Jim Hiller's appointment as the Toronto Maple Leafs' head coach drew some concern, as his time with the Los Angeles Kings featured a defense-heavy team. After Craig Berube's failures to get this roster to play more defensively, trying to run it back with the same strategy could've been a disaster. However, Hiller may have a new spin on his style, which shows he isn't afraid to adapt to the roster he is given.
One thing Hiller is trying to bring to the Maple Leafs that he didn't with the Kings is more team speed. The difference is that Los Angeles was an older, veteran-heavy lineup that didn't feature many burners. It would've been hard for the head coach to bring that system to them, but he feels like the Leafs might be better suited for it, according to captain Auston Matthews, via Mark Masters.
""A lot of skating in practice, getting up & down the ice, that's been a big emphasis. We want to be a fast, hard-skating team on defence & offence. The more you strip pucks on the backcheck, it helps you produce a little more.""Auston Matthews
The Maple Leafs were in the bottom third of the league in speed during the 2025-26 season, but in another example of John Chayka crafting this new-look roster for his head coach, the general manager addressed some of those issues with his bottom-six additions. Both Brandon Duhaime and Colton Sissons are well above league average in key skating metrics, according to NHL Edge.
Are the Maple Leafs suited for Jim Hiller's style?
The Maple Leafs have a more dog-heavy lineup this season, and players like Duhaime, Sissons, and Easton Cowan will be very disruptive in the bottom six as both forecheckers and backcheckers. It isn't going to be quite as easy for teams to play against Toronto every night, but that bottom-six group isn't the players you need to turn defense into offense.
Hiller will still be looking for Matthews to play a 200-foot game, as Berube did before him. Matthews came into camp looking like a leaner version of himself, which should help his skating, and the captain can excel at stripping pucks on the backcheck. If Hiller can find someone on the John Tavares, William Nylander, and Gavin McKenna line to play that role, it could completely change how the team plays this season.
Toronto's roster isn't built to play the trap. The high-end forwards need to play more of a run-and-gun style, and this shift toward a hard-working, skating team will serve them well in the long run. Hiller still has to convince the players to put in that effort every night, which hasn't always been easy, but if they all buy in, the payoff could be massive.
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