The Maple Leafs decision to hire Jim Hiller came out of left field, but so has pretty much everything else they have done this offseason.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad hire.
Hiller coached the Los Angeles Kings for parts of three seasons, taking over halfway through the 2023-24 season, coaching the entirety of the 2024-25 season, and then getting fired halfway through the 2025-26 season.
That’s a weird tenure, and a very short one. But it also wasn’t terrible. He took the Kings to the playoffs in 2023-24 and 2024-25, including a 48-win, 105-point season in his one full season behind the Kings bench.
It never resulted in playoff success, losing consecutive first-round series, but I would argue that had more to do with the team he was trying to win with and its shortcomings, than anything he did or did not do as a coach. The Kings were good, but always lacking in high-end offensive talent and kept running into the same team (the Edmonton Oilers) that happened to have two series-changing superstars in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl at the top of their lineup.
Hiller’s Kings teams always had strong defensive metrics and defensive play, and that is a big-time area the Maple Leafs have to improve. If he can get Toronto to shore things up defensively, while also getting to coach a team that has some serious high-end talent at the top (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares Matthew Knies, and No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna), I don’t think it’s a stretch to think this team could have some success and that this hire could work out.