EL SEGUNDO, California Jim Hiller enthusiastically accepted the obvious connection between his playing career and his recently acquired NHL head coaching position.
Three years after being selected in the tenth round of the draft out of Northern Michigan, where he played as a star right wing for three seasons and was a part of the school’s sole NCAA men’s hockey championship in his sophomore year, the 23-year-old Hiller made his professional debut on October 6, 1992, with the Los Angeles Kings.
The 54-year-old Hiller’s dream of managing his own NHL bench will soon come true, if only with an interim tag, and he could not help but notice the symmetry. On Saturday, he will coach the Kings for the first time, against the Edmonton Oilers.
“I don’t know how many people have done that, but it’s pretty special to me, I can promise you that,” Hiller said Thursday after running his first practice.
Hiller played just 63 games in the NHL, but he turned that into a solid coaching career. He spent 12 years in Canadian junior hockey, eight of which were spent as a head coach in the Western Hockey League, and he has been an assistant with four NHL teams over the course of ten seasons: Detroit, Toronto, the Islanders, and the Kings (since 2022).
A door opens for one just as it closes on the other in the coaching business. This is Hiller’s job now, at least for the remainder of the season. A longtime dream is being realized, if not fully celebrated. The Port Alberni, British Columbia native has paid his dues. However, this opportunity comes at the expense of Todd McLellan, whom Kings general manager Rob Blake fired on February 2.
“It wasn’t the moment that I expected, as far as emotionally,” he said of being promoted. “And, so, I got to work through that. Todd’s a friend of mine and he’s a heck of a coach. And I learned a lot from it. …
“Nobody would be doing jumping jacks if that happened to one of their friends. It was emotional. Todd treated my family extremely well. My boys, he was so warm and kind to them. Really enjoyed them.
“It wasn’t like you might expect. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Todd McLellan and Jim Hiller leave the ice after one of McLellan’s last games as Kings coach. (James Guillory / USA Today)
If the Kings do not make the playoffs, it is certain that more changes will be made, possibly Blake among them. Hiller will not graduate from interim coach and his tenure as head coach will be brief. The Kings have 34 games remaining and a wild-card playoff spot, but they hardly looked like a contending team during the 3-8-6 skid that got McLellan fired.
However, there are some who fully support him and think he can take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“You don’t know how many opportunities you’re going to get, or you don’t know how life is going to go, so you just have to take advantage of every opportunity you get,” said Andrew Brewer, who spent eight years on the staffs of Detroit, Toronto and Florida. “He’s going to do great. I’m excited to see him get the opportunity.”
In his first news conference, Hiller didn’t get much into line-combination changes or systems. Hiller focused on rebuilding confidence, on getting the Kings back to a place they were at mentally during the first third of the season, when they were among the NHL’s point-percentage leaders.
“We were a really good team,” he said. “I’ll say it like this: We are a really good team. 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.”
Through his career as an NHL assistant, Hiller established a reputation for having a sharp offensive mind. He often has worked with power plays, first under Mike Babcock in Detroit and Toronto before moving on to the New York Islanders, where he served under Barry Trotz. McLellan brought Hiller in last season and his impact was felt immediately as the Kings’ power play went from 27th in the league to fourth.
“I think he knows what works, what doesn’t work,” D.J. Smith said. “And I think he’s at the age and the point in his life where he knows what kind of teams need certain things. Obviously, he’s always been on the offensive side of things, but he knows that when you keep the puck out of your net, that’s the best chance to win.”
The two were on Babcock’s staff with the Maple Leafs, working closely for four years, having adjacent desks within the Leafs coaches’ office. Good times were had, even when they did not taste playoff success. Smith, who coached the Senators for four or more seasons until his firing on December 18, was hired by Hiller as an assistant coach in his first act as head coach.
Hiller said of Smith: “He could be a stand-up comedian, but he’s one of the sharpest hockey guys that I’ve worked with.”
“One thing with Jimmy, he likes to have a good laugh,” Smith told The Athletic before joining the Kings. “And I don’t know what it’s like in L.A., but not every room is jovial. I think a guy like Jimmy is going to bring a little bit of that humility to the room, and that can be something that gets them over the top.”
Kings center Phillip Danault compared the firing to “sometimes you get a storm and it is just to clear the path,” complimenting McLellan on his success during his time with the team. Danault also praised Hiller for his communication skills, saying, “You work hard but you want to have fun. Got to mix in a little bit of both. I think Jimmy is going to be good for that.”
That is what Brewer saw in Toronto when working with Hiller.
“He’s a relationship-building guy,” Brewer said. “I think he had fantastic relationships with all the players that he’s coached through the years, whether it’s Auston Matthews or Pavel Datsyuk or (Henrik) Zetterberg. He’s coached some real Hall of Fame (level), top, top NHL players. He’s always been able to build a relationship and find a way to work together. So, I think he’s going to do a great job.”
Hiller was a coach for the Tri-City Americans of the WHL and co-founded TruPerformance, a video-tracking company that provided in-depth analyses of players’ games, with former teammate Brad Werenka, a defenseman who played for four NHL clubs. The Kings’ analytical approach to hockey coexists with the human and emotional sides.“He was very much into the analytics at a time when it was just beginning.” In 2017, Bob Tory, the general manager of Tri-City, told The Athletic.“He did a lot of work and research on that.”
“He has always been someone that wants all the information,” said Brewer, who has been a video coach in the NHL and with Team Canada. “He’s definitely been a big analytics guy. He really understands it. That’s where his university background comes into play a little bit, too. He’s got a great understanding of data. …
“He’s extremely intelligent. He uses data and likes analytics. Like to figure out how to do it but also has the playing background. Not just standing in front of the team and throwing out numbers.”
Talking to players one-on-one about their games and being the player’s point of contact with the head coach is one thing; showing them the footage and listening to their concerns is quite another. As a team manager, you have to manage daily demands from the media, meet with club executives on a regular basis, make personnel and tactical decisions that will ultimately lead to a successful outcome.
Smith knows about moving from the side chair to the big one. He’s a big believer in Hiller being able to handle that while staying true to himself.
“Well, I think the biggest thing is the players always need to understand it’s all about winning,” Smith said. “You know what? The easiest way, in my opinion, is to just be yourself and do it your way not in a way you have seen from someone else. It does not have to involve yelling and screaming; it can be done in any way Jimmy feels is right. It can not be scripted; it has to be real. Head coaches have to make difficult decisions.
“For me, it’s always worked when you’re genuine. And when the player knows you care and it’s coming from a place of honesty, I think the players are willing to accept that. I think the players want to win just as much and sometimes a different voice (makes a difference). In the coaching world – obviously in this situation, sometimes change helps a certain player. And hopefully for Jimmy, that’s the case.”
Brewer stressed that the Kings are not rebuilding and are not in too much of a hole to qualify for the playoffs, which is the most important aspect of Hiller’s situation. He compared it to his time working in Florida, where Andrew Brunette took over for Joel Quenneville after the latter was fired seven games into the 2021–22 season, and the Panthers who were then undefeated went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy.
“They’ve had this down spurt for the last few weeks,” Brewer said of the Kings. “However, at the end of the day, there’s still a good team with a good opportunity. A real chance to win a Stanley Cup this year.”
And that is where Hiller gets to live up to this once-in-a-lifetime coaching opportunity. He is determined to restore the confidence that helped the Kings get off to a 16-4-3 start before they abruptly and gradually lost their way.
“The team needs to get its swagger back,” Smith said. “And I believe Jimmy can do that.”
(Photo of Jim Hiller: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)
