Ahead of Thursday night’s meeting with the Sabres, Jim Hiller’s message was pretty clear: the Leafs don’t need a wholesale panic, but they do need cleaner support from their forwards, especially with Chris Tanev out of the picture.
Hiller said the defense hasn’t suddenly become a problem because Tanev is unavailable. The bigger issue, in his view, was what happened on the recent road trip.
He said the team’s forwards didn’t do enough to protect the back end. “I thought we hung our defensemen out to dry a little bit as a group of forwards,” Hiller said, pointing to turnovers and tracking as the culprits.
He contrasted that with what he had liked before the trip, when he felt the team was getting back hard and limiting odd-man rushes.
That was the biggest theme of his availability, but not the only one. Hiller also explained why the morning skate was kept light after a day on the plane: just enough work to “get the feet going a little bit” and “get some blood pumping” before the game.
Up front, the Leafs have been mixing things around, and Hiller said the team is still weighing what the night’s lineup will look like. He noted they’ve been using 11 forwards and seven defensemen, but left open the possibility of another look against Buffalo. The shuffling, he said, was tied to a game in Utah that the club didn’t like much despite the result.
One of the more encouraging combinations remains Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Hiller said the two have been “really dangerous,” and he leaned on his own familiarity with them to explain why the pairing remains such a useful option. He said he knows they have good chemistry, even if they haven’t logged a ton of time together this season, and called them “two really good offensive players” who are both off to strong starts.
He was just as direct about the kind of passing game he wants to see. East-west movement is fine, Hiller said, but only if it’s crisp and controlled.
“I’m comfortable with it if we’re going tape to tape,” he said. “I’m not comfortable with it if it’s a hope play through the middle of the ice.”
The problem against Utah, in his view, was execution. Too many pucks went through dangerous areas and didn’t stay on the stick.
Hiller also spent time discussing Kirill Marchenko, who has said he isn’t thrilled with where his game is at. The coach acknowledged that Marchenko has a lot on his plate and is putting plenty of pressure on himself.
Hiller said he doesn’t want to pile on while the player adjusts, but also wants him to understand the system so he can relax and play to his strengths. He made it clear the skill is there.
“He’s going to score. He’s going to create chances,” Hiller said.
The goal is to get him comfortable enough to let that naturally come out.
Asked how he balances support with accountability for a player in that spot, Hiller described it as part of the “art of coaching.” There isn’t one set formula, he said, and every player needs something a little different. The challenge is finding the right amount of attention without overwhelming him.
The bottom of the lineup got its share of attention too. Hiller said Zack MacEwen has been out for a while, and he doesn’t like keeping anybody out too long, especially early in the season.
He said the fourth line’s job is straightforward: bring energy, play with physicality, grind in the offensive zone, and keep the puck out of their own end. That role belongs to whoever is slotted in with Teddy and Dewey, whether the team goes 11 and seven or uses four full lines.
Bo Groulx is part of that competition for ice time.
As for the defense group without Tanev, Hiller said he’s comfortable with the six or seven options available. He called Tanev a good player, but added that the Leafs have other good players back there too and simply need to help them more.
He also brushed off the chatter around the league about Toronto needing to add defense. “Not my job, first of all,” he said, adding that there’s always noise about something and he’s not paying much attention to it.
The matchup itself clearly carries some familiarity for him. Hiller called Buffalo a dangerous group of forwards and noted that the Sabres’ defensemen are very active.
He also pointed to their strong season last year. And with Sabres-Leafs bringing the usual proximity-driven edge, he said Lindy is “well established in the game,” that he knows him personally, and that he’s “just a really good guy.”
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Toronto does not sound ready to make a dramatic move, but the discussion around Rielly is clearly shifting from concern to decision-making. The Leafs would like a version of him that looks closer to the player they expected, yet the path to getting there may involve uncomfortable lineup adjustments or, eventually, a bigger reset. For a team that has leaned on him for so long, even the possibility of a reduced role says plenty about where things stand. [Read more 🡒]