The four U.S. presidents whose faces grace Mount Rushmore served between 1789 and 1909.
While they’re unlikely to erect any monuments to commemorate the era, this Kings’ administration has cycled through four leaders in much shorter order.
Jim Hiller became the fourth coach the Kings have had in six seasons under the stewardship of former franchise legends Luc Robitaille and Rob Blake, and he was formally introduced as interim head coach on Thursday in El Segundo.
While Hiller’s playing career was not quite so notable, he did complete 40 of his 63 NHL games with the Kings in the 1992-93 season as a rookie on a roster that also included Blake and Robitaille. Hiller, who was an assistant under the outgoing Todd McLellan but had no head coaching experience at the professional level, will now make his debut behind the bench for the same franchise that drafted him back in 1989.
“I don’t know how many people have done that, but it’s pretty special to me,” Hiller said.
What’s special about Hiller – as opposed to McLellan, whom he thanked Thursday and who once again received kind words from the Kings’ veterans – remains to be seen. Blake offered an obtuse response about what to expect in terms of differences between McLellan and Hiller on Monday. On Thursday, Hiller used the same forward lines that McLellan had favored this season, according to multiple reports. He emphasized that he was not looking to over-tinker, despite a putrid stretch of two wins in 16 games that preceded the fortuitous victory in Nashville that capped McLellan’s 4½-year tenure.
“I know people, probably, are saying, ‘What are the tactics, and [which] things are going to change?’ The most important thing for me after being around the team, which played very well for the first 24 games, is just getting our frame of mind back where it needs to be, so that’s my priority, that’s 95% of my priority” Hiller said. “Because if we can help those guys get back there,…
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