The Los Angeles Kings fired head coach Todd McLellan after five seasons, the team announced on Friday.
Jim Hiller was named the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
‘We want to thank Todd for his hard work and dedication to the organization,” Kings general manager Rob Blake said in a statement. … ‘This was not an easy decision, but we felt the change was necessary at this time.”
The Kings enter the All-Star break fourth in the Pacific Division with 56 points (23-15-10), good for seventh in the Western Conference. Los Angeles has just three wins in its last 17 games, with losing streaks of eight and four games in that stretch, but still are slotted in the first wild-card spot.
McLellan had expressed frustration with the team after it blew a 3-1 lead in a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres last month.
‘We’re maybe not playing our best, but the stupidity that went into that loss is unexplainable,’ he said, according to the Associated Press. ‘I haven’t until now been able to come in and say, boy, we played really dumb. And that’s what we did.’
Hiller will be tasked with shoring up the Kings’ defensive play, which had taken a step back during the slump.
The Kings had allowed the league’s fewest goals (74), through Dec. 27, when the team was 20-7-4. They have given up 58 in their last 17 games. All-Star goalie Cam Talbot was 0-6-2 with 4.27 goals-against average and .873 save percentage in January.
McLellan, the sixth NHL coach fired this season, has been with the Kings since the 2019-20 season. He missed the playoffs in his first two seasons there and didn’t get Los Angeles out of the first round.
He finishes his tenure with the Kings with a 164-130-44 record. Before coaching Los Angeles, he spent five seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and seven with the San Jose Sharks.