Maple Leafs’ Dakota Joshua excited to get started with new head coach Jim Hiller

Hiller returns to an organization where he spent four years as an assistant coach and is coming off a two-year stint as the head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, before being relieved of his duties on March 1.

“It’s exciting news. I don’t have much experience with him personally, but I’ve heard good things about him being in the organization before,” Joshua said. “It’s nice to get him on board and leading this group.”

Joshua was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on July 17, 2025, in exchange for a 2028 fourth-round draft pick to help deepen the Maple Leafs’ lineup. The 30-year-old appeared in 55 games with the Maple Leafs during his first year and recorded 10 goals and eight assists.

During a 3-2 overtime loss against the Detroit Red Wings on December 28, Joshua was forced to leave the contest due to an unknown injury at the time. It was later revealed that Joshua suffered a lacerated kidney and remained out of action until February 26, a stretch that cost him 20 games.

“That was a very crazy freak accident. I didn’t believe that’s what happened when it happened, and that wasn’t where my mind went at all. I’m feeling good and recovered from that, but it’s not something that I had on my bingo card for the year,” Joshua said. “It kind of put a halt to things when it felt like I was really starting to catch my footing and feel most comfortable, so that part was unfortunate. When you get an internal injury like that, it’s weird in the sense because I felt fine after a week or two, but it just needed time to heal.”

It’s no secret the Maple Leafs’ 2025-26 regular season didn’t go as planned. The club slumped to a 32-36-14 record, finished last in the Atlantic Division, and missed the playoffs for the first time in the Auston Matthews era. While it felt like the Maple Leafs were starting to hit their stride heading into the Olympics after winning three games in a row, the Maple Leafs lost eight in a row on the other side of the break, ultimately putting a dagger in the 2025-26 season.

“I think with the group we had, there was always the feeling of belief that we would turn the corner at some point, and maybe the urgency within the group didn’t get to where it needed to be. We were just banking on the talent and personnel that we had to get us where we wanted to go,” Joshua said. “It just felt like we were holding onto that, and we could just never really steer the ship in the right direction long enough to gain any traction.”

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