The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Jim Hiller as their new head coach.
The team made the hiring official with an announcement on Wednesday.
Hiller, previously a Toronto assistant from 2015-19 under Mike Babcock, might have won out because that gives him familiarity with the likes of Auston Matthews and William Nylander. He also has history with new GM John Chayka. After leaving Southern Ontario, he interviewed with Chayka’s Arizona Coyotes for an assistant job. The New York Islanders outbid them for Hiller’s services, so he chose Long Island instead.
This was an interesting search — going everywhere from David Carle to Dallas Eakins to Pat Ferschweiler to Peter Laviolette to Joe Pavelski to Patrick Roy and now Hiller, who receives his second NHL head-coaching opportunity. Hiller replaced Todd McLellan on the Kings’ bench in February 2024, only to be fired on March 1 of this season.
Hiller, 57, replaces Craig Berube as part of an off-season overhaul led by new GM Chayka.
Hiller compiled a 93-58-24 record over parts of three seasons with the Kings. Hiller served as an assistant coach with the Kings for two seasons before being promoted to head coach.
A native of Port Alberni, B.C., Hiller spent 11 seasons coaching junior hockey, including stints with the WHL's Tri-City Americans and several teams in the B.C. Hockey League, before moving to the NHL ranks.
The Leafs fired Berube on May 13 after two seasons, following a first-to-last turnaround this past season. After finishing atop the Atlantic Division in 2024-25 and making it to the second round of the playoffs, Toronto fell to last in the division and 28th in the NHL.
His firing came just 10 days after Chayka was brought on board to replace Brad Treliving. Chayka called the Berube firing "an opportunity to start fresh," and said the team would go through a wide-ranging search.
Along with some new front-office additions, Chayka also got the ball rolling Tuesday by trading goaltender Joseph Woll and depth defenceman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers for blueliner Emil Andrae, netminder Samuel Ersson and a third-round pick at next week's NHL draft.
Toronto owns the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a first since taking Auston Matthews atop the 2016 draft.
--with files from The Canadian Press
