The Maple Leafs Benched Gavin McKenna… By Accident? | SDP

1. There was a reason, but no one seems to have caught on. The dude is being traded.

2. Oh my goodness we are going to have massive overreactions from Steve about this player….

3. "wanted to get him out there, but he sat for too long" might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard from a coach. The kid is 18 years old, professional athlete, I'm sure sitting for 5 minutes isn't atrophying his muscles. How soon is too soon to replace a coach?

4. He did 3 straight fly bys attacking the defenseman out of the zone and it led to greats scoring chances and one went in.
   A vet coach isn't gonna throw him under the buss in media but he did too many 18 year old junior fly by. If you swipe at a defenseman like Cale makar and he flys by you like nothing 3 times your gonna sit.

5. I'm dying to know how this will play out, both in terms of the front office reaction and the locker room. If Jesse says he's lost, imagine what the players think. I'm dumbfounded. I wouldn't be surprised if Hiller's days are numbered…..seriously numbered. I started reading up on his blunders in LA, and it's a head-scratcher as to why he was hired. Is it because his price tag was low? Boggles the mind. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for now, since the team seems to be potting some pucks. Let's see how it plays out.

6. I don’t wanna come off as a conspiracy theorist, but the more I look back on this game the more I believe that Jim Hiller was sitting McKenna on the bench more so to send a message to the team that he is in control of things above, actually trying to win the game. Even if McKenna wasn’t amazing during the limited shifts, he had, he was riding a four game point streak, and it looked like he was really starting to gain some confidence and a sense of belonging in the lineup. I know he is young and still has lots to learn, but he needs to learn through endgame experience by playing on the ice and developing a better understanding of his role on the team and building chemistry with his linemates. I’m not at all suggesting that McKenna is ready to play 22 or more minutes every night. But he definitely has the potential to be a special player in this league and it kind of seems like Jim Hiller just singled him out because he is young and he is a rookie. it almost kind of seems like Jim was creating an artificial obstacle for McKenna to see how he deals with it. Moving forward. I understand sometimes coaches need to challenge their players to get the best of them, but for the second half of this game, not only did you not get the best of McKenna, you got nothing from him at all. And based on what we’ve seen from him so far in the early season, I truly don’t understand why Hitler made this decision. I know McKenna isn’t a perfect player, heck, he’s not even in his prime yet, but this felt more like a punishment than it did a performance evaluation.

7. Can we stop this

8. ive been to one game my whole life and was happy to see my favorite players i still talk about it

9. The only thing Jim Hiller will win as head coach of the Leafs is the draft lottery for Boston or Philly. The worst part is a fan in Gino Hard's comments tried to suggest that Leafs fans like this guy. If that's true, no wonder the Leafs are a garbage tier franchise. Their fans don't want a winner. They just want empty regular season points and inconsequential postseason results.

10. When I first heard that the leafs were hiring Jim Hiller as their new head coach, I tried to view the hiring in a positive light. I convince myself that he had led the kings to a playoff birth and just got unlucky with the matchup and getting Edmonton in the first round. But listening him speak it already. Sounds like he’s having a difficult time managing the superstar players on this team. After last year, I thought that anything would be an upgrade over Craig Berube. For some reason, though, I really thought the leafs would make an all in push for Bruce Cassidy. I think he would be perfect for this group. I don’t mean to come across as condescending, but apart from giving the star players a bit more freedom in an effort to create more offense, I can’t really see any noticeable impact he has made on the team so far. They are still very shaky, defensively, have serious problems getting out of their own and constantly seem to be getting outshot or. out chanced by their opponent. The leafs kind of remind me of the mid 2010s Pittsburgh Steelers. They have plenty of talent throughout the roster, which should help them be more than capable of winning games. But just like the 2010s Steelers, they have a severe problem in playing down to their competition. It seems like for a while now, even though the leafs haven’t won or accomplished anything in this league, they have some type of false sense of security and confidence. Like I know we hired all these new guys and brought in Matt Sundean, but it doesn’t feel like the culture in the locker room and among the players has actually changed that much. If they have the lead, they seem to be content trying to park the bus and play defense, despite the fact that they are not a strong defensive team. and on the flipside when they are trailing in games or let in some early goals and have to fight their way back into it, for some reason, they don’t seem worried. They just seem to think that they’re high and talent and superstar players will always produce and lift them past their shortcomings. We are a decade into the Matthews era with this franchise and sure we’ve had better rosters on paper during certain seasons. But the most complete team, filled with players that not only understand, but also execute their role effectively was in Matthew’s rookie season when they surprised everyone by making the playoffs and losing to Washington.

11. This current era of the Maple leafs feels a lot like the current era of the Call of Duty® franchise. Everyone seems to correctly predict that new call of duty won’t meet expectations and will be a letdown for the fans. But for some reason every year people buy into it, hoping that this is the year things are different.

12. I don't want to rain on Mats Sundin's parade but here's a fact that's already been determined so far this year: we're still the same old softee toffee team we've been for the last 10 years so, they can beat us on ice and in the alley the guys wouldn't dare venture in there…it's a joke.

13. There's not a HC in the league that can make 88 play D. 👍👍

14. Raddysh doesn't have Hedman with him in Toronto…

15. A Norris nominee??? We've never had a Norris trophy winner in our history!!!

16. You play your worst defensive forward the most while defending a lead???

17. Leafs continue to make the same mistakes. Morgan Rielly continues to be a Pylon out there. If you can't trade him because no body wants him and because he has a No Move Clause then put him in the press box or buy him out or put him on LTIR. Don't keep playing him. Try someone from the Marlies. As for Mckenna if you don't play him he isn't going to get better. Personally I think Mckenna should be out there especially on 3 on 3. He is very fast and skilled combined with lots of open Ice he would be dangerous. Mckenna needs to play 15 to 20 minutes a game minimum. I predict Hiller will not even last the year. The team has no defensive structure.

18. Hiller is a terrible coach what are horrible choice. You can't bench one of your star players especially at home where people come and pay good money to see him play . If you want to bench him on the road fine but not at home They may have well of just stuck with Berube

19. 26:11 its because the economy is dogshit Steve

20. Steve’s constant interruptions are insufferable

21. No need to go into any depth on this, Hiller is an idiot, period, the end.

22. Why not say we tried Hiller and don't like what we see look around for someone we like and if we find someone let Hiller go Don't wait until the season is over or too late

23. Leafs fans saying Babcock will be a dumbster fire and will get fired right away…
    Leafs fans turning on their own coach 8 games in…

24. I suppose a good reason for losing game 8 would be putting a sizeable bet on letting the other team win. Does Hiller have a gambling problem?

25. Decisive management. committed to winning would fire Hiller now. How a coach not good enough for LA was deemed ok for the Leafs remains a mystery. Lazy hire. They better not screw up McKenna. More of last night, Auston is gone.

26. Now if only they would trade Marner… but to be fair, as the #1 rookie, it must suck to HAVE to go to one of if not THE worst team any given year.

27. Protecting a lead with 5 mins left makes sense.
    Protecting a lead for an entire period is stupid.

28. Was his whole line benched? No. You don't forget a player. He messed up, and was sat for it. Really simple. Hiller didn't want to come out in the presser and say that tho bc it will embarrass him

29. Agree burnt out his players idiot had nothing left in 3rd period and over time.

30. Guys no swearing ! 🤬 😂 good show 👍

31. Bob Mcowan: " A coach will not WIN you any games, but he can definitely LOSE a game!" This is a GREAT example of this… Is Hiller the right guy for this team??

32. Kids a bust 🤣

33. A talent like mackenna being benched is the dumbest thing hiller has done as a coach this season.

34. Maybe bc he opted out of 3 practices at start of season and haven't played. That great. He's played ok but maybe it's a lesson idk guys.

35. After 50 yrs of leaf fan, ive seen so much referee bias, beiber / matthews drama, certain players " throwing games" we've all seen this I've had enough.
    all sports are rigged the sooner you all see it the better..like honestly what fricking job deserves millions of dollars a year !!?? Open your eyes its all fixed to keep you distracted ,angry and living dollar to dollar.

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