Craig Berube and Mitch Marner were spotted in a café

The Toronto Maple Leafs need to make some changes in the off-season after another playoff disappointment. The project began with the hiring of their new head coach, Craig Berube.

So far, the only time Berube has been seen around the Leafs is at the press conference to officially introduce him as the team’s new head coach.

However, he was recently spotted in a café on Monday morning, in the company of forward Mitch Marner. The photo of the two men took over the web in just a few minutes.

Marner and Berube having coffee this morning in Etobicoke #leafs #marner #berube #leafsforever @LeafsPapi_ pic.twitter.com/57na93pdEv

– Vinterista (@vinterista_) May 27, 2024

The photo was taken in a café in Toronto’s Etobicoke neighborhood. It’s funny to see Marner talking with Berube, as rumors of trading the Canadian forward all over the NHL have been raging for the past few weeks.

This discussion was probably a good way to meet formally and set the record straight. Should Marner remain with the Maple Leafs(which is still uncertain), he’ll have to learn to play under Berube, and a good chat certainly won’t hurt.

However, the two men have quite different characters. When you think of Berube, you think of the strict coach, not afraid to shout at his players and punish them when necessary.

Marner, on the other hand, is a dashing young player, often with a smile on his face, who likes to joke around. Except that he’s also unstable and bad-tempered when things go wrong.

Maybe being coached by Berube will help Marner. Maybe he’s the kind of coach who can control his player’s mood swings and will be able to keep him on the straight and narrow in important moments.

The sad part of all this is that we only have a distant photo of this event. We can make up all kinds of stories, but we won’t know right away what these two men are talking about.

We can be content with thinking that they’re getting to know each other, while trying to explain their vision of the game so as to be able to forge a good bond for next season.

In gusto

– The Canadians get off to a good start.

Denis Shapovalov completes the perfect day for our Canadians at Roland-Garros! https://t.co/BbPjCIrRsZ pic.twitter.com/coDDjtvNxt

– RDS (@RDSca) May 27, 2024

– Lots of good players here.

Players who currently have never played in a playoff game:

– Rasmus Dahlin
– Tage Thompson
– Dylan Larkin
– Brady Tkachuk
– Jeff Skinner
– Tim Stutzle
– Lucas Raymond
– Moritz Seider
– Trevor Zegras
– Thomas Chabot
– Connor Bedard

Who here would make the biggest playoff impact? pic.twitter.com/5xqjei9Oie

– Big Head Hockey (@BigHeadHcky) May 27, 2024