It will be the first game as head coach for Jim Hiller, who was promoted last week to replace Todd McLellan after he was relieved of a role he held for 4½ seasons. Hiller had a firsthand account of the Kings’ rapid descent from Western Conference contender to wild-card hopeful.

“When it’s not going real good for you at different times, it makes the job harder. When you lose a little bit of your swagger and your confidence, and too many guys lose it at the same time, then it can blossom,” Hiller said. “That’s, I believe, what it did. So, the break is good. Let’s just get back to it, let’s understand who we are, get back to the identity of the L.A. Kings and go back to work.”

“I don’t how quick they can get their heads back together and back feeling confident and all that stuff,” he continued. “We know sometimes that the only way to do that is go out there and earn it through our work ethic. If we do that, and we get rewarded, I don’t think it takes long to get your confidence back. If you don’t work, then it’s probably going to take longer and you’re rolling the dice a little bit. I have full belief.”

The Kings won three of their past 17 games, while the Oilers, who made an early-season coaching change of their own, have won 16 of 17. They fell on Tuesday to defending champion Vegas in Edmonton’s first loss since Dec. 19. They’ll face the Kings on a back-to-back turnaround after visiting the Ducks on Friday.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid and the Scottie Pippen to his Michael Jordan, Leon Draisaitl, combined for 49 points across their 16 triumphs.

Meanwhile, the Kings’ two most prominent players, two-time champions Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, were the subject of discussion during Hiller’s introductory news conference Thursday. Doughty, 34, has led the NHL in time on ice this season and Kopitar, 36, has chewed up big minutes despite some evident physical limitations that have curbed his production of late.

“They’re still great players, despite their age. They’ve had amazing careers to this point, and they’re not done,” Hiller said. “What does that look like? I don’t know, but I’m sure glad they’re both here, and that’s all I can tell you.”

Injured winger Viktor Arvidsson has also been present, lately. He mixed back into the group as a full participant in practice on Friday, Russell Morgan of Hockey Royalty tweeted.

Goalie deployment, Hiller said, would flow along the lines of a hot hand, which currently belongs to David Rittich. He won both his starts in December and had the Kings’ only three wins in January. The Kings have earned points in eight of his nine starts overall.

Oft-scrutinized winger Arthur Kaliyev has compiled several healthy scratches this season. The sniping flanker was once billed as a key component of the Kings’ future but has scored just six goals this season.

Hiller, who ran the Kings’ power play for the past year and a half, knew very well how dangerous Kaliyev could be after he racked up a career-high 12 power-play points last season. This year, he has only four so far, and has missed the presence of a right-handed shot on the opposing flank, said Hiller, who believed Kaliyev would have an opportunity to re-establish himself.

“He’s a scorer, he’s a power-play guy, he’s a finisher, so he hasn’t had the looks that he had last year,” Hiller said. “When you don’t have the looks and you don’t score, and you’re a scorer, now you start to get frustrated, now you question yourself, and it makes it hard. So, I’ve got empathy for Arthur.”

Nevertheless, Hiller said there would be no drastic changes tactically or personnel-wise. His promotion could inject energy into a matchup against the team that eliminated the Kings in each of the past two postseasons, one in which the last thing their fans want would be more of the same.

EDMONTON AT KINGS

When: Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV: Bally Sports West

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, center, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, right, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, back, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, center, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, left, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  The Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads a practice in the wake of Fridayxe2x80x99s firing of head coach Todd McLellan at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. ..(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, center, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, second from right, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller, center, leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller leads the team through a practice on Thursday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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  Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller speaks during a press conference on Thursday at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

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, we’ll have time to implement some other changes that eventually you guys will say maybe they are doing something different, maybe they’re not, who knows? But the priority now is the mindset.”

As Blake did Monday, Hiller pointed to the fact that the first 24 games of the Kings’ campaign went swimmingly, with a 16-4-4 mark and superlative statistics at both ends of the ice. At that point, it was their opponents in Hiller’s first game as head coach on Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers, who had been fumbling around the ice in a manner that led McLellan’s close friend and protege, Jay Woodcroft, to the guillotine after a 3-9-1 start. They’ve since made up for lost time and then some, most recently reeling off 16 consecutive wins heading into the All-Star break and then losing in Vegas on Tuesday to fall a game shy of the NHL record for consecutive victories.

Hiller, however, was not avoiding living in the now.

“We are a really good team. We’ve struggled, we’re not going to hide from that,” he acknowledged. “But I think it would be a mistake to overreact in some areas of the game where I don’t think that’s necessary.”

Viktor Arvidsson was skating with the team in a red, non-contact jersey, and goaltender Cam Talbot had a maintenance day, per multiple reports from practice. A break from the battering of such a futile stretch might have done wonders for the minds, bodies and souls of the Kings, who last played on Jan. 31 and won’t be in action again until Saturday. It would be much quicker to count the players who had not struggled to produce or seen dips in their underlying numbers than it would be to enumerate those who had.

One player who had been incapable of concretizing his game, even during most of the higher points of the Kings’ campaign, was Pierre-Luc Dubois. He was the beneficiary of Blake, Robitaille and consultant Marc Bergervin’s $68 million infatuation over the summer. Hiller, who has been heralded as a strong communicator, hoped to improve his established rapport with the 25-year-old center, whose eight-year contract and underwhelming production both indicate he’s likely to be part of the Kings for a long time, for better or worse.

“He wants to get more out of himself. He’s willing to do that and we’ll push him,” Hiller said.

Defenseman Drew Doughty said the players understood that there were only two practices prior to the end of the Kings’ break and that no one would be reinventing the puck in such a short period of time. He cautioned that too many changes could create an adjustment period that the Kings (23-15-10, 56 points) could ill afford in the thick of a densely packed group of teams competing for two wild-card spots.

Instead, he spoke of fineries and new emphases that might swing momentum or, as McLellan was fond of saying, “move the needle” for the wayward Kings.

“We had unbelievable energy at practice, which was good,” Doughty told reporters. “Everyone’s excited to be back.”

They went 16-4-4 in their first two dozen games, soaring through a period that saw them almost completely unfettered by injuries as they ascended to the top of the leaderboards for goals, goals against and points percentage in the Western Conference.

Since, they’ve won just seven of 24 games and only three of their past 17, leading to a coaching change and some hand-wringing from General Manager Rob Blake, whose moves hemmed him in literally from Day 1 of free agency, let alone the season itself.

Now, as first-time pro bench boss Jim Hiller moves into his new role as head coach and a former top man, D.J. Smith, joins the staff as an assistant, the Kings will seek to maintain their tenuous postseason position by actually playing like a playoff team again in a season before which team president Luc Robitaille said “the goal is to win it all.”

“We have 34 games left. Our job is to get into the playoffs,” Blake said Monday, shoving the goalposts forward. “Our team was built and assembled to get into [the] playoffs, and that’s what we need to do. So, that will be judged on wins and losses.”

What’s been going well?

Hiller spearheaded an about-face on the power play last season that awakened the Kings from a profound, years-long slumber with the man advantage. While their power play has been average in 2023-24 – Viktor Arvidsson’s injury in training camp as well as the departures of Gabriel Vilardi and Sean Durzi, coupled with pricey pickup Pierre-Luc Dubois’ pitiful three power-play points, have all contributed to its decline – the penalty kill has picked up some of the slack.

Even as the Kings’ typically strong discipline – penalty differential had been a strong suit under former Coach Todd McLellan – broke down in a smattering of ill-timed penalties, many in the offensive zone, the PK remained resilient. That was in stark contrast to its poor performance last season, particularly in the playoffs when it ceded goals on more than half of the Edmonton Oilers’ power plays en route to a first-round loss.

“Penalty killing right now is first [in the NHL], power play is 15th, or right around that area,” Blake said. “It’s been that way all year. Our power play took a jump last year, but it isn’t at the level we want.”

For much of the season, rival coaches, from Stanley Cup winner Bruce Cassidy in Vegas to first-year head coach Greg Cronin of the Ducks, praised McLellan’s year-over-year adjustments. Even at the bitter end, McLellan was backed by veteran leaders Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty.

Now, it will be up to Hiller, Smith and defensive guru Trent Yawney to make in-season adjustments to improve the power play and five-on-five competitiveness while keeping the penalty kill humming.

What’s been going wrong?

Early in the season, the Kings were able to roll four lines and, essentially, three pairings, all while making few if any lineup changes from night to night. They also rode 36-year-old veteran goalie Cam Talbot, whose early-season excellence behind a system that dominated the puck and limited chances against earned him an All-Star nod.

Of late, Talbot’s numbers have ballooned (0-7-3 with a 3.86 goals-against average in his last 10 starts) and by the time he arrived in Toronto for the All-Star festivities, No. 3 goalie David Rittich (who was waived early in the season but promoted after Pheonix Copley sustained a season-ending injury) had overtaken Talbot’s net. Goaltending was a glaring area of need last season and last summer, and it remained so this week, with limited options to address the void between the pipes.

Compounding matters and weighing down PDO figures (a metric combining save and shooting percentages) have been the Kings’ well-documented scoring woes. As the stench of their recent stretch has wafted through their dressing room, the Kings have broken the three-goal barrier just twice in 17 tries, and barely so in a 4-2 win in Nashville heading into the pause, as an empty-net goal sealed a win in which Blake admitted his club did not play well. Their defensive game has also slipped amid deflating losses and slumping postures.

“We need, again, individuals and the team, that’s numerous individuals and that’s positions from the defense to forwards and goaltenders. We need to be better,” Blake said.

What could change?

Where most teams that were struggling to the extent that the Kings have would be working the phones to call up minor-leaguers and shake up their roster via trades, the Kings might end up with fewer options rather than ever soon.

On one hand, the impending return of Arvidsson, a spark-plug winger who has yet to play this season after undergoing his second back surgery in two years in October, could elevate the Kings’ play and better balance their forward lines as well their power-play units. On the other hand, though the situation is fluid, it could mean the Kings are again back to carrying a roster that’s at least two players short. That could jeopardize the spots of promising but waiver-exempt youngsters, including emergent talents like Alex Laferriere and Samuel Fagemo, as well as lottery picks Brandt Clarke and Alex Turcotte.

The Kings have $8.5 million against the salary cap invested in the not-as-advertised Dubois (20 points, three on the power play, in 48 games with a minus-16 rating, by far the worst on the roster) and over $11 million in actual cash being paid to the aloof pivot in each of the following two seasons, after his no-movement clause takes hold. That won’t represent much in the way of cap savings given that they are paying roughly that differential between Dubois’ actual payout and annual average value in retained salary and cap penalties again next season for two contracts that originated in Philadelphia: those of Columbus defenseman Ivan Provorov and former Kings center Mike Richards.

That’ll all come closer to the fore as the Kings stare down a March 8 trade deadline and a July 1 free agency period overflowing with uncertainty. Quinton Byfield, who was identified by Blake and McLellan as a bright spot during this dark period, is headed toward restricted free agency. As his profile rises, so do his price and the potential for an offer sheet from another franchise that might encumber the cap-strapped Kings.

Heart-and-soul center Blake Lizotte, whose lower-body injury seemed to be trending in the wrong direction during the break per Blake, is also a restricted free agent, along with Jordan Spence, Arthur Kaliyev, Carl Grundstrom and Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Matt Roy, who had been a top defenseman during McLellan’s tenure, appears headed toward his best chance to get paid handsomely in his career, as the 28-year-old could become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. As he did with leading goal-scorer Trevor Moore and since-departed Alex Iafallo, Blake had hoped to negotiate an extension for Roy during the season, a ship he has now twice indicated has sailed.

On Monday, Blake neither ruled out the possibility of trading Roy nor a player “of importance” and “with term,” as a separate question was phrased. Blake referred back to his overarching statement, which took the Kings out of the measured space in which they’d been operating and into a fight-or-flight mode.

“We are a win-loss team. That’s exactly where our team is, everything we dictate and from this point forward is based off of wins and losses,” Blake said.

It’s something of an unusual move for Smith, who was fired as the head coach of the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 18. He, like departed Kings coach Todd McLellan, was in his fifth season with the same franchise. Now, he has accepted a lesser position with a downward-spiraling Kings club that tied the plebian Chicago Blackhawks for the fewest wins in January.

This final bit of cobbling crystallized who will be responsible for righting the Kings’ wayward ship in the final 34 games of a bipolar campaign that saw them start the year with a record number of consecutive road wins but has recently been unkind to them regardless of venue. The Kings (23-15-10) hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 56 points, but they are only four points from falling out and they have meandered through 17 games with just three victories since Dec. 28.

On Monday, General Manager Rob Blake alluded to an outside hire to fill the assistant coach void left by the promotion of power-play guru Jim Hiller to interim head coach. Almost immediately after Blake concluded his remarks, Sportsnet reported the Smith hire, and then the Kings officially confirmed it on Tuesday.

Smith became the latest addition to the myriad criss-crossings between the seemingly distant franchises. The most notable among them might be the competition between 2020’s Nos. 2 and 3 overall draft picks, the Kings’ Quinton Byfield and Ottawa’s Tim Stützle, and the indirect swap of goalies Joonas Korpisalo and Cam Talbot last summer.

Hiller and Smith also have prior history, having coached together as Toronto Maple Leafs assistants under Mike Babcock, who was also the head man in Detroit when McLellan won a Stanley Cup in Motown as an assistant in 2008. They also had somewhat similar playing careers, as dedicated pros who reached the top level but never stuck full-time (Hiller and Smith logged a combined 108 NHL games).

Smith’s tenure in Ottawa could have been deemed relatively successful, as he elevated the Sens above a .500 points percentage last season in hockey’s strongest division by points totals, the Atlantic. But Ottawa failed to build on that positive momentum this season, leading to Smith’s dismissal and replacement by Jacques Martin, who had previously guided Ottawa, from 1996 to 2004.

Several players, including Stützle, backed their outgoing bench boss, who was 131-154-32 without a playoff appearance in Ottawa.

“He believed in us all the way, and all the young guys,” Stützle told reporters. “I think we’re there for like four or five years with him. Everybody loved playing [for] him.”

Among the Kings’ players with whom Smith has familiarity are Talbot and Andreas Englund, from their time in Ottawa. He also knew Trevor Moore from the nascence of his pro career in Toronto, where Carl Grundstrom was cutting his teeth just two miles down the road with the Leafs’ minor-league club, the Toronto Marlies.

As he has followed in their footsteps as an executive, he has, at times, had to defend the indefensible.

Massive misfires like Ilya Kovalchuk, Cal Petersen and Pierre-Luc Dubois have tainted his tenure, one that has also now seen four different head coaches in the span of six campaigns.

In his most forthright address this season, Blake said Monday that he lamented having to dismiss now-former coach Todd McLellan. But he expressed little if any remorse over the offseason moves that seemed to ultimately derail the Kings’ campaign after a sound start and cost McLellan his job.

Blake also acknowledged that, as the Kings (23-15-10, 56 points) cling to dear life in a season when they were supposed to thrive, his own employment might well be on the line.

“It’s my responsibility. I hired Todd. It was my responsibility to let him go the other day,” Blake said. “And I fully understand the repercussions if this team does not win or have success.”

McLellan had made linear progress across his four full seasons as head coach, catapulting the Kings out of the sort of rebuild that other one-time Western Conference powerhouses like the Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks were still very much enduring. He followed 2021-22’s campaign of 99 points with a 104-point effort last year, which was one point shy of the best single-season total in franchise history, achieved in 1975.

Yet this offseason, Blake and his staff sliced and diced the roster, pumping out out seven players and two draft picks in addition to retaining salary. It was all an effort to re-sign the steady and dependable Vladislav Gavrikov for just two years and lock down the red-flag-adorned Dubois for eight seasons, seven of which will carry some form of a no-trade clause, at what’s proven an extortionate $8.5 million annual average value.

“Yes, this is a team that we built to make the playoffs,” Blake said when asked if he would make the audacious series of moves required to acquire Dubois over the summer given the benefit of hindsight.

Dubois has produced just 20 points in 48 games with a team-worst minus-16 rating with no discernible defensive or special teams impact.

“Individually, there’s numerous players here that have not been up to their potential, him included, but the team overall needs to be better, too,” Blake continued.

Now attempting to motivate the Kings’ flagging group, which tied for the fewest wins in the NHL in January, will be Jim Hiller, who had run their power play for a season and a half as an assistant to McLellan.

Blake was asked why the Kings opted for an internal promotion rather than an external hire, and what made Hiller, who had no pro head coaching experience, the most viable candidate to lead a team that holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference but is only four points from falling out of a playoff spot. Assistant Trent Yawney had 103 games of NHL head coaching experience with Chicago, while the Kings’ minor-league head coach, Marco Sturm, was also an NHL assistant and the steward of the German national team that captured surprise silver medals at the 2018 Olympics.

Blake did not respond to the first question, though he later said in a separate response that finances were not a factor, and opted to focus on Hiller’s head coaching experience at the junior level as well as his work as an NHL assistant. He was similarly nondescript when asked repeatedly what would be different about Hiller’s tenure and approach as opposed to McLellan’s, and it remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to tinker with the team’s 1-3-1 scheme, which relies on forechecking and trapping in the neutral zone to generate rushes on offense.

“Well, there’s a different person. It’s a different person in charge. Meetings are different, meeting times are different, approaches to the game. Every single thing would be different when a new person steps in,” Blake said. “I don’t know if I’m going to get into the systems and structure. Part of the timing here, it does give Jim some days here with our group before our next game.”

Hiller, whose first practice as head coach will be Thursday when the Kings return from the All-Star break and their bye week, has been analytically oriented and offensive-minded, both with the Kings and in his previous stops. Those proclivities could provide some insight into what Blake was looking for as the Kings’ penalty kill has persisted in its excellence even as seemingly every other area of their game soured, producing a series of blown leads and tight losses.

How much has a stretch of 14 losses in 17 games, many of them nail-biters, heading into the All-Star break impacted morale?

“A lot. Very much. Confidence,” said Blake, who added that he was “fine” with the present locker-room chemistry. “It’s the same players we’ve had here, 24 games in, we were doing things really well, playing hard. The word that’s been used lately is a disconnect, our team has played disconnected, I think.”

“Offensively, yes, we have to be better, defensively, we have to be better,” he added. “Through 24 games, we scored the most goals in the league, the next 24 were 32nd [of 32 teams].”

Blake added that the assistant coach position vacated by Hiller would be filled externally. While he said that announcement would come later in the week, roughly an hour after Blake spoke it was reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that former Ottawa Senators coach D.J. Smith would occupy the role (the Kings did not respond to an email seeking confirmation of the report).

Blake also shared that center Blake Lizotte (lower body, week-to-week) could be headed for long-term injured reserve, though he also said there was “no update” on Lizotte a moment later. Lizotte would join goalie Pheonix Copley (knee, out for the season) and winger Viktor Arvidsson (back, progressing toward a return) on LTIR.

Arvidsson and Lizotte’s statuses could determine what the Kings are or are not able to do in terms of carrying close to a full roster and investigating acquisitions as the March 8 trade deadline approaches.

Lizotte and Arvidsson, like integral defenseman Matt Roy, are in the final year of their contracts, though Lizotte will be a restricted free agent. Roy, whom Blake said in October he hoped would come to the negotiating table around Christmas, remains on a path toward unrestricted free agency on July 1.

Blake said there has been no advance in contract talks and would not discuss whether or not trading Roy at the deadline would become an option if the Kings’ struggles continued.

“It’s hard to speculate, the direction, wins and losses will dictate it,” Blake said.

The Kings sacked Todd McLellan on Friday after 4½ seasons coaching the club, and just two weeks after General Manager Rob Blake said he was “not at all” considering a change behind the bench.

After a promising beginning to the season, which included an NHL-record 11-0 start on the road, the Kings endured an eight-game losing streak, the impetus for a recent stretch of losing 14 of their last 17 games.

In a statement, the team said it promoted assistant Jim Hiller to interim head coach, and that Hiller, 54, would finish the rest of this season. It was a campaign that had gone from overflowing with offense to circling the drain during an alarmingly rapid descent that saw McClellan’s club win the fewest games of any team over a monthlong span, even as the Chicago Blackhawks’ January provided a Hindenburg disaster to counterbalance the Kings’ Titanic.

“We want to thank Todd for his hard work and dedication to the organization,” Blake said in the statement. “He has done a tremendous job in moving us forward and making a positive impact on our group and in our community”

“This was not an easy decision, but we felt the change was necessary at this time. Jim is a well-respected member of our staff who is familiar with our players. We are confident in his ability to lead our team effectively during this pivotal time.”

Hiller, a second-year assistant with the Kings who counted running the power play among his duties, has no prior head coaching experience at the professional level, neither in the NHL nor the minor pro ranks. He had last been a head coach in the Western Hockey League, a junior league where he won Coach of the Year honors in 2012, before beginning his career as an NHL assistant in 2014.

Hiller has had stints with three other franchises before joining the Kings last season, when he turned around a historically hapless power play, only to be eliminated by a historically efficient one, that of the Edmonton Oilers.

Of course, 2012 and 2014 were also significant years for the Kings, when they won the franchise’s only two Stanley Cups under the watch of executive Dean Lombardi and bench boss Darryl Sutter. Two seasons after Blake took over for Lombardi, who was dismissed alongside Sutter in 2017, he tabbed the 56-year-old McLellan as the man to transform the ashes and remaining embers of the golden era into a Phoenix.

McLellan, who has a career mark of 598-412-134 with his 598 regular-season wins ranking 23rd in NHL history, was 169-138-44 with the Kings. He had seemed relieved that the team went into the All-Star break with a 4-2 victory over Nashville on Wednesday.

“We still have a long way to go get our game back, but to go into the break feeling a little bit good about ourselves is a real good thing,” he said after the game.

In his first year leading them, an end-of-season win streak was dashed at seven games only by the league-wide pandemic pause. Year 2, another COVID-truncated campaign, served mostly to finish chopping up the remnants of the Cup-winning rosters, paring the group down to Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jonathan Quick.

In 2021-22, McLellan’s highest finish in the Jack Adams voting for the NHL’s best coach, Doughty was injured for much of the season, a rarity for the durable defenseman. Quick had an unexpected resurgence, reclaiming his net, while Kopitar remained as steady as ever, leading the team in scoring.

The Kings made the playoffs despite doubts outside the organization, a mountain of injuries, a torrent of call-ups and improvisation more fit for a jazz trio than an NHL coaching staff. The low-flying but shrewd offseason that gave them Phil Danault, Viktor Arvidsson (who missed the playoffs with a back injury) and Alex Edler elevated expectations and motivated harder swings from a theretofore conservative management group.

McLellan’s group was deeper, more tenacious and vastly improved on the power play last season, armed with a resurgent Gabe Vilardi, a healthy Doughty, a recovered Arvidsson and significant additions made via trade over the summer (their points-per-game leader Kevin Fiala) and at the trade deadline (big blue-liner Vladislav Gavrikov and rental goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who not only supplanted Quick but unceremoniously excommunicated him from the organization).

The result, however, was a second consecutive ousting by the Oilers, a team McLellan had guided in his prior stop. His time in Edmonton came between stints with the Kings and San Jose Sharks, who were reverse-swept by the Kings in 2014 after holding a 3-0 lead in the first round under McLellan. McLellan had previously won the Stanley Cup in 2008 with Detroit as an assistant. His salary with the Kings was among the highest per-annum compensation in NHL history.

Before the season, however, a one-year extension was whispered softly into McLellan’s ear, with the team making zero announcement and the news only emerging months later out of Toronto, rather than Los Angeles. McLellan, Blake, Hiller and defense-focused assistant Trent Yawney were on synchronized timelines that would see their existing contracts expire after next season. The front office also got bolder, making a dizzying series of moves to retain Gavrikov and acquire center Pierre-Luc Dubois and sign him to a lucrative eight-year contract.

Gavrikov has not been at the same level since sustaining a knee injury in mid-December. Dubois has reified fans’ worst fears as a $68 million albatross, his 10 goals and 10 assists in 47 games giving him the appearance of being an exorbitantly priced square peg that hasn’t fit into any of several round holes in the Kings’ lineup.

Those timelines did not spell out rousing support from ownership for McLellan or Blake. Principal owner Phillip Anschutz has been typically mum about the comings and goings of the team, publicly, but missing the playoffs and battering his bottom line could prompt further action.

Even with the Kings clinging tightly to a wild-card spot, they opted not to pursue a veteran coach, despite 2019 Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube and McLellan protege Jay Woodcroft, who coached Edmonton last season, among those available. That tempered decision might have sent a message to Blake that if things don’t turn around, a new GM could be naming a new head coach next season.

The Kings don’t play again until Feb. 10 against Edmonton ahead of a five-game Eastern road trip.

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  Kings goaltender David Rittich defends the goal during the second period of their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings right wing Carl Grundstrom shoots the puck to score a goal past Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh, left, during the first period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings right wing Carl Grundstrom, left, celebrates his goal with center Alex Turcotte during the first period of their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh, left, knocks the puck away from Kings center Trevor Lewis during the first period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros blocks a shot on goal during the first period of their game against the Kings on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings right wing Carl Grundstrom, left, skates the puck past Nashville Predators right wing Luke Evangelista during the first period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators center Yakov Trenin, left, and Kings right wing Quinton Byfield chase a loose puck during the second period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings goaltender David Rittich deflects a shot on goal during the second period of their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators center Yakov Trenin, right, and Kings defenseman Jordan Spence chase a loose puck during the second period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings center Alex Turcotte, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring his first career goal during the second period of their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings right wing Quinton Byfield, right, hits the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Tyson Barrie, left, during the third period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the third period of their game against the Kings on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings center Alex Turcotte, right, congratulates center Trevor Lewis, left, after he scored a goal during the third period of their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. Turcotte had his first career NHL goal and assist as the Kings won, 4-2. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, right, hits the puck past Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh, left, during the third period on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Nashville Predators center Philip Tomasino, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the third period of their game against the Kings on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings left wing Kevin Fiala warms up before their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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  Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois warms up before their game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

By TERESA M. WALKER AP Sports Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The slumping Kings found something to feel good about going into the All-Star break.

Alex Turcotte had his first NHL goal and assist and the Kings beat the Nashville Predators, 4-2, on Wednesday night to snap a four-game skid in the final game for both teams before the NHL All-Star break.

Playing his second NHL game of the season and 14th overall, Turcotte – the fifth overall pick in the 2019 draft – made it 2-0 in the second period and had an assist on Trevor Lewis’ goal with 6:39 left that helped the Kings win for just the third time in 17 games.

Turcotte said the goal was so exciting he kind of “blacked out” for a bit.

“Just a big relief. It was all Mooresey,” Turcotte said of Trevor Moore’s assist. “He made a great play through the neutral zone, and I just kind of found the opening. It got to me and just ripped it. I was fortunate for it to go in. It was awesome.”

Kings coach Todd McLellan, whose job security has been questioned, noted his team hasn’t quit.

“We still have a long way to go get our game back, but to go into the break feeling a little bit good about ourselves is a real good thing,” McLellan said.

Dave Rittich, who played 17 games for Nashville in the 2021-22 season, made 38 saves to improve to 5-1-3 this season.

Carl Grundstrom also scored and Kevin Fiala added an empty-netter.

Filip Forsberg tried to rally Nashville with his 24th goal of the season at 5:15 of the third. Philip Tomasino scored his seventh with 3:24 to go, pulling the Preds to 3-2. Nashville snapped a six-game home points streak against the Kings.

Nashville didn’t seem to be the team for the Kings to beat with the Predators taking the first game in Los Angeles on Jan. 18. Nashville had won 12 of 15 between the teams, losing only three times in regulation in the last 27 games going 17-3-7 coming in.

The Kings gave themselves some breathing room with two crucial points after coming in holding the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, tied with St. Louis and Nashville with 54 points. Nashville has lost three straight (0-2-1), and the Predators didn’t help themselves going 0 for 4 with the man advantage.

Grundstrom put the Kings up with his eighth goal this season, a wrister over Juuse Saros’ glove into the far corner at 8:51 of the first period.

Then Turcotte scored at 5:36 on a wrister as he skated through the left circle and put the puck over Saros’ glove to extend the Kings’ lead to 2-0. Trevor Lewis broke away from the celebration quickly to grab the puck for Turcotte.

“To see how happy they were was obviously really special too,” Turcotte said. “It’s just really cool. I’ll never forget it and it’s something I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life.”

The Predators thought they answered quickly with Tyson Barrie scoring his second goal of the season in his 800th NHL game, but the Kings challenged for goaltender interference and won, wiping the goal off the board.

Nashville coach Andrew Brunette thinks the Predators are close after playing six of their last eight games on the road and just need to keep knocking on the door.

“We’re really kicking the crap out of it,” Brunette said. “It just hasn’t opened.”

UP NEXT

The Kings host Edmonton when they return from the All-Star break on Feb. 10.

FIRST NHL GOAL FOR ALEX TURCOTTE AND IT'S A BEAUTY@LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/Hj2QXIj0Zr

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

Alex Turcotte talks about his first NHL goal with @CarrlynBathe @LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/7tTmol0nSo

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

GRUNNY OPENS THE SCORING@LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/lMCO6RCkuY

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

LEWIS PUTS US BACK UP BY @LAKings I #GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/3oI1F00qgQ

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

Grunny with @CarrlynBathe and @DarylEvans15 after tonight's big win @LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/MSmtsdKLUV

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

BIG SAVE(s) DAVE@JimFox19 @LAKings I #LAKingsLive pic.twitter.com/7abxjWe9z4

— Bally Sports West (@BallySportWest) February 1, 2024

We have two of most every team in every major team sport. We have two major conference college programs operating cheek-to-jowl with major league franchises. We get cameo appearances from almost all of the itinerant sports circuits, starting with this Sunday’s NASCAR Clash in the Coliseum (although it would be nice if the tennis tours would again land in the nation’s second-largest market in the summertime, rather than merely touching down in Indian Wells in March).

Also, dare I point out, we will have our third Olympic Games four years from now. Before that, if FIFA and Stan Kroenke could mend fences, SoFi Stadium would be hosting World Cup matches in two years (and maybe some of the expanded Club World Cup next summer).

And I don’t even have to mention the cornucopia of prime-time athletes that this region continues to pump out annually. You name the sport and we’re represented.

So let’s go big. SoCal is not only the preeminent sports community in North America, but I’ll make the case that it’s unmatched on this planet. The phrase “Sports Capital of the World” sounds way too boosterish, but doesn’t it fit?

What other city on earth has the multitude of sports attractions – i.e., competition for attention – that we do? For example, in most countries, the sport we know as soccer is considered King Football. Here, it has to fight for market share and for attention with four other major professional sports. And there are good reasons Major League Soccer avoids the fall-winter-spring scheduling cycle observed by the rest of the world, the most important being the NFL behemoth, i.e. our very own King Football.

Meanwhile, what other metropolitan area on this continent can match the sports chops of this sprawling community made up of L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties?

New York? Sorry, not much of a college football profile. Boston? Only one of everything (and they haven’t had a duck boat parade in a couple of forevers). Chicago: Solo NBA and NHL teams (plus, ahem, the Bears). The Bay Area? Close, but they have only one soccer team, they’ve lost the Raiders and are about to lose the A’s, regrettably.

Oh, and here’s the kicker and a spoiler alert: The leader (again) in our annual rankings of SoCal’s teams might as well be considered Japan’s team, too.

As has been the case since we began these lists in 2005 at The Press-Enterprise, the ranking is determined by multiple factors – a mixture of winning, historic importance in the market, interest level and, not insignificantly, the passion of a team’s followers.

The beauty is that, with rare and obvious exceptions, the teams in this market understand what it takes to be competitive not only in their own leagues but in the fight for fans’ attention. In other words, those in charge understand that if you’re a big market team, you’d better act like one.

(And you might notice that there are a couple of additions to the list this year. If you capture the fancy of the greater SoCal public, you deserve to be here.)

So, as SoCal’s newest coach likes to say, who has it better than us?

The list, with the 2023 ranking in parentheses:

1. Dodgers (1): Seen in a local store: A blue T-shirt with “OHTANI” in the style of the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. That says it all, doesn’t it? No team, anywhere, acts the part of a big market franchise so well. That fan bases elsewhere are grumbling “not fair?” All the better.

2. Lakers (2): Yes, they’re struggling to get a foothold this season. That only reminds us of the expectations of their followers, for whom Laker Exceptionalism isn’t just a slogan but a way of life. (And, at times like this, maybe a curse.)

3. Rams (8): What was that again about paying the price in order to win a Super Bowl? As long as they can keep Matthew Stafford healthy, their immediate future seems bright.

4. Clippers (7): It’s hard to have championship expectations when, you know, stuff repeatedly happens. But why shouldn’t this well-run, well-coached, talented team make a deep playoff run … and, perhaps, even have a chance to hang a banner in its new arena? (So, if you’re a Lakers fan and you’re confronted with a Clippers-Celtics final, who do you root for?)

5. Angel City (12): ACFC, along with the San Diego Wave, showed the people who run the National Women’s Soccer League that avoiding Southern California all those years was a grave mistake. The L.A. team’s average home attendance in its two seasons: 19,105 in 2022, 19,756 in 2023. Any surprise that the league is about to expand to the Bay Area in 2024?

6. (tie) UCLA women’s basketball and USC women’s basketball (not ranked in 2023): It’s a perfect storm, with the surge in interest in women’s sports and particularly women’s college basketball dovetailing with two championship-caliber teams. The line wrapped around Pauley Pavilion waiting to get in before the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 30 was an eloquent statement all by itself.

8. USC football (3): The high hopes built in 2022 came crashing down in 2023, as a team of mercenaries played like it down the stretch. But the Trojan fan base has regained its passion and expectations and, yes, a little bit of swagger after a dreary decade.

9. Chargers (6): Could this fan base ever use some swagger? They might get their wish, if Jim Harbaugh does what the multitudes expect.

10. LAFC (4): They might not have been able to defend their MLS Cup title, but this is a well-run team with a passionate fan base that is going to be a factor for a while.

11. UCLA men’s basketball (5): The young Bruins might indeed have a run in them down the stretch, and it’s pretty well established that Mick Cronin won’t let this program wither. But it’s been almost three decades since the last banner, and this is another fan base that has trouble settling.

12. Kings (10): A year ago – heck, six weeks ago – they seemed to be building toward a shot at another Stanley Cup, a decade after their last one. But the recent whopper of a slump has called into question not only players’ effort and coaching but the way General Manager Rob Blake built this roster. The most devoted fans in this market deserve better.

13. Angels (9): Arte Moreno and the rest of his organization should feel fortunate that so many fans still care about this team. There’s little reason to expect improvement unless new Manager Ron Washington is indeed a miracle worker.

14. USC men’s basketball (11): A promising season has turned sour, and is there any real evidence that the USC faithful notice or care? They average 6,228 at home, and their best home crowds were a 10,300 sellout against UCLA and 9,806 against Long Beach State – and how many of those were there early to await JuJu Watkins and the USC women in the nightcap?

15. UCLA football (14): Yes, they were 8-5, and yes, they beat Boise State in the Gronk Bowl at SoFi Stadium, but the Chip Kelly era remains distinguished by a lack of fan passion.

16. Galaxy (13): They were once MLS’ flagship franchise. Now they’re an afterthought in their own town and starting over.

17. Ducks (16): Rebuilds are difficult, especially two or three seasons in. The Ducks are now six seasons removed from their last playoff berth and finally seem to be moving forward, slowly.

18. Sparks (15): And here, a rebuild is just beginning. This is another former flagship franchise trying to find its way again, and at least they’ll have a No.2 draft pick to work with.

jalexander@scng.com

The break, which runs from Feb. 1 to Feb. 9, is partly because of the pause for All-Star weekend, where the struggling Cam Talbot will, fittingly, represent the struggling Kings. It could provide time for the Kings to evaluate and make a change behind the bench to replace McLellan, a well-reputed coach with the highest salary among active NHL stewards.

McLellan, whose team has lost 14 of its last 16 games, seemed well-prepared for a recent query about his job security. He confronted the question head on after a recent loss to Buffalo. That was defeat No. 12 in this dismal stretch.

“Well, that’s a very fair question. If I was sitting in your seat, and you were standing here, I’d ask you that. I’m responsible for this. When you look at the team that played the first 25, 30 games, if you will, it doesn’t look like the team that’s playing right now and I’m responsible for it,” McLellan said.

“Our staff is doing what we can, or what we believe we can, to get them to turn it around. We’re trying different things at different times, but I’m going to keep pushing away. I’m going to try and push buttons, poke people, praise people and look at how we do things. Our numbers, our underlying numbers, say we’re more the first-half team than the second-half team, but the win column doesn’t say that and that’s all that matters. So, it’s a very fair question.”

McLellan’s accountability was complete and more in step with that of the Kings’ prominent players than its management. But McLellan and his leadership group’s forthrightness didn’t help matters in a 5-1 inundation by the Colorado Avalanche. Nor did it save them when the St. Louis Blues took a more respectable effort from the Kings and handed them the same disrespectful result they get seemingly every time they take a game to overtime. They are 2-10 this season when they’ve given Kings fans a now unwelcome bonus of five minutes or less of additional competition.

St. Louis, which made its own coaching change earlier this season, and Nashville are currently in a points tie with the Kings, at 54 apiece. The three clubs occupy a space where just two wild-card playoff berths are available. Meanwhile, the Edmonton Oilers, whom the Kings will host on Feb. 10 when they return from the break, have won 16 consecutive games and by then might have broken the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins’ NHL record of 17 consecutive victories (they play Feb. 6 at Vegas and Feb. 9 when they visit the Ducks).

Although Phillip Danault was among a handful of Kings to get back on track against the Blues in St. Louis, Quinton Byfield (illness) missed a second straight game. The last two contests were unproductive again for big-ticket trade target Pierre-Luc Dubois, who in over 28 minutes had two shots and a minus-two rating aggregately, leaving him stuck at 20 points for the season. While the high-performance, high-usage penalty kill had his back when he slashed former Kings forward Brayden Schenn, Schenn would later score the overtime game-winner.

The Predators added a reputed pivot of their own this summer, former Selke Trophy winner and Conn Smythe honoree Ryan O’Reilly. O’Reilly, like former Nashville and current Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene, hit the unrestricted free agent market. The two players have scored 42 and 45 points respectively, and cost their teams nothing more than their salaries as UFAs. Combined, they make $7.5 million against the cap, $1 million less than Dubois alone.

KINGS AT PREDATORS

When: Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.

Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn.

TV: Bally Sports West, TNT

RELATED:

As Kings celebrate Kopitar milestones, trade for Dubois looks worse by the day

Jordan Kyrou had one goal and two assists for St. Louis, which surrendered at least four goals in each of its previous four games against Los Angeles. Pavel Buchnevich and Nick Leddy also scored, and Joel Hofer made 30 saves.

Schenn got a nice pass from Buchnevich and beat David Rittich for his 13th goal.

Phillip Danault, Adrian Kempe and Jaret Anderson-Dolan scored for Los Angeles, which dropped its fourth consecutive game. Rittich made 28 stops.

The Kings are 2-8-6 in their last 16 games after a 20-7-4 start to the season.

“I think we played a pretty solid game,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “We got roasted on a bad line change. That can be cleaned up. You take that out and cut the penalties back, I think we had a good chance of winning, but we didn’t do that.”

Danault tied it at 3 when he elevated a slap shot past Hofer for his 10th goal with 1:16 remaining in the second period.

Kyrou shot a feed from Scott Perunovich past Rittich for his 14th goal 12:07 into the second, giving the Blues a 3-2 lead. Robert Thomas picked up an assist on the play, giving him seven assists in his last five games.

“We’re finding a way to win, which is great,” Kyrou said. “It’s more of a mentality than anything. We’re playing really strong as a team. We always have each other’s backs out there. We’re playing together on the ice. That builds character, and we’ve shown a lot of resiliency these past couple games.”

Buchnevich tied it at 2 with his 17th goal on a power play just 55 seconds after Anderson-Dolan scored his first goal of the season 5:39 into the second.

St. Louis went 1 for 6 on the power play.

“Way too many penalties,” Kings forward Trevor Moore said. “It starts with myself in the offensive zone, just stupid. We took a bunch of other ones so it gets guys out of the game. We played a pretty good game tonight but it’s not enough and we can’t make mistakes like taking so many penalties.”

Kempe scored his 17th goal on a feed from Anze Kopitar 4:06 into the game.

Perunovich departed in the third with a lower-body injury.