The LA Kings new general manager speaks. What did he have to say? Will Jim Hiller be back as head coach? That and more on this edition of Locked on LA Kings.
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26 Comments
At a MINIMUM, Luc should’ve been fired, no playoff series wins since became president in 2017.
Not impressed with press conferences at all. The guy seemed way too excited about living in so cal, hopefully he doesn’t get to distracted by Disneyland and Manhattan beach.
As a long-time kings fan and notorious kings critic, I am willing to give this new GM a chance . Let us see what happens during the summer. Saying that, this team cannot return with the same lineup next season. The team we had against oilers was obviously not good enough. Kings need depth, physicality and more scoring. Scoring defenseman would not hurt either. By early October we should get some idea what to expect.
Hiller is a great young coach. Lets not Monday QB. He made mistakes but he pulled out all the stops. The all forward power play sure worked. I'm very glad he's back. Go Hiller Go Kings
As an oilers fan i will let you guys know hiller is likely going no where, we had to drag holland kicking and screaming into firing coaches. Be patient for any change at all under him
The Kings are the definition of insanity. So many top tier coaches out there and they choose the guy who lost them the 1st round series. What a joke.
A whole lot of overreacting in this chat and overall from this Fanbase. Kings fans need to stop playing GM or franchise owner and take faith in their decision making. Holland isnt a HOF for no reason. A tad older but realistically well seasoned in a GM position so I'm certain he knows what Jim Hiller can do with this team.
Everyone that knows anything about hockey knows Hiller had a major part in the poor decisions in playoffs.
I can’t imagine for a second that Kings brass are not having deep discussions about Hillers playoff decisions with Hiller regardless of what Hiller said to media.
Luc is basically the GM lol
Hiller had a great head season and that’s part of the reason we got 2nd and home ye he made critical mistakes but at the end of the day it’s the team that blew leads not just hiller
Agreed. Hiller needs to go. He got the job only as a fill in after Todd was canned. If Hiller in October and November has too many losses or ties for one point, he needs to go. But mid season shuffles and switching of coaches are very speculative moves too.
Holland has to get a top first tier offensive scorer that hits at least 90 points but better yet 100 points. Kempe barely squeezed into the top 40 list.
The LA sports capital mega market deserves super stars on the team now that Anze and Drew are aging and lost speed and strength and endurance.
Big mistake
Mr Garcia truly hates Jim Hiller. Mr Garcia thinks like a fan explaining his idiotic comments.
I can't help but be disappointed that the Kings are keeping Hiller. I don't usually like to blame the coach and I often see firing them as easy answer to more complex problems. But in this case, Hiller was 1000% the cause for the Kings blowing out and losing faith in their team on that series. When Kings were on their game, they would dominate, but once they turtled in the 3rd they gave the Oilers every chance to come back and build their confidence up. I feel that the Oilers are a juggernaut right now in the playoffs, because the Kings sacrificed themselves to them.
The Los angles kings will most likely lose to the Edmonton oilers for a 5th straight year because of this decision. Trust me I am a fan of the Los angles chargers and no matter how good the players are you can’t out play bad coaching. I would argue the grate regular season is more because the gm built a good team more than a head coach. In the regular season a head coach can relax more and just let the team play. But in the playoffs the head coach has to constantly make changes just to keep up. We got out coached in this playoffs, they constantly made line up changes and were switching their defense and changing there goalie to keep up with us. Compare that to Jim Hiller who even when the season was over still wouldn’t admit he was wrong about the 4th line. That alone shows that he is stubborn and will not change. What sucks most is this next season is the last time we will see the la kings like this, I love this team but this is not the same team from 4 years ago where we were the youngest playoff team with a grate future. Kempe, fiala, kizmento, more, denault, gavrikov, are all 30 or will be in a season or two that with kopitar also leaving means within the next seasons we will need to make an effort to trade some of them to get younger. Maybe trade danault and more together to get a good yung player. With that said I hope I am wrong and the kings, and they make it farther in the playoffs. Maybe with byfeild on the first line he can make big jumps maybe even 90-100 points that would make me feel grate about the future.
Ken Holland is notorious for not firing a coach until his own job is in jeopardy. That being said I think he will improve this team but they will probably lose a RFA to a offersheet before the summer is over.
The Kings paid Mclellen to not coach last season. They are not paying a coach the next two seasons to not coach the team. The coaches you brought up will cost a lot money. This is something every time you talk about Hiller you never talk about.
Rookie coach. Hopefully Holland can be a good influence. Holland will be different than Blake. Bring a different perspective on how to run the team.
He has worked with some hall of fame coaches and will bring a different way of looking at things.
I am encouraged.
Love The Hire. To Get Past The Oilers And Overcome Destiny That Is Against Us. 5 Finals Appearance 4 Cups. Brings A Finishing Culture And Knows The Oilers. Next Jay Woodcroft As Assistant To Jim Hiller. Good Combo Trio If DJ Smith Stays GKG.. Welcome To LA
Great moves! The experience is there to help all areas. Agree with Hiller (105) should stay this coming year & I expect different results next playoffs. The Kings are so close & I don’t believe they should change much.
It your best work, Eddie.
I believe that the Kings own analytics supported Holland shortening his bench against Edmonton.
They will fire Jim halfway through the season. If that
May I chime in on coaching replacements: ## 1 and 2: Bownes or Bourdreau; #3: Bylsma; #4: Torts. I offer Torts for 2 reasons. #1: his post game pressers w/Dennis Bernstein would be worth more than the price of admission to the games themselves. #2: if a player is playing like shit, Torts will tell him so and shape him up.
As a long time kings fan about the same time as you Eddie, I put all my faith in Rob Blake defended him to till the end but right now I don’t wanna have anything to do with the kings. I am so disappointed all the good players he let slip through the cracks. I’m sure that will change, but give me time to grieve. GKG? 😢 i know it is just a game but for some reason that doesn’t help.
First moves? Go and try to sign Bennett and , or Marchand..stay away from Marner, PLEASE!l 🙏