The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Jim Hiller as their new head coach, the team announced Wednesday, giving the NHL club a bench reset before a draft week in which it holds the No. 1 pick.
Hiller, 57, returns to Toronto for a second stint after serving as a Maple Leafs assistant from 2015 to 2019. ESPN reported that this will be his second NHL head coaching job after three seasons with the Los Angeles Kings from 2023 to 2026.
Hiller Returns After Kings Tenure
Hiller went 93-58-24 with Los Angeles over parts of three seasons, according to ESPN. He joined the Kings as an assistant in 2022, replaced Todd McLellan on an interim basis on Feb. 2, 2024, and received the full-time job before the 2024-25 season.
Los Angeles let Hiller go on March 1 after an 8-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers dropped the Kings to sixth place in the Pacific Division. That exit now leads into a Toronto job with a different kind of pressure: a high-profile market, a missed playoff year and a top draft pick arriving next week.
Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka said in the team statement, as quoted by ESPN, that Hiller understands what it takes to win in today's NHL and connects well with players.
Toronto Settles Bench Before NHL Draft
The hire ends a search that began after Chayka fired Craig Berube in May following two years behind the Toronto bench. Chayka told reporters Tuesday that the club was close to naming a new coach after what he called an extensive search.
Toronto's timing is important because the Maple Leafs hold the No. 1 pick in next week's NHL draft. ESPN reported that Chayka had prioritized settling the bench before that event.
Hiller also has direct institutional history in Toronto. During his earlier four-year Leafs stint, ESPN reported that he primarily managed the team's power play under Mike Babcock. After Babcock was replaced by Sheldon Keefe in November 2019, Hiller moved on to the New York Islanders as an assistant from 2019 to 2022.
Maple Leafs Continue Front Office Reset
The coaching move follows several months of change for Toronto. The Maple Leafs fired general manager Brad Treliving in March, hired Chayka, brought in Mats Sundin as a senior adviser, won the draft lottery and then parted with Berube in May.
The changes came after a difficult 2025-26 season in which Toronto finished seventh in the Atlantic Division with 78 points and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, according to ESPN.
Hiller is scheduled to be formally introduced as the franchise's 41st head coach on June 25. Until then, the concrete takeaway is already clear: Toronto has its coach in place before making the first pick in the draft.