Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille expects coach Jim Hiller to remain behind the bench after the team selects its new general manager.
Robitaille expressed his strong support for Hiller on Tuesday, a day after general manager Rob Blake and the Kings mutually agreed to end Blake’s eight-year tenure.
The general manager, you want to give him the freedom, you don’t want to tie down a new person who is entering, but the history of what Jimmy has done this year is really, really good. It would be very difficult for any general manager to say: ‘Well, this guy shouldn’t come back.’ He’s been very good. I think Jimmy is a great coach, and I fully believe that this guy will be back, for sure.
Luc Robitaille, president of Los Angeles Kings
Hiller has been in charge of the Kings’ bench since February 2024, when the former assistant took over from Todd McLellan, who was fired. The Kings have a 69-37-10 record in Hiller’s first NHL head coaching job, and matched franchise records with 48 wins and 105 points this season, before losing to Edmonton in the first round for a fourth straight postseason.
Robitaille emphasized that the new general manager would have the final say on the coaching staff, but the veteran team president reiterated his overall satisfaction with the state of the Kings’ roster, their coaching staff, and even their style of play, despite their repeated disappointments in the playoffs.
Robitaille made it clear that Blake supported the decision to seek new leadership for the team. Robitaille plans to hire a general manager who can provide a fresh perspective on how to change a roster full of talent that cannot perform in the postseason.
Blakey and I have been talking about it for probably a year. He always said he wanted to wait to sign (a contract extension). I’m not going to go into details about our conversation, but it’s something we talked about… and we both agreed that this was best for the franchise.
Luc Robitaille, president of the Los Angeles Kings
The Kings’ former teammates agreed that “it was time to probably bring in a new voice just to take us to the next level,” Robitaille added.
Los Angeles hasn’t won a playoff series since they lifted the Stanley Cup in 2014, and the Oilers have eliminated the Kings in four consecutive seasons. Los Angeles has won only eight games in total in those four first-round series, and Hiller’s team lost their last four in a row last week after winning the first two at home.
Robitaille didn’t seem close to hiring Blake’s replacement. He plans to examine several candidates, including Marc Bergevin, the former general manager of Montreal, who was Blake’s senior advisor for the last 3 and a half years.
Robitaille isn’t waiting until he hires a new general manager to begin preparations for next season. Working with assistant general manager Nelson Emerson, Robitaille has already spoken with pending unrestricted free agents Andrei Kuzmenko and Vladislav Gavrikov, who played important roles in Los Angeles’ late-season success.
When asked what he was looking for in a replacement for a general manager of a team coming off one of the best regular seasons in franchise history, Robitaille emphasized the importance of evaluating the Kings’ roster with fresh eyes.
We had a good year… but it’s sports, and you want to win the last game of the season. That’s our goal.
Luc Robitaille, president of the Los Angeles Kings
However, Robitaille doesn’t necessarily want to see the Kings abandon their regimented, defense-oriented style of play under McLellan and Hiller.
Fans often criticize Los Angeles’ style as outdated and not offense-oriented, but Robitaille offered a passionate defense of a team that stopped relying so much on the neutral zone trap this season and finished 14th in the NHL in goals scored (249).
We had three of the best lines in hockey. We scored goals. We had a 40% power play (at the end of the season). We felt we needed to adjust our power play, and credit to our guys, they figured it out. Some teams have a 60-goal scorer. We don’t, but we have a lot of guys who can score goals. We play hard. We pressure. We don’t sit back… We want to push.
Luc Robitaille, President of the Los Angeles Kings
