Why Jim Hiller is the right choice for the Maple Leafs
6/18/202632 min
Jim Hiller becomes the 41st head coach in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jonas and James discuss why Hiller was the right choice for the Leafs right now, his relationship with Auston Matthews and William Nylander and his flexibility on systems and coaching to his roster's strengths.
Hosts: Jonas Siegel & James Mirtle
Producer: Jeff Domet
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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First 90 secondsJonas Siegel· Host0:00
[upbeat music] This is the Leaf Report with Jonas Siegel and James Mirtle on The Athletic Podcast Network. James, we are back as anticipated. Uh, we were expecting a coaching hire. Uh, a coaching hire came, uh, but not- Deja vu, Jonas.
James Mirtle· Host0:28
I get to hear your lovely voice again in the same week.
Jonas Siegel· Host0:30
I know. It's so exciting, and you're gonna get to hear it a lot more because it just feels like, like you said earlier, uh, this week, it's, it's crazy. Was it Crazy Land or Crazy time? I can't remember.
James Mirtle· Host0:41
Yeah, I think- Uh- I think we said we're in Crazy Land. Yeah, yeah. It's, uh, the draft is next week. Free agency is two weeks from yesterday, so... And I, from everything I hear around the league, I think the Leafs are gonna be really busy. I think that the roster is, there's gonna be a lot of changes. There's gonna be a lot of new players. And with July 1st not that far away, and the Leafs having tons of cap space and trying to do a lot of different things, I think we've just seen the tip of the iceberg, and it's gonna be very busy here.
Jonas Siegel· Host1:06
Agree with you there. Um, I think when we started, uh, this whole process looking at what the Leafs might do with their coach, I don't think I ever thought of Jim Hiller. I don't know why I never thought of Jim Hiller, just based on the fact that he was a coach in LA, um, was fired in March, had been a coach here. Um,