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Jim Hiller is the new Head Coach

Was Hiller even one of the names that the media was speculating on? I recall Cassidy, Roy, Woodcroft, Pavelski among others, but I don't think I heard Hiller before today.
 
Bender said:
... Can we get an all-star team of assistants as well? Then I'll feel better about this.
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That would be good

The team is in a sucking and blowing mode. They're trying to make the playoffs.
Hiller coached a bunch of these guys
That to me doesn't hurt his resuscitation efforts. He knows a bunch of the players and their abilities.
He's also been around - knows the NHL.

I don't know how they could hope to hire a top tier candidate when their window is closing and the prospect system is barren. The chances of them winning a Cup any time soon have to be very slim.
 
Zee said:
Was Hiller even one of the names that the media was speculating on? I recall Cassidy, Roy, Woodcroft, Pavelski among others, but I don't think I heard Hiller before today.
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Nothing. Friedman reported that he may have been interviewing for the Edmonton job, but that's the only mention of him out there basically since he got fired.
 
Zee said:
Was Hiller even one of the names that the media was speculating on? I recall Cassidy, Roy, Woodcroft, Pavelski among others, but I don't think I heard Hiller before today.
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I may have seen it in passing in an article but the vast majority of lists of coaching candidates for the Leafs did not include his name that I recall.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/2067253183693341025
He was my favourite coach of the #LeafsAreActuallyGood era of the team, insofar as it is possible to care about (assistant) coaches.
Every season thereafter when Keefe-Leafs PPs went limp in the back half of the season/playoffs, I always remembered Hiller's units and tactics and how easily translatable to the roster they'd be, and they continually never went back to it. His coaching blessed the Leafs with the fuel for Zaitsev and Marner's silly contracts.
 
Hillar was an assistant to Babcock in Detroit.
He moved with Babcock to Toronto and was joined with assistant coach, DJ Smith

He moved to the Islanders coached by Trotz, with Lane Lambert (past Leafs asst) and current Marlies coach, John Gruden as assistant

He then moved to LA as an assistant to Todd McLellan

He took over as coach from McLellan and named DJ Smith an assistant
DJ Smith replaced him
 
Zee said:
That's what I thought, insider fail.
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In Friedman's defence, he has steadily maintained he is not chasing every little coaching rumour.
Due to that, everyone had to take what he said with a big grain of salt.
He would pass on what he heard but he wasn't knocking himself out to verify every rumour, etc
 
I didn't think Treliving had the wrong idea (win the slots, check everywhere), and I didn't think Berube was entirely wrong in what he wanted to do (forecheck to generate mistakes), but they clearly could not coalesce their ideas into anything that the players would want to do, and they certainly had some other ideas that sewered their original intent. They never truly executed so their plan looks like mere words in the wind.

Maybe I'm reaching for the Copa-Colium here:

Regardless of his experience (only 1 good head coaching season with LAK), what the Leafs now have is someone who can actually connect the dots between what the Front Office is trying to do, and conveying that into actionables for the roster. He demonstrated that by elevating (for a time) the LAK identity plan until the GM cut off the feet of the defense. By all accounts I've found, Hiller has that Brawndo that Pavelski and Woodcroft are advertised as having with little tips and observations and data for creating more offensive space and opportunity -- He's got what star players crave!
 
After the Oilers players helping to draft Babcock, I wonder if Chayka and Sundin checked in with Matthews about Hiller ... You'd think they wouldn't want to hire someone that would bother Matthews
 
Zee said:
Was Hiller even one of the names that the media was speculating on? I recall Cassidy, Roy, Woodcroft, Pavelski among others, but I don't think I heard Hiller before today.
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That's what infuriates me. The speculation was a big fat failure.
 
So in the span of two days we've had two head-scratching decisions out of our duo of managers.

All I can say is, if we had not won the lottery this place would look like abattoir.
 
ZBBM said:
So in the span of two days we've had two head-scratching decisions out of our duo of managers.

All I can say is, if we had not won the lottery this place would look like abattoir.
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Under the glass is half full:

In my opinion, there wasn't a single coaching candidate that was being kicked around in the media that would not have generated some sort of head scratching or significant debate. Some would have generated less than others.

The NHL draft is 9 days away. Wheeling and dealing gets done there. Folks might be pulling their hair out if a coach wasn't hired by then. Between now and then, hopefully, they can settle on a system and identify needs for the roster and a plan on how they're going to fill those needs

Even if one can't stand Hiller, potentially some good will come of it in the next couple of weeks
 
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