Kings name Jim Hiller head coach full time

[Cloned]

I feel like this is the wrong move for them. Maybe they couldn’t find a more established head coach willing to use the 1-3-1.

Los Angeles Kings remove interim tag, extend Jim Hiller on multi-year deal | TSN

The Los Angeles Kings and Jim Hiller have finalized a multi-year deal that makes him the team's full-time head coach, according to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun. LeBrun adds an official announcement is expected later on Wednesday.

www.tsn.ca

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[Hockeyholic]

They need to abandon the 1-3-1 and open things up. There are probably many players on the team who do not approve of this decision.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

From an outsider, he seemed to do a good job and righted that ship after taking over

 

[EpochLink]

So the Kings gonna roll out the 1-3-1 next year?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Hard to tell what this is going to look like

I actually like Hiller but

This reeks of "no Rob you can't spend any more money becasue you're a f***up" and easy-to-control to keep everyone 1-3-1-ing into the center of the earth

I feel like Hiller is better than he showed, opting for continuity and just 'make the playoffs' down the stretch

In the playoffs at times he did deploy a MUCH more aggressive system and that's when the Kings would show well before inexplicably kneecapping themselves

I dunno, I want to be optimistic--Hiller is a good dude, the players like him, he's earned his shot and seems creative and thoughtful--but is he gonna get sawed off at the knees by the front office?

3 year deal intrigues me though--shows me that Hiller had SOME leverage and if the Kings stumble out of the gate hard, woudln't Blake be gone? Hard to see them firing Hiller with him that quickly, not sure what to make of that part.

 

[bouncesonly]

Hard to tell what this is going to look like

I actually like Hiller but

This reeks of "no Rob you can't spend any more money becasue you're a f***up" and easy-to-control to keep everyone 1-3-1-ing into the center of the earth

I feel like Hiller is better than he showed, opting for continuity and just 'make the playoffs' down the stretch

In the playoffs at times he did deploy a MUCH more aggressive system and that's when the Kings would show well before inexplicably kneecapping themselves

I dunno, I want to be optimistic--Hiller is a good dude, the players like him, he's earned his shot and seems creative and thoughtful--but is he gonna get sawed off at the knees by the front office?

3 year deal intrigues me though--shows me that Hiller had SOME leverage and if the Kings stumble out of the gate hard, woudln't Blake be gone? Hard to see them firing Hiller with him that quickly, not sure what to make of that part.

I think we'll know based on how close he is to Todd's paycheck.

 

[FrozenKing18]

I'm neutral on Hiller. He's not the main problem in the org. I hope he gets the freedom to coach the players how he wants it. Luc and Blake can fk off.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

So the kings got owned again and decide they should run it back with the same management coach and system?

 

[HockeyVirus]

I am honestly not sure what the Kings are doing. They seem to be getting in their own way a lot and spinning their tires

 

[belair]

Rob Blake's hill(er) to die on.

 

[Maple Leaf]

why do former nhl players run teams
what do they know about management

 

[theMajor]

Hard to tell what this is going to look like

I actually like Hiller but

This reeks of "no Rob you can't spend any more money becasue you're a f***up" and easy-to-control to keep everyone 1-3-1-ing into the center of the earth

I feel like Hiller is better than he showed, opting for continuity and just 'make the playoffs' down the stretch

In the playoffs at times he did deploy a MUCH more aggressive system and that's when the Kings would show well before inexplicably kneecapping themselves

I dunno, I want to be optimistic--Hiller is a good dude, the players like him, he's earned his shot and seems creative and thoughtful--but is he gonna get sawed off at the knees by the front office?

3 year deal intrigues me though--shows me that Hiller had SOME leverage and if the Kings stumble out of the gate hard, woudln't Blake be gone? Hard to see them firing Hiller with him that quickly, not sure what to make of that part.

the Kings were f***ing fantastic on the forecheck in game 2 vs EDM until they were up 3-1 then turtled into the 1-3-1 and almost let the game get away from them. Im cautiously optimistic about him staying on and having more agency in terms of implementing a more dynamic system. he did bring the Kings PP from the bottom of the barrel into the top 5 since he was brought into the coaching staff. though that didnt translate in the playoffs at all- it gives me hope that he has a somewhat creative mind and can squeeze more offense/consistency out of this group.

if Luc is going to hogtie Hiller to the 1-3-1 then next season will likely be a repeat, if not and Hiller can roll with his own system, things should be a lot different

 

[Statto]

Hard to tell what this is going to look like

I actually like Hiller but

This reeks of "no Rob you can't spend any more money becasue you're a f***up" and easy-to-control to keep everyone 1-3-1-ing into the center of the earth

I feel like Hiller is better than he showed, opting for continuity and just 'make the playoffs' down the stretch

In the playoffs at times he did deploy a MUCH more aggressive system and that's when the Kings would show well before inexplicably kneecapping themselves

I dunno, I want to be optimistic--Hiller is a good dude, the players like him, he's earned his shot and seems creative and thoughtful--but is he gonna get sawed off at the knees by the front office?

3 year deal intrigues me though--shows me that Hiller had SOME leverage and if the Kings stumble out of the gate hard, woudln't Blake be gone? Hard to see them firing Hiller with him that quickly, not sure what to make of that part.

I agree with most of this RJ but just to expand on things a touch.

Hiller didn’t have the time to change system’s significantly. This was alluded to early and Hiller pretty much stated that. However BLuc made it clear it was their system being used and they’d need to be party to any changes… insane. So I’m far from convinced he would have had much option to change things even if he could that late in the day. He waited until the later PO games as he had nothing to lose at that point and the team played better, but inevitably made execution errors playing an unfamiliar system. They obviously still went to passive at times also.

However, I think this may be why it’s taken a couple of weeks, or at least I hope it is. If he’s smart (which he is) Hiller will want to stand/fall on his own terms. This is his first HC job and failing by agreeing to play a system dropped on him by BLuc would make him unemployable from there on out, as it’d seriously draw into question his intangibles. Hiller has always been an innovative PP coach and he never showed it as a HC until it was too late and I think that’s on BLuc. As the Interim coach it curtailed his power until the PO. He certainly isn’t in the teams top 10 issue that’s for sure.

That’s my overly optimistic spin on the appointment, anyway.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Oh look, there's Blake signing a multi-year contract extension for someone that hasn't even had their direct deposit setup yet.

 

[Rowlet]

So the Kings had one of the best prospect pools in the league and proceeded to liquidate it for PLD and basically nothing else, then they try and 1-3-1 their way to the playoffs and get destroyed by the Oilers (a team that has 2 of the best players in the league, but is still deeply flawed) 3 years in a row.

Now they have the chance to change things up and they don't bother to. What are they doing?

 

[kingsholygrail]

So the Kings had one of the best prospect pools in the league and proceeded to liquidate it for PLD and basically nothing else, then they try and 1-3-1 their way to the playoffs and get destroyed by the Oilers (a team that has 2 of the best players in the league, but is still deeply flawed) 3 years in a row.

Now they have the chance to change things up and they don't bother to. What are they doing?

Luc said after the series loss this year that the team made progress and was in the series until the end. lol Nothing short of a tumble into the basement of the standings will provide change.

 

[Statto]

Luc said after the series loss this year that the team made progress and was in the series until the end. lol Nothing short of a tumble into the basement of the standings will provide change.

“It was right there” was IIRC, the comment made - during what I must assume was a moment of disassociation.

 

[kingsholygrail]

“It was right there” was IIRC, the comment made - during what I must assume was a moment of disassociation.

There was that quote yes. The larger exit interview was maximum copium. Even Blake started to steer the questions away from Luc. lol

 

[tny760]

So the Kings had one of the best prospect pools in the league and proceeded to liquidate it for PLD and basically nothing else, then they try and 1-3-1 their way to the playoffs and get destroyed by the Oilers (a team that has 2 of the best players in the league, but is still deeply flawed) 3 years in a row.

Now they have the chance to change things up and they don't bother to. What are they doing?

i don't think there's any pressure from above to blake/luc to "actually" compete. status quo keeps them in their positions and a few bucks from a playoff appearance makes the AEG bean counters happy enough

 

[avsfan2189]

is this somewhere i can read about? im not too familiar with this 1-3-1 drama. Like i knew it was a system they played but had no idea that it was a system in place that mgmt wanted them to play no matter what....seems bizarre to handicap a coach like that

 

[FlameChampion]

Kings management seems cooked to me

 

[tarheelhockey]

Congratulations on his promotion to a full time job. That means he’ll get a full salary and benefits.

 

[North Cole]

Lmfao. I mean, even if you couldn't get anyone else to take the job and wanted to give the guy a full time job as someone familiar with the culture et al, why three years?

At the worst he's a TM clone who will change nothing and get similar albeit, nonexistent results. At the best he changes things up given he has an off-season and training camp to implement his own ideas. Given you haven't even seen if the best case is real, why would you opt for multi-multi-year? Shouldn't you want some training wheels first?

What is even going on in that Org? This is approaching the early stages of Buffalo/Oilers/Sens failed managerial decision making, except the team on the ice has enough aged hall of fame talent to not let the wheels complete blow off.

I don't have anything against Hiller, maybe he's fine, but I don't see how he's going to fix anything with the way that team is constructed, and why you'd sign so many years with zero empirical evidence to base it off of.

 

[FrozenKing18]

is this somewhere i can read about? im not too familiar with this 1-3-1 drama. Like i knew it was a system they played but had no idea that it was a system in place that mgmt wanted them to play no matter what....seems bizarre to handicap a coach like that

This is why this signing is irrelevant, even if if it was another coach. Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille still driving this train.

 

[CrazyDuck4u]

LOL