What Will Jim Hiller Bring To The Maple Leafs, What Could Make Him A Good Fit?

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ head coach search officially concluded on Wednesday when the organization announced Jim Hiller as the 41st head coach of the franchise.

This decision certainly turned heads and shocked many for a couple of reasons. Hiller’s name never really came up in the build-up to this hire, and he’s coming off a tenure with the Los Angeles Kings that wasn’t particularly impressive.

However, this is a new page for Hiller in his head coaching career, and the Maple Leafs’ current situation is very different from the Kings team Hiller led for parts of the last three years.

When Hiller was with the Kings, he had his team play very defensively. From Feb. 2, 2024, to March 1, 2026, Hiller’s official tenure, Los Angeles averaged 2.86 goals per game. That puts the Kings tied for the ninth-worst offense in the NHL over that span.

The Kings did not play an exciting brand of hockey under his guidance, but that could be partly because of the makeup of the team.

Hiller coached an aging Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, leaving his top offensive producer to be Adrian Kempe, who has never scored more than 75 points in his NHL career. Not to mention, Quinton Byfield has yet to blossom into the high-flying center that he is expected to be.

Maple Leafs Announce Jim Hiller As Franchise’s 41st Head Coach

Maple Leafs Announce Jim Hiller As Franchise’s 41st Head Coach The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced Jim Hiller as their 41st head coach in franchise history and the successor to former bench boss Craig Berube.

When a team like the Kings has a veteran core, most of the time, the organization will want to find ways to always be competitive. Another example of that is the Pittsburgh Penguins, who seemingly refuse to go through a complete rebuild as long as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are around.

And with a team that lacks offensive prowess, the way to win games is to keep the other team from scoring. In that sense, Hiller was very good at getting the Kings to buy in defensively, and the numbers prove it.

In that same span in which Hiller led Los Angeles from behind the bench, no team in the NHL was better than the Kings at keeping the puck out of their net.

The Kings averaged 2.60 goals against, marking them with the best defense in the league. They also have the fifth-most shutouts in the NHL with five, and while Darcy Kuemper was solid and a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2024-25, those numbers are a nod to Hiller’s system.

Berube, Keefe, Babcock: How The Maple Leafs’ Last Three NHL Head Coaches Fared In Toronto How have the previous three head coaches of the Toronto Maple Leafs – Craig Berube, Sheldon Keefe, and Mike Babcock – fared in their respective tenures?

Even though Hiller has only really presented a defensive system for his team as a head coach in the NHL, that doesn’t mean that’s all he can provide. After all, when he was an assistant coach in the NHL, including with the Maple Leafs for four years, he looked after the power play.

As Toronto’s power-play operator from 2015-16 to 2018-19, Hiller had success with the Leafs special teams. In that span, the Maple Leafs have the fifth-best power play in the NHL, registering a 21.3 percentage rate.

Therefore, Hiller does have the ability to create offense out of his team. But what gives him an even greater chance to be successful as the head coach of the Maple Leafs is his history with the team.

Could Morgan Rielly And Matthew Knies Be Next Out The Door For Maple Leafs? Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka has made his imprint on the roster with a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. If he plans on making another big move this off-season, Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies are likely next in line.

Toronto’s roster has certainly changed a lot since Hiller moved on from the Maple Leafs’ coaching staff. However, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly have remained on the team since.

It may not be a coincidence that Hiller’s last year with the Maple Leafs, Tavares and Rielly had the best campaigns of their NHL careers. Tavares scored a career-high 47 goals and 88 points while Rielly recorded 20 goals and 74 points, as well as Norris Trophy recognition, finishing fifth in the award’s voting.

Not to mention, Hiller was a teacher to Matthews and Nylander in the early parts of their career, a critical moment in their development and a factor in how talented they have become over the years.

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