Jim Hiller gives fans a sneak peek at what to expect from his coaching style and it should get them excited

Jim Hiller as head coach may scare some fans given his style in LA but the new bench boss promised to bring a style that's exciting for both fans and players.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs broke the news they had hired former LA Kings head coach Jim Hiller, it set off a firestorm of criticism regarding how his tenure ended this year, and the fact that several other interesting names were among the coaching candidates. Hiller is a different but safe option, and his resume and personality won GM John Chayka over.

He implemented a 1-3-1 style in Los Angeles, and for fans who are still wrestling with the fact that Craig Berube essentially neutered their best goal scorer, it's not a good sign and we may end up seeing a bit more of the same situation just with a different voice behind it.

Or maybe that style was more a situation of circumstance and not actually the game plan.

Jim Hiller gives a little taste of what to expect from the Maple Leafs game plan - but it's only crumbs for now

Hiller had been hired previously to run the Maple Leafs power-play and they had a pretty great track record under him, and he was the one who helped usher in both Auston Matthews and William Nylander into the NHL.

He knows that offence is key, especially when you have a ton of stars around you. Unlike LA, he's going to have a boatload of talent to work with, and the coach feels like that's going to lead to a lot of excitement for both fans and players.

Hiller spoke to the media after being hired and revealed a little bit of his game plan without going too deep into the details with him mentioning that the team is going to learn to play a style they are excited about playing each time they step on the ice:

I think really, and I'll draw it right back to the spirit of the team and the commitment, anybody does everything together and feels good about it, I think there's room to play with different styles within that.

That's not job one. Job one is to get the team to be able to play, and thrive, and be excited about playing whatever style or system there is....we're early. We're going to have discussions, but we'll have a style of play I think that the players will be excited to play, and I think that's most important.

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That should make both the fans and players excited, knowing that he is willing to have multiple styles of play within one system and playing to their strengths. He won't view William Nylander the same as Steven Lorentz (as he should) and he'll give them the proper opportunities to maximize their potential.

Culture, spirit, and skating are the trifecta that Jim Hiller is living by on day one

But Hiller is a player's coach who no doubt had the blessing of Matthews and Nylander before his hiring. Though he has yet to speak with them, he does have a mantra that they are going to like:

Strengthening the spirit of the team. How that translates on the ice could be a thousand ways. But (emphasis on skating) is the first part of the chain.

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First off, that should really make them feel better after having to listen to Craig Berube seemingly beat them down at every turn. If he wants to rebuild the locker room into a united brotherhood that could be huge in helping them be competitive (look at Vegas).

But it's the latter part that Matthews and Nylander will love. Both men wanted the team to get more mobile in general, and while John Chayka is mainly responsible for the personnel coming in - it's Hiller who puts them on the ice.

If Hiller can get the team to be more active and skating more, learning to zig and zag more than they have under Berube then we could see some really positive results. They already have great skaters like Nylander, John Tavares, Easton Cowan, Nick Robertson, and Gavin McKenna (soon) so it'll be interesting to see how he weaves them within the lineup.

If you can't skate, you can't do too much and going back to basics essentially seems like a pretty obvious decision but sometimes players get comfortable where they are. Hiller is trying to reset things, relate to players, and give them a system where they can thrive together instead of all being forced to play under one umbrella.

That doesn't play to their strengths, and it makes them weaker as a whole. We saw that with this past season's results and it was time for a change.

Well, Hiller's the change and we have to see if it's truly different or more of the same for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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