Jim Hiller is already putting Craig Berube's old system to shame as his practice drills show that the Maple Leafs are focusing heavily on adding more offense.
A huge issue last season that drew fan backlash from the Toronto Maple Leafs diehards was the fact they had so much firepower but lacked any type of offensive game. It was grinding, north-south hockey that relied on defensive acumen as opposed to sheer goal-scoring; much to the crowd's dismay.
Well Berube is out of town now, and Jim Hiller is the new bench boss. He's intimately familiar with the stars of the lineup already, and has reiterated multiple times that he is trying to bring a more exciting brand of hockey back to Toronto.
Jim Hiller already putting Craig Berube's coaching style to shame
You can see the work in action already, as Hiller has the Maple Leafs focusing on being a more offensively sound group and his latest practice drill shows that the team anticipates a lot more rushes come this season:
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As you can see from the clip above, Hiller is putting an onus on making sure the team is able to quickly go from their own end to the opponent's, and there's a serious uptick in speed and urgency in terms of getting the puck in the zone.
It's a stark contrast to Berube, who would typically have a skater take his time coming out of the zone, dump the puck, have his forwards grind for the puck, and crash the net. It was successful for a time, but it hindered a lot of Toronto's offensive weapons since they had to focus on defense.
Can Jim Hiller turn the Maple Leafs into an offensive juggernaut?
If you were to look at face value, Hiller led the Kings to the 14th-most goals in 2024-25 but dropped off a cliff and was part of the reason why they slipped to 29th in 2025-26. But he also had to implement a much more sheltered style of hockey, and didn't have a high amount of offensive talent.
Coming into the Maple Leafs, a team with several players who can score 30+ goals, he suddenly has a chance to experiment and be a bit more aggressive. He's also got two equally powerful power-play units who are going to be helped by the addition of Daniel Alfredsson behind the bench.
It's absolutely still up to the star players to produce and allow Hiller's system to thrive and become that exciting brand of hockey fans once knew. No one is asking him to be Sheldon Keefe, but they are asking for Hiller to be more open to offence than Berube.
So can Jim Hiller turn the Maple Leafs into an offensive juggernaut? Yes, but it's going to take a bit of work. Unlike Craig Berube however, he's at least privy to the idea which gives fans hope that things will truly be different in 2026-27.
Do you believe that Jim Hiller can turn the Maple Leafs offence around?
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