What’s different about the Craig Berube-led Toronto Maple Leafs? 

The Toronto Maple Leafs mean business right now.

Sure, they’ve been a good regular season team for a while now. But ask any Leafs diehards and they’ll tell you the team is much more difficult to play against with Craig Berube leading the way. The defensive-minded coach took over for Sheldon Keefe over the offseason, with a push to make Toronto a more difficult team to play against.

They added a lot of size early on over the summer, helping to make up for a reputation of being too lenient on the ice. Now, after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Monday, the Leafs are looking like one of the strongest squads in the NHL again.

Leafs Morning Take lost Nick Alberga joined Daily Faceoff Live’s Tyler Yaremchuk and Jonny Lazarus to discuss what’s different about the Leafs early on in 2024-25:

Tyler Yaremchuk: “Last night was a great night for Leafs fans. Optimism is really high right now. But I want to know: what are you seeing that’s different from a team coached by Craig Berube that the Leafs weren’t getting when they were coached by Sheldon Keefe?”

Nick Alberga: “First and foremost, guys, I think it’s consistency. It’s pretty interesting over the last couple of years. The Leafs have been one of the better teams in the NHL, statistically, in the regular season, but on any given night, you had no clue which Maple Leafs team was going to show up.

“And so far, so good through six games in this season. Every game they showed up, they started on time. Pardon the cliches, but they’re playing this physical, North-South type brand of hockey where it’s a grind, and it’s less skill and more just “go to work and get the lunch pail out,” which I think is cool. It’s not as fun to watch. They’re grinding it out a bit more, but I think on a shift-by-shift basis, it’s just got a bit of a different feel in terms of the way they want to play.

You can watch the full episode here: