The Kings have given associate coach D.J. Smith permission to pursue head coaching opportunities across the league this offseason, Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period reports. He’s already received multiple interviews.
Smith has been with L.A. for just over 15 months. The Kings hired him in February 2024 after the Senators fired him as their head coach two months prior. He was brought in less than a week after L.A. canned former head coach Todd McLellan and elevated current bench boss Jim Hiller to the interim HC role.
For teams looking for an experienced head coaching hire, Smith fits the bill. He’s one of the younger options available at age 47, but he spent over four full seasons in control of the Ottawa bench and, before that, spent four years with the Maple Leafs as an assistant. In 317 games coaching the rebuilding Sens, Smith compiled a 131-154-32 (.464) record. He’s still looking for his first playoff berth.
But by the end of his tenure in Ottawa, Smith had coached the Sens into being an above-average defensive squad. Goaltending and poor finishing luck were the Sens’ downfalls in 2022-23, his last full season behind the bench, but they were a playoff-caliber team by most other metrics. Ottawa ranked eighth in power play percentage and 14th in penalty kill percentage while posting good 5-on-5 scoring chance suppression numbers.
Briefly a depth defenseman in the NHL with the Leafs and Avalanche, Smith also spent three years as a head coach in the junior ranks with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, winning Coach of the Year and a league championship in that span.
Probably a coach the Pens should look to hire as they transition from the Crosby years. Likely won’t though because I doubt Malkin or Letang would buy in as much. Probably going to take someone like Tocchet to the best of our the remaining group