The Los Angeles Kings announced that they will not renew the contract of their AHL head coach, Mike Stothers, who has coached the Ontario Reign/Manchester Monarchs for the past six years. His contract was set to expire on June 15.
“We appreciate everything Mike has contributed to the organization” said Rob Blake, Vice President and General Manager of the LA Kings. “He has played an important role in helping develop our players and we want to thank him for his years of service and guiding us to a Calder Cup Championship in 2015.”
The 58-year-old coach had a 220-137-35-13 record with Ontario and Manchester, including four playoff appearances and a Calder Cup Championship. Stothers first season in the L.A. system was as head coach of the Manchester Monarchs during the 2014-15 season, where he won the Calder Cup, taking his team to a 50-17-9 record in his rookie coaching season. Stothers won the Pieri Memorial Award for top AHL coach that season.
He then led his team to the Western Conference finals the following year before two straight first-round exits in the playoffs. The team didn’t make the playoffs in 2018-19 with a 25-33-10 record, but had a more positive 29-22-6 record this year before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
The position should be a highly coveted one with the Kings in a full rebuild with a boatload of prospects entering the system over the past few years. L.A. is considered to have one of the best farm systems in the league. The team has had several high-quality prospects with the team last season, including Rasmus Kupari, Gabriel Vilardi, Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Tobias Bjornfot. More are expected on the way next season.
biz isnt going to like this
So a team rebuilding at the pro-level is having issues at the amateur level and anyone questions it?