Jim Hiller Announced as 30th Head Coach in LA Kings History | Introductory Press Conference

Jim Hiller Announced as 30th Head Coach in LA Kings History | Introductory Press Conference

[Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] I’m [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] inside guys again thank you everybody for joining us today for the media availability for Jim Hiller we are joined by general manager Rob Blake and head coach Jim Hiller we’ll open with a few opening statements from both Rob and Jim and then we will move to questions we’ll have two mics on either side of the room for questions please signal that you’d like a mic and then I’ll call on you for questions if you do have a follow-up question please ask it following your initial um with further Ado we’ll throw to Rob for opening remarks well thanks for everyone for coming um first of all I’d like to formally introduce Jim as head coach of the LA Kings I know there was a inim basis near the end of the season and you know throughout this process uh you know pretty much from that point on but especially here the last few weeks and I’m not going to get into details specifics of other conversations but in particular with Jim um where where Jim always seemed to come to the top was uh in the aspect that we’ve had time together we’ve seen them work uh we’ve seen them in all these different situations and um you know the criteria we’re looking for the um the different characteristics or attributes and Jim filled a lot of those for us uh you know the best was being able to watch him under pressure situation s is an assistant coach uh taking his team over at a very difficult time and steering them in the right direction uh you know very comfortable very confident in Jim’s approach to challenge um not only the group but the players individually and and then there’s that follow-up process to keep everybody online I think that’s become a very important part and uh was able to watch Jim do that firsthand his presence in front of the group is very important to us the the way he can command the room and drive home the point the point that we make together the direction that we want to go together uh confident he can drive that home uh Jim’s interaction uh with other staff and when I say this it’s other staff members within our organization and uh you know whether it’s strength and conditioning development analytics plays big part um you know medical equipment we H Jim and I our job together is to guide that group and and I’m very uh confident he can take charge of those confers conversations and have us go in the right direction um you know meeting with the players at the end of the year a lot of the the reference from them was about Jim’s passion coaching so I pressed further what what do you mean by that and in their aspect it was they really felt he was part of the group and and that was important for me to hear so uh at this time I’m excited the LA Kings are excited to to introduce Jim as head coach of the LA Kings thanks Blakey wow some nice words uh uh listen first off uh I have to thank uh Mr Anu Stan Beckerman Luke and Rob in particular uh for the trust uh for the leadership I think uh most of you know 35 just shy of 35 years ago I was drafted by the LA Kings so to be sitting here today uh is an honor to say it lightly to uh to to have that long and winding path to end back up here as my first head coaching job with the Kings is not something I don’t take lightly um I also have to thank my wife Kath my daughter trivia my son Talon my son tusin um you don’t get anywhere without your family and this is a this is quite a wild ride in the hockey business uh they’ve been by my side supported me and that’s been really important lots of moving for those kids um you start out as a player and you play with so many different guys you have so many different coaches they impact you and then you switch over to coaching and you have so many different coaches you coach with and they have an impact on you and the players you coach have a tremendous impact you and shaping you and in the end those players they got to play well and have success or else you as a coach don’t have success so there are literally hundreds of those people that I could mention from coaches to players um and it would be a disservice for me to to forget somebody so I don’t want to go through that list but there is one guy I just I just have to mention who’s had such an impact on me uh in in a coaching perspective and certainly personally that’s Jac ler I had the chance to to work with Jac for for many years in a couple different organizations uh he spent a lot of his own time and energy with me having coffee discussing the game and imparting what I think is tremendous wisdom so he’s had just a great influence on my coaching career and I I just really like to thank him um and what a gentleman learned about being a through jacqu for sure so that’s it I’ll I’ll open it up for questions um and just really happy and proud to be here sitting in front of you thank you for those statements uh couple hands for mics we’ll start with Jim Hill from CBS and Dennis fernstein Jim go ahead right here coach first of all congratulations Jim Hill with Channel 9 Jim Hiller our family tree has many branches I guess you might say we had this discussion yeah what’s this seems like a very emotional day for you how emotional of a day is this for you because we can tell in your voice and by your mannerisms yeah well I’m I’m proud you know what I mean and and the the tie in with you know you start out as a hockey player and you just love playing hockey and you’re a kid and you watch the NHL and then someday you get drafted into the NHL that’s a that’s a big moment it’s a big moment and the team that drafts you you’re you’re forever tied to them that’s your team and so to be sitting here today after all those years um yeah it is emotional it’s exciting and uh and it’s a proud moment on the left J it was three weeks between game five and Edon and yesterday what were your feelings over those three weeks were you concerned were you nervous did you think you were in the running what were your emotions during that lapse of time well uh first I had to take a rest Dennis you know what I mean it was a it was quite a run from when we started uh the the schedule was compressed uh the playoffs Came Upon Us quickly so I just had a decompress a little bit but um despite how the playoffs ended and that that hurt that took some time I’ll I’ll be honest with you there because I thought you know I thought we were right there with them uh we were you know proud of the of the work we did um in the short amount of time we were you know I talk to the other coaches and we were we were proud of the work we did despite the fact that we didn’t end up where we wanted to end up and I just let the process play out um I couldn’t have done anymore I didn’t feel like it could do anym uh we had uh a lot of conversations we we uh watched video uh we discussed a lot of different things about hockey with the management group and I just felt confident that I did everything I could and I would just let the chips fall where they may Russell Morgan front right Rob there were reports that you offered Jim a three-year contract can you clarify those reports multi-year yes three uh there’s some triggers that could uh potentially get to four a Jim congratulations one of the big topics conversation after the season ended was a system change or style change and Rob said you had some ideas in mind can you elaborate on those ideas well I’m not going to get into details right now Russell uh let’s just put it this way we’ve we’ve started the process of looking at everything about our game we we are a top defensive team in the National Hockey League have been for some years now the identity of the LA Kings is a checking team that’s difficult to play with play against storry we feel we have to find some areas where we can create more offense but not at the expense of what our identity is and what we’ve taken uh some time to create so how do you do that there’s there’s different ways to do that we’re going to explore every one of those and and try to maximize the offense without taking away what is our greatest strength and our identity as the defense so that’s a process that that is there’s deep discussions a lot of times you can do this and then there’s unintended consequences here so those those discussions have to be thought about you got to get your staff together work with Rob and uh and we’ll come to some conclusions by the by the time training camp rolls around congratulations uh love to know some specifics what you learned from day one when you took over for Todd and where you are now and were there any surprises at all saying hey I didn’t know this was going to happen when I become a head coach yeah uh uh what I learned is you know I thought I had good relationships with the players going in I think I learned that those relationships can be strengthened that in C in in my role I thought I had strong relationships as the assistant coach as the head coach the Dynamics different and I think those relationships need to get even stronger based on that Dynamic so that was the one thing that I that I I thought I could just take that forward but now the conversations are a little bit different they’re a little bit tougher sometimes and I think people can have tough conversations when uh they know that you’re in with them they know that you’re on their side and and so that deepening those relationships I think was something that I realized that I that I had to learn Jim there are teams players that are built for the regular season and there are those players and teams that are built for the playoffs this team has shown that they’re built for the regular season what is the difference come game 83 well I mean I I appreciate the question uh but you know it’s a fine line it really is a fine line you you we’ve watched the playoffs I’m sure everybody is following it and each game there’s moments in games that are cut very fine and very thin so when you don’t win and we didn’t win we we’re we’re we’re we’ll take that responsibility um you say why not and you can go too far and trying to figure out why not sometimes it’s just a small detail sometimes it’s as much as getting to the net harder with more determination that that detail in itself might be enough so um I think you just have to be careful delineating the playoffs in the regular season we’re close we’re really close but there are things that we have to do better and there’s there’s things in the playoffs that help you win and help you score and I think getting to the net front and scoring those greasy goals is one of them can we do that better I think so just to follow rob you you said um at your exit meeting that there was a mandate for Jim to make the playoffs there’s a difference between a mandate and a goal the goal I would think every year is to make the playoffs but a mandate is usually yeah you know if you don’t there’s consequences so how does that change going forward is it is there a mandate or is it a goal for this team to make the playoffs both and I you know the the idea in the conversations when Jim took over was we we had a team that we knew could get in the playoffs if if we did some things um we had to get back on track there that that was part of that mandate that’s part of that goal every year yes exactly now what a lot of our conversations here I would say specifically over last weekend we’ll talk systems we’ll talk details you know style of play and different things but what we’ve come to realize and and Jim and I are in the same page here there there’s a certain desire to win that needs to be raised within in our team here and and what that is is is getting a little uncomfortable so we talk about getting on top of the goalie one big thing to try to create more offense get on top of the goalie get on the face you can get to the hash marks right that’s 5et from the that you can probably get there pretty safe not get cross checked not get slashed right you want to go two or three more feet there’s a desire to get there that’s going to hurt you’re going to get hit you’re going to get cross check but that’s how you get that job done we talk about shooting Lanes get in shooting Lanes we did it right from day one when the playoff started here you can really make it look like you’re in that shooting Lane and that misses you by an inch or two and goes the wrong way or you really want to get into that area so for us the message it will be systems it will be different things that we’ll talk about Jim will put his stamp on the team further more than when he took over right we got a clear slate going forward but our mess we we’ve got to get uncomfortable with our group we we’ve got to do it it starts right now right here today with me with Jim right down to our players if that’s where we want to get to that’s what we got to get to so then you have to hate to lose more than you like to win both yeah love to win hate to lose this hasn’t been comfortable the last three weeks here at all way way different than the last two years so I I know what needs to be done in there Jim knows what needs to be done in there we have to start that message right now and middle right uh yeah one for both you gentlemen if I may I’ll start with Jim you talked a little about the emotional component here from from what I gather and talking to people that have worked for you earlier in your career coaching wasn’t a gradual or happen stand thing for you’ve kind of always wanted to be a coach even when you were a youth player you know Junior that age that sort of thing uh can you talk about kind of your your path to this point and uh and that desire how I guess how it veloped at such a young age well uh you know I was just a Canadian kid who loved hockey so you love playing hockey and then uh I was also uh I was also you know I respected my coaches I I found my coaches interesting I think it’s a really it’s a really interesting job because you’ve got a bunch of people put together they’re playing hockey they love it and never mind professional level you can start in the Youth Level level and how do you get the best out of people how do you get 20 25 people to maybe do some things as Rob suggested that are uncomfortable we can do the comfortable thing and I just thought it was a real challenge so to love the game and then the the psychological or mental or emotional part of it to to put them together to me um is a great challenge you know one that I really enjoy and so that’s that’s what led me to it it’s a it’s not even easy job and when it goes good hey you love it but when it doesn’t go good you take the responsibility for it and it sucks but that’s why we’re in it cuz it’s a competitive competitive job and you’re trying to solve the puzzle and it’s a challenge and I guess I like challenges and Rob I’m wondering if you could give us a little bit of insight into these past couple of weeks um you know I know you wanted to talk with Jim and see what his vision was for the team uh were there any other candidates you reached out to or considered or was this more kind of confir confirming that you had your man type thing well it confirmed in the aspect that I got to see Jim work firsthand and like I said I’m not going to get into the specifics or details of other conversations that did take place other than the fact that when when we we zeroed in on Jim’s abilities we’ve got to see it firsthand which is very important to me Dan Greenspan Jim you talked about coaches having to get the best out of people PL du obviously struggled this year how do you go about getting the best out of him going forward yeah Ian I don’t think PL was was happy with this season um I think he’s got more and uh that will be my job to connect with him through the summer I haven’t had a chance to uh to talk to him he left for the World Championships right away playing very well I understand um so when he gets back we’ll have a a conversation I’ve already gone into some of the some of the video you know watching him play you know when you get this kind of time you can dig a little bit deeper you know I see some uh some statistics we’ve gathered you know he’s a he’s a a player that’s when he’s entering the offensive zone with the puck he’s he’s uh our most efficient player at creating offense but digging into a deeper he didn’t have enough opportunities to enter the Zone with the puck so why is that we got to get him more opportunities to enter that blue line with the puck how do we do that how does he do that that’s a process that we’ll work through the summer through video through talking um I’m sure he’ll translate some of that on the ice but what I do know is uh he’s a really good player and he wants to be a really good player and he’ll have a summer that he gets a chance to we’ll get a chance to work together and he’ll come back and he’ll be a good player next year again I know that darl Evans back right first of all congratulations coach uh on your extension uh remember last year when you took over the position you said you going to retain some of the role that you had with regards power play and things like that now that you’re in the position that you’re at will you kind of push on those responsibilities throughout your staff yeah we’ll we’ll look to add to our staff and that in in one of those roles um you know within the group we’ll be will’ll be somebody who will have a responsibility for the power play yes and I’ll you know again as the head coach you’re involved with all aspects but there’ll be somebody that has you know a more dedicated Focus you know to the power play yeah Rob two questions for you a little bit more clarity if you could on the assistant coaches DJ Smith and the other opening and then the second one for the guy who signed du it’s not about the production some nights and a lot of nights it would looked about about engagement and try and compete as someone had signed them to that long-term deal How concerned are you about that part of his game yeah we need that to be much better for sure and then when I talk about that desire and that will the the things we want to do to accomplish goals that we have set in here um we have to have that from them for sure sure uh as far as the uh assistant coach um DJ Smith uh um will be back uh you know that that was part of the deal when we got them there was a term onto that and uh we are looking to add to to that coaching staff and I I’ll sit with Jim here we have the last couple days just to kind of go over the exact style he wants there to fit Ted so right okay uh you mentioned about putting a stamp your own stamp on this team what does that mean because in general you guys want to be gritty and tough and a hard team to play against how is it any different than the previous regime what is your stamp well I you know first of all I think if you if you I’ll just answer that with this if you look at the playoffs right now the teams that are left in the playoffs that gritty style all those teams have those elements so that can’t go that can never go away because we know to reach the ultimate goal you have to play that style so where in other areas of the game with the puck can we try to create more offense that that’s really what it is so um there there’s no magic formula but there are there are things that we can zero in on we can watch video we can count numbers we can look at some areas and say this wasn’t good enough why wasn’t it what can we do here to make this better so that’s the stamp so they’ll be areas that we look at that’ll that might be subtle that might be uh obvious but there will be some changes within that that we’ll have to put in place Jim could one of those changes you’ve got your three highest paid forwards and two none of them play together it’s I mean from the outside from 30,000 feet it looks it seems odd that you can’t get either it’s Kopitar with fiia or du Bob with FAL on a regular basis any reason why that those you know you’ve got F you know F was playing with lazat and Lewis I don’t think that’s the was the idea when he was brought in so is that something that maybe we could see next year yeah I mean everything we’re we’re we’re going to look at all those things and and where do they fit within within the other things we’re talking about it’s it’s it’s quite a puzzle anybody like Puzzles CU this is this is what it is because you move this piece over here and you say cuz now we want to try to do this in this area of the game well now you can’t do that in that area of game because you don’t have that piece over here so all things are considered all things are considered and then we’ll make the decisions that we believe will maximize that here no okay Russ Morgan happy to ask your first 131 question um I didn’t know that was how long in here are we um really you guys did a pretty good job we’re trying we’re trying uh when we talked with kempe and Fala they said it might be fun to try something new so I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that uh we’re we’re going to look at everything that’s that’s what I would tell you we’re going to look at everything um but we’re not going to compromise on the identitive team which is to play good defense there’s teams that are playing the NHL right now that are finals that are play 131 and other teams that don’t but the common theme is they play good defense they check so it doesn’t necessarily matter what the system is you got to check within that system now I’m going to say I guess I’m repetitive we’ll look at the areas where we think with our Personnel how we can maximize some more offense Andrew right yeah hi Jim uh I want to know do you favor a three or a fourman staff I know Todd was a fan of the three a lot of teams kind of have the eye in the sky assistant that sort of thing um you know what what’s kind of your preference now that uh you’re making the decision essentially yeah well you know that’s something we’ve talked about already we we want to uh just put a really strong saff together together we want to we just want to think about where we can maximize these things do we need another person because we’re focused on on a change or something here that he can help us in that area or can we manage it with three we don’t know that at this point we’re open to everything it’s a long summer um there’s lots to do and those are just conversations that will happen Eric Stevens back right yeah congrats Jim uh I got two quick questions um first one for you Jim how much is coaching now a collaborative process with the players versus you give direction and they go out and execute and just a second quick question uh my understanding it’s a three-year commitment Rob is that the that the case that was answered here earlier oh I believe it is a collaboration it it really is it really is because um you know the athletes today they they have a lot of information uh the game is played at such a high level that there’s so many things now that they’re required to know and understand and so I think you have to communicate those there has to be a reason why um and then you have to hold them accountable to those reasons I think once everybody can agree what that looks like uh that’s one thing and then players have to go they’ve got the hard job they’ve got to go out and execute and execute at a high level and and a level as Rob says to be uncomfortable that’s that’s a difficult job our job is within that to make sure we hold them accountable and if they don’t think that we have their best interests at heart as as players or as a team in general because those are two different things then it’s not going to work so that’s why I think the collaboration is required johnon Davis you just mentioned accountability um the one thing that you can do to weaponize accountability is ice time when you have a mandate to to get into the playoffs that may be tough could you see that changing this year with certain if if you don’t get the performances that you are expecting well yeah I mean I think that’s I think that happens with uh with every coaching staff with every team there’s there’s expectations of certain players and during the season different players get more different players get less that that just happens who are those players going to be we don’t know that a large part of that is dictated by the players and their play so we don’t know what that looks like you know we hope everybody’s playing at the to up top of their game sometimes that doesn’t happen Rob what are your plans with your restricted arbitration eligible free free agents lazat and grundstrom uh well we’ve we’ve made contact with all our free agents in different aspects understanding our our want but but we have to process that’s going to you know play out as this uh you know as the off season goes on so I I I don’t think I can answer that correctly just yet any other questions thank you for all attending today gentlemen thank you for your time this concludes our press conference the Kings will give new head coach Jim Hiller win number one in his first NHL game SC the Kings winning in overtime that is what we need when we’re ready to play we are good Jimmy is a very passionate coach he wanted to get the best out of us and he knew how to push certain guys buttons to get the most out of them I believe in them I think everybody in this room believes them they’re going to get it going

The LA Kings have named Jim Hiller as the club’s 30th head coach in franchise history, it was announced on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 by Vice President and General Manager Rob Blake.

Hiller, 55, was originally elevated to Kings interim head coach on Feb. 2, 2024, after serving as an assistant coach over the past two seasons. Hiller made his head coaching debut on Feb. 10 against the Edmonton Oilers to become the 18th different head coach in league history to make their coaching debut with the team that originally drafted them, and the first to do so since Phil Housley (6th overall, 1982 by Buffalo).

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