This week, Jim Hiller was named the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The former Los Angeles Kings bench boss was selected from a field of reported candidates after an exhaustive month-long search.

One of those candidates was longtime NHLer and Olympic medalist Joe Pavelski, who was emerged as a surprise contender in June. Now, after Hiller’s appointment this week, Pavelski spoke with The Athletic‘s Pierre LeBrun on Friday about the hiring process and his coaching aspirations.

“It was great,” Pavelski told The Athletic. “It was awesome. It was interesting. When I got the call, if I had interest in the job, yeah, I mean, it’s Toronto. It kind of takes your breath away to be thought about as a head coach. So it definitely had my attention.”

Pavelski spent 18 years in the NHL, first as a member of the San Jose Sharks, then later with the Dallas Stars. He retired following the 2023-24 season. Since then, he’s taken on multiple roles behind the bench, including helping out with the University of Wisconsin’s men’s team and coaching his son’s AAA team in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin.

“After they first reached out, I took a couple of days to think about it,” he said. “It’s a process you definitely want to go through and see how it really looks. I have so much respect for what these coaches do, and that’s one of the reasons you really have to look at it. You know the time they put into it and the care they put into it and everything that comes with it. I definitely wanted to follow up on the process and see where it went.”

With an impressive resume from his time as a player, Pavelski has an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of recent former NHLers turned coaches. This includes Montreal Canadiens bench boss Martin St. Louis and recent Stanley Cup Champion Rod Brind’Amour.

“Even to have that opportunity (interviewing with the Leafs), I probably owe Marty St. Louis a big thank you, or to Rod, for what those guys have done and what they’ve meant to their teams,” he said. “That’s why there’s interest. I do see a lot of benefits with those guys doing it and having that real understanding of what a guy goes through and how it shakes out throughout a year. Those guys have done a tremendous job. And you definitely see how it might benefit you in some ways.”

While it didn’t work out this time in Toronto, Pavelski shared that he remains open to the possibility of taking on a head coaching role if another opportunity comes along.

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