Wild story emerges about Craig Berube humbling Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis
Photo credit: Jeff Curry - USA Today Sports
There aren't many people within the NHL that don't know who Craig Berube was as a player, which might have come as a terrible surprise for Vladimir Tarasenko.
Berube, who was recently hired to be the new head coach in Toronto, carries around a lot of notoriety for the type of player he was during his NHL career. He was tough, he dropped the gloves at a moment's notice, and he carried a sense of intimidation that was nearly unmatched. He has carried that over as a head coach during his tenure behind the bench, but it seems that maybe news didn't reach Russia with Tarasenko not having a clue who Berube was as a player during their time together in St. Louis.
Scottie Upshall took to his Missin Curfew podcast recently to talk about an incident shortly after Berube took over behind the bench in St. Louis. He replaced Mike Yeo, who was fired 19 games into the 2018-19 season and the difference between both characters was quite obvious right off the bat - but maybe not for Tarasenko:
"Alex Steen one day to Vladimir Tarasenko, it wasn't too long after Chief took over as head coach, Vladdy kinda got into a 'f*** you' match with him and Steener looked at Vladdy in between periods - while taping his sticks - 'you know who Chief is, right' and Vladdy was like no and he's all pissed off at him and I'm like 'Vladdy, let's take a moment and let's look at some of Chief's videos and just figure who we have right now behind the bench. Who the bench boss is, who he is, how much respect he has from the ref, the other coach, the players who know who he is; he's a guy that f*****g played hard, he played over a thousand games, 300+ fights, the guy's a legend, he played the right way, a f*****g good Alberta boy and tough and hilarious'
He deserves to be behind the bench of a great team and I think the Maple Leafs are very lucky to have him, it's a great hiring."
He deserves to be behind the bench of a great team and I think the Maple Leafs are very lucky to have him, it's a great hiring."
"Chief" played in parts of 17 seasons with Philadelphia, Toronto, Calgary, Washington, and the New York Islanders where he amassed 3,149 PIMs in 1,054 games. He did most of his damage with the Flyers and the Capitals where he tallied 1,138 PIMs (323 games) and 1,220 PIMs (419 games), respectively, in 7 seasons apiece for both clubs. He dropped the gloves over 200 times and surpassed 200 PIMs in 6 different campaigns, including a career high of 305 penalty minutes in 1993-94 with Washington.
His no nonsense character followed him as a head coach and while Tarasenko and Berube didn't always see eye-to-eye, he definitely got the best out of his Russian goal scorer. He not only came through in the clutch for the Blues during their Stanley Cup run where he chipped in with 11 goals and 17 points, but he also tallied a career-high 82 points in 2021-22.
Respect is earned in the NHL and it seems like everyone's on the same page with Berube - including Tarasenko.
| POLL | ||
MAI 31 | 335 ANSWERS Wild story emerges about Craig Berube humbling Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis How far will Berube take the Maple Leafs this season? | ||
| First Round | 50 | 14.9 % |
| Second Round | 99 | 29.6 % |
| Conference Finals | 120 | 35.8 % |
| Stanley Cup Finals | 66 | 19.7 % |
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