Three Reasons Why Jim Hiller's Maple Leafs Are Completely Different Than Craig Berube's

In less than a week, a new era of the Toronto Maple Leafs will begin with head coach Jim Hiller's first official regular-season game with his new team.

With just a few days of training camp in the rearview mirror, Hiller has already left his imprint on the Maple Leafs. He's enforced his methods and relayed his message about how he wants his team to play.

Going into their final pre-season game of the campaign, here are three clear differences from the way Hiller will run the Maple Leafs, compared to how Craig Berube did for the last two years.

What's clearest about Hiller's Leafs is that he wants his team to skate, and fast. And there isn't just one circumstance in which he wants to see his team play with pace, it's in all situations.

Of course, the forecheck, but also the backcheck and retrieving the puck quickly. Hiller's expectation for high-speed skating doesn't end with the forwards either. That curriculum is also required to be executed by defensemen, moving up the ice.

Several players have commented on how this is a main focus of Hiller's.

"I think the system is a faster pace system for us," right winger William Nylander commented after Tuesday's training camp session.

And Hiller himself has explained his intentions for how he wants his team to skate. When he was asked what he'll be looking for in his team ahead of the Leafs' first pre-season game in Toronto, he said, "The easy one is to skate, and that's what I'm looking to see, and I've said it to everybody. If you say, 'hey, the Leafs are skating,' you know that we're doing some of the right things."

To his credit, the team did seem faster in some parts of the game. Just look at Auston Matthews, who clocked 35.1 kilometers per hour in the first period. He only ever reached over 35 kph twice in the previous regular season.

Berube wanted his team to play hard, but the majority of the roster was slow and heavy for that philosophy. Hiller's fast-paced preference should rub off well on players such as Matthews, Nylander, Gavin McKenna, Easton Cowan and others.

With Berube, oftentimes the team's attack wasn't very threatening. In fact, the "one-and-done" notion was evident in the way the Maple Leafs dumped in the puck, but couldn't sustain real offensive pressure that way.

But that doesn't seem to be the case this year. Instead, in practice, we're seeing a lot more controlled offensive-zone entries. Actually, there haven't been many drills that required a dump-and-chase method. There has been some incorporation of it, since it's a typical hockey strategy, but not at great length like it once was.

The defensemen have an important role in maintaining offense. Many sessions required D-men to engage in high cycles in the offensive zone and also to trail behind the rush and provide support at the blueline once forwards make their entry.

In addition to transition, controlled entries, and maintaining offensive possession, there has been plenty of movement within the offensive zone, almost like a rotation coming around the net and back to the blueline.

The star players, with a strong focus on the captain, will be used differently than they were in the past.

Matthews saw several defensive zone starts under Berube, and some regular time on the penalty kill at that. But that idea is changing coming into the new regime under Hiller, and the off-season additions made by GM John Chayka.

Players such as Nick Paul and Colton Sissons should relieve Matthews of his responsibilities starting in the defensive zone as often as he did in the past two seasons.

Instead, Matthews and the rest of the Leafs' offensive stars will be put in positions to be effective and to exercise their strengths. Since the start of the Matthews era, the Maple Leafs have been known for their high-flying offense until Berube came in. 

Systems can be enforced as much as a head coach pushes, but the results may not be what they predicted in a perfect world. In that case, it's proactive for coaches to position the players to play to their strengths and manage the game from there. And that's exactly what Hiller looks to accomplish this season and beyond.

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