Murray Wood: Saturday night leaver
There was a time that Canadians gathered around the TV on Saturday to watch Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. Those days ar...
It’s a return to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jim Hiller, who was hired as the franchise’s 41st head coach on Wednesday morning.
Hiller, 57, is headed back to the bench where he served as an assistant coach for four seasons between 2015 and 2019 under head coach Mike Babcock.
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The Port Alberni, B.C. coach will be taking over the top job from Craig Berube, who was fired by the team this off-season amid a managerial shake up by John Chayka, the team’s new general manager.
Jim Hiller has been named the 41st Head Coach in franchise history!
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) June 17, 2026
Hiller served head coach of the Los Angeles Kings for parts of the last three seasons before he was fired on March 1.
His name will be familiar to Saskatchewan hockey fans who were watching in the late ‘80s, as Hiller starred for two seasons with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires from 1987 to 1989, where he put up 148 points in 89 regular-season games.
Hiller also played three games for the Prince Albert Raiders during the 1986-87 Western Hockey League season.
Following his junior hockey career, Hiller graduated from Northern Michigan University before embarking on a 10-year professional career which included NHL stints with Los Angeles, the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.
Prior to his first NHL coaching job with the Red Wings as an assistant coach in 2014-25, Hiller coached the WHL’s Tri-City Americans and Chilliwack Bruins, as well as the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League.
The Maple Leafs struggled in 2025-26, as they plummeted from an Atlantic Division title to last place in the division, finishing 28th overall in the NHL with a 32-36-14 record.
Toronto holds the first overall pick in next week’s 2026 NHL Draft for the first time since 2016, when the team selected superstar forward Auston Matthews.
–with files from The Canadian Press
