As far as NHL coaches go, Craig Berube has already had a storybook career, going from an undrafted player who would play 17 seasons to a head coach with the St. Louis Blues where he turned a struggling team into a Stanley Cup champion. Now with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the franchise’s fans are hoping he can apply his leadership experience to his new team and take them on a deep playoff run.
Hockey broadcaster Christine Simpson led a recent conversation with Berube to learn what it takes to be a leader and excel in his high-pressure, high-visibility role as an NHL coach. They talked about everything from how to build a winning culture to what it takes to win arguably the toughest prize in professional sports.
Building a team mindset
Berube knows better than most that you can’t make it far in the NHL without knowing how to develop a team that can click on another level. An early lesson he absorbed from one of his coaching mentors was about the importance of taking time to understand each player’s strength and then put them in a position where they can thrive.
Sometimes that means convincing people to embrace a certain job – one they may not be used to, he said. Getting players to play within those roles is critical if you want to have a successful team. “Everybody has a job to do, and they have to be okay with that job,” he said. “If they don’t, then there are problems.”
That was the challenge when he came on as an interim coach in St. Louis, he said. It felt like nobody knew their roles, and players were playing without focus or considering what was best for the team. “The term I use a lot is ‘take less and give more,’” he said.
But not every player gets that message right away, which is why he had to be direct in his communications with them. “It goes back to what’s best for the team, and this is where you fit in,” he said. “You might not be happy, and you might fit in a different role down the road, but right now, this is what we need from you.”
Coaching star players
Still, the audience wanted to know how well that frank coaching style worked with younger players who may not receive messages in the same way as the players and coaches he grew up with.
Berube acknowledged that there is a generational divide in how players communicate and, at times, a sense of entitlement that comes from athletes being at the top of their game for their entire lives. You can still be hard on your team, he said, but you can’t be disrespectful. “You have to love your players. This is your group,” he said.
In his view, the only way to get a player to respond positively is through daily one-on-one communication, whether that’s in the gym, on the ice or in the training room. “It’s important for me as a coach,” he said. “It’s not always about hockey. It’s about their life.”
He’ll ask questions about their spouse and kids or even just what they’re thinking. Maybe they’ve been up with their kids all night or they’re going through something, he said. “It’s just about having conversations with them, and then, if we can get them help in any way or form, it’s done, it’s done immediately,” he said.
Then, you can talk about how they evaluate their own game, and they are more receptive to feedback on how they can get better. Berube also counts on other leaders in the locker room to deliver that message, too. A leader doesn’t need to be the best player on the team, he said. Performance is part of it, but they also have to have influence, and they do that by taking care of their teammates.
“Tom Brady was a great quarterback, but he was a better leader,” said Berube. “He was a better leader because he took care of every player on his team, whether it was a kick in the behind or a pat on the back. That’s why his teams had such great success.”
Eyes on the prize
While the regular season is still underway, Berube’s main focus right now is getting the Leafs ready for playoff hockey. “It’s a different game,” he said. “I’ll tell you right now it’s hard to win. Anybody can beat anybody, and you have to get a little luck, too.”
It’s not enough to have physical toughness; you need mental toughness, he added. “There’s a lot of things that are going to go wrong, and you got to move on from it,” he said.
