Jim Hiller’s handling of Kirill Marchenko is starting to stand out for all the wrong reasons.
After Marchenko followed up a hat trick with yet another strong showing, the Toronto bench still didn’t lean on him the way you’d expect. Instead, he was shuffled around and left without much real consistency, and that’s becoming harder to explain by the game.
Toronto’s 4-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday wiped out whatever momentum the team had built. It was a flat night, and the Islanders made it a grind. Only a Colton Sissons goal stopped Ilya Sorokin from posting a shutout, while Sergei Bobrovsky’s rough night added more bad history to the mix.
There’s blame to go around. Auston Matthews and William Nylander combined for just two shots, and that’s obviously not enough from players who need to drive the offense. But the Islanders also deserve credit for the way they defended, staying tight and taking away dangerous looks all night.
Still, the bigger issue is what Hiller did with Marchenko.
Coming off the Buffalo game, where Toronto lost in overtime, Hiller needed his lineup to bring energy and sustain it. Instead, one of the most dangerous players on the roster was used sparingly. Marchenko played under 12 minutes in a game where the teams logged more than 50 minutes at 5v5, which is a tough number to defend for a coach after what he just did against the Sabres.
The odd part is that Marchenko’s minus on the night came from the empty-net goal late, not from getting exposed in any meaningful way while the game was still competitive. He was not the problem defensively in a contest that was already out of hand by then.
And that’s what makes the usage even more frustrating. Marchenko has done enough to force his way into heavy minutes.
He’s been driving offense, playing with edge, holding up on defense, and finishing his checks. He looks like a player who should be one of Hiller’s most trusted pieces, not someone hanging around the margins of the rotation.
The numbers back that up. Marchenko has nine points in nine games, along with 25 shots, 12 hits and four power play points this season.
Even with that production, he’s averaging less ice time than he has since the 2023-24 season. That’s a strange way to treat a player who has clearly been one of Toronto’s best.
At this point, Hiller’s decisions are inviting questions. If Marchenko is this effective and still not getting the minutes to match, then the coach is wasting a major weapon. And if that continues, it adds another ugly mark to a pattern that’s getting impossible to overlook.
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