It’s baffling that the Edmonton Oilers would consider Craig Berube at this juncture, let alone hire him. Berube was hired by the Maple Leafs, with the mandate to revamp a highly skilled offensive team to play a game that’s more palatable for the playoffs. We all know how that turned out, especially with the Matthews-Marner era facing a referendum point in 2024. Truthfully, Berube was far more engaged with a contending Leafs team in 2025, but in retrospect, was bailed out by superior goaltending until Game 7 vs. Florida.

This year was an outright disaster, and Berube’s incuriosity doesn’t bode well for the Oilers. Berube effectively earmarked Max Domi for the first-line right-wing role and didn’t seem comfortable benching his veterans when their play justified it. He insisted upon making his players dump-and-chase at a league-high rate when their preferred playing style was the antithesis. It also simply didn’t work. Say what you will about the Leafs over the past decade, they were fun to watch for the most part. It was an eyesore to watch under Berube. William Nylander hated playing for Berube, and several wingers admitted privately that they grew frustrated when Berube insisted they couldn’t make creative reads in the offensive zone or punished them for turnovers borne of opportunism.

How does this bode for the Oilers? For one, I don’t think Berube’s approach to the game will match McDavid or Draisaitl’s more cerebral approach. I don’t know how much patience McDavid will have when Berube suggests his team didn’t transport the puck going north-south well enough. I’m not sure if he can maximize the talent of the depth players either. He had little interest in developing Toronto’s under-25 players with wanton indifference to the AHL call-ups, often admitting he had zero familiarity with the player making their NHL debut. For a win-now Oilers team, where there are parallels to the 2025 Leafs team (sorry Oilers fans, but if you thought the Marner saga was loud, it will be even louder when the entire league asks about McDavid wanting out on a daily basis) it’s baffling they’d employ Berube, a man without a sense of urgency or willingness to adapt his tactics to the modern game.