Kings Internal Options for Vacant Coaching Position

The Los Angeles Kings are currently without a permanent head coach, with Jim Hiller still holding the interim tag for now.

There's a massive pool of coaches available to the Kings, but they might look to stay within the organization for their next head coach.

On Thursday I explored a few external options for the Kings, and today it's internal options.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't know if you can use that phrase to describe bringing back Hiller after a five-game elimination to the Edmonton Oilers, but Hiller did meet his mandate per Rob Blake.

He was told to get the Kings into the playoffs and he did exactly that.

Not only did he meet the mandate, he did so with flying colors. The team went 21-12-2 and had the league's best home record during Hiller's tenure.

Hiller could also argue that he never got to implement his own ideas fully and with a summer to make tweaks and get the team playing how he wants them to, results will improve.

Hiller is well respected as a great hockey mind and is well-liked in the Kings' locker room, so I could see the sense in sticking with him.

It would have to come with some systemic changes though.

The other thing to consider is that Pierre-Luc Dubois saw better results under Hiller, he still wasn't good enough, but he was better.

The Kings can't make their next coaching decision based solely on who can get Dubois to perform, but the ability to get star players to produce should be a consideration.

Risking what could be his last head coaching hire on a rookie head coach could dissuade Blake though. 

After Todd McLellan was fired and Hiller was promoted to interim head coach, former Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith was brought in to replace Hiller as assistant coach.

Interstingly, according to Hiller, Smith ran the even strength side of things while Hiller remained the power-play coach.

That wrinkle could make Smith a favorable option in the eyes of the front office. Going back to Dubois, the player highlighted Smith as a big reason for his uptick in performance after the All-Star break and I wouldn't be surprised if the front office takes notice of that.

Smith has been a successful assistant coach in the league, but his stint as a head coach was fairly disastrous. 

In four seasons with the Senators, he never posted a winning record and had a high of 86 points, which landed him sixth in the Atlantic Division.

Some of those years were spent with a bottom-feeding roster and can't be held against him, but in his last few seasons in Ottawa, that team massively underperformed. 

Promoting Smith would be an unambitious move by the front office.

Currently, on an impressive playoff run with the Ontario Reign, Marco Sturm could get the call-up back to the NHL this summer.

He led the Reign to a 42-23-7 regular season and has them 5-0 heading into the Pacific Division Finals.

Sturm knows the organization, knows the systems they want to play and knows several of the young players who should be supplementing a roster with cap issues next season. 

There are several reasons Sturm would make sense as the next head coach. There are also some reasons he wouldn't. 

Like Hiller, Sturm would be a rookie head coach, which might not excite Blake. His last stint in the NHL was also a disaster. While running the Kings' power play, the team had one of the worst units in hockey.

Sure, they lacked some skill at the time, but his persistent refusal to put shooters on their weak side for one-timers, and general lack of imagination on the power play didn't help things either.

I've also heard mixed reviews about Sturm internally. I get the vibe that he's very average, no one has anything bad to say about Sturm as a coach, but I've also never heard anyone rave about how good he is either.

He struggled in his first season to get his message to players but has improved in year two, leading to a better season from the Reign.

If the Reign continue to tear their way through the Calder Cup playoffs, I wouldn't be surprised if his name picked up steam as the next head coach. 

If promoting him meant a shift to give more of a role to some of the young players he worked with in Ontario, I could see it being a success.