Jim Hiller Will Stay Head Coach Of The Los Angeles Kings After Having Interim Tag Eliminated

LOS ANGELES: Jim Hiller will proceed to be the Los Angeles Kings head coach after having the interim tag eliminated Wednesday by vice chairman and common supervisor Rob Blake.

The Kings had been 21-12-1 within the common season underneath Hiller after Todd McLellan was fired on Feb. 2. However Los Angeles was eradicated by Edmonton within the first spherical of the playoffs for the third straight 12 months.

Below Hiller, the Kings had been second in penalty killing through the common season and had the league’s greatest dwelling file after the All-Star break, however each weren’t evident within the postseason because the Oilers received the collection in 5 video games.

Edmonton was 9 of 20 on the ability play through the playoffs whereas the Kings didn’t rating on any of their 12 probabilities with the person benefit. Los Angeles additionally misplaced each of its playoff dwelling video games after profitable 9 of its final 10 within the common season.

Hiller was an assistant coach with the Kings for 2 seasons after eight as an assistant with the New York Islanders, Toronto and Detroit. A tenth-round decide by the Kings in 1989, he was the 18th coach in NHL historical past to make his head teaching debut with the staff that initially drafted them.

Previous to his NHL teaching profession, Hiller spent 12 seasons within the Western Hockey League and British Columbia Hockey League, together with 5 years as head coach with the Tri-Metropolis Individuals.

Los Angeles has reached the playoffs 4 instances throughout Blake’s GM tenure, however did not advance previous the primary spherical. The Kings haven’t received a playoff collection since profitable their second Stanley Cup in three years in 2014.

Prospects for a breakthrough in a tricky Pacific Division seem tough.

Crew captain Anze Kopitar will flip 37 in August and defenseman Drew Doughty can be 35 in December.

Los Angeles doesn’t have many prospects at its minor-league affiliate in Ontario, California, and has cap points. David Rittich is their solely goaltender underneath contract for subsequent season.

Hiller additionally has to discover a option to get Pierre-Luc Dubois on tack. The Kings acquired Dubois from Winnipeg and signed him to an eight-year, $68 million contract final season. The middle didn’t have any chemistry with anybody on the staff and had profession lows for a full season in objectives (16) and factors (40).

Through the Edmonton collection, Dubois was typically on the fourth line.

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