Maple Leafs News & Rumours: Matthews, Hiller & Fixing a Goal-Scoring Problem

There is something interesting about the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into this season. For the first time in a long time, there seems to be a little more optimism about the organization beyond the NHL roster. Gavin McKenna will obviously get most of the attention, and for good reason. But a closer look at the prospect system also raises a question that probably shouldn’t be ignored.

Who is going to score the goals?

That may sound like a strange question for a team that still has Auston Matthews and William Nylander. But it becomes a much more interesting question when you look beyond those two players and consider what happens when Matthews isn’t completely healthy or, eventually, isn’t there at all.

Do the Maple Leafs Have a Goal-Scoring Problem Without Matthews?

Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff makes an interesting observation in his look at the Maple Leafs’ prospect pool. He sees Gavin McKenna as much more of a playmaker than a pure goal scorer and wonders where the next natural goal scorer is coming from.

McKenna can certainly score. Nobody is suggesting otherwise. He recorded 15 goals and 51 points in 35 games as a freshman at Penn State, and he has the kind of offensive instincts that could eventually make him a terrific NHL player. But his greatest gift may be the ability to see the ice and make other players better. That’s different from having somebody who simply has a knack for finding the back of the net.

And natural goal scorers are needed in the NHL. Every team needs them, and they are difficult to find. You can develop a good defensive defenseman. You can find useful bottom-six forwards. You can sometimes turn a late-round pick into a useful NHL player. But finding somebody who can consistently score 25 or 30 goals is a different matter altogether.

That’s where Toronto’s prospect history becomes relevant. The Maple Leafs haven’t had many opportunities to pick near the top of the draft, and they’ve also been willing to use prospects and draft picks at the trade deadline when they believed the NHL team needed help. That’s understandable when you’re trying to win now, but eventually there is a price to be paid.

The Matthews situation makes the issue even more obvious. When he is healthy and playing like Auston Matthews, Toronto has one of the best goal scorers in the world. When he isn’t, the offence looks different.

So this isn’t really an argument against the Maple Leafs’ prospect system. It is more of a warning. McKenna could become a star. There are other interesting young players in the organization. But Chayka and his group may eventually have to go looking for something the organization doesn’t currently have in abundance: a natural goal scorer.

Can Jim Hiller Change How the Maple Leafs Play?

This may be the more interesting question. The Maple Leafs don’t just have a new coach in Jim Hiller. They have a coach whose teams in Los Angeles played a very different kind of game from the one Toronto played last season. Hiller’s Kings were strong possession teams and did an excellent job limiting chances against. During his games behind the Los Angeles bench, the Kings had the NHL’s second-best goals-against rate and were among the league’s better teams at controlling play.

That matters because Toronto spent too much time without the puck last season. And when you have Matthews and Nylander, that seems like a particularly bad idea. Those players are at their best when they are attacking, creating and making things happen. The more time they spend chasing the puck around their own zone, the less useful their offensive talent becomes.

That’s why Hiller is so interesting. He doesn’t have to turn the Maple Leafs into some completely different hockey team. He just has to get them playing with the puck more often. There is a caution, though. Hiller’s most recent season in Los Angeles wasn’t nearly as successful as his first full season. The Kings dropped from 105 points in 2024-25 to 90 points in 2025-26, and their offence became a real problem, scoring just 220 goals, 29th in the NHL.

So there is a balancing act here. Toronto needs to become a team that controls possession and scores goals. Hiller has to find the middle ground. The team needs enough structure to control the puck and defend, but enough freedom for Matthews, Nylander, McKenna and the rest of Toronto’s skilled players to actually create.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

The Maple Leafs may not have enough natural goal scorers coming through their prospect system. But perhaps they don’t need another 30-goal scorer immediately if Hiller can help the players already here spend more time attacking.

If Hiller can get Toronto to play faster by thinking faster, maintaining possession and spending more time in the offensive zone, the Leafs might discover that they have a little more offence in the lineup than last season suggested.

The goal-scoring problem is real. But perhaps part of the solution isn’t finding more scorers. Perhaps it’s simply giving the scorers they already have the puck more often.