Whether it was intended or not, Jim Hiller made a mistake benching Gavin McKenna. But as Ozoon’s David Alter says, how both respond will ultimately define both of their tenures.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night will be remembered for more than the late collapse. It will be remembered for the 32 minutes and 54 seconds that No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna spent on the bench after the 10:20 mark of the second period.
The 18-year-old finished with a career-low 6:36 of ice time, nine shifts, one shot, after entering the game averaging 15 minutes and riding a four-game point streak. Head coach Jim Hiller did not hide from the decision afterward. He owned it.
“That was my decision,” Hiller said. “We went for a stretch. I think we had those penalties. I wanted to get him out there. He sat through the penalties, and then I didn’t get him out there through that stretch. And then the last few minutes of the period, we’re just trying to get out of the period, I guess you would say. And then now, as I’ve sat him for so long, and he sits in the intermission, so I probably should have got him out there early in the third. I didn’t. So I’ll talk to him about that.”
The sequence was straightforward. Oliver Ekman-Larsson took a holding penalty at 14:35 of the second. Morgan Rielly followed with a hooking minor at 18:07. McKenna does not kill penalties, so he sat by design. What followed however was different,. The Leafs took a 4-2 lead shortly after McKenna’s final shift, then watched the Sabres erase it in the third before Owen Power scored in overtime. John Tavares left early in the third after a collision with Josh Norris, yet McKenna still did not return. Zack MacEwen, limited to 5:27, also remained on the bench. Toronto effectively shortened its forward group while the game slipped away.
Hiller described McKenna’s abbreviated night as “OK” and “fine.” He was on the ice for Jack Quinn’s tying goal earlier in the second, a play in which McKenna was beaten at the blue line. Still, the coach insisted the decision was about management, not performance. Once the gap reached 30 minutes, Hiller said, putting the rookie back on the ice would not have been fair.
“We talked about getting him out in the third, and I guess it just didn’t happen,” Hiller said. “That’s on me. And then once we got into that stage, I said I’m not going to put him out there now. I’ve been sitting him for 30 minutes. It’s not fair to him.”
The admission revealed something about Hiller. Eight games into his tenure, he showed a willingness to take public responsibility rather than deflect. However, he also showed that bench management can still get away from him under the weight of penalties, a lead, and a compressed roster. The No. 1 pick sat while the team lost a two-goal advantage. Hiller has not yet used McKenna in 3-on-3 overtime, opting instead for Colton Sissons on Thursday. That choice fits a pattern of protecting the teenager in certain situations, but the length of the benching crossed into something else.
What the night said about McKenna was quieter. Hiller has repeatedly described the 18-year-old as mature, someone who “lets stuff roll off” and does not take limited ice time personally. The coach pointed to earlier instances in which he reduced McKenna’s minutes and then double-shifted him, noting that the player responded. Hiller had not spoken with McKenna by the time he addressed the media, but he said he would before Saturday’s game against the Islanders. Captain Auston Matthews, who scored the Leafs’ first goal, framed the episode as familiar.
“Those things kind of happen sometimes,” Matthews said. “Everybody’s been in that situation before. It’s not necessarily a situation you want to be in. But we’ve all got his back. A game like tonight is going to just make him hungry for the next one to go out there and compete and dominate.”
McKenna entered Thursday with five points in seven games. He is still an 18-year-old adjusting to the NHL’s pace, physicality, and the specific demands of a contending team that does not give rookies automatic minutes in every situation. When the Maple Leafs were looking for a head coach to replace Craig Berube, the selection of Hiller came as a bit of a surprise, especially given that the Los Angeles Kings dismissed him following how he used his bench in a playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.
It’s one game. Maybe in another market, this goes unnoticed. But this is Toronto. How Hiller adjusts to this will ultimately define his tenure with the Maple Leafs, no matter how long or short that may be.