Maple Leafs Shouldn’t Have Hired Jim Hiller

This feels like déjà vu.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Jim Hiller this offseason, most fans were excited that it was no longer Craig Berube behind the bench, not realizing that they had downgraded, and things were about to get much worse.

Of course, at some point, the players or management have to have some blame placed on them as well, but with Auston Matthews playing extremely well, Anthony Stolarz doing everything he can between the pipes, and the supporting cast playing well on a nightly basis, it is hard to place some blame on them.

As for management, new general manager John Chayka can’t be blamed for trying. Signing Sergei Bobrovsky was a risky move and extending Darren Raddysh to a long-term deal raised some eyebrows, but he was willing to take a swing and bring in star forward Kirill Marchenko, and completely revamped the Maple Leafs’ depth. If it fails, at least he tried.

So, the blame turns to the coach. Last season, Berube shouldered the blame and fans wanted him fired, and truthfully, he should have been let go. There were close to no arguments about letting him go. The problem only got worse when they decided to hire Hiller, who Los Angeles Kings fans remember very well, and blame solely for their lack of playoff success, and catastrophic collapse against the Edmonton Oilers in the 2025 postseason.

There Were Better Options Available

With names like Bruce Cassidy, Peter Laviolette, Joe Pavelski, Gerard Gallant, and John Tortorella available at the time, the idea of hiring Hiller over any of them was mind-boggling. When the Maple Leafs first hired him and announced it, most fans around the league thought it was either a misprint or a typo, but it was real.

Right away, Maple Leaf faithful began to defend the hiring, stating that Hiller’s history with the Maple Leafs would help him transition smoothly into his new role as the head coach, and blamed his lack of success with the Kings on the fact their roster was poorly built. Fans seemed adamant that Hiller would be a key reason for success.

Wrong.

With a much stronger team on paper than he’s ever coached, Hiller has gone back to his old ways. Shutdown, sitback hockey with no line-matching, playing struggling Zack McEwen with Auston Matthews instead of giving a nod to Gavin McKenna, or anyone else. At one point, even forgetting McKenna was on the bench and leaving him cold for almost half of a game.

Hiller Could Kill McKenna’s Development

The Maple Leafs were handed a gift in the form of the first overall selection at the 2026 NHL Draft, selecting McKenna and having a new top-six forward who could be the Mitchell Marner replacement they had been looking for. Unfortunately, when a coach is forgetting about a top prospect, it’s hard for him to develop, and turn into the star player he has the potential to be.

The biggest issue with this is that the Maple Leafs can’t fire Hiller. They can’t just flip from coach to coach constantly and pay multiple coaches who they’ve fired to sit at home and watch the games, and they certainly can’t admit this was a failure this early into the season.

I have spoken to a few fans, and some asked me if maybe it was too early to give up on Hiller, who has led the Maple Leafs to an 8-9-2 record through their first 19 games, and my response was that nobody should have given him a chance to begin with. Now, they have to live with their mistake and hope they get lucky.

Maple Leafs Seem to Lack Neutral & Defensive Zone Structure

Yes, you read that correctly.

It looks as though Hiller hasn’t implemented any sort of neutral or defensive zone structure this season, and it is obviously hurting them. He has clearly shifted back towards the mindset of playing some sort of shutdown hockey, but without an effective system, that doesn’t make sense.

Unless the Maple Leafs are simply struggling to adapt, which could be the case, watching them almost feels like watching a team that is coached by someone who has never implemented any type of system, and it is a hard watch.

Hiller Seems to Have No Real Answer to the Problem

Hiller said the Maple Leafs need to “fight for one another” as they go through a tough stretch.

That sounds like a coach who has no answer to the problems they are trying to solve, and if he can’t find any solutions, that could be an even bigger problem.

The Oilers have had their own fair share of injury issues and have one of the best records in the NHL, and they have some brutal looking depth on paper, so the idea that the Maple Leafs are struggling solely because of the injuries they’re dealing with is a terrible excuse.

What Can They Do?

Hope for the best, or make another blockbuster move and make a coaching change at the end of the season.

Hiller behind the bench is going to continue to hurt the Maple Leafs, and there really isn’t anything they can do about it. They could fire him, but they would be paying both Berube and Hiller, plus whoever they decide to hire in his place, which isn’t ideal, but might be neccessary.

Chayka could try and take another swing with the assets he has remaining, but if that backfires, the Maple Leafs fall into a tough cap situation that could have them forced into a rebuild sooner than they would have anticipated.

For now, fans will have to hope things can turn themselves around somehow. Unfortunately, Hiller has gone back to his old ways of mismanagement on the bench, and that could be catastrophic for a team looking to prove last season’s playoff miss was a fluke.

The opinion that hiring Hiller was a bad idea wasn’t just hating on the Maple Leafs, it was a factual statement. They had a lot of good things going for them, and ruined it with this hiring.

Somehow, I think they would be better off with Berube back behind the bench.

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