On Thursday evening, the Toronto Maple Leafs appeared to have matters well in hand against the divisional rival Buffalo Sabres, enjoying a 4-2 lead thanks to a hat trick from newly-acquired star forward Kirill Marchenko.
However, things took a turn for the worse when the Maple Leafs collapsed and allowed three straight unanswered goals from the Sabres, who earned a comeback 5-4 OT win at Scotiabank Arena.
Making matters more complicated for the Maple Leafs was the benching of rookie forward Gavin McKenna, who was the first overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, resulting in a cloud of scrutiny over head coach Jim Hiller.
Toronto Maple Leafs Coach Jim Hiller Earns Major Criticism From Jackie Redmond
Hiller, who has faced considerable scrutiny over the last 24 hours not only for benching McKenna but also for the Leafs’ late collapse against Buffalo, was called out by notable broadcaster Jackie Redmond. She said the situation shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched Hiller during his tenure as coach of the Los Angeles Kings.
“Nobody who watched him in LA is surprised by this,” Redmond wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “lol Tries too hard to sit back and protect leads. It’s the main reason they lost to the oilers in the playoffs in such dramatic fashion 2 years ago. Hiller coaches like he’s trying not to lose. Thats the coach he is and WAS when they hired him.”
Redmond was referring to the infamous 2025 playoff series between the Kings and Edmonton Oilers, when Los Angeles jumped out to a 2-0 series lead before Edmonton stormed back to win four straight games. The collapse was especially notable for what happened in Game 4 when the Kings blew a 3-1 lead before ultimately losing 4-3 in OT.
But that wasn’t her only criticism:
“And honestly, like McKenna aside,” Redmond continued. “The Leafs D is notttttt the strength of this team. lol mayyybe don’t lean on them to win a hockey game late. Push the pace. You’re not gonna win trying to shut it down lol. Lean into your strengths not your weaknesses. You’re gonna win by pushing offence with your very capable forward group. And don’t even get me started on the OT decisions this season.”
Fans Seemed To Agree With Redmond’s Assessment
Immediately afterward, fans began to respond to Redmond’s pointed comments, and there seemed to be plenty of agreement.
“Totally agree Jackie…as a Leaf fan we are in for a stressful season if this isn’t corrected now,” one fan said.
“He has to change. Stubborn. When 91 went down that was his moment… he blew it and burned some bridges. Players are watching. Sundin needs to get to the the bottom of it,” said another fan.
This fan said, “Hiller does not learn. He repeats because he is arrogant and wants to come out grinning when his way works. Problem is, he has proven and accomplished nothing to garner that arrogance. We learned the hard way in LA when all of us knew better. We will pay for it, for years.”
Maple Leafs’ Jim Hiller Under Fire From Notable NHL Personality