Kings Fire Stevens! Hire Desjardins!
- Updated: November 4, 2018
(The Los Angeles Kings’ former Head Coach John Stevens shown with his team behind him during a game in 2017. Photo courtesy of Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images.)
BREAKING NEWS: The Los Angeles Kings fired their Head Coach John Stevens on Sunday, and replaced the embattled second-year skipper with former Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Willie Desjardins.
The news comes on the heels of LA’s horrible start to the season, as the Kings possess the worst record in the NHL, with a lowly .346 winning percentage after 13 games. LA is on pace to finish the season with only 57 standings points, which would mark the franchise’s lowest total since 1994-95, during which the Kings only earned 41.
In addition, LA holds the worst goal differential in the league with a minus-17. Much of that is arguably Stevens’ fault, as my esteemed colleague Jeff Duarte suggested in his new CaliSports News article, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down : Los Angeles Kings which published Saturday:
“maybe it is also because a certain system and style of play are still in control of this team’s tactics. Tactics that are not only unsuccessful this season, but unsuccessful in today’s faster NHL because they are outdated. And who controls the tactics? Well, that’s the head coach, John Stevens. Hmm, speaking of Stevens … THUMBS DOWN TO HEAD COACH JOHN STEVENS”.
The timing of the news seems unexpected to Rabbi Rabbs, because the Kings had just picked up a beautifully-played victory on Saturday night, their second win in three games. I mean, why fire a guy after he had just won 2-of-3 games for you when you wouldn’t fire him after he had lost six straight prior to then? That does not add up to this hockey writer. But, whatever. The timing does not need to make sense to me.
During Stevens’ first season, LA reached the playoffs as a wild card team and got swept in four games by the Vegas Golden Knights. The Kings’ General Manager Rob Blake reportedly explained the reason for the move:
“This is a critical time in our season and our results to date have fallen well below our expectations,” Blake said. “With that in mind, this was a difficult decision but one we feel was necessary. We have a great deal of respect and appreciation for John’s time with our organization. He was a key part of our past success, and we have tremendous gratitude for his many contributions.”
The team reportedly also fired Assistant Coach Don Nachbaur, and replaced him with Marco Sturm who played 17 games with the Kings during 2010-11.
Desjardins’ debut will be Tuesday when the Kings host the Anaheim Ducks. Until then, Go Kings Go !!
Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, All the time
Related Posts
About Rabbi Rabbs
