After the Maple Leafs’ 4-1 loss to the Canadiens in the preseason opener, head coach Jim Hiller discussed Auston Matthews’ and Gavin McKenna’s performances, the team’s execution with and without the puck, and Dakota Joshua’s status.
In your first game as the Maple Leafs’ head coach, how do you assess the performance tonight?
Hiller: You like to win, right? That is where we always start, preseason or not. You always like to win, so that part is disappointing. We play to win.
But when I look at some of the bigger-picture stuff, there was some stuff that was really good and some stuff that we have maybe changed a little bit but didn’t execute that well. It will give us a chance to put it up on the video screen, talk about it, and improve. There are a couple of areas specifically.
How much of a gauge did the special-teams time give you on what you were hoping to see?
Hiller: Usually, in the preseason, there are a lot of power plays and penalty kills. Some guys had to sit, but they came back and played.
On the power play, when they got in the zone, they moved the puck around. They had more chances to score than just the one that went in, so there was some positive stuff there.
What did you think of Gavin McKenna’s performance?
Hiller: I thought it was good. In a game where I didn’t think there was a lot of offense from either team, he was in on three or four chances. You will take that every day.
I thought he was good. It was a good start for him.
Gavin McKenna gets on the scoresheet on his third preseason shift… a two minute hooking penalty 😅 pic.twitter.com/WRf5pwevWB
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 19, 2026
What did you think of Auston Matthews’ game tonight in his first game in a while?
Hiller: I thought he was really skating. I thought he had the puck, and he looked dangerous. He had a lot of looks, so I liked his game.
If I think of one moment in the game, it was when he rounded the net, came through, and kind of sliced through a couple of guys end-to-end. I hadn’t seen that a lot out of him last year, so that was a really positive thing to see.
He was moving, carrying the puck, and was dangerous. The goalie made a couple of really good saves on him.
This morning, you were talking about the emphasis on skating in general. Were you happy with your team’s speed and the level it is at right now?
Hiller: I would say we skated better in our tracking and stuff than we did with the puck. I didn’t think we were that dangerous with it. We would like to be more dangerous. But when we are talking about skating without the puck, working back hard, and that sort of thing, I thought we did really, really well there.
With a player like Sergei Bobrovsky, how much do you consult with him, given the stage he is at in his career, about what he needs out of the preseason in terms of playing time?
Hiller: I think he just wants reps like everybody else. I leave that to (goaltending coach) Curtis Sanford. He talks with him, decides how to split the games, and then we will see what he wants to do for the next one.
It is based on him. Just like any other player, he probably wants the reps and to see the pucks. I thought he looked good. It was a pretty nice goal, but I wouldn’t give him the blame for it.
Dakota Joshua wasn’t in either of these games. Is there an update on him?
Hiller: I don’t have anything on him specifically, but he is dealing with something.
We haven’t seen Chris Tanev in a while. Obviously, the big thing is probably getting his rhythm back. What did you make of his game, given he said his biggest challenge would be how he was going to think the game?
Hiller: From a defenseman’s perspective, he thinks it as well as anybody. To me, with him being out as much as he was, I would have never guessed.
He played quite a bit of minutes. You see him on the penalty kill, breaking up plays, and doing what he does. He is a really important player for us. It is great to have him back out there.
At the end of the game, when you changed your top six a little bit and then had the six-on-five, did that give you an idea of some of the offense you can put on the ice in certain situations?
Hiller: There are lots of guys. There are enough that you have to pick and choose and leave some guys who are good offensive players off.
But we wanted to get Gavin out there. He didn’t play on the first power play, so we wanted to get him out there at the end and give him a feel for what that is like.
We weren’t that dangerous there, but you have to put your best players out and see what happens.
Gavin pointed to some turnovers he had as something he wants to clean up, and there was the penalty. What do you see as the next area for him to work on or something he can take from this game and build on for the next one?
Hiller: Again, I would just tell him not to overthink it. He is clearly a pretty good self-evaluator, and he will put that pressure on himself. I’m not going to go and do that to him this early. We will see how he adjusts himself for the next game. He probably identified the area that I would, too, so we won’t talk too much about it.
If I say one thing to him, it is just to be a little bit closer to the puck. A little bit closer. We want him to have the puck, and sometimes in the NHL, you have to get right there, surround it, and then make plays out of that rather than waiting and seeing if somebody can get it to you. He will figure that part of the game out pretty quickly.
