Peter Laviolette Fits Leafs Search as Chayka Fires Berube
peter laviolette headlines a search that changed on Wednesday, when John Chayka fired Craig Berube and said the Toronto Maple Leafs will cast a wide net for their 33rd head coach. The move puts fit, experience and market pressure at the center of the hiring process.
“We will have a thorough process. It will be a wide search. We’ll take our time. We’ll try to get it right. It is the most critical decision as a general manager,” Chayka said Wednesday after the firing. Toronto now has a vacancy that will shape how the club plays and how it builds around that choice.
Chayka widens the Maple Leafs search
Chayka said the club will talk to “as many people as we can with varying backgrounds,” and he added that NHL experience and work in larger markets could be an asset. That narrows the conversation less around one familiar name and more around whether a coach can handle Toronto’s expectations and its market.
The process also starts with identity. The Maple Leafs must first decide how they want to play hockey, then find players and a head coach that match that style and culture. That puts the coaching hire in the same lane as roster direction, not as a stand-alone fix.
Bruce Cassidy and Ryan Malhotra
Bruce Cassidy sits near the top of any open-market discussion. He is the most coveted and expensive coach available, and his resume includes a recent Stanley Cup ring, a 4 Nations Face-Off championship and an Olympic silver medal.
Cassidy also said last month that coaching in Canada would carry its own pull. “Usually, the first thing you think of is the market. Does the team have a chance? How does it impact your family? Then you worry about the city later. Is ownership solid?” he said. He added, “Yeah, it would be kinda cool to do it. I’ll tell ya what would be cool is to win a Stanley Cup in a Canadian city right now, because it’s been a while. That would be something else.”
Ryan Malhotra brings a different path. The 45-year-old heads the AHL Canucks in Abbotsford, guided them to 44 wins and the 2025 Calder Cup, and served as an assistant in Toronto from 2020 to 2024. Abbotsford missed the playoffs this past season, but Malhotra has already lived inside the Leafs’ orbit.
Toronto’s 33rd coach
Malhotra said, “Growing up in Toronto, you obviously understand the gravitational pull that the Leafs have on the community.” That line fits a search that is about more than a bench seat. Toronto is weighing how much familiarity, market experience and organizational fit should matter as it chooses its 33rd head coach.
For now, the change is simple enough: Berube is out, the search is open, and Chayka is taking a broad look before the next coach is handed a job that carries more scrutiny than most.
