In May, the Toronto Maple Leafs parted ways with former coach Craig Berube. At the time, we wrote that the Leafs needed to find the right coach for their roster, a middle ground between Berube's defensive style and Sheldon Keefe's open, offensive mindset.
It doesn't appear that they've succeeded with hiring Jim Hiller.
On paper, there are reasons to see why the Leafs would want Hiller. He previously coached some of the team's young stars as an assistant to Mike Babcock. During his time coaching Los Angeles, the Kings gave up the fewest goals in 5-on-5 play in the NHL. Over 175 games, his team allowed just 2.6 goals per game.
So what's the problem? Things didn't exactly work in Los Angeles. Hiller was available because the Kings fired him on March 1. And a lot of the problems that came to Toronto under Berube look like they'd get even worse under Hiller.
Here's a deeper look into the situation.
The Kings Got Better Without Hiller
Maybe a coaching change lit a fire under Los Angeles. Maybe it was coincidental. But it cannot be ignored that D.J. Smith got the Kings into the playoffs over the season's final two months.
When the Kings fired Hiller, Los Angeles sat sixth in the Pacific Division on 62 points. Smith went 11-6-6 over the final 23 games, good for fourth in the division and the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Kings were roadkill in the postseason, wiped out in four games by Colorado. But they at least got there, and they did it with a different coach.
That hints that Los Angeles' overall system and its players, not its coach, was responsible for the team's success. There's also a worrisome history with Hiller that echoes Berube's. The Kings won 48 games in Hiller's first full season, then lost more than they won the next season. The Kings only made the playoffs by virtue of overtime losses and from playing in the top-heavy Western Conference.
That's not going to translate well in Toronto. The Leafs needed a coach with a proven track record of making his team better, not one from a system that appears anyone can be plugged into.
The Kings' Offense Was Wretched Last Year
The biggest reason Berube failed was that he couldn't blend his defensive style with the Leafs' skilled offensive stars. Toronto's 253 goals was second-worst in the Atlantic Division, a far cry from where they had been under Keefe.
But that was still much better than the Kings' poor offensive totals. Los Angeles managed just 225 goals for the season, fourth-worst in the NHL. Only Calgary, Chicago and Vancouver were worse, and none of those teams were even close to the playoffs.
The Kings' style is designed to keep games low-scoring, but that wasn't Toronto's biggest problem. The Leafs need more production offensively than they need additional defensive help. While Toronto did surrender too many pucks last season, improved goaltending could solve much of that issue. The Leafs needed to improve its attack, yet it has moved in the opposite direction.
Hiller Hasn't Done the Job in the Playoffs
The biggest issue in Toronto wasn't the regular season. It's been the playoffs, where the Leafs have gone just 2-9 over the past 10 seasons. As every Leaf fan knows, Toronto hasn't won the Stanley Cup since 1967. But the Leafs haven't even reached a conference final since 2002, and they've never won since that round was introduced.
The Kings have had their own playoff frustrations, repeatedly running into the Oilers.
Hiller had two chances at Edmonton, going 3-8 and losing both playoff series. It was his second chance in 2025 that caused Kings fans to turn on him.
Los Angeles won the first two games of the series and appeared to finally be on track to solve the Oilers. But in Game 3, Hiller turned the momentum against his team with a failed challenge that wasn't really in dispute. The Oilers scored on the ensuing power play 10 seconds later to take the lead, and the Kings didn't win another game in the series.
If that happens again in Toronto, Hiller might not even get a second season. The Leafs are well aware that they have to satisfy both their fan base and their captain. Auston Matthews is signed only through 2028, and the Leafs have to show him enough to get him to stay. Having a coach who can't cut it in the playoffs won't work toward that.
Can This Hire Work Out?
Maybe Hiller has learned from his mistakes in Los Angeles. Plenty of coaches struggle in one market and turn things around in another. It's entirely possible that Hiller's return to Toronto leads to him connecting with players he used to coach and produces a much better outcome.
But very little in his time in L.A. suggests this will go well. The things working in his favor are his experience with Matthews and the Leafs' other stars, and his familiarity handling the Toronto media. That last point does matter. Hiller knows the scrutiny that comes with the job, and that self-awareness could prove valuable in ways that pure coaching credentials don't capture.
But Peter Laviolette seemingly checked every other box for Toronto, and instead he's in Hiller's old spot in Los Angeles. Hiller now has the unenviable job of trying to bring a Cup back to Canada's largest city, and based on his history, this looks like it might be an even worse fit than Berube was.
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