Date: November 24, 2025
Source: Toronto Maple Leafs (YouTube)
After Monday’s practice, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube explained why the session was structured as more of a reset day, gave updates on Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Carlo, and Anthony Stolarz, and spoke about his tone with the group, defensive priorities, the value of a long road trip, and what he takes from past worst-to-first turnarounds.
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On Why Practice Was Handled the Way It Was
“There’s been a lot of guys playing a lot of minutes lately — injuries, all that. A little extra mental and physical rest for some guys, and other guys just kind of more of a reset day for those guys. Work on some things that we wanted them to work on with the development staff.”
On How Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies Look
“Better. First day for a while that we’ve seen him with teammates. Close. I’d say Matthews and Knies are close. I’ll probably know tomorrow if they’re available Wednesday.”
On Carlo’s Status
“No, he did not get back on the ice today.”
On Whether Anthony (Stolarz) Has Skated
“Nope. He’s a ways away.”
On Jake McCabe
“He’s fine. Play Wednesday. Yep.”
On the Tone He Strikes With the Group During a Tough Stretch
“My tone goes up and down. Everybody’s frustrated and all this, but my job as a coach is to put them in the right direction, lead them, and that’s what I do. Sometimes my tone is not fun, but that’s part of it all. We’ve got to keep teaching, keep working, just keep finding little adjustments we can make to help our team.”
On Struggles Against Fast, Wide Teams With Vertical Offense
“I know what you’re saying, but I think at times in a game it looks that way. If you’re looking at their power play, you’re looking at when they had delayed penalties on a couple of them where they had the puck in the zone a lot of times. For me, when that stuff does happen in games, it’s about not being on top of the guy with the puck right away, not having a good stick, not closing him out, giving him time and space to make those plays. If you give guys time in this league, they’re going to find ways to make plays. There’s a lot of good players with a lot of talent. We’ve got to be on our toes more in those situations and have good sticks, be aggressive. The guy that has the puck and we have a guy on him or going at him, the other four guys have to have better awareness at times of where the opposition is.”
On How Critical the Upcoming Road Trip Is
“Yeah, it’s critical for sure. But listen, I’m only focused on the game Wednesday. I’m not going to look beyond that. It’s a big game. We’ve got to go out there and try to get two points on that day. Then we’ll move on to the next game. It is a big road trip for sure. I think it’s good for our guys to get on the road together and we’ve got to rally around each other.”
On Whether the Lack of a Long Road Trip Has Hurt the Group
“Yeah. There’s times for sure that it’s been a while since we’ve been on the road together as a group for a number of days, for sure.”
On His Top Priority Right Now
“Defense on Wednesday. I think it’s something we’ve been banging away at for a bit here and we’ve got to keep banging away at it. We’re third in the league in scoring goals and we’ve got a lot of injured guys out — guys that put the puck in the net. But at the same time, we prided ourselves on defense last year, checking, and we’ve got to get back to that. That’s what we’re focused on.”
On Why the Defensive Standard Has Slipped
“I don’t think our forecheck’s been as good, for one. I don’t think we stall enough pucks in the offensive zone. We do create O-zone time and it’s been getting better, but I think those stalls are important to neutralize the breakouts on the other team and the transition game. Odd-man rushes at times have hurt us this year. There’s reads on some of them and just getting beat up the ice on some of them. In the D-zone, for the most part, I think it’s not been terrible, but just not tight enough. I bring up the details of the sticks and things like that and protecting the middle of the ice. Protect the middle of the ice.”
On What a Losing Streak Feels Like for a Coach
“Probably the same as a player. We all feel it and want to be better and want to do better. But at the same time, like I said, my job is to help these guys, to teach them, to work with them. Everybody’s got to grind right now. It’s a grind. You’ve got to grind. Do I sleep any differently? No. I enjoy it. I wake up and look forward to coming to the rink and trying to get better like everybody else.”
On Whether He’s Considering Drastic System Changes
“We made some adjustments already and I think they’ve been really good. So I don’t think a drastic change to the whole system — I’m not really thinking about that at all.”
On the Big Swing From Last Season’s Success to Being Last in the Conference
“It’s happened before, I’m sure. I don’t know when, but I’m sure it has. Hey, it’s just the way it goes sometimes. I’m not going to sit here and explain every little thing that’s gone on this year in terms of everything. That’s not going to help anything. We’ve just got to build. We’ve got to focus on Wednesday’s game and two points. That’s it. Then we’ll move on from that game and we’ll work on the next game.”
On Drawing Confidence From Turning Things Around in 2018–19
“Yeah. Same approach almost, you know, right now. Same approach.”
Pulse Takeaway
Berube framed the day as a much-needed reset: rest for heavy-minute players, targeted work with the development staff for others, and a hard refocus on defense. He hinted that Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies are getting close, but made it clear that structure, forecheck pressure, and protecting the middle of the ice matter more than any single roster change. With a critical road trip ahead, he wants the group to rally around each other, grind through the skid, and apply the same steady approach that once helped guide a team from near the bottom back to relevance.
Quotes from Craig Berube via Toronto Maple Leafs (YouTube).
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and length.