EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Los Angeles Kings made a late-season coaching change Sunday, relieving Jim Hiller of his duties and naming associate coach D.J. Smith interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
Kings vice president and general manager Ken Holland announced the move, which also includes player development coach Matt Greene joining the staff as an assistant coach under Smith.
We have relieved Jim Hiller of his duties and named D.J. Smith interim head coach for the remainder of the season, Kings Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland announced.
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 1, 2026
In addition, Kings player development coach Matt Greene will join Smith as an assistant coach.… pic.twitter.com/3MCzFfNF41
“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,” Holland said in a statement. “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, 56, has been the Kings’ head coach for parts of three seasons. Across that span, his total record was 93-58-24.
This season, Hiller guided the Kings to a record of 24-21-14, good for fifth in the Pacific Division. However, their season has been defined by a considerable disparity between their home and road games, with a home record of 9-13-7 and a road record of 15-8-7. The Kings are allowing the eighth-fewest goals in the NHL, at 2.86 per game, but also score the fourth-fewest at 2.59 per game. Their penalty kill percentage of 75.7% ranks fifth-worst in the league, while their power-play percentage of 16.3% is seventh-worst. In previous comments to the media, Hiller stated that he is the coaching staff’s primary decision-maker for the power play.
Throughout the season, Hiller maintained that the Kings were playing well and would go on a run eventually. However, that run never came, as the Kings never had a winning streak longer than four games.
Hiller was initially promoted from assistant coach to head coach in February 2024 on an interim basis after the Kings let go of Todd McLellan in another midseason firing. He led the Kings to a 21-12-1 record in the regular season, followed by a five-game loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. At the end of the 2023-24 offseason, then-Kings general manager Rob Blake made him the permanent head coach. His time in Los Angeles marked his first NHL head coaching job.
Although he led the Kings to the playoffs in both 2024 and 2025, posting a 48-25-9 record in the latter, he came under significant criticism for some of his decisions in the Kings’ 2025 first-round series, also against the Oilers. Most notably, he made an unsuccessful challenge in game 3 in an attempt to overturn a goal, which ultimately gave the Oilers momentum to win the game and turn the tide of the series, which they won in six games. His decision to shorten the Kings’ rotations in that series was also cited as a factor in the loss.
Prior to his stint with Los Angeles, he served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders, as well as the head coach of several junior league teams. He also played professionally as a forward for 10 years, including appearances in 63 NHL games, during which he scored 20 points.
Smith, 48, is in his second full season with the Kings organization and joined the club on Feb. 5, 2024. He previously served as head coach of the Ottawa Senators from 2019-24, guiding the team through a rebuilding phase and compiling five seasons behind the bench in Canada’s capital.
Before his tenure in Ottawa, Smith spent four seasons as an assistant coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015-19. During that time, he worked alongside Hiller, who was then also on Toronto’s staff, before Smith was hired by the Senators.
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Smith brings more than a decade of junior coaching experience in addition to his NHL résumé. He spent 10 seasons in the Ontario Hockey League, first with the Windsor Spitfires from 2005-12 and later with the Oshawa Generals from 2012-15. While in Windsor as an assistant and associate coach, Smith helped guide the Spitfires to back-to-back OHL championships in 2009 and 2010, capped by consecutive Memorial Cup titles as the top team in the Canadian Hockey League.
Greene, a former Kings defenseman and two-time Stanley Cup champion with the franchise, transitions from a player development role to the NHL bench as part of the reshaped coaching staff.
The move signals a pivotal moment for the Kings as they push toward the postseason. By elevating Smith on an interim basis, the organization is turning to a coach with both NHL head coaching experience and championship pedigree at the junior level in hopes of sparking a response down the stretch.
The Kings will look to regroup quickly under Smith as they prepare for the final stretch of the regular season, with Holland emphasizing that the decision was made with both immediate results and the franchise’s long-term direction in mind.
