Jim Hiller is wasting no time showing Toronto what kind of hockey he wants to play.
At practice, the Maple Leafs’ new bench boss put the emphasis squarely on speed, quick transitions and getting up the ice with urgency - a clear shift from the grind-it-out approach that frustrated plenty of fans last season. The message was obvious: this team is going to spend more time attacking.
That change stands in sharp contrast to Craig Berube’s style. Under Berube, the Leafs often worked slower through the neutral zone, dumped pucks in, leaned on forechecking and tried to win territory the hard way. It worked at times, but it also came with a cost, especially for a roster loaded with offensive talent that often had to sacrifice some of its natural scoring instincts to keep things tight defensively.
Hiller, by comparison, is already making it clear he wants a more dynamic look. He’s familiar with the stars in the lineup and has said more than once that he wants to bring a more exciting brand of hockey back to Toronto. His latest practice drill backed that up, with the Leafs focusing on faster zone exits and more aggressive entries.
There is a reason for optimism, even if this is still a work in progress. Hiller led the Kings to the 14th-most goals in 2024-25, then watched that number tumble as they fell to 29th in 2025-26. But that came in a far more sheltered environment, with less offensive talent to work with than he now has in Toronto.
That’s the key difference. The Maple Leafs have multiple players who can score 30 or more goals, and Hiller suddenly has room to push a little harder and be more aggressive. He also has two strong power-play units, and Daniel Alfredsson’s addition behind the bench should help there as well.
None of it works unless the stars produce. The system can open doors, but the finish has to come from the players who are paid to drive the offense.
Nobody is asking Hiller to be Sheldon Keefe. They are asking him to be more willing to embrace offense than Berube was.
So yes, Jim Hiller can help turn the Maple Leafs into an offensive juggernaut. It will take work, and it will take buy-in. But compared with what came before, the intent is already different - and that alone gives Toronto fans reason to believe things could look a lot more lively in 2026-27.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Fans Just Got A Surprising Report About Keith Pelley
A surprising bit of front-office chatter surfaced around Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment this week, with a report from Steve Simmons saying there is a plan in place to eventually replace CEO Keith Pelley with Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro. The idea, according to unnamed sources in the report, would be to shift Pelley into a media-related role while Shapiro would move into a senior post overseeing the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs and Raptors.
For Leafs fans, the significance goes beyond corporate housekeeping because any change at the top of MLSE tends to ripple through the entire organization. The report has not been officially confirmed by MLSE, which leaves plenty unresolved for now, but it is the kind of behind-the-scenes development that can shape the direction of the franchise long before it shows up on the ice. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Are Finally Paying For A Decade Of Draft Failures
For much of the past decade, the Maple Leafs have been forced to build around a very short list of homegrown difference-makers, with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly standing out from an otherwise thin run of draft returns. The problem was never just a lack of luck. Previous management kept dipping into first-round capital for immediate help, and the result was a prospect pipeline that never really gave the organization the kind of depth a contender needs to sustain itself.
Now, under GM John Chayka, Toronto has started trying to correct the imbalance by going back to the top of the board and selecting Gavin McKenna first overall. It is the kind of reset that can look tidy on paper, but the Leafs are still waiting to learn whether this new approach can restore the organizational foundation that years of short-term thinking eroded. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Camp Cuts Are About To Get Real For Familiar Names
The preseason roster squeeze is about to tighten for the Maple Leafs, and it figures to happen around the split-squad game against the Ottawa Senators. Toronto is expected to start trimming its camp group soon after, with the organization facing a familiar late-summer task of sorting out which hopefuls can stay in the mix and which players will hit waivers as the regular season draws closer.
A tool on Puck Pedia identified 11 potential players who could be exposed to waivers, a reminder that these decisions are no small detail at this stage of camp. For the Leafs, it is the practical side of opening-night preparation, where every move carries consequences for depth, flexibility and how the roster finally comes together before the season begins. [Read more 🡒]