While Mike Babcock was coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs, Jim Hiller was his assistant coach.
A second former assistant coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs just accepted a head coaching position in the NHL.
Due to a poor run of play that saw the Kings win just three of their previous 17 games and drop to fourth place in the Pacific Division, the Los Angeles Kings announced on Friday that Todd McLellan had been fired as head coach.
Jim Hiller, the assistant coach, was designated the interim head coach.
Although Hiller has been an NHL assistant coach for a long time, this is his first head coaching position in the league in any manner. Fans of the Maple Leafs will recognize Hiller from his tenure as an assistant under Mike Babcock, helping to handle the offense and power play until the Leafs traded for Paul McFarland in the fall of 2019 and let Hiller to pursue possibilities.
After spending three seasons with the New York Islanders, the 54-year-old Hiller joined McLellan’s staff just in time for the 2022–2023 season.
This comes after another former assistant for the Leafs was appointed as an NHL head coach for the first time. Greg Cronin was recruited by the Anaheim Ducks on June 5th to oversee their bench. Now, both Southern California NHL teams are led by first-year NHL head coaches who were assistants with the Maple Leafs
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Before joining Babcock’s staff with the Detroit Red Wings in 2014, Hiller led the Chiilliwack Bruins and Tri-City Americans in the Western Hockey League for nine seasons. He played in the NHL for two seasons, splitting time between the Kings, Red Wings, and New York Rangers, scoring eight goals and twelve assists in sixty-three games between 1992 and 1994.
