"John and I had very productive dialogue this last week in relation to his head coaching philosophy and specifically how he would implement a strategy to activate our players offensively while maintaining the defensive philosophies we have come to be known for," said Blake. "I am confident that we are both in agreement on how that can be executed. With that said, we believe John has the ideal qualities to lead our hockey club. His wide array of coaching experience, including success as an NHL head coach and his inherent knowledge of our players and those in our development system, is very appealing to us. We are confident he is the best person to lead our hockey club forward."
Stevens is officially the 27th Head Coach in Kings history with 24 different men - including Stevens - having served as Head Coach.
Stevens served as the Kings Head Coach for four games during the 2011-12 regular season (Dec. 13, Dec. 15, Dec. 17 and Dec. 19) and the Kings posted a 2-2-0 record. Stevens replaced Terry Murray (his last game was December 10, 2011) before Darryl Sutterwas hired (his first game was December 22, 2011). Sutter and his coaching staffs played pivotal roles in the Kings winning the two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014.