The Toronto Maple Leafs went 1-21 on the power play in the playoffs.
Enter Marc Savard.
Savard was announced as the last piece of Craig Berube’s coaching staff on Sunday. Team sources told The Athletic that he will run the power play next season, replacing Guy Boucher at the controls of a unit that could use a fresh take after floundering again in the postseason.
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Savard ran Berube’s power play in St. Louis for the one season (2019-20) they coached together previously. The Blues had the third-best unit in the league.
Berube’s relationship with Savard dates back to their playing days in the NHL. The two were teammates for two seasons with the Calgary Flames in the early 2000s.
“I was fortunate to play with Marc during my career and I’m very familiar with his passion and acumen for the game,” Berube said of Savard after his hiring with the Blues was announced in 2019. “He was a tremendous player and possesses an elite offensive mind.”
Savard left the Blues after one season to become the head coach of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires. The Spitfires made it all the way to the OHL final in his first season there. He returned to the NHL last season as an assistant on Ryan Huska’s staff in Calgary where he hoped to breathe more life into the Flames offensive attack. He told The Athletic last fall that he believed in letting offensive players showcase their creativity and skill, just as he did in over 800 games as a player in the NHL.
“I don’t like guys holding onto the puck long,” said Savard.
Savard registered 706 points in his playing career. He was among the league’s top offensive players during his peak with the Atlanta Thrashers and Boston Bruins, notching 97 and 96 points in back-to-back seasons in the mid-2000s.
Things didn’t quite turn out with the Flames offensively. Calgary was tied for 18th in the NHL in goals per game last season, with a power play that ranked 25th. However, with Auston Matthews and William Nylander leading the way, Savard will have a lot more offensive talent to work with in Toronto.
Savard joins Lane Lambert, another newcomer and the former head coach of the New York Islanders, on Berube’s first-year staff with the Leafs as well as holdovers, Mike Van Ryn and Curtis Sanford, and video coaches, Jordan Bean and Sam Kim.
Required Reading
• Inside the mind of Marc Savard, who brings his coaching creativity to Calgary
• Assistant coach Guy Boucher will not return to Maple Leafs for Craig Berube’s first season at helm
(Photo: Gerry Thomas / NHLI via Getty Images)
