Jim Hiller didn’t sound worried about Gavin McKenna’s quiet start. If anything, the Maple Leafs coach sounded convinced the points will come - and just as convinced that the bigger picture still looks fine after three games.
After Monday’s practice, Hiller said McKenna’s early adjustment has not changed the way the team is handling his role. The young forward has gone through a slow offensive opening, but Hiller pointed to the rookie’s demeanor as a strength.
“I think he’s doing really well. He’s young, and he just seems unflappable to me,” Hiller said.
“I’m sure he wishes he had more right now. Of course, that’s obvious.
But I haven’t seen it affect him. When I talk to him, he’s got a smile on his face, and he walks around here the same as he did two months ago and two weeks ago.
I think that’s a really important quality for him.”
Hiller also said McKenna’s best moments have come with the power play. At five-on-five, though, the coach wants more support around him and more work in the hard areas.
“I think his favourite time is power-play time. Boy, when he gets the puck there, it’s like-you guys notice that, too, yeah?
It’s like, “Okay, finally, a little time and space, and I get to do my thing.” You can just see how incredibly talented he is,” Hiller said.
The practice session centered on that exact theme: getting pucks and bodies to the net, and making the offensive zone a little tighter and more dangerous. Hiller said the focus wasn’t just on McKenna’s line with John Tavares and William Nylander, but on the whole team.
“I would say this: Not just that line, but all the lines. Some have done it a little bit better than others, but that line probably could do it better than they have, and we worked on that in practice today: Just a little closer together in the O-zone, winning our battles, having three guys close, and bringing some pucks to the dirty areas a little quicker. I think that’ll be a focus for not just them, but everybody.”
He was similarly calm about the production from Nylander and Auston Matthews, who have been among the league’s best shot creators through three games but have only one goal apiece. Hiller sees no crisis there.
“I think that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Those are really good looks.
Some have been crossbars and posts and stuff on top of that. Those are just really good looks.
Those will start to go. If you create those types of Grade-A chances, they’re going to go.”
Hiller said he understands the instinct to shuffle combinations, especially when a player like Easton Cowan is giving the team useful minutes on both sides of the puck. But he said those decisions are never as simple as moving one piece up the lineup.
“We have those discussions, not just with Easton, but with all players. Can we do this better?
Are there better combinations based on what we’ve seen so far? If we do this… This is always the second question, right?
The one question is easy: “Hey, let’s just do this.” But what does that do?
There are always unintended consequences.”
Those conversations, he said, are part of the job. So is patience.
At the start of the season, Hiller had already described patience as part of his coaching style, and he said sticking with the current groups is meant to send a message - though he framed that message as something for the players to interpret.
“I would say it’s a question for the players. I hope it just lets them know that… Listen, the record right now is not exactly where we want it to be, but I think we could’ve won all three games if things had gone a different way. Let’s just work on our process.”
He added that the team has spent plenty of time on details without the puck, and Monday’s practice shifted more heavily toward offense. Hiller wants to see that work show up in games.
“We feel like we’ve spent a lot of time focusing on some different things without the puck, and we wanted to get that done first. I think we’ve been pretty good that way.
Today was a larger emphasis on some offense. Maybe we’ve pushed that to the side a little bit.
We got it it in there today and had a good practice, so let’s see it translate.”
On the defensive side, Hiller said he has mostly liked what he has seen, with one glaring exception.
“I’ve liked us except for the third period, of course, against Ottawa. I didn’t like that period.
That’s really the only one that I didn’t really like. I don’t know why.
We had to ask a question. That was our biggest question: What was that third?
The first was a saw-off. In the second, we played very well.
The third was not our best.”
“Outside of that, there aren’t a lot of odd-man rushes coming. That’s the first thing. In the D-zone, we’re getting better.”
As for McKenna, Hiller said the teenager is still figuring out the physical side of the league, but that hockey sense should help him adapt quickly.
“He’s just going to have to understand when he can turn back, and when he’ll have to just put the puck in and have maybe one of his linemates get it for him if he’s in a tough spot. Those are just things that every player - 18 or 22, their first time in the league - has to work through and figure out. He’ll figure them out as quickly as anybody else because he just has that hockey sense.”
“It’s not a situation where we can tell him, “Hey, in this moment, in that moment.” He’ll feel it. He’ll feel it, and he’ll get it done.”
Practice ended with a more intense drill that featured pucks to the net and traffic in front, something Hiller said was meant to push the group toward a more direct style.
“You saw there were lots of pucks going to the net and lots of traffic at the net. We’re just trying to be a little bit more direct.
I think the guys liked it in the end. It’s the first time we’ve done that one.”
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