SIMMONS: Maple Leafs’ hiring of coach Jim Hiller underwhelming

Limited resume leaves something to be desired; GM Chayka wanted Peter Laviolette

Get the latest from Steve Simmons straight to your inbox

Published Jun 17, 2026  •  4 minute read

Jim HIller has been named head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Photo by Marissa Baecker /GETTY IMAGES

The Maple Leafs used to be like a high-end steakhouse. You paid a lot. You demanded a lot. You expected something special.

Article content

Nowadays, the steak has dried up some. The flavour is all but gone. The most expensive and extensive hockey team in the sport has taken to supplying leftovers to its customers instead of prime rib.

Article content

Article content

The Leafs have a new general manager in John Chayka, who, in truth, nobody else in the game really wanted. And now they have a new head coach in Jim Hiller, who, in a year with all kinds of coaching openings, didn’t seem to be anyone’s choice outside Toronto to fill the bill.

These are your Leafs now, where takeout from Wendy’s has taken precedence over the experience of fine dining. It’s been a long, hard drop from near prominence for the hockey club. This isn’t where Brendan Shanahan began without experience and roster challenges more than a decade ago. Very quickly he brought in a bevy of surprises. He hired Hall of Fame general manager Lou Lamoriello to take over the team, and outbid the Buffalo Sabres to bring in Mike Babcock to coach, long before Babcock’s reputation was in tatters.

Article content

Article content

That was the hockey front office equivalent of chateaubriand for two. And the appetizers, the creamed spinach, came in rather tastily with the hirings of Kyle Dubas and Mark Hunter from junior hockey and the attempt to hire the Brandon general manager, Kelly McCrimmon.

In total, that shook the hockey industry for both boldness and delivery. That got everyone’s attention. The Leafs were players in a game they hadn’t been part of for years. And now, starting over again more than a decade later, with a roster full of questions and complications, these are your Maple Leafs.

Maybe a playoff team. Maybe not. More likely a team with an expensive top in Auston Matthews and William Nylander and not much of a middle or a bottom. And their best goalie is now in Philadelphia.

One full season as head coach

Hiller has been a head coach in the NHL for about a minute. One full season in total. He was fired in his second season in Los Angeles. He was let go, in his words, because they couldn’t get it going.

Article content

His time coaching the Kings — one part season, one full season, one fired season and no playoff rounds won, 175 games in all — was not unlike the 164 games that Craig Berube coached with the Leafs without the playoff win. The first full season for both was great. The Kings had 105 points. The Leafs had 108 points.

The next season, Hiller was fired and Berube should have been fired. Among the reasons Hiller was let go was a lack of development by young Quinton Byfield. Among the reasons Berube was let go was the lack of production from the formerly great Matthews.

The difference between the two can be found on the pages of their resumes. Berube won a Stanley Cup, and had some seasons of strength in Philadelphia and St. Louis before that. He always had a certain presence about him. We’re not sure what kind of presence Hiller comes with once he begins coaching the Leafs, but he did come across rather well and comfortable in very non specific ways at Wednesday’s introductory Zoom news conference. He coached with Babcock in Detroit and Toronto. He coached with Barry Trotz and the Islanders. He coached with Todd McLellan in Los Angeles. That’s almost a masters course in hockey coaching from three of the best of the past decade.

Article content

Chayka wanted Laviolette

GM Chayka would like you to think that he plucked Hiller out from the 50 or so people he apparently talked to about the Leafs job. He did do that. But not before wanting Peter Laviolette to be the next coach of the Leafs. That was Chayka’s original selection.

Lavoilette wound up choosing Los Angeles over Toronto.

So instead of getting the coach they wanted to hire, the Leafs got the coach the Kings fired.

And by the time the dust settles, Hiller’s old mentor, Babcock, should be coaching the Edmonton Oilers, former Leafs assistant Manny Malhotra will be coaching Vancouver, Pete DeBoer will be coaching the Islanders, Laviolette will be in Los Angeles, the minor league callup Ryan Craig is the new coach in Vegas. A lot of openings to consider. The best the Leafs could get was Hiller.

Burns, Quinn and Babcock were big-ticket hires

In the modern history of the franchise, there have been three coach hirings of consequence. Pat Burns was brought in by Cliff Fletcher to change the Leafs and his affect on the club was enormous. Ken Dryden bought in Pat Quinn to coach the Leafs after successes in other NHL stops and he coached in 80 playoff games, more than anyone since Punch Imlach. Then Babcock was stolen last-minute from Buffalo, where he looked to be signing with the Sabres. The Leafs, as is their custom, overpaid to get him, forever changing the coaching salaries across the NHL.

Article content

The best from Hiller in Los Angeles was the ability to limit other teams’ scoring. The bad was the style in which he chose to employ. The Kings played the McLellan mind-numbing 1-3-1 when Hiller took over. He then loosened up enough to allow his own trapping 1-2-2 system. The Kings were just about the dullest team to watch in the game.

This is the entertainment business. Maybe Hiller can change. Maybe he can grow into the job. But if you gave a blank slate to every prominent hockey man in the business and asked them to find a new GM and a new coach, I can assure you of this. Chayka wouldn’t be the general manager and Hiller wouldn’t be the coach.

[email protected]

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content