Toronto's coaching search may finally be over and all eyes are on the next move
David Carle has Craig Berube's old Leafs job hanging, and Toronto still does not have its next head coach.
That is the real read off the latest Toronto chatter. A social report claimed the Leafs told Carle the job was his if he wanted it, but that specific contract number and deadline have not been confirmed by major outlets I could verify.
What is confirmed is simpler and still big. Sportsnet reported Toronto made initial contact with Carle, and later reported he was out of the mix as the search started to narrow.
That tells you two things at once. Carle was important enough to get real attention, and Toronto was never going to sit still forever waiting on one name.
John Chayka also said the Leafs would conduct a wide search, and that is exactly how this has looked. Sportsnet reported around 15 virtual interviews, with names like Patrick Roy, Peter Laviolette, and Jeff Halpern entering the picture.
So when a report says the process feels long because Toronto gave Carle first crack, it fits the mood of the search even if the money and Friday deadline remain unproven.
The Leafs also cannot let this drag too far. They fired Berube in May and left the job open, which put the whole bench question right at the center of Chayka's first summer.
The leafs will continue to talk to others in the meantime. "
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A final coaching decision has reportedly been made in Toronto and the countdown is on
Because Carle is not a random college coach. He just won another NCAA title at Denver, and plenty of people around the game see him as one of the top young coaching names outside the NHL.
That upside is what made him attractive to Toronto. A team trying to reset its identity after a 32-36-14 season was always going to look hard at a coach with fresh ideas and a winning track record.
But that upside cuts both ways. Sportsnet's reporting already pointed to Toronto pivoting toward experience once Carle dropped out, which suggests the Leafs were never going to bet the whole summer on one maybe.
That is why this rumor hit. It gave fans a clean explanation for the wait, and in a market like Toronto, clean explanations spread fast. The harder part is that the biggest details still sit in rumor territory.
The real story is still the same. David Carle was important enough to shape the search, even if he was not the finish line.
And for the Leafs, that means the next move has to land. This search has already gone wide, cut names, and circled back toward safer experience. Now Chayka has to turn all of that into a coach.
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JUNE 9, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nikolaj Ehlers | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jordan Staal | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Karlsson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Taylor Hall | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Shea Theodore | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brandon Bussi | - | - | - | |
| William Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||