The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced major changes across the entire coaching staff.
Since hiring Jim Hiller as the bench boss on June 17, the Maple Leafs have brought in John Gruden, Daniel Alfredsson and Brad Werenka behind the bench, the team announced on Tuesday.
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This past year, the Maple Leafs started the campaign with Craig Berube as the head coach, with Derek Lalonde, Mike Van Ryn and Marc Savard as the assistants. On Dec. 26, Savard was replaced as the power-play coach by Steve Sullivan.
Ultimately, the Leafs announced that Lalonde and Van Ryn won’t be returning to the organization as assistant coaches.
Former Ottawa Senators assistant coach and star, Alfredsson, will be joining the Maple Leafs behind the bench as Hiller’s associate coach.
He becomes just the second instance of the Maple Leafs naming an associate coach. Lane Lambert was the last coach to hold that title, which lasted for one season before becoming the head coach of the Seattle Kraken.
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Alfredsson spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach with the Senators, earning the role in December 2023 and holding onto it ever since.
Outside of his NHL experience, he was also a senior advisor for Team Sweden at the 2025 World Championship and an assistant coach for his nation at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
There is some shock attached to this hire considering the history between the Maple Leafs and Alfredsson.
Alfredsson was a star for the Senators during his time as a player in the NHL. He played 18 seasons in the league, 17 of which in Ottawa, and was the captain of the Sens from 1999-00 to 2012-13.
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Alfredsson and the Leafs have been through some heated affairs in the Battle of Ontario. Some moments that stick out are their first-round playoff series in 2003-04.
Now, he contributes to the same franchise as Leafs senior executive advisor Mats Sundin. Alfredsson famously mocked Sundin for throwing his broken stick into the crowd back in their playing days.
Gruden joins the Leafs fresh off a Calder Cup win in the AHL as the head coach of the Toronto Marlies this past season, and for the past three years.
He’ll understand what sort of talent Toronto has in its system, and he has experience handling young players. That’ll be a resource with Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna likely in the NHL lineup regularly.
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He also has experience with Auston Matthews from their time in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
Gruden has five years of experience as an NHL assistant coach with four seasons with the New York Islanders and one with the Boston Bruins from 2018-19 and 2022-23.
As for Werenka, he doesn’t have experience in the NHL as a coach like Alfredsson and Gruden do. However, from 2022 to 2025, he was an assistant at the University of Calgary. He led the Dinos to a Canada West Men’s Hockey Championship in 2023.
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