Jim Hiller spent the Maple Leafs’ off-ice day in a different setting, but not a different frame of mind.
With the team working out at the Blue Jays’ facilities, Hiller said the change of scenery was meant to give the group a little energy and pull them out of its usual routine. He also made clear the day was still about addressing what’s gone wrong during the losing streak, not pretending it wasn’t happening.
“I hope it gives us some energy and just gets us away from our regular routine a little bit, which hasn’t given us the best results. It’s a great day, and it’s beautiful down there.
We’re thankful to the Blue Jays for bringing us in here. For me, I’ve never been in the building outside of watching it.
I know a few people have been here for batting practice and stuff. It’s just incredible what they’ve done.”
Hiller said the team had a good meeting and that his message to the players would stay private, but the bigger point was straightforward: own the situation and keep moving.
“I’ve said it more than once: We have to own where we’re at and what’s gone on. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t be the best version of ourselves tomorrow.”
He pushed back on the idea that the day was about forgetting the recent stretch for a while. The Leafs still talked through their play and where they stand, he said, but the rest of the day was still built around getting ready for tomorrow’s game.
The facilities themselves left an impression on him. Hiller called them first class and said the setup reflected a clear vision.
“Just how beautiful they are. The players certainly have everything they need and more down there.
First class. Detailed.
There are just so many things. It’s all woven together really nicely with the right culture in mind.
I think that’s a big thing that I’m taking from this: the culture they’ve set. They’ve designed this thing around the culture.”
He also touched on the World Series, recalling the extra-inning game and a conversation with a staff member who stayed through the whole thing. Hiller said he went to sleep, but the reaction he heard was that it was unforgettable.
“Game 7. One pitch and the game is over. He said it was just incredible.”
The off-ice day came because the staff felt the team needed a break in the schedule. Hiller said it was never supposed to be a practice day, and with games piling up, a hard session wouldn’t have served the group well.
“For different reasons, we felt we needed to break it up. Today was never a scheduled practice day anyway.
It gets long. You get your practices in, you play, and we’ve got to have good energy for tomorrow.
We didn’t think a practice would give us that today.”
On the hockey side, Hiller said the tape from the recent losses has shown both encouraging signs and the same costly breakdowns. After the loss to Minnesota, he said the staff is seeing progress, even if the results haven’t followed.
“It’s hard, and I guess you probably don’t want to hear… If I just talk about Colorado, we went out and beat Colorado, and everything was wonderful. We played such a better game at home against Colorado than we did out in Colorado, but we just didn’t get the results.
“We’re seeing lots of good. We are seeing the same things you guys are seeing as far as the things that aren’t good and the things that are costing us.
But we remain positive. We see progress, and we’ll keep going.”
Hiller said the key is limiting the damage when mistakes happen. In his view, one error doesn’t have to become two or three.
“There always are going to be mistakes in the game. There always are going to be.
When you make one mistake, you hope that there’s a second player there to clean up the mistake. And if there isn’t, you don’t want to compound it and make it worse.
“In some of these cases, we’ve made two or three in a row, and that ends up in the back of your net. There always will be some. We need to do a better job of cleaning up the first one rather than compounding it.”
He didn’t take a swing in the batting cage, joking that people wouldn’t want to see that. But he said some of the American players might have more experience with baseball, and he was looking forward to watching them.
“Not me. You don’t want to see that.
I’ll be the expert from the outside. But we do have some American players, and typically those guys have had a little more history in the game growing up.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of those guys.”
As for the Jays gear some players were wearing, Hiller said he’d get to it eventually, though the day had been full of meetings and video work.
“Yeah, I’ll get there. I’d love to, but guess what?
We’ve been in there, as you can imagine, watching video and talking and doing what we do. We haven’t had a chance to get casual here yet today.”
On the injury front, Hiller said there were no new updates beyond what he had already shared, except that Tanev will play tomorrow. He also said he expects Marchenko to start skating soon.
“No updates there, outside of - and I mentioned it yesterday - Tanev will play tomorrow.”
“I do, yeah. You know the process.
Not with the team necessarily, but just get out and start moving. Yes, I think that’s coming up pretty good.”
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