Jim Hiller has a specific plan to make Auston Matthews dangerous again

Toronto introduced Jim Hiller to the media on Thursday and in his presser he described his game plan to get Auston Matthews back to his dominant form.

Though it seemingly has taken a back seat to the trade rumours that have been dominating the headlines recently, the Maple Leafs did hire a new head coach to replace Craig Berube as Jim Hiller was named the newest bench boss who is trying to steer Toronto towards a Stanley Cup.

He comes with a lot of confidence from GM John Chayka and his personable, charming and welcoming personality is sure to win some people over and make hockey a more exciting thing for both the players and the fans coming to watch.

One of his biggest tasks however is going to be finding a way to get Auston Matthews back to his goal-scoring ways. Craig Berube neutered his offence for the sake of creating a better two-way centre but his strength has always been in his shot and being able to light the lamp at a ridiculous rate.

Jim Hiller is going to work hard to bring Auston Matthews back to the player he once was

But if you were to ask Hiller how he feels heading into the season, he's excited to see how things will shape up with Matthews, and his comments during his media appearance is sure to give fans a lot of hope they'll see their captain once again be sitting near the top of the leaderboard:

One thing - Auston was always a really dangerous player on the power play. I don't think they've been as dangerous recently. I think that is one area.

But I hope and envision we can get our power play going a little bit more...when they get some good momentum on the power play, it generally spreads out to the five-on-five game. That will be a real focus.

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When Hiller originally coached as an assistant under Mike Babcock from 2015-2019, he oversaw the power-play during that time. In that span, Matthews had 79 power-play points including 37 goals and he had 158 goals in 258 games; over those four years averaged 39.5 goals and 71 points with Hiller in as assistant coach.

Getting back to that level of production is going to be crucial in getting Matthews to stick around past his current deal as well, because if Hiller can once again unlock that goal-scoring prowess then the captain can feel confident about his chances of winning - especially with the moves they're making.

Jim Hiller promised exciting hockey and Auston Matthews will be at the forefront

Who remembers when Matthews debuted and scored four goals against Ottawa? I can actually pinpoint where I was too (a bowling alley in Southern Ontario) so you know he made an impact if I can recall where I was a decade earlier when he debuted.

That hype was the reason everyone fell in love with him and he continued to grow and show strides of a true superstar and quite possibly the best pure goal-scorer in the entire world.

But what made that hockey great was it was exciting to watch and be part of. Far too often the last two seasons, Toronto was held back from really being creative and trying to spark offence for the sake of a trusted dump-and-chase/North-South system that didn't mesh with who they were.

Despite Hiller running with a more defensive structure in LA, that was more born out of necessity than a personal choice. The team didn't have the speed nor the transition offence to play a riskier style, and it worked for them.

But Hiller is adaptable and admitted that there are several styles of play that can come under one system's umbrella and it sounds more and more like he is going to cater to each player's strengths as opposed to throwing them in situations they aren't familiar with.

There's a lot of things to be excited for if you're part of Leafs Nation. Gavin McKenna is coming in, they just beefed up their blueline and could make even bigger moves.

Though the one thing all fans should be looking forward to the most is getting their captain back to where he was - a dream for the Maple Leafs and a nightmare for the rest of the NHL.

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