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D.J. Smith

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins Coaching, Roest, Kuokkanen

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The Pittsburgh Penguins’ coaching search continues to headline news out of the Metropolitan Division, as the squad seeks out their first change at head coach in the last decade. Their final rounds of interviews have led to two candidates emerging above the rest – Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love, and former Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Love has been behind the Capitals’ bench for the last two seasons, after spending the two years prior serving as the head coach of Calgary’s AHL squad. Love worked in the WHL and Canada’s U17 and U18 squads for the better half of the 2010’s. He supported Team Canada’s Gold Medal wins at the 2016 U17 World Hockey Championship, 2019 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and 2020 World Junior Championship. He also won the AHL’s ’Coach of the Year’ award in both of his two years in the league – 2021-22 and 2022-23. The past two years in Washington have marked Love’s first in the NHL in any capacity, and a move to head coach would mark a quick reward after he supported Pittsburgh’s rival to a second-round exit this season.

Smith sits as an interesting option opposite of Love. He has spent the last season-and-a-half in an assistant or associate coach role with the Los Angeles Kings, who hired him on the same day that he was fired from the Senators’ head coaching role in 2023. Smith posted a combined 131-154-32 record in just over four years with the Senators. He also has six years of experience as an NHL assistant coach, spread between tenures with the Toronto Maple Leafs and L.A. Kings. He’d be a hotly debated addition, though offers a much hardier pro coaching resume than Love.

Other notes from the Metro Division:

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have parted ways with assistant general manager and AHL general manager Stacy Roest, per Ashley Wenskoski of CNY Central. Roest was a colleague of freshly-hired New York Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche during their shared time in Tampa Bay, and could be among the top candidates as New York looks to fill the vacancy left by AHL GM Chris Lamoriello. Roest has been with the Tampa Bay organization since the 2013-14 season, when he joined on as a Director of Player Development and AHL assistant coach. He was promoted to AHL GM in the 2019-20 season. Roest also played in 244 career games in the NHL, split between tenures with the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota Wild. He ended his career with nine years in Switzerland’s National League, which allowed him to support Team Canada at six separate Spengler Cups.
  • Former Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils centerman Janne Kuokkanen has extended his tenure overseas. He has signed a four-year contract with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks. Kuokkanen played one season with Malmo in 2023-24 – scoring 44 points in 43 games – but opted to move to the National League for this season. He’ll reverse that decision one season later, after netting just 25 points in 35 games with Lausanne HC. Kuokkanen was a second-round selection in the 2016 NHL Draft and played in 119 NHL games split between the Hurricanes and Devils. He scored 14 goals and 42 points in those appearances.

Metro Notes: Smith, Crosby, Shaw, Shanahan

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David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins have contacted coach D.J. Smith regarding their head coaching vacancy. Smith, an associate coach with the Los Angeles Kings, has reportedly interviewed for multiple head coaching vacancies around the league.

It hasn’t been long since he’s been a head coach. Smith was the head coach of the Ottawa Senators from the 2019-20 season until he was fired on December 18 of last year. He finished his tenure in Ottawa with a 131-154-32 record in 317 games without ever leading the team to the postseason. Under Smith’s stewardship, the Senators never finished higher than 18th in GF or 20th in GA.

According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, it doesn’t sound like captain Sidney Crosby will have much say in the Penguins’ next choice for head coach, but that’s by choice. When pressed on why he didn’t want a say in the process, Crosby replied, “Because, ultimately, I’m a hockey player. I’m not out there coaching games. I am not a manager.” The 20-year veteran clarified his statement further, saying, “If he wants my opinion on someone who’s out there, and someone who is out there that I might have had as a coach before or someone I’ve heard about, then sure, then I’ll share my opinion.”

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Although the Philadelphia Flyers ultimately hired Rick Tocchet as their next head coach, their most recent head coach was one of the finalists. Pagnotta reported that now-former interim head coach Brad Shaw was nearly hired for the full-time job, and there’s a possibility he remains on Tocchet’s staff as an assistant. Shaw guided the Flyers to a 5-3-1 record in their final nine games of the 2024-25 NHL season.
  • According to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, Brendan Shanahan could be a name to look out for regarding the New York Islanders’ President of Hockey Operations and General Manager vacancies. Shanahan has served as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ President since the 2014-15 season, and his contract expires on June 30th this summer. Should Toronto fail to reach the Stanley Cup Final or Eastern Conference Final, Staple believes the Islanders could encourage Shanahan to make a lateral move to the East Coast, and hire Toronto’s special assistant to the General Manager, Shane Doan, as their next General Manager.

D.J. Smith Interviewing For Multiple Head Coach Vacancies

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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.

Evening Notes: Hiller, Smith, NCAA

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Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake has revealed the details of Jim Hiller’s new head coaching contract, confirming to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta that the deal is a three-year contract with a fourth-year option (Twitter link). That’s a hardy deal for Hiller’s first NHL head coaching contract – made even more impressive when juxtaposed with fellow rookie head coach Drew Bannister’s two-year deal in St. Louis.

Hiller has earned the confidence of the Kings organization after leading the team to a playoff berth on the back of a 21-12-1 record. His guidance brought the best out of most of the team’s offense, most notably increasing Pierre-Luc Dubois’ scoring to 0.59 points-per-game, from his 0.42 points-per-game in 48 games under Todd McLellan. Hiller also guided much more ice time to the team’s top prospects, with Jordan Spence playing in 22 games, Alex Turcotte playing in 18, and Brandt Clarke playing in 10 during his reign. And while their success was varied, their ice time was nonetheless a welcome boost of youth to the Kings’ lineup. Los Angeles is now entering the offseason with nine pending free agents – including Quinton Byfield, Viktor Arvidsson, and Matt Roy – and just $15MM in cap space. They’ll have to make their moves wisely, as they now look to build behind a lineup with playoff aspirations under Hiller.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Blake also confirmed to Pagnotta that D.J. Smith will return as an assistant coach (Twitter link). The Kings hired Smith in early February, after he was dismissed from the Ottawa Senators head coaching role in December. Smith had led Ottawa’s bench since the 2019-20 season – a role he took over after spending four years alongside Hiller as assistant coaches for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He will again remain on Hiller’s side, serving as his assistant coach alongside Derik Johnson.
  • More and more collegiate players are being invited to NHL development camp rosters with the NCAA season now concluded. Per the New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver, four Dartmouth players have joined the list (Twitter link). They include: defenseman C.J. Foley invited to the Florida Panthers camp, winger Nikita Nikora and defender Eric Charpentier to the Washington Capitals camp, and centerman Luke Haymes to the Tampa Bay Lightning camp. Divver also shared that Brown University’s Ryan St. Louis will join the Pittsburgh Penguins camp, while forward Tyler Kopff and defender Alex Pineau are headed to the Vegas Golden Knights’ camp (Twitter link). Finally, Vermont will be sending defender Duncan Ramsay and winger Jens Richards to the Capitals camp (Twitter link).

Senators Notes: Coaching, Buyouts, Norris

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The Ottawa Senators wrapped up their season with locker cleanout on Friday, giving general manager Steve Staios a chance to share updates with the media. He spent much of his time addressing the team’s coaching situation, saying they have a long list of candidates that they’ll whittle down over the summer, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.

The Senators have been without a long-term head coach since D.J. Smith’s firing on December 18th. Jaques Martin stepped in as interim head coach, leading the Senators to a measly 26-26-4 record and a spot well outside of the playoffs. Staios mentioned that Martin would continue with the team in a consulting role, but isn’t in the race for the vacant head coaching role. Neither is Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson, who Staios says wanted more time before pursuing the coaching path. That likely leaves the Senators looking externally, where they’ll find plenty of strong candidates.

Other notes from Staios’ press conference:

  • Staios added that the team isn’t planning on utilizing any buyouts this off-season, per Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). That’s despite weaker performances from costlier names, like Joonas Korpisalo and Travis Hamonic. Ottawa is projected to have $12.8MM in cap space this off-season, per CapFriendly and an $87.5MM salary cap. With no support from buyouts, that will be all they have to re-sign their six pending free-agents, including Erik Brannstrom, Dominik Kubalik, and Shane Pinto.
  • Staios also shared that forward Joshua Norris is expecting to be ready for the start of next season, shares Garrioch. Norris was limited to just 50 games this season, and hasn’t played since late February, once again dealing with nagging shoulder injuries. Norris was limited to just eight games last season because of shoulder issues, and underwent the third shoulder surgery of his four-year NHL career in March. He’ll look to recover once again, and hope for healthier fortune next season.

Senators’ D.J. Smith On The Hot Seat

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The Ottawa Senators are falling flat this season, carrying a 9-10-0 record that currently has them ranked third-to-last in the NHL. They rank 28th in goals-for through the early season as well, despite having nine different skaters with 10 or more points. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch shared that, as the team continues to struggle, head coach D.J. Smith’s seat is becoming one of the hottest in Ottawa. Garrioch added that new GM Staios isn’t looking to make a change yet, but continued losses could force his hand to make a change sooner rather than later.

Smith has been with the Senators since the 2019-20 season, stepping into his first head coaching role in the NHL after four seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s commanded 310 games with Ottawa, setting a losing record of 129-149-32. Ottawa has also failed to make the playoffs under his leadership, although they’ve only managed three playoff berths since 2010.

It’s been a different coaching experience for Smith, who proved highly successful in his time as the head coach of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals from 2012 to 2015. Through his three years with the Generals, he led the team to three playoff runs, capping it off with a run to the J. Ross Robertson Cup and a Memorial Cup win. Smith’s championship-winning Generals lineup was led by Michael Dal Colle and Cole Cassels, with support from standouts like Anthony Cirelli, Michael McCarron, and Mitchell Vande Sompel.

Garrioch emphasized that Staios is hoping that Ottawa can right the ship before a coaching change is necessary. The team has played the fewest games in the league in the early season, three fewer than anyone else in the Atlantic Division, and ranks 23rd in the league in point percentage. The team could regroup as they catch up to their peers in games played. But if they can’t, changes could continue to flow in for a Senators team currently facing a new owner and general manager.

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