Jim Hiller Fired as Kings HC, D.J. Smith Named Interim Coach for Rest of NHL Season

The Los Angeles Kings announced Sunday they fired coach Jim Hiller with the team on track to miss the Stanley Cup playoffs.

D.J. Smith will serve as the interim coach for the remainder of the 2025-26 season.

"I want to thank Jim Hiller for his dedication, professionalism, and the commitment he showed to our players and our team every day. He is a respected coach and person, and we appreciate the work he's done behind our bench," general manager Ken Holland said.

"At this point in the season, we believe a change in leadership is necessary to give our group the best opportunity to reach its potential and compete at the level we expect. These decisions are never made lightly, but our responsibility is to position this team for success now and moving forward."

Hiller was midway through his third year with L.A. but only had one full season at the helm. He took over for Todd McLellan as the interim replacement in February 2024.

Under Hiller, the Kings' streak of first-round postseason exits stretched to four years. They twice lost to the Edmonton Oilers, first in five games and then in six.

Now, L.A. is fifth in the Pacific division and three points behind the Seattle Kraken for the second wild-card spot. The team's playoff performances in 2024 and 2025 presumably gave the front office some pause about how things would fare if it even qualified.

The Kings blanked the Calgary Flames in a 2-0 shutout on Saturday, but their 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Oilers on Thursday night was pretty much the final nail in Hiller's coffin.

Oilers-Kings Highlights

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Los Angeles clearly isn't getting enough from one of the most expensive rosters in the league. It's averaging the fourth-fewest goals (2.53) despite having an attack that boasts Anže Kopitar, Quinton Byfield and Adrian Kempe. Acquiring Artemi Panarin ahead of the trade deadline helped but didn't go far enough toward addressing the bigger issues.

Firing Hiller was the most straightforward lever for Holland to pull when the status quo wasn't working. Still, there isn't a lot of time for Smith to right the ship and improve things to where advancing out of the first round looks possible.