Kings GM Ken Holland Updates Coaching Search

Beyond being one of the teams believed to want to speak to former Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy, things have been relatively quiet for the Kings on the coaching front.  In a recent interview with Zach Dooley for LA Kings Insider, GM Ken Holland suggested that a hiring isn’t exactly imminent and he is now off scouting at the Memorial Cup.

D.J. Smith took over on an interim basis from former head coach Jim Hiller and Holland noted that he is still in consideration for the position.  He noted that player feedback from the exit interviews was positive and the team did indeed play well enough to at least sneak into the playoffs although the GM was quite to note that their struggles against top-tier teams continued; they were swept by the Avs in the first round.

While Holland didn’t go as far as saying how many coaches were specifically under consideration, he mentioned four to eight multiple times to Dooley so it stands to reason that the true number is somewhere in there.  At this point, it doesn’t appear as if they’re intent to wait on any other teams to be eliminated, taking possible options from Colorado, Vegas, Carolina, and Montreal off the table.

Holland noted that he’s in the middle of the interview process which suggests that a hire isn’t likely to be announced in the near future, especially with him off scouting for the next week.  It may not come too long after that, however, as he noted that he’d like to have the hiring in place a couple of weeks before the draft, which begins on June 26th.  He also indicated that improving special teams and production from the back end are two particular points of emphasis for whoever gets the position.

While Dooley’s interview didn’t name any other specific candidates beyond Smith, Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal suggested that former Edmonton bench boss Jay Woodcroft would be a plausible front-runner for the position.  He mentioned that while Holland was the one to fire him with the Oilers, the decision ultimately wasn’t his to make and came from higher up the food chain.  Accordingly, if Holland still feels that way about Woodcroft (currently an assistant with Anaheim), it would make sense that he’d at least be under serious consideration.

At this point, Holland can afford to wait another week or so to see if the Golden Knights ultimately elect to make Cassidy available to interview for other jobs but after that, he will need to move fairly quickly.  Whether it’s Smith, Woodcroft, or someone else, we’ll see a final decision made next month.