lose five or six as they just have and go through the road trip and, you know, sitting at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, you know, entering the holiday break,

you know, it's not a comfortable time. I don't think for anyone with the organization. And, you know, there's a consequence to losing. And so I guess one of the first dominoes is following in this moment. And, you know, I think that ideally the lease would like to, you know, turn the corner. And they believe that Craig Rubik can still do that as the head coach. But obviously he's, you know, facing some significant questions as well. All right.

So just to refresh here, and this is breaking news, Mark Savard out as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now, one of his primary task was running the power. play, a power play that has been one of, if not the worst, in the NHL all season long. Chris, any indication as to who would replace Savard? Is this an internal hire, or would this be someone external to the organization? I don't have that information at this time, but, you know, I think an interesting aspect of this is, you know, Mark Savard did work with Craig Brubay and St. Louis as well, so, you know, this isn't just a random assistant coach that ended up on Brubay staff.

It's someone that he had a history with, and so, you know, move like this, even though it, you know, might not be from a front-facing perspective, you know, the average fan might not be tuned in to wide significant, but I think it's still, you know, significant move for this, you know, coaching staff and we'll have to see how things shake out. But I just got a tip right as we were coming on that Savard was fired, but I didn't hear what the plans were to replace them either on a shorter, longer-term basis. CJ, you know, AK and I were talking off the top of the show about how, you know, you only have so many levers to pull when you're struggling like this, right?

We all know the trades are very difficult. We all know they don't have a lot of trade capital, even if they wanted to make a trade today. And so the coaching staff becomes the easier lever to pull. I mean, but what does it say to you that they've pulled it? It says to me that there's a different level of urgency than even there was earlier in the season. You know, it feels like the season's kind of hanging on a cliff's edge at the moment.

I mean, it's such a strange year around the league, obviously with the standings more compressed, I think, than you typically see. I mean, just by the points, I mean, you can look at it and say the Leafs aren't, they're certainly not out of the playoff race, but they haven't put themselves in a very favorable position here with almost half the schedule down. And so, you know, this is a season that they were intending to compete for the Stanley Cup. I don't think they're waving the white flag on those ambitions yet, even though, obviously, they haven't played anywhere near a standard, you know,

internally that they're happy with, let alone, you know, what we're all opining on externally. So, you know, I see this as a move that there's some symbolism to it and there's basically a consequence for, you know, what's been 35 games of, you know, one of the worst power plays in the league with, you know, still a collection of talent, you know, granted down Mitch Marner, I get it, he was a huge part of the success the league's had on the power play over the years. He was the facilitator largely, you know, at the point and, you know,

was kind of the central cog there, but you still have a collection of forwards that I think should be able to. to have success. So I think it's sort of what I view it as is almost like a warning shot for what might still yet come. And also it's a chance, I suppose, to try to refresh things and, you know, find some solutions here to dig themselves out of this. Well, I truly believe that offensive players, if the power play is not going well,

they feel a lot of pressure or disappointment. I think that can bleed into your five-on-five. So with all that being said, you know, we're not sure who, or you're not sure who's going to take over. Would Craig Barrooby perhaps step into a more of an active role in the power play maybe than he has? Because usually that's what happens. When things are going well, a head coach dives into the penalty kill power play defense or whatever it is. Yeah, and I think it's functional. I mean, you know, Craig isn't really known as much of a systems coach and I think is more of a motivator, but, you know, given where they're at, I mean, I think some fresh ideas

are needed. And, you know, we saw in these last couple games, it gets kind of overlooked, obviously, because they end up sort of one-sided losses in National Dallas. But, you know, they did make some tweets to the power play and move personnel around a fair bit. And, you know, even that I viewed as a sign of, okay, that they can't just assume that players are going to naturally work their way out of it. So, you know, if I'm guessing, I still think that there's either someone else on the staff that maybe takes us over.

You know, they got Derek Hollande on the bench, was hired this year and has pretty extensive coaching experience. I mean, I think it might be, you know, could fall to someone like that, but, you know, I'm obviously just guessing with this news unfolding in the moment. Chris Johnson, TSN Hockey Insider, our guest here, an hour two of overdrive. The breaking news, the Toronto Maple Leafs have fired assistant coach Mark Savard. So I would look at this as kind of like the sacrificial lamb, right? Oh, yeah.

There's a lot of angst in the fan base, the media, everyone's yelling and screaming. The easiest possible move to make is fire the guy who's running the worst power play in the NHL with $40, whatever million on your power play, and they're 31st in the league. It makes all the sense in the world, but I do wonder, is this just passing it down the line, okay, so the power play guy is gone.

You bring in somebody else, who knows, maybe someone else from the coaching staff, takes his spot, but what if the power play continues to suck? That's Savard's primary role with the hockey team there, and clearly it wasn't going well in the slightest, but what if this remains status quo? They still

can't find a way to get anything going on the PP, Chris, what's next? Well, more changes, I would suggest. I mean, you know, as I mentioned, I don't get any feeling the least are yet ready to sort of turn the page on this season as an organization. I think they still want to find solutions. And, you know, I do see this as kind of speeding up the urgency to finding them. Obviously, they'll play the game tomorrow afternoon

against Pittsburgh, and then there's a couple day break, and they're back against Ottawa on the other side of it. And, you know, if things don't change, if they keep losing every game, I mean, there's going to, there'll be some other changes. I just don't see any other way around it, given what's at stake this season. I mean, don't need to remind the most loyal fans of this team, but for anyone listening, that maybe isn't dialed into the Leafs, I mean, they don't own their draft pick in the first round this year unless it wind up in the first five picks that already is in Boston in the possession of the Bruins. So, you know, there's a lot of incentive, I think, internally for this organization to try to find. a way out of this, to try to find a way back to the playoffs.

I recognize, you know, what you've seen on the ice doesn't suggest it's about to happen, but I think, you know, what you've seen over a lot of years is if some things turn, that, you know, might not be faulty belief. And so, you know, I think that they'll be able to pull more levers as necessary. But, you know, there's naturally been a lot of questions about Peru, specifically. I see this as kind of a, I guess, a first step to, you know, what they hope leads to some better results.

And if not, then there's either going to be players out the door or manager people out the door or another coach at the door. I mean, I think it's that simple. DJ, I think it was a significant moment this week after the loss to Washington. Craig Barouba essentially turned the question onto his players. You know, in other words, don't ask me what's wrong. Ask them to paraphrase. And I thought, you know, that's a bit of a dangerous move when you start doing that as the coach.

As much as we all probably believe it's the player's fault, it's the coach's job to find solutions. And when you start, you know, acting as though you don't have them, I think that's a big kind of, a big kind of watershed moment that doesn't speak well to your future. But how did you see that? And I'm asking, you know, when you talk to people around these players, you know, what is the sense of the system and how much it's, you know, either hurting or maybe suppressing the stats that we're all looking at that are kind of up to snuff. I think that the toll of it is kind of starting to be felt a little bit.

I mean, look, last year that the team had kind of, it had success playing that way. It wasn't always pretty, and there's reasons that that might have led to all that winning. But when your team's winning, even if it might not be the system, you think is perfectly suited to your game, I think it's one thing that you can kind of stomach that or get behind that because, you know, I think at the end of the day, especially for a lot of the least, tough guys. I mean, they've been in a league a long time now. I think that they're, they are wanting to win more than anything individually.

But then it gets a little tougher when you find yourself in a year like this one. And, you know, especially lately, the offense has dried up. I know that necessarily hasn't been a, in all season kind of issue, but I think of late, it's been part of, you know, the losing they've had. And there's, I think it's fair to question

whether they play in a style that basically gets the most out of guys you're paying, you know, a lot of money in William Elander and Austin Matthews, and they've been two of the colder players on the team, and obviously when things are going well, they're usually at the heart of the success. So, you know, I think it's taking its toll. I sense a lot of frustration around the group. And, you know, what I saw both in Washington, and even I think back day to that game after Edmonton on the Saturday night,

you know, Brubay put it squarely on his leaders. Like, I see it as him sort of trying to challenge those guys, you know, in a short sort of sample since then. it's not actually the most encouraging response you've seen. It's not as though you've seen them really rise up and, you know, basically, you know, make the coach eat his words. But I think that that's a little bit of what's at play there in terms of, you know, what he's trying to do because, you know, Burube in his year and a half in Toronto, I mean, until this last few weeks, I feel like he's been quite careful,

generally speaking, to not do anything that might be construed as him, you know, challenging or publicly criticizing too many players. I mean, obviously him and Nielander have had a lot of back and forth, you know, over the season and a half. But in general, I think he's been pretty careful and you've seen sort of a change in what he's doing publicly. And I think he's trying to basically play up these guys' character to see if they have, you know, another level that they can get to whether, you know, he believes it's a mindset thing, as he said quite often. So, you know, you're right. It's a dangerous spot to be in because if it doesn't turn, then I'm not sure what your next, what the next card to play is. but, you know, that's kind of where we're at right now as I see it.

You know, C.J., the news today, you mentioned the assistant coach out, runs the power play. How much do the injuries on the back end into the Netminder kind of by this group time? And when I say this group, I mean managers, coaches, and players. I think it's a factor, but, you know, Brad's living himself when he spoke in November, you know, said basically that he doesn't see it as an excuse. So, you know, definitely, look, at least you're down there, top. two right shot defensemen and Chris Tanna and Brandon Carlo and they have for some time now. I mean, over a month in each case, you know, the good news is it does seem as though, you know,

they're not too far off. I mean, kind of early new year, perhaps. We'll see what with Carlo, Tannab's a little bit more day-to-day and obviously a lot of discussion about, you know, what's going to be with him. But, I mean, you know, there's a path where they at least get those two guys back in the relatively near future, I think, you know, and that's definitely played a factor in where they're at, but I mean, it's hard not to look around it pretty much every team in the league, including those having a ton of success right now and say, you know, there's a lot of key pieces

missing. I mean, there's a number of players right now, for example, that are going to be U.S. Olympians that are, I think, six or seven guys that are currently injured. I mean, top players all over the league, you know, we just saw Jack Hughes come back in New Jersey. You know, with the compressed schedule, there's been a lot of injuries this season. So, you know, I don't think it, I don't think it, I don't think it saves anybody. It's not a full excuse, but I mean, it definitely is factored in, and you go all the way back to, you know, Joseph Wall missing the first

month, you know, and then Stolar as being out kind of since Walls come back. I mean, it's, there's been a bit of an imperfect storm, but I don't think it's enough to fully explain the decline we've seen in the team's play. I mean, you know, even when they've been winning games, it's not been a team that's filled you with too much confidence

and, you know, they're still they've left a lot to be lacking that I think, you know, isn't just, you know, the guys that aren't in the lineup, that's including those that are. Chris, we'll let you go. I'm sure you got a lot of work to take care of, trying to find out who the new power play coach is for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They'll be in a lot of speculation until you guys break that.

So we'll let you go, and we thank you for doing this for us tonight. Right on. Thanks, guys. All right. That's Chris Johnston, TSN, Hockey Insider. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship.

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