EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Jim Hiller wants to restore the confidence the Los Angeles Kings played with at the start of the season now that he’s been promoted to interim coach.
Hiller led his first practice on Thursday afternoon following the firing of Todd McLellan last Friday, overseeing a nearly hour-long session after the Kings (23-15-10) returned from the NHL All-Star break.
The 54-year-old will make his NHL head-coaching debut on Saturday when Los Angeles hosts the Edmonton Oilers (10 p.m. ET; BSW, NHLN, CITY, SN, TVAS, CBC).
“I’ll say it like this -- we are a really good team,” Hiller said. “We have struggled, we’re not going to hide from that, but I think it would be a mistake to overreact in some areas of the game when I don’t think that’s necessary.”
The Kings started the season 20-7-4 but have gone 3-8-6 in their past 17 games, leading to the dismissal of McLellan after five seasons. They are fourth in the Pacific Division and hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Hiller, who was in his second season as an assistant with Los Angeles, was pleased with how his first practice in charge went.
“I liked our effort, I would say that,” Hiller said. “But we've got to do it again tomorrow, and then you've got to do it Saturday night, so it’s a grind. We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves after one day.”
Hiller credited new assistant D.J. Smith, the former coach of the Ottawa Senators for five seasons until he was fired Dec. 18, with helping make it a smoother transition into his new role.
“And on a day like today when there’s so much going on, to be able to say, ‘D.J., grab those two drills that we’ve done in the past and run ’em,’ and know that he knows what I’m thinking, it makes it a lot easier,” Hiller said.
In addition to his time as an assistant with the Kings, Detroit Red Wings (2014-15), Toronto Maple Leafs (2015-19) and New York Islanders (2019-22), Hiller had 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 63 NHL games from 1992-94 for the Kings, Red Wings and New York Rangers, giving him an understanding of how quickly confidence on the ice can come and go.
“We know sometimes the only way to do it is [to] go out there and earn it through work ethic,” Hiller said. “And if we do that, if we get rewarded, I don’t think it takes long to get your confidence back.”
The timing of the coaching change gave Kings players a chance to process it, and what comes next, with veteran defenseman Drew Doughty saying being away from the ice for a week was helpful.
“As we were losing all those games and stuff," Doughty said, "no matter where you went, no matter where it was, I was always thinking about what can we do different? What’s the problem here? Why aren’t we winning? Things like that.
“So, it was finally good to get hockey off my mind for a few days. I’m sure you guys were watching practice, but we had an unbelievable energy in practice today. Like that was a really, really good practice, and everybody’s excited to be back here.”
Although center Phillip Danault was disappointed the team’s recent poor play led to McLellan’s exit, echoing the sentiments of teammates throughout the dressing room, he believes Hiller’s elevation can help get the Kings going again.
“I think he’s going to push to bring us back to the level we were at the beginning of the year, which is play fast, push our pace,” Danault said. “We got kind of lazy in the last month. I know we played a lot of games, but we didn’t have many practices, Todd didn’t have a lot of chances to bring us back on track.
“Like I said, I think Jimmy’s going to bring that. We have no choice now. We want to win and we've got to believe in the system, believe in what we’re going to do, believe in the room and teammates. And I think everyone can do a job. We saw it at the beginning of the year.”
