No Coaching Change Coming in Los Angeles, Not Yet Anyway
Dennis Bernstein and Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Steve Kouleas on the Thursday 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 Transcriptions
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Steve Kouleas: “Kings. Are they worried about making the playoffs? Where are they in their last 20 games? In your mind? And there’s rum, there’s so many new coaches, we can’t talk about them all.”
Dennis Bernstein: “I’m gonna do my TED talk now. You’re gonna give me a couple of minutes on the Kings.”
Kouleas: “Go Ahead”
Bernstein: “Okay, let’s start with Jim Hiller. And since we’re in Vegas, cool, I wouldn’t take the 4/1 odds on Jim Hiller being the next coach fired. Why? I don’t see anything imminent regarding his status behind the bench at this point in the season Koul.
36 regular games remaining. The bottom would have to fall out of the King season. What do I mean by that? A long losing streak of regulation games for him to be terminated. Yeah, they’re double digits, pace behind last season, and they their play almost exactly mirrors last season’s Calgary Flames.
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Listen, to me on this. Both 29 ranked offenses. The team MVP is the goaltender. Dustin Wolf last year, this year, Darcy Kuemper and all the overtime losses. Calgary tied for the league lead last year, the Kings are second to Vegas, but you can count on one hand, the number of games they’ve been out of.
They’ve been competitive against the top teams. night, they lost in overtime to Vegas. So the inability to make plays late in games, that’s the thread through these losses, both regulation and regular.
Now, Hiller didn’t do himself any favors post game press conference Friday, on Monday, he walked in the room if the team lost 11 of 16, and said, We’re playing well. What he should have said is, we’re playing well, but we need to play better, especially offensively.
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So while he’s safe, I think for the regular season, I think his tenure will be measured and tied to the season’s results. I can’t see him returning if the team misses the playoffs, and even another first-round nomination probably doesn’t get there. I could talk about Ken Holland. I could talk about the team as well.”
NHLRumors.com Note: In addition, Dennis Bernstein outlines the signings of Ken Holland and the previous administration’s failure to push the Los Angeles Kings forward regarding their young players and the depth inside the organization. The failure to sign Vladislav Gavrikov last season and let him walk for nothing, despite things being right there. Didn’t play Jordan Spence enough. Similar to Brandt Clarke this season. So, unless the Kings go on a massive losing streak, Hiller will be re-evaluated at the end of the season.
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