Jim Hiller was named coach of the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
The 55-year-old signed a three-year contract with what general manager Rob Blake said was an option or trigger for a fourth. He went 21-12-1 as interim coach after replacing Todd McLellan, who was fired on Feb. 2.
“Just under 35 years ago, I was drafted by the LA Kings (10th round, 207th overall in the 1989 NHL Draft), so to be sitting here today is an honor, to put it lightly,” Hiller said Thursday. “Having that long and winding road, ending up back here, my first head coaching job with the Kings, is something I don’t take lightly.”
The Kings (44-27-1) finished third in the Pacific Division. They were eliminated from the First Round of the Western Conference by the Edmonton Oilers for the third consecutive season and have not won a Stanley Cup playoff series since winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in three seasons in 2014.
“Sometimes it’s just little details,” Hiller said. “Sometimes it’s as much about coming to the net with more strength and more determination. That detail in itself could be enough, so I think you have to be careful when delineating the playoffs and the regular season. We are close. We are very close, but there are things we have to do better. Can we do better?
The Kings are Hiller’s first head coaching job in the NHL. At the time of the coaching change, they were 3-8-6 in 17 games after starting the season 20-7-4.
“I just let the process play out,” Hiller said. “I couldn’t have done more. I didn’t feel like I could do more. We had a lot of conversations. We watched videos. We discussed a lot of different things about hockey with the management group. And I just felt confident that I did everything I could and I would just let them do it.” things fell where they may.”
Blake will return as general manager for the 2024-25 season, the final season of a three-year contract extension he signed in May 2022. The Kings made the playoffs in four of his seven seasons, but did not win a series.
“What we’ve realized, and Jim and I are on the same page here, is that there’s a certain desire to win that needs to emerge within our team here, and that’s getting a little uncomfortable,” Blake said. “There’s a desire to get there. That’s going to hurt. They’re going to hit you, they’re going to check you, but that’s how you do the job.
“We have to get uncomfortable with our group. It starts right now, right here, today with me, with Jim all the way to our players. If that’s where we want to go, that’s where we have to go.” “.
Hiller joined the Kings as an assistant coach on July 19, 2022 and held the same position with the New York Islanders (2019-22), Toronto Maple Leafs (2015-19) and Detroit Red Wings (2014-15). He coached Alberni in the British Columbia Hockey League and in Tri-City of the Western Hockey League, where he was named WHL and Canadian Hockey League Coach of the Year for the 2011-12 season.
He played 63 regular season games as a forward with the Kings, Red Wings and New York Rangers from 1992 to 1994.
Three teams are without a coach: the San Jose Sharks, Seattle Kraken and Winnipeg Jets. The Buffalo Sabers hired Lindy Ruff on April 22, Travis Green joined the Ottawa Senators on May 7, the Toronto Maple Leafs named Craig Berube to the position on May 17, and Sheldon Keefe was hired by New Jersey. Devils on May 23.
NHL.com freelance correspondent Dan Greenspan contributed to this report.
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