The Los Angeles Kings have been flailing and the fans have been begging for a coaching change for most of the season (and even last season). Last night the Kings smacked the Calgary Flames 2-0 for their first win since before the Olympics and what does the team do? They fire head coach Jim Hiller. After they finally won a game, in a shutout no less.
I know nothing about interim coach D.J. Smith other than he was previously bounced out of Ottawa and what little I've seen online this morning Sens fans have nothing good to say about him. But at this point the team had to do something, anything, and they finally did it. They're three points out of a playoff spot and even if they do squeak in, we're probably looking at yet another first round exit. Hopefully there will be at least one competent coach available this summer who can turn this team around.
The Kings have other issues. There's injuries (including the loss of Kevin Fiala, who suffered a season-ending injury in the Olympics) and next season they will be without retiring captain Anze Kopitar for the first time in twenty years. They did pull off a good move acquiring Artemi Panarin a few weeks ago, so at least we've got that going for us. But I have a feeling we're looking at a long rebuilding unless they find a head coach who can really light a fire under these guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment