There will be no coaching change in Los Angeles, not yet anyway
Dennis Bernstein and Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas on Thursday’s edition of the Power Play on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio. There, Bernstein discussed the situation surrounding the Los Angeles Kings and head coach Jim Hiller.
NHLRumors.com Transcripts
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Steve Kouleas: “Kings. Are they worried about making the playoffs? Where are they in their last 20 games? In their thoughts? And there’s rum, there’s so many new coaches, we can’t talk about them all.”
Dennis Bernstein: “I’m going to give my TED talk now. You give me a few minutes about the Kings.”
Kouleas: “Go ahead”
Bernstein: “Okay, let’s start with Jim Hiller. And since we’re in Vegas, cool, I wouldn’t assume Jim Hiller will be the next fired coach. Why? I don’t see anything threatening regarding his status behind the bench at this point in Koul’s season.”
There are still 36 regular matches left. The bottom should fall out of the King season. What do I mean by that? A long streak of losing games in which he was terminated. Yes, they are in double digits, behind last season, and their play almost exactly mirrors last season’s Calgary Flames.
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Listen to me about this. Both 29 ranked offenses. The team MVP is the goaltender. Dustin Wolf last year, Darcy Kuemper this year and all the overtime losses. Calgary briefly led the league last year, the Kings are second to Vegas, but you can count on one hand the number of games they have already played.
They have been competitive against the top teams. In the evening they lost to Vegas in extra time. So the inability to play late in games, that’s the common thread through these losses, regular and regular.
Now Hiller did himself no favors after the press conference on Friday. On Monday, he walked into the room when the team was losing 11 of 16 and said, We’re playing well. What he should have said is: we are playing well, but we need to play better, especially offensively.
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So while he is safe, I think his regular season tenure will be measured and tied to the results of the season. I don’t see him returning if the team misses the playoffs, and even another first-round nomination probably won’t happen there. I could talk about Ken Holland. I could also talk about the team.”
NHL Rumors.com Note: Additionally, Dennis Bernstein outlines Ken Holland’s signings and the previous administration’s inability to move the Los Angeles Kings forward with regard to their young players and depth within the organization. The inability to sign Vladislav Gavrikov last season and let him walk for nothing, despite things being right there. Didn’t play enough Jordan Spence. Similar to Brandt Clarke this season. So unless the Kings go on a massive losing streak, Hiller will be reevaluated at the end of the season.
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