NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 18, 2026
The Maple Leafs hire Jim Hiller as head coach, the latest Golden Knights news, two coaches receive contract extensions, Rangers center Vincent Trocheck changes agents, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
MAPLE LEAFS END COACHING SEARCH, NAME HILLER AS THEIR NEW BENCH BOSS.
TORONTO SUN: The Maple Leafs announced the hiring of Jim Hiller as their new head coach.
Hiller had been head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, hired midway through the 2023-24 season, and fired 59 games into this season. Before that, he spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, Maple Leafs (2015-16 to 2018-19), New York Islanders, and the Kings.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hiller was not among the candidates mentioned by NHL insiders covering the Leafs, earning that group considerable scorn on social media.
Eric Stephens of The Athletic covered Hiller’s tenure with the Kings, pointing out that they had success with him as head coach until pivotal moments.
Stephens cited Hiller’s interpersonal communication, adaptability, and willingness to shake up his lines when things weren’t working to be among his strengths. Nevertheless, his botched coach’s challenge during Game 3 of the Kings’ opening-round series against the Edmonton Oilers last year changed the course of that series, as did his player deployment as that series went on.
Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star noted that one reason the Leafs hired Hiller was that he’s considered a player’s coach and an early adopter of analytics. He also had a good relationship with Auston Matthews and William Nylander during his previous tenure with the Leafs.
Hiller’s hiring isn’t going down well in some part of Leafs Nation, with Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun calling Hiller an underwhelming hire whose limited resume leaves something to be desired.
Time will tell whether Hiller can silence his critics and get the Maple Leafs back on track. If he succeeds, he’ll be heralded as a coaching genius. If he fails, it’ll only deepen the dread and anxiety among Leafs supporters.
THE LATEST GOLDEN KNIGHTS NEWS
NHL.COM: As expected, the Vegas Golden Knights named Ryan Craig as their new head coach. It’s a promotion for Craig, who spent the past three seasons coaching their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said his club permitted one NHL team to speak with former head coach Bruce Cassidy midway through the postseason. However, it did not come to fruition. He added that permission to speak to Cassidy will be handed on a case-by-case basis.
McCrimmon also provided updates on several injured players.
William Karlsson will require surgery for a broken wrist suffered during Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Defenseman Noah Hanifin played with an upper-body injury that would’ve sidelined him for six to eight weeks during the regular season. Blueliner Brayden McNabb received 30 stitches to his nose after being struck by a puck, and he played through two other injuries.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: SinBin.vegas reported team captain Mark Stone had a torn adductor muscle.
OTHER NOTABLE NHL NEWS
THE HOCKEY NEWS: According to Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Washington Capitals have agreed to a multiyear extension for head coach Spencer Carbery, and Utah Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny got a one-year extension.
TSN: Darren Dreger said sources claim that New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck has hired Pat Brisson and CAA Sports to represent him. The move comes amid rumors claiming the Rangers intend to trade the 33-year-old Trocheck this summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Minnesota Wild, Detroit Red Wings, and the Maple Leafs are believed to be among the suitors for Trocheck, who wants to remain in the Eastern Conference.
BUFFALO HOCKEY BEAT/THE MERCURY NEWS: The Buffalo Sabres traded defenseman Michael Kesselring and the 27th overall pick in this year’s draft to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for the 20th overall pick that originally belonged to the Edmonton Oilers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Sabres acquired Kesselring last June from the Utah Mammoth in a blockbuster move that also saw Josh Doan head to Buffalo in exchange for winger JJ Peterka. He was projected to play top-four minutes alongside Owen Power, but he suffered early-season injuries and eventually lost his spot in the roster, playing only 34 games.
Kesselring will get a chance to reset in San Jose as GM Mike Grier attempts to bolster his blueline. The 26-year-old defenseman is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights coming off a two-year, $2.8 million contract, so he should be an affordable signing for the Sharks.
THE TENNESSEAN: The Nashville Predators hired Jamie Langenbrunner as special assistant to general manager Chris MacFarland. Langenbrunner had been with the Boston Bruins in various front-office roles since 2015.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche depth forward Zakhar Bardakov is reportedly returning to the KHL to play for SKA St. Petersburg. He had 10 points in 60 games with the Avalanche this season.
TSN: The NHL’s first contract buyout window opened yesterday and will close at 5 pm ET on June 30.
Arbitration hearings are scheduled from July 20 through August 1. The deadline for players to file for arbitration is 5 pm ET on July 5.
Word is the Leafs were the team given permission to interview Cassidy. But they obviously went another way with it.
When it comes to Hiller I thinks it’s worth repeating some of what I posted yesterday, as well as some updated facts.
The Kings have been, for several seasons now, one of the lowest-scoring teams in the Western Conference, something that Rob Blake, as GM, failed to resolve. Despite that, Hiller instilled a defensive system that was consistently one of the best, and over his tenure they compiled a winning record of 93-58-24 and an overall .600 points %. including a .632 % pace in the games after he first took over and a .640 % pace in 2024-25.
But neither he, nor any other coach, can teach scoring, and if you’re not able to score with the best you’ll struggle to get wins, no matter how good our defensive system is. When he was fired on March 1 the Kings were 28-22-14 – a .547 % pace – with 160 goals for and 182 goals against. In the goals scored category, only Calgary had fewer at that time with 150. In the goals against category, that was the same as Minnesota, with only Colorado (153), Dallas (170), Utah (169) and Seattle (179) having given up fewer.
Further emphasizing the King’s woeful offensive capacity, this past season they failed to score more than 2 goals (held to 0, 1 or 2) some 45 times! That’s 55% of the season. They were also shut out 6 times, and in the playoffs they were held to 2 or less in all 4 games of their sweep by Colorado.
How, is any of that, Hiller’s fault? No amount of coaching can reverse that. You either have the goal scorers or you don’t – and that falls squarely on the shoulders of a GM. In Toronto, if Chayka can get him the right players enabling him to instill the same sort of defensive system he built in L.A., he will have some elite goal scorers to handle that end of the game.
Cut the guy some slack.
Great points George. During the zoom call Jim Hiller alluded to how a team’s style of play is tweaked based on the skill set. The 1-3-1 trap, a holdover from Todd McLellan, was employed because the Kings had little top end skill. Different story with the Leafs roster. I don’t expect Toronto to play a trap game next season.
I’d mostly agree with the point George is making, but it ought to be pointed out that it’s really just natural goalscoring ability that can’t be taught. Whereas, on the other hand, there are certainly some aspects of what a coach does that affects the number of goals ultimately scored. Deployment, systems for breaking out of the D-zone, O-zone entry, etc. clearly affect how dangerous a team is going to be offensively and are the responsibility of the coach (or whichever assistant he delegates to). I don’t have time to dig into it at the moment, but it’d be interested to look at the expected goal scoring rates for the Kings over Hiller’s tenure. If natural goalscoring ability and the lack of high-end talent were really the issue, you’d see actual goal scoring consistently lower than expected goal scoring. I.E. the team should still be generating dangerous chances, and simply failing to cash them in, if they were well-coached.
Wondering if the Kesselring trade is part of a larger move by Jarmo?
Is Steve Simmons ever happy about anything?
I heard Buffalo is thinking about buying Norris out. I feel that’s a dumb move. I get he is hurt alot, so that gives you an out when he is? LTIR etc etc. Buying him out just means you’re paying his salary for years and he’s not playing. When he’s in the line up he’s quite effective. He’s just not in the line up for long.
Yeah, you gotta feel for the poor guy. Since entering the league full-time in 2020-21, he has missed 60 % of his team’s game through injury, giving a whole news meaning to the term “injury prone.” When he was in the line-up (to the tune of 283 gp out of 469 total, he produced 82-game averages of 30g 26a 56 pts.
If he is bought out, some team will take him on. But according to AI “ While a buyout for Josh Norris has been proposed by analysts, it is not Buffalo’s preferred or primary strategy. Instead, the Sabres are heavily rumored to be exploring trade options to move the $63.8 million center and clear his $7.95 million cap hit.”
In THAT event, any interested team will want Buffalo to withhold a percentage of that cap hit which has 4 more seasons to run. Maybe the amount withheld will be easier to swallow than the cost of a buyout.
Maybe they work something out with Pittsburgh who has $ to burn.
The Sabres are trying to manage the salary cap.They would have had to make a qualifying offer to Kesserling. The Sabres must have felt he was not worth an offer or worse going to arbitration.Kesserling also will be a UFA after next season.It is debateable if he is worth a long term contract at this time.
No way the Sabres buyout Norris. He is a skilled center who changed his game from being known as a goal scorer with the Sens to a very good playmaker with Buffalo. Why in the world would they buy him out and take a hit on the salary cap? At worse he is a tradeable asset.
Steve Simmons is a consistently hateful hack, I’ve followed hockey for more than 50 years and don’t ever remember any useful insight from this self absorbed scribe. It seems like everything is a vindictive byproduct of some previous interaction with of whom he is writing about. No doubt he’d felt wounded at some point by Hiller in his previous life as an assistant, thus the venom. Grow up Steve, your angry 80’s reporting style has long passed its best before date.
Well said Icejester, I have a very similar opinion of Simmons.
Attention whore.
George agree with you on some of what you said about Hiller I think people wanted the exciting hire.
My main concern is style of play if it’s dump and chase like last year the players and fans won’t be happy
I am hoping it’s a combination good defence and keeping the puck we will see.
Man on tv, here is what AI has compiled regarding Hiller’s basic coaching style:
“Jim Hiller focuses on a player-centric and structure-driven approach. He believes in guiding the “spirit” of the team, demanding relentless skating as the foundation of competing, and using data-driven decision making to inform game plans.
Hiller’s coaching approach and team strategy feature several specific characteristics:
Spirit Over Systems: Hiller emphasizes that a team’s spirit and commitment dictate success. He views offensive and defensive structures as byproducts of this foundation, giving his roster some flexibility.
Relentless Skating: He believes skating is the first chain in competing. His teams are challenged to start games with explosive, hard skating, and frequent stopping to set a competitive tone.
Defense-First Identity: Known for utilizing a 1-3-1 neutral-zone trap, his strategy prioritizes being a highly disciplined, checking team.
Data and Analytics: He self-identifies as a “data guy” and values analytics, relying on metrics to back up his decisions and help optimize player usage and tactics.
Empathy and Openness: Hiller balances pushing players with sincere empathy. He maintains an open dialogue with the roster, preferring to show video clips that explain why plays are high-percentage, rather than criticizing execution.
Since Hiller has adjusted to leading the Toronto Maple Leafs after his time with the Los Angeles Kings, his specific on-ice match-up and power play adjustments can shift based on the opponent.”