Hiller hiring as coach latest bold move by Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Jim Hiller was excited the moment he received a call from Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka weeks ago concerning the team’s vacant coaching position.

Kathy Hiller didn't share his enthusiasm. Not in the least.

“Who was that?” Kathy asked when her husband got off the phone.

Jim told her.

“Oh no. The media!” she replied, knowing what was waiting in Canada's largest city.

Hiller chuckled at the memory Wednesday during a Zoom call officially introducing him as the 41st coach of the Maple Leafs. After all, he’s well aware of the hockey fishbowl that is this market, complete with its omnipresent sea of TV cameras and microphones, having been an assistant on Mike Babcock’s staff with the Maple Leafs from 2015-2019.

“I said to her, ‘No, I know those people. I’ve been there. Those are all really nice people,’” he said.

He could have been talking about the fans as well.

At least during that period of his hockey life.

But these are different times in Toronto from a decade ago. That, at its core, is something Hiller will have to understand, and maybe already does, as he takes over for the fired Craig Berube.

In 2015, there were little to no expectations on a Toronto organization that was in a full rebuild centered around first-round picks William Nylander (No. 8 in 2014) and Mitch Marner (No. 4 in 2015). The Maple Leafs finished last in the then-30 team NHL in the 2015-16 season and won the NHL Draft Lottery, allowing them to select Auston Matthews at No. 1.

For the next nine seasons, Toronto qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hiller was on board for the first three of those postseason runs, when hope sprang eternal for a Maple Leafs fanbase that dreamed of a time when the team’s young core could end a Stanley Cup drought that went all the way back to 1967.

As we all know, it didn’t happen. Not even close. Despite consistent regular-season success, the uber-skilled team won just two playoff series from 2016 to 2025 before missing the postseason altogether this spring, igniting a massive call for change.

With enthusiasm having been replaced by cynicism in a frustrated Toronto marketplace regarding the team, change is exactly what has happened.

Has it ever.

They wanted it. They got it.

It started on May 3 with the naming of Chayka, who hadn’t held a position of control in the NHL since quitting as GM and president of hockey operations of the Arizona Coyotes on July 26, 2020. The hiring of Maple Leafs icon Mats Sundin as senior executive adviser, hockey operations, was better received than that of Chayka, although there were questions about the lack of front office experience of the former Toronto captain.

In the subsequent 45 days, the new regime has ignited a whirlwind of activity. 

Two days after their appointments, the Maple Leafs won the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery and will hold the No. 1 pick at the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, being held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Penn State wing Gavin McKenna would seem to be the leading candidate to be selected by Toronto, but who’s to say Chayka, who's shown with the Hiller hiring that he’s willing to be bold, won’t go in a different direction?

Berube was fired on May 13, a move that was followed by some front-office reshuffling. The roster remake started Tuesday when the Maple Leafs traded goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers for goalie Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick in the 2026 draft.

The deal raised eyebrows, especially because Woll arguably was the team’s No. 1 goalie. But the swap was partially predicated by the outstanding play of 24-year-old Artur Akhtyamov, who has gone 14-6 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in 20 playoff games to lead the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League to within one win of a Calder Cup title. The Maple Leafs also have veteran Anthony Stolarz and young Swede Dennis Hildeby, 24, in the mix.

Chayka vowed to rebuild Toronto’s defense, making it younger and faster. The exchange of the fleet-footed, 24-year-old Andrae for the gritty, 27-year-old Benoit fits his vision.

Let's be clear. There is plenty of risk here, even if the Maple Leafs, a team in need of draft picks, did get a third-round selection in the deal.

What Chayka has shown in his brief tenure at the helm: He doesn’t care about outside optics. He’s not afraid to be brash. The Woll deal was an example of that. And so was the Hiller hiring.

In the process, Chayka’s greatest accomplishment may have been that there were no public leaks well in advance about the trade or the Hiller move, a rarity in the Toronto market. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman did put out the coaching news on social media Wednesday, but it came just three minutes before the Maple Leafs made the official announcement.

In any event, with names like Patrick Roy, Joe Pavelski, Peter Laviolette (since hired by the Los Angeles Kings) and Jay Woodcroft having been mentioned as candidates in the past month, Hiller’s name never came up in the media. Not until Wednesday morning.

Hence the surprise among fans, media, even those in the hockey world, when the announcement did come.

“When my phone went off this morning with the news, I was caught off guard,” Barry Trotz told NHL.com late Wednesday afternoon. “But, really, the more I thought about it, I wasn’t really caught off guard.”

Indeed, the more Trotz thought about the hiring that shocked a lot of people, the more it made sense to him.

Trotz, an adviser with the Nashville Predators, was coach of the New York Islanders when Hiller was one of his assistants from 2019-2022. In that time, Trotz experienced many of the traits that he thinks will serve Hiller well in Toronto.

“He’s a progressive thinker, a bit more into analytics, a good power-play coach,” Trotz said. “And he’s a good communicator with an outstanding ability to connect with players, which is such a key to coaching these days. 

“Late in the day we as a staff would have regular hot stove sessions about the entire League. He wasn’t afraid to bring things up and look at things in a different direction. Like I said, progressive thinker.”

Trotz said the experience Hiller had as coach of the Kings, who went 93-58-24 during the regular season from 2023-24 to 2025-26 under his watch, will help during the long run.

“Progressive thinkers learn from mistakes,” Trotz said. “They have more success with their second, third teams. They just do.

“Having coached Matthews and Nylander before, I think that’s going to help too.”

The fact that Hiller has worked with both will be a plus. In his final three seasons with the Maple Leafs, when he was an assistant in charge of the power play, Toronto finished in the top 10 with the man-advantage, with both Nylander and Matthews featuring prominently.

Another point in Hiller’s favor: The Kings finished tied with the Washington Capitals for seventh in goals against this season (238), while the Maple Leafs ended up 31st (295). Tightening up defensively is a definite priority for Toronto.

Finally, he knows what it's like to nurture a No. 1 draft pick like the Maple Leafs will have next week, having been part of Matthews’ development a decade ago.

Still, there are more questions than answers surrounding his hiring. It wasn’t the expected splash, to be sure. And you can make sure he’ll hear about it if the team gets off to a slow start, much to Kathy’s chagrin.

“I said to my wife, and not trying to oversimplify, but before and after games, you talk to the media,” he said. “And whether there are three microphones or 15 microphones, three cameras or 15 cameras, you’ve got to answer the same questions. So yeah, it’s bigger, more volume of media, no question, but I think the way you approach it, your relationships, your honesty … it doesn’t change.

“I know it’s a big job and it’s a big market but it’s not something I think that I’m personally going to have to change much to deal with.”

In making such an unexpected hiring, Chayka is banking on it.