The toughness of Craig Berube

Craig Berube, current coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, in his playing days with the Philadelphia Flyers in the '80s.

Source: https://www.thestar.com/sports/leafs/leafs-coach-craig-berube-was-once-a-face-punching-mullet-wearing-nhl-enforcer-he-was/article_ac368f46-cb94-11ef-8631-0b02fc10643d.html

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The Philadelphia Flyers were no longer the “Broad Street Bullies” fighting their way to the Stanley Cup, but in the 1980s they remained a tough team and went back to the Stanley Cup final three times. One of the toughest members of those teams, starting in 1986, was rugged winger Craig Berube.

He would play more than 1,000 NHL games for several teams, and be part of two blockbuster trades in the middle of his career.

I was thinking of his time, especially with the Flyers, when he was named head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this week.

Starting out
Craig Berube played his junior hockey in the Western Hockey League, suiting up with the Kamloops Junior Oilers for the 1982-1983 season; the New Westminster Bruins for the 1983-1984 and 1984-1985 seasons, and the Kamloops Blazers and Medicine Hat Tigers for the 1985-1986 season.

He was not drafted, but the Philadelphia Flyers signed him as an undrafted free agent in March of 1986. He played 63 games for the Flyers’ farm team, the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League, in the 1986-1987 season.

Going pro
Berube made his NHL debut with Philadelphia on March 22, 1987 and spent the next three seasons bouncing back and forth between Philadelphia and Hershey, before staying for good in the 1988-1989 season.

He played seven games to end the 1986-1987 season, recording no points but 57 minutes in penalties. He was with the Flyers when they went on their run to the Stanley Cup final and lost to the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. Berube appeared in five games, recording 17 penalty minutes.

In the 1987-1988 season, Berube split his time between Philadelphia and Hershey. He played 27 games with the Flyers, recording three goals and two assists for five points and had 108 penalty minutes. He also played 31 games in Hershey, scoring five goals and nine assists for 14 points, and had 119 penalty minutes.

In the 1988-1989 season, Berube again split his time between the Flyers and the Bears. He played just seven games in Hershey, recording two assists and 19 penalty minutes. He spent the vast majority of the season with Philadelphia, recording one goal and one assist for two points and 199 penalty minutes in 53 games. He also played in 16 playoff games with the Flyers, recording no points but 56 penalty minutes.

Berube ended the decade full time with the Flyers. He played 74 games in the 1989-1990 season with them, recording four goals and 14 assists for 18 points and 291 penalty minutes in 74 games.

The years after
Craig Berube ended up playing 1,054 NHL games and accumulating 159 points and 3,149 penalty minutes, over a career that spanned 1986 to 2004.

What I will always remember is that he would be involved in a number of blockbuster trades.

After the 1990-1991 season the Flyers traded him to the Edmonton Oilers with Scott Mellanby and Craig Fisher for Jari Kurri, Dave Brown, and Corey Foster.

Four months later, the Oilers traded him to Toronto with Glenn Anderson, and Grant Fuhr for Vincent Damphousse, Peter Ing, Luke Richardson and Scott Thornton.

He played the first part of the 1991-1992 season with Toronto, before he was traded in the first week of January of 1992 with Alexander Godynyuk, Gary Leeman, Michel Petit and Jeff Reese for Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Kent Manderville and Rick Walmsley.

Berube would also play with the Washington Capitals, return to the Flyers, New York Islanders, and return to the Flames, before closing out his career with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League.

He would move into coaching where he led the Philadelphia Flyers; St. Louis Blues, including winning the 2019 Stanley Cup over my beloved Boston Bruins; and on May 17 was named coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Parting thoughts
My overriding memory of Craig Berube was as a hard-nosed player on a team of players who were tough. He translated that to coaching, and the toughness he instilled in the St. Louis Blues was a big reason they won the 2019 Stanley Cup.