Jim Hiller has never been a head coach in the NHL. He's now entering his third week into the role he was given when Todd McLellan was sacked during the All-Star Break. As the new head coach, Hiller has pursued a path to get the Kings back to where they started the season. Hiller has now coached six games for the Los Angeles Kings, and the results have been excellent for the once-struggling Kings.
The Kings are 5-1-0 in that span of games. They have one clunker of a loss against the Sabres. They also have three games where they've held the opposition to a single goal.
Hiller was initially brought to be the catalyst thinker behind improving the power play. Throughout his tenure in LA, the power play has been lethal, highlighted by finishing last season as the league's fourth-best power play. While it was undoubtedly pedestrian under McLellan this season, hovering in the middle pack of the league, it has operated at 32% over Hiller's six games as head coach, going 5/16.
The penalty kill remains the best in the league but has sagged a little during the six games under Hiller's tenure. They've killed off 19/23 penalties in the six games, good for 82.6%, below the 87% average they've maintained before the McLellan sacking. Having the PK dip a little off the standard variant they have been operating at is a little cause for concern.
It's even less concerning when considering the two shorthanded goals for the Kings. That's just a deficit of two, considering the four scored against.
The Kings have outscored their opponents under Hiller at an 18-14 margin, which is heavily buoyed by the 7-0 thrashing they took in Buffalo. Outside of special teams, at even strength, they scored 11 goals in six games, aided by two shorthanded goals by the duo of Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe to 13 goals even strength and shorthanded. The Kings allowed ten even-strength goals, which again is buoyed by six Buffalo even-strength goals.
So, outside the Buffalo game, the Kings have allowed four goals in five games. Take out the donut shutout against the Kings, and that's still 11-4 even-strength dominance. The Buffalo game, however, paved the way for significant lineup changes.
The lineup has been in flux under Hiller, with shakeups happening each game. Hiller has been fearless in making these shakeups, and there have been dividends.
The stats and shakeups under Hiller look promising, considering the work he's put in with Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dubois has been playing as the player the Kings hoped when he was acquired in the offseason. He's put up three goals, three assists, and a plus-two in the six games under Hiller and his new point system for Dubois. Dubois has seen an uptick in production with the newly assigned winger in the form of Quinton Byfield at his disposal.
Byfield has been released on the NHL under Hiller. He's been an absolute terror for opposing teams. He's been over a point-per-game player under Hiller with four goals, three assists, seven points, and a plus-four in those six games. We are seeing some of the potential from Byfield that he was drafted under the vigil of Hiller.
Something to keep an eye on, though, is the defensive rotations. Hiller has lineup the McLellan defensive pairs to start games/practices, but will typically realign early in games. Vladislav Gavrikov gets paired with Brandt Clarke and Matt Roy with Andreas Englund. The third defensive pair continues to be an enigma for the Kings as they search for an answer to solve the bleeding from that pair.
To surmise, Hiller has continued some of the key strengths that got the Kings hot out of the gate to start the season, which includes solid special teams and excellent event-strength play. He isn't afraid of shaking the lines up throughout the game and is expanding the game of young Byfield and Clarke to an extent. Yes, Clarke took that penalty to come out of the box to win it, but at least he was out there in overtime.
In his small sample size thus far, Hiller has been excellent for these Kings behind the helm.