By Eric Stephens (The Athletic)
LOS ANGELES — The magnitude of being an NHL head coach hit Jim Hiller on the morning of his first game.
His own personal routine hadn’t changed Saturday. He still dove into the coffee at the team’s practice facility, explaining his sense of eschewing Starbucks or some other joint on the way to work. “It’s free,” Hiller cracked. “Why would I (skip) the free stuff? I’m like everybody else. Take the free stuff. We got plenty of it here.”
But there was plenty of difference in now being the one to run the Los Angeles Kings than operating in the assistant’s role he was in just a week ago.
“Some of your focuses and the different things you have to manage is expanded,” Hiller said. “It’ll take me a bit of time, I think, to try to find a better routine that way. I’ve been going in a lot of different directions and the reason is because you want to talk to guys. There’s so much to do, but you want to talk to each guy and connect with them. Even if it’s only for a few minutes. So, that’s really taken the most part of the day.”
With his morning full of meetings with individual players and select groups, the 54-year-old first-time NHL bench boss had to leave his pregame scouting of the Edmonton Oilers to the afternoon. Since he replaced the fired Todd McLellan, Hiller has worked hard at uplifting the Kings’ spirits and repairing any wounded psyches during the mystifying stretch of 14 losses in 17 games before the All-Star break.
His first mission Saturday night was a rousing success.
The Kings were far from their sharpest and there were times over the 60 minutes against Edmonton where they lived dangerously. But they more than made up for that with vigor, renewed energy and determination, getting inspired performances throughout the roster in an impressive 4-0 victory over the Oilers.
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