Jon Cooper trolls the Maple Leafs following the Craig Berube hiring

The Leafs kicked off their offseason by letting go of Sheldon Keefe one year before his contract was set to expire. Many fans were expecting this move to come last offseason, but it seems that the team was saving it, as you can only let go of so many coaches before the rest of the team's management starts to take the blame. They replaced Keefe with Craig Berube, who won the Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019.

Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper is apparently not to thrilled with this decision by the Leafs. He was recently on a podcast discussing the Leafs where he revealed that he and Berube have a legitimate friendship. However, he also knows that Berube is a tough coach, and seems to believe that the Leafs will be a tougher team to beat with him behind the bench. This obviously makes life much harder for Cooper and his Tampa Bay Lighting, as both teams are in the Atlantic Division, so they will be seeing a lot of each other in the regular season.

"I have a solid friendship with him. I hate when these guys come into our division and I'm buddies with them, but I think he's a hell of a coach and I think he gets the best out of his players.

I thought Sheldon Keefe did a hell of a job there, but Craig will be a different voice for them and I'm not sure what he is doing quite yet with his assistants, but he's an honest coach and if the fans of the team want to get the most out of their players and I know the way he's going to play and it's going to be hard to play against. The one thing he'll make sure he gets out of the guys is an honest effort and that's what Craig does."

The Lightning appear to be coming to the end of their cup window with their current core as the team fell off in the regular season a bit and followed that up with a first round exit in the playoffs. The Leafs are in a similar position but for different reasons, as it appears this upcoming season will be the last chance for the core-four to play together, assuming Marner does not get traded this summer. Regardless, it is a very interesting time for both teams, leaving the possibility for big moves to be made. Be sure to stay around to see what both teams get up to this offseason.

Source: MapleLeafsDaily
Jon Cooper not thrilled about the Leafs hiring Craig Berube