Top NHL Insider suggests warning message has been sent from Maple Leafs to Craig Berube

The Maple Leafs have begun life in the post-Marc Savard era with a decisive 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the hope is that this is the start of the turnaround that the team desperately needs.

On Monday, the team sent Savard packing with his walking papers after the assistant coach ran the power play straight into the ground, going 0-for-10 on their 3-game road trip through Washington, Nashville and Dallas, and a league-worst 12-for-90 on the man advantage this season.

One thing that we didn't know, however, is that the Leafs had planned to fire Savard earlier this season, but Craig Berube pushed back against the decision to keep Savard on his coaching staff.

While the Leafs' struggles on the power play have lent to their dismal performance this season, Savard's shortcomings weren't the entire reason for the team's struggles. At the end of the day, Berube still runs this team, and as such, he deserves his share of the blame.

Despite repeated affirmation from Brad Treliving that Berube's job in Toronto is secure, Chris Johnston revealed this week that Savard's firing may have been used as a warning to Berube that the organization's patience is running thin and that they're not afraid to make changes if required.

Treliving and Pelley going against Berube's wishes and terminating Savard midseason does send a clear message that results matter more than loyalty at this point, and to be fair, that's probably the right message to send.

The question is, does this message also apply to players that the Leafs have been loyal to in the past? Yes, William Nylander, Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly all have full no-movement clauses in their contracts, but could the Leafs actually approach them about being moved if the team continues to struggle?

Hopefully it doesn't come to that, and the team can string a few wins together here and get back into the playoff picture, but if this Christmas break ends and the Leafs can't turn their fortunes around in a hurry and get back into the hunt, the Leafs' management group may be pondering bigger changes than just firing an assistant coach. They could replace the entire coaching staff and even look at shaking up the core with a blockbuster trade.