What On Earth Happened Here With Jim Hiller And Gavin McKenna?
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost in overtime to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. We’ll talk more about all the logistics of that tomorrow – I’d like another more detailed look at the game before drawing more serious opinions on the whole thing. But one big issue that has almost immediately deflated a relaxed and easygoing mood towards a team that is figuring it’s way out involves rookie phenom Gavin McKenna and Leafs Head Coach Jim Hiller.
McKenna played a season-low 6:36 tonight. Barring an injury early in a game down the line, it could end up being the least he ever plays in his career. (Incredibly, it was not a team low tonight, with Zack MacEwen playing 5:27).
This is especially shocking when you consider that the McKenna was riding a four-game point streak going into this game, and that the game went into overtime, where you’d think that the team would eventually use the 18-year-old’s top-percentile mobility and playmaking to open up the game even further.
Nevertheless, the last shift of McKenna’s night came between the 10:30 and 9:40 marks of the second period, so right at the game’s midway point. McKenna was on the ice for one goal against at the start of the period, though he not only didn’t seem to be part of the problem on it, but almost pulled off a takeaway before Buffalo could even get started. Either way, he still played three more shifts before disappearing.
Asked after the game about this decision, Hiller gave an absolutely befuddling quote:
“That was my decision. We went for a stretch, I think we had those penalties. I wanted to get him out there. He sat through those penalties, and then I didn’t get him out there through that stretch.”
The penalties referred to a holding minor taken by Oliver Ekman-Larsson three minutes after his shift, and a Morgan Rielly penalty that happened two and a half minutes after that – only to be quickly offset by a Zach Benson penalty, which you’d think would give a great opportunity to get McKenna out for some 4-on-4 play. Either way, moving along.
“The last few minutes of the period, we’re just trying to get out of the period, I guess you would say. Now I’ve sat him for so long, and he sits in the intermission. So I probably should’ve got him out there early in the third, [but] I didn’t, so I’ll talk to him about that.”
I’m at a complete loss at how this is supposed ot be any better. I’d have rather heard that Hiller or the coaches felt that McKenna did something not to their standard and they were looking to teach a lesson. But this quote largely amounts to “we got tied up with the PK, realized he’d been off for nine minutes, and then just said screw it to rest of the game, I guess”.
Regardless of the result of the game, it’s one of the more baffling things I think I’ve ever heard from a coach, Leafs or otherwise. I’m at a complete loss as to who you “lose” a player for half a game. I’m at a bigger loss as to how it happens when it’s your star rookie that’s one of your more dynamic talents, and I’m at the biggest loss to explain how it happens once your team starts to lose control of a two-goal lead and you need something to swing the momentum back the other way.
Now, Hiller has a reputation of being more of a player-friendly coach, so there is a possiblity here that his reason for benching McKenna is a little deeper and that he’s feigning foolishness to protect a deeper reasoning. But if this isn’t the case – and assuming that it could be is largely an act of Devil’s Advocate – it seems foolish. Is risking a cold first McKenna shift off being put on ice worth risking not having that tool in your toolbox for the rest of the night? I can’t imagine so, especially when you end up getting outshot 13-4 in the third period and overtime any way.
Hopefully its a quickly-learned lesson for whoever needs it – McKenna if the motive is being shielded, Hiller if he actually just couldn’t figure out an easy way to call 92 off the bench. I’ve got no idea if it cost Toronto this win tonight, but that sort of risk adversity is a microcasm of what keeps sinking this team, and combined with the failed lead-protection effort, is such a gut-punch to see after a few weeks of feeling like a team that’s willing to take chances and play through the consequences again. It’s a hard-and fast killer of goodwill that feels so easy to avoid.
