1:07 p.m.: Hiller has officially been named the team’s 30th head coach in franchise history. They did not disclose the length of the extension.
8:57 a.m.: The Kings have removed the interim tag from head coach Jim Hiller and signed him to a multi-year contract extension, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports Wednesday. He was widely expected to land the vacancy after Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Monday that he was the “overwhelming favorite” to take over behind the bench full-time.
Hiller assumed head coaching duties coming out of the All-Star break after Todd McLellan was fired following a January skid that put their playoff positioning in jeopardy. He was able to stabilize their slide, posting a 21-12-1 record behind the bench in the final few months of the season as they finished third in the Pacific Division.
While there was a fair amount of speculation the Kings would go for an external hire after a third straight first-round loss to the Oilers, it never turned into full-on rumor status. No notable candidates were ever linked to L.A.’s vacancy, and Hiller spoke with the rest of the Kings’ hockey operations department during their end-of-season press availability.
Hiller, 55, continues to assume the head coach title for the first time in a decade. His only professional coaching experience has been in assistant roles, although he was the bench boss of the Western Hockey League’s Chilliwack Bruins and Tri-City Americans from 2006 to 2014. He joined the Kings as an assistant on McLellan’s staff ahead of the 2022-23 season after being let go by the Islanders.
Today isn’t the end of the Kings’ coaching decisions this offseason, however. They still need to add an assistant to replace Trent Yawney, who they mutually parted ways with last week.
I’ve long been against hiring the interim who had a few good weeks.
But, then, there was a good run of these guys doing well and keeping the jobs…Dean Evason, Jay Woodcroft, Don Granato, etc….and I had to question that stance.
But, that appears to have been a random blip and all of them got canned, so…back to the track record of these hires being really bad.
@66TheNumberOfTheBest — I don’t think Jay was a bad hire, but the inexplicable decision to break what wasn’t broken was a big-time head scratcher. It’s as though he felt he had to outcoach himself, for no good reason. I’d hate to find out if it was due to bad advice from Tipp or Hitch.
What’s the definition of insanity….? This team is going nowhere!
A change in decision making is needed from the top
Get used to mediocrity
I will give him a chance! Blake built the roster!
To hell with this! The Blake sabotage is in full force! Totally unacceptable. I hope Kings fans for decades like myself going way back to the early 90s will refuse to support the club until this moron and bozos are gone.
My question is how many people care? 7 comments re new head coach, you’d expect more interest from their fan base.