Being a Toronto Maple Leaf is not for everyone. Some want the pressure and opportunity to break the 59-year Stanley Cup curse in hockey’s biggest market, while others have no interest in the constant attention and scrutiny they’re under ever single day.
While Jim Hiller has yet to coach a game as bench boss of the Maple Leafs, insider Jeff Marek pointed out on Wednesday that Jon Cooper would fall into the former category and that he’s long had people tell him that if he and the Tampa Bay Lightning ever parted ways, the decorated head coach would be very intrigued by the idea of coming to Toronto.
“I think we’ve all wondered, we’ve talked about this before. I’ve had people tell me that the one… I know the Maple Leafs have a new coach in Jim Hiller, so this is probably unfair. But I do think that Jon Cooper is of the mind that that is a real challenge that he would embrace,”
The 58-year-old Cooper “quietly” extended his contract with the Lightning prior to the 2025-26 season, though the exact details of the deal remain unknown. He has won two Stanley Cups and one Jack Adams Award while sporting a 622-332-89 regular-season record, along with a 91-71 mark in the postseason so far in his coaching career.
While GM Julian BriseBois has insisted Cooper will be in Tampa Bay for a long time to come, the secrecy around the details of his contract is interesting, and after four consecutive first-round exits, the idea of a coaching change happening at some point may not be all that far-fetched.
When it comes to the Maple Leafs, Hiller is going to get his fair chance to see what he can do, but if down the road Cooper becomes available, he’s the kind of coach you do anything to bring in, especially if the interest is mutual and he wants to be in Toronto.
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