Opinion: Jim Hiller Made His First Big Mistake As Head Coach Of The Toronto Maple Leafs — And It Came At The Expense Of Gavin McKenna

TORONTO — It took eight games for Jim Hiller to make his first big mistake as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And it came at the expense of Gavin McKenna, who was mysteriously benched for the second-half of a game against the Buffalo Sabres for reasons that only Hiller seems to know.

The Leafs lost 5-4 in overtime to the Sabres. But the story of the night wasn't that they blew a two-goal lead in the third period. Or that they wasted a hat trick from Kirill Marchenko. Or even that John Tavares left the game with an unknown injury.

It was that McKenna, whose final shift came midway through the second period, did not step on the ice for the final 32 minutes and 54 seconds of the game. 

"That was my decision," said Hiller.

Indeed, it is a coach's decision to bench a player. But when you embarrass the No. 1 overall pick on home ice, you owe it to him to give an explanation. The same goes for the fans, who had to be wondering why McKenna was not used — even when Tavares was injured two-and-half minutes into the third period.

From here, it looks like Hiller was punishing McKenna or that he simply forgot him. 

Neither seems plausible.

What might have happened is that Hiller lost trust in the 18-year-old, who was on the ice for Buffalo's second goal, which tied things up 2-2 in the third period. When Marchenko scored twice to give the Leafs a 4-2 lead, it looked like Hiller might have been gun-shy in using McKenna, who might not have fit in on a newly created third line with Colton Sissons and Easton Cowan. 

When asked why McKenna didn't see the ice, Hiller tried to blame it on the circumstances of the game. The team took a couple of minor penalties in the second that messed with the lines. When the third period began, Hiller said that McKenna had been sitting out for so long that putting him back in cold was no longer an option.

Or something like that.

Honestly, Hiller's decision to bench the No. 1-overall pick didn't make any sense. His explanation made even less sense.

"I wanted to get him out there," said Hiller. "He sat through the penalties and then I didn't get him out there. You know, through that stretch and then in the last few minutes of the period, we're just trying to get out of the period, I guess you would say. And then now, as I've sat him for so long, and he sits in the intermission, so I probably should have got him out there early in the third. I didn't."

At least he blamed himself. And yet, the damage is done.

This is a decision that could haunt Hiller, who is no stranger to confusing decisions. During his time as the Los Angeles Kings coach, he famously made an ill-timed and controversial coach's challenge during Game 3 of a playoff game against the Edmonton Oilers, which fans believe was the turning point for losing the first-round series.

This gaffe is not nearly as consequential. But at the same time, Hiller should have known better. McKenna is not just any player. And Toronto is not just any other market.

It was "news" when McKenna skipped an optional practice in the first week of the season.  Benching him, whatever the reasons, is likely going to be fodder for sports talk radio for days — if not weeks.

After all, McKenna was off to a somewhat hot start in Toronto.

After going the first three games of his NHL career without a point, McKenna had been on a four-game point streak with two goals and five points during that span. The previous game, McKenna had logged a career-high 17:08 in a loss to the Utah Mammoth, where McKenna scored a goal. 

Against the Sabres, he played 6:36 — his lowest of the season.

Starting out on a newly formed line with Colton Sissons and Easton Cowan, it was clear Hiller didn't like what he saw out of the trio. But even with Tavares out in the third period and the Leafs needing a goal, McKenna could not get back onto the ice. Not even in overtime, when Hiller chose to use Sissons in the three-on-three rather than the skilled McKenna.

Worse, it appears that Hiller didn't even communicate the decision to sit McKenna. Instead, he let McKenna sit on the bench, waiting and wondering when his next shift was going to come. Imagine what that must have felt like for a player who has been in the NHL for a little more than two weeks. 

“Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to him for sure," said Hiller. "Yeah, but I haven't talked to him yet.”

It would have been one thing if McKenna had given up the puck on a goal or failed to backcheck and the coach was trying to send him a message early on in his career. But that wasn't the case on Thursday night.

McKenna was on the ice when Buffalo's Jack Quinn scored his second goal of the game. But it wasn't his fault.

Of course, based on Hiller's actions, it now seems like McKenna was to blame. Or that he was being punished.

"Yeah, you're always worried," Hiller said of what the benching could do to McKenna's psyche. "You guys have talked to him. I've said this before. I've talked to Gavin. Very, very mature. Very, you know, let stuff roll off, and doesn't take anything too, too personally. That's, that's what I've got from him. He's usually ready to go.

"There's been other times I haven't played him as much and put him in there and double-shifted him and those kinds of things, and he's responded. So, yeah, I'll talk to him, but I don't have a big concern about that."

Talk to him? Maybe he better apologize to him.

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