The Los Angeles Kings will approach the trade season with a different bench manager. The Kings have relieved head coach Jim Hiller of his duties and named associate coach D.J. Smith as interim head coach per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The team has confirmed the change, adding that development coach Matt Greene has been promoted to assistant coach.
This news will end Hiller’s first tenure as an NHL head coach after two years. He was promoted to L.A.’s interim head coach role in relief of Todd McLellan on February 2, 2024. Hiller inherited a roster in the midst of a 3-8-6 skid. He quickly turned that around, setting a 7-4-0 record in his first 11 games that would grow into a 21-12-1 record by the end of the season. That earned Los Angeles a third-place finish in the Pacific Division and a tough matchup with the Edmonton Oilers. The Kings won one game – a 5-to-4 overtime win in Game 2 – but otherwise quickly fell to an Oilers team that pushed to a loss in the Stanley Cup Finals.
Hiller was named the head coach outright in May 2024. He kept the energy high in Los Angeles through the 2024-25 season, and quickly began to bring the beset out of hard-nosed players like Quinton Byfield, Alex Laferriere, and Adrian Kempe. The Kings finished the 2024-25 season with 105 points – their best finish since the 1974-75 season. But, like in 1975, L.A. fell to a first-round playoff exit, again at the hands of an Oilers club that’d go on to the Stanley Cup Finals. Hiller earned criticism for his decisions, and coach’s challenges, through the first-round series but held onto his role headed into the 2025-26 campaign.
But the Kings have struggled to generate the same level of offense this season. They rank 29th in the NHL in goals scored and have struggled to find the depth scoring to make up for a down year from captain Anze Kopitar. The Kings’ struggles to generate this season swelled with top winger Kevin Fiala and middle-six winger Andrei Kuzmenko suffering long-term injuries. Even with the superstar addition of Artemi Panarin, the Kings couldn’t keep their engine firing.
The deciding blow to their momentum came at the hands of, again, the Edmonton Oilers who beat the Kings 8-1 in their second game back from the Olympic break. Chants to “Fire Hiller” rained down throughout the game, and the head coach told reporters post-game that there’s always concern over job security in the coaching world per Zach Dooley on LA Kings Insider.
Even despite a 2-0 win over the Calgary Flames to follow the tough loss, Hiller has still been pointed towards the door. He leaves the Kings with an 8-8-5 record in 21 games since the start of 2026. Los Angeles sits three points outside of a Western Conference Wild Card, tied with the Nashville Predators.
Los Angeles will look towards Smith to turn their year around. He brings a little over four years of NHL head coaching experience, having led the Ottawa Senators from the start of the 2019-20 season to December 2023. He only managed one winning season in his years in Ottawa – notching a 39-35-8 record in the 2022-23 season but totaling a 131-154-32 record outright. The Senators couldn’t break into the postseason under Smith’s reign, with emerging youngsters Tim Stutzle and Brady Tkachuk. Smith was hired to Los Angeles’ bench four days after Hiller’s promotion to the head coach role.
Both Hiller and Smith are proteges of veteran head coach Mike Babcock. Hiller joined Babcock’s staff for his final year with the Detroit Red Wings in 2014-15, overseeing the power-play, then followed him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015-16. Smith earned the first NHL coaching role of his career on that year’s Maple Leafs staff, after winning the OHL Championship with the Oshawa Generals in the year prior. Those deep roots and learned skills should keep Hiller in the conversation for an assistant coach role, in the same way that it has led Smith back into a head role.
Meanwhile, two-time Stanley Cup champion and 12-year veteran of the Kings blue-line, Matt Greene, will make his bench debut following this news. He has served a role in Los Angeles’ player development since he retired from his playing career following the 2016-17 season. Greene began with three years in a scouting role and has filled a development coach role over the last five years. He was a bruising, depth defender during his NHL career. Greene served as an alternate captain for eight years with the Kings, and at one World Championship with Team USA.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.
Dam
Thank God
But … DJ Smith?
I don’t care if it is DJ SW1 from In Living Color. As long as Hiller is gone
First thought, they never should’ve started this season with this man as their head coach
Secondly, this should’ve happened well before the Olympic break
Third, they should’ve walked down and fired him after the second period of the Edmonton game the other night. I’ve had Season Tickets to this team for 20 years. I have not seen an LA Kings team boot off the ice. Since the days of Mark Crawford.
It was embarrassing
This man runs a system that put handcuffs on all of his offensive players this team has talent but when you watch them, enter the zone there’s no imagination it’s a high school offense
He put breadman Kopitar and Kempe together for a half a shift in the Vegas game and they scored an absolutely beautiful goal and then he never put them back together
If I was in Holland shoes. I would be mild sellers. Take back anybody we can get with term. Use our cap space as a weapon and build for next season. I feel bad for Kopi but we need to build towards the future
Robert Thomas love to have you, buddy. You would LA
Peter Deboer’s coaching philosophy would be a good fit for the Kings, They are only 3 pts. out of a playoff spot.
Long overdue.
He should’ve never gotten the head coaching job in the first place
What are the worst things Blake did was fire McCllen
I don’t think there was much choice as the Kings were floundering for over a month! Hiller actually was fine until last year’s Edmonton series!
Oh yeah!!!!! It’s about time. This team will see immediate improvement. I really hope that DeBoer is the replacement. GKG!!!!!
Please let this be the start of the coach firings. chief next for the love of god. 4 shots 30 min into a game after losing last 2. That’s the best you can do?
Try again in English or go back to school and make some sense.
It will be difficult to find someone objecting to firing this particular coach. He’s imposed a suffocating defensive system that made watching the Kings a torture.
Great! Long overdue! Hiller lost the room after his terrible coaching decisions against Edmonton last year. It might be too late to make a run, but if they can’t win Kings can pull off wins against Col & NYI, then maybe they buy at the deadline. But, I have my doubts! As much as I dislike Evander Kane, the Kings need a wrecking ball! Sherwood would be preferred!
Looks like GM scapegoating. Roster ain’t that good but rolling through head coaches. How long has Blake got left
I hope you are joking around. Blake got fired already.
Give Holland a break. He came in a week before the draft after not being involved in scouting or day-to-day operations of a team for over a year. He had exactly 6 days to crash course for free agency. A GM needs three years to put his stamp on the team. He’s inheriting Blake‘s mess.
I’ve had respect for and I’ve had for years. He’s one of the best GM of all time. Give him a little time.
About effing time!!! He lost the room long time ago!! I’d hire Wrobo ASAP!!
LAK has got to replace Luc at the helm. Cronyism has become toxic throughout the organization. The one constant since 2017 has been Luc. Until he’s replaced with a whole new philosophy, the team will stay mid