Jim Hiller Under Fire Over Gavin McKenna Blunder In Toronto

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Gavin McKenna played a career-low 6:36 in Toronto’s 5-4 overtime loss to Buffalo, and the fallout has landed squarely on head coach Jim Hiller. While McKenna’s NHL career has been relatively short, and there will be times where the Toronto Maple Leafs sit or protect him as a rookie, the heated reaction by fans and media is as much about him being scratched as it is Hiller’s explanation.

McKenna did not take a shift after roughly the midway point of the second period. Hiller did not hide from it. “That was my decision,” he said. He explained that a stretch of penalties kept McKenna on the bench, and the rookie sat so long that Hiller was reluctant to throw him back in. “I probably should’ve got him out in the third. I didn’t. So I’ll talk to him about that.”

Hiller added that “the big thing is the penalties” and that it “just didn’t happen and that’s on me.” He reportedly noted that McKenna had sat for about 30 minutes, including the intermission.

McKenna Will Bounce Back, That’s Not the Issue

Captain Auston Matthews took a measured tone when asked for his opinion on McKenna sitting. “Those things kind of happen sometimes,” he said, adding that the team has McKenna’s back and that a night like this will “make him hungry for the next one.”

McKenna, meanwhile, is too good and too determined to let something like this impact him long-term. He’s already dealt with minor setbacks, a lack of scoring, and some other unexpected turns in his relatively short NHL career. This is minor.

Outside the room, the reaction against Hiller was sharper.

Hiller Should Have Known Better

NHL Network broadcaster Jackie Redmond argued that Hiller may not have intended a benching at all, which she suggested could be worse that if he’d done it on purpose. In her view, a coach who intends to correct course and never does has lost control of his bench. “I don’t think this was intentional,” she said, “and honestly that might be worse.”

Former player Jay Rosehill, who says he has defended many of Hiller’s choices, didn’t think this one was defendable. The game was going well, he said, and shutting McKenna down didn’t fit the team’s identity or help the player’s development. “It’s just not necessary,” he said.

Others pointed to a pattern, with critics arguing Hiller coaches conservatively, protecting leads rather than pressing, a charge that has followed him for some time. Given that Hiller shortened his bench and had already lost John Tavares to an injury in that game, they might have a point.

For Toronto, the larger question is how a prized young talent is handled and whether Hiller is the right coach to handle him? Hiller admitted it was a mistake. Whether it settles the matter, or whether the questions follow the Leafs into their next game, remains to be seen.

Justin Bourne of Kyper and Bourne writes, “I’ll write more on it I think, but Hiller’s quotes on McKenna seem like a coach trying to both set the standard with the kid, and wear the heat in public rather than McKenna having to answer for it? Otherwise, yeah, it’s all extremely odd.”

Next: 3 Major Developments From the Maple Leafs’ Loss to the Sabres