Craig Berube says Mitch Marner was the Maple Leafs’ “emotional leader,” a role he believes proved harder to replace after the winger’s exit

Craig Berube, the former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach, said Mitch Marner’s departure created a leadership void that was felt just as much in the dressing room as it was on the scoreboard. Berube, appearing as a guest on Rob Simpson’s Simmer’s Morning Skate, was asked who the “emotional centerpiece” of the Leafs had been during his two seasons behind the bench.

Berube answered directly, saying Marner “brought the energy and the emotion to the game” and that it was evident “on a nightly basis and in practice.” He described Marner as a vocal presence who regularly spoke with teammates on the bench and in practice, and who would push others to raise their level once he returned to the lineup. Berube added that he enjoyed coaching Marner, framing the relationship as both effective and personally rewarding.

The comments land amid a period of reshaping for the Maple Leafs. Yahoo Sports reported that Toronto has made wholesale changes across roster, staff, front office and the wider organization over roughly the past year, with the off-season continuing that pattern. A central figure in the rebuilding effort has been the arrival of new general manager John Chayka and the personnel decisions he has supported since taking over.

Within the coaching structure, Berube’s time with the Leafs ended after the team moved on from him as head coach, a change Yahoo Sports reported as beginning with his firing on May 13 before the organization eventually brought in Jim Hiller. Berube’s remarks therefore come not only as a retrospective on Marner, but also as a window into what he and the team valued during a stretch that ultimately did not produce the playoff results the franchise expected.

For Toronto, the timing of Marner’s departure matters because the Leafs recently went through a season that ended without a Stanley Cup playoff berth. Yahoo Sports noted that the 2025-26 campaign marked the first time in 10 years Toronto missed the playoffs, a blunt outcome that helped justify the scale of the organizational changes that followed.

Berube’s emphasis on “emotional leadership” adds texture to the usual discussion around elite NHL production. While Marner was known as an all-around offensive force, Berube’s point was that the intangible part of his game was also a stabilizer, the kind of player who can influence tempo in practice habits and day-to-day intensity. In his words, Berube characterized the loss as heavier because of what Marner did off the ice, not only what he could do with the puck.

Going forward, Toronto’s challenge will be how it reconstructs a team identity with enough internal voice and daily standards to sustain a playoff push. If Berube is right, leadership in Toronto will be judged not just by who scores, but by who can reliably set the emotional tone when practices drag and games swing.

What to watch next is whether Toronto’s new roster and staff structure produce a comparable “centerpiece” presence. That will likely show up first in the behavior of the bench and practice floor, where Berube said Marner’s energy was most consistent, and second in how quickly the organization’s changing leadership groups settle into shared expectations as the 2026-27 season approaches.