Jim Hiller looks good on paper and clearly had some leg up on others given his time with Toronto in the past but there's one red flag that everyone can't ignore.
Hiller's hiring came with a lot of questions from the media and the fanbase considering that the carousel of coaches available ranged from Bruce Cassidy to David Carle to Peter Laviolette to Patrick Roy and everyone in between. Hiller was brought in due to his ability to connect with players but that doesn't guarantee success.
Toronto fans have had two old-school but accomplished coaches in Mike Babcock and Craig Berube while also employing Sheldon Keefe as a modern day mind, but nothing worked out and the team is now looking at another bench boss to help guide them to the postseason and beyond.
Hiller handled a tough roster and a room in LA but Toronto is a different kind of test
You can't argue that Hiller wouldn't be a good coach in theory. He has everything that John Chayka would want - he's an analytics darling, he's great with the players, he has familiarity with the organization, and he's getting a star-studded roster.
But looking at his time in LA, we have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Toronto. The team that he was given wasn't exactly an offensive dynamo and had a lot of slow, aging defenders who needed help; hence the 1-3-1 or 2-2-1 system that Hiller employed.
It wasn't his first choice but it was a necessary one if he wanted to compete.
Contrast that to a lineup that won't exactly be that offensive firestorm we saw under Keefe but it'll certainly be more exciting than Berube's style - Hiller said as such. He has a ton of star power with a lot of creativity at his disposal, and his previous record at working the power-play will help one of Toronto's weakest facets.
But it's not even the roster as Daily Faceoff's Anthony Trudeau explains:
The big question for Hiller isn't his ability to manage an uneven roster or to be a players' coach. He did both in L.A. It's whether he can cope with adversity in a market where his every move garners discussion on every blog, podcast, and radio station in southeast Ontario.
He's right too. Regardless of the roster, he's still going to need to answer for any mistakes, changes or mishaps that may come about and the media won't be too kind if he doesn't give what they're looking for.
That is a lot of pressure for a coach who has been here before and despite the fact that his wife had some reservations regarding the media, he seems ready for the task:
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His late-season collapse and firing are the red flag that should worry Leafs fans
But there are some concerns on the ice. Los Angeles made the playoffs this season but then got absolutely decimated by the Colorado Avalanche. They looked lost, and there have been issues where Hiller has made a bad judgement call that bites him.
Case in point when he lost the series to the Edmonton Oilers last year in the first round of the 2025-26 playoffs.
A big gripe was that he was unable to adapt under pressure, he didn't make the right changes, and he was fired at a really odd time as LA were pretty close to a postseason spot in a division that was pretty awful overall.
It's hard for fans to feel confident when they were expecting a brand new vision and voice behind the bench that isn't a retread of old coaches or old systems. That's why Joe Pavelski and Jay Woodcroft were so interesting because they were fresh, new and exciting names that fans wanted.
John Chayka has to be confident in his hiring as he would look pretty foolish if he was second guessing it already and just made a rash decision. Obviously he has something in mind with Hiller but fans will need to wait.
He's just praying that it doesn't blow up in his face and turn his great start into something fans will grow to regret sooner than later.
Was Jim Hiller a bad hire for the Maple Leafs?
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