Berube played 1,054 NHL regular season games between 1986 and 2003. He was known as an enforcer in the NHL and amassed 3,149 penalty minutes in his career, good for seventh on the all-time list. With 159 points he is the least productive player in the league with at least 1000 games played.
Berube was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Philadelphia Flyers on March 19, 1986. He made his NHL debut on March 22, 1987, recording 16 penalty minutes which included two fighting majors, in a 3–1 Flyers win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.[1] He remained with the Flyers through the end of the regular season and also played in five playoff games during the Flyers' run to the 1987 Stanley Cup Finals. Berube cemented his place in the Flyers' line-up during the 1988–89 season and finished in the top ten in penalty minutes during the next two seasons.
Berube remained with the Flames through the end of the 1992–93 season. He was traded on June 26, 1993, to the Washington Capitals for a fifth-round draft choice in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He spent the next six seasons with the Capitals, notably playing in every playoff game during Washington's run to the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals.
During a November 1997 game against the Florida Panthers, Berube called Panthers' forward Peter Worrell, who is black, "a monkey."[2] Berube claimed the remark was not racially motivated and he apologized to Worrell a day after the game.[2] The NHL suspended Berube for one game.[2]
Berube returned to the Flyers in 1999 during the trade deadline. He saw his last Stanley Cup playoff action on the ice in 2000. In game four of the Eastern Conference Finals, he scored the game-winning goal to put the Flyers up 3–1 in the series against the New Jersey Devils, but the Flyers lost the next three games and the series.
Berube was named the head coach of the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' affiliate in the American Hockey League, before the 2006–07 AHL season.[3] However, on October 23, 2006, Berube was promoted to the Flyers' NHL coaching staff after a major reorganization in the franchise. On October 22, 2006, Bob Clarke resigned from his position as general manager of the Flyers, and head coach Ken Hitchcock was released from his duties. John Stevens, formerly assistant coach, was named the Flyers' new head coach, and Berube was designated to replace him. For the 2007–08 season, Berube returned to the Phantoms as head coach. On October 7, 2013, Berube was named head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers following an 0–3–0 start.[4] The team improved their play following the change to Berube and clinched a spot in the 2014 NHL playoffs. On April 17, 2015, Berube was relieved of his coaching duties by Flyers general manager Ron Hextall.[5]
On June 15, 2017, Berube was named an assistant head coach for the Blues.[7] On November 19, 2018, the Blues fired head coach Mike Yeo and named Berube interim coach for the rest of the season.[8][9][10]
Berube during the 2019 Stanley Cup parade
The Blues struggled at first under Berube's watch; at the start of the 2019 calendar year, they were 15–18–4 and last in the league standings. However, they improved through the remainder of the season, going 30–10–5, including a franchise-record 11-game winning streak. As the third seed in the Central Division, they advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the fourth time in franchise history, and the first time since 1970. The Blues later won the series 4–3 over the Boston Bruins, capping off Game 7 with a 4–1 win, earning the Blues their first Stanley Cup title in franchise history and Berube his first Stanley Cup championship as a player or coach.
Berube became the second interim head coach in NHL history to guide his team to a Stanley Cup title. Berube shares this distinction with Larry Robinson, who accomplished the feat 19 years earlier with the New Jersey Devils.
On April 26, 2019, Berube, Jon Cooper, and Barry Trotz were announced as the finalists for the Jack Adams Award.[11] On June 24, the Blues dropped the "interim" tag from Berube's title and officially named him as the 26th head coach in franchise history, with a three-year contract.[12]
On February 9, 2022, the Blues signed Berube to a three-year contract extension, through the 2024–25 season.[13]
On December 12, 2023, following a four-game losing streak capped by a 6–4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Berube was fired by the Blues.[14]
Berube is partially of First Nations descent. During his time coaching the Flyers, he and Buffalo Sabres head coach Ted Nolan were the only head coaches in the NHL with First Nations ancestry. On November 21, 2013, Berube (part Cree) and Nolan (Ojibwe) became the first head coaches of First Nations descent in NHL history to coach for opposing teams in the same game.[16]