On Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers decided to make a change at head coach by relieving John Tortorella of his duties. The LA Kings found themselves in a similar situation last season by making a change midseason by firing Todd McLellan and replacing him with Jim Hiller.
The Kings would finish the season really well with Hiller leading the way and get back to the playoffs for a third straight season. After the way the Kings finished, the franchise elected to remove the interim tag and make Hiller the head coach full-time.
It is a move that has certainly paid dividends as the Kings have been playing great and been in playoff contention almost the entire season. In fact, they currently are second in the Pacific Division and that would be the highest they have finished in the division since the 2015-16 season.
Hiller's tenure as head coach has not always been perfect and he has made some questionable decisions along the way, especially around Brandt Clarke and making him a healthy scratch around the time Drew Doughty returned, but the good moves have more than outweighed the bad ones.
Jim Hiller currently owns the LA Kings franchise record in points percentage
Even without coaching one full season, Hiller has already coached over 100 games for the LA Kings since he took over as head coach. The 104 games coached by Hiller ranks 15th in franchise history and it has been one of the best starts by a coach for the Kings.
In fact, he currently owns the best points percentage in Kings' history at .635%, which is ahead of Darryl Sutter who had a points percentage of .592% from 2012 to 2017.
It is still early in his coaching career but the biggest question for Hiller, and the Kings franchise as a whole, is what they are able to do in the playoffs. They have had three straight trips to the playoffs and all three have been rather quick with first-round exits.
If Hiller is able to get them past the first round, something they haven't done in nearly a decade, it will certainly help cement his place with the Kings. Even with another first round exit, the Kings are fortunate to not have to think about who might be their head coach this offseason like they did last year.