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The Los Angeles Kings sacked head coach John Stevens and temporarily replaced him with former Vancouver Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. The team announced the decision Sunday.
The Stevens Kings stumbled on a 4-8-1 start, and he left the organization with the last session of the Western Conference with nine points. Los Angeles beat the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night, but it's clear the win was not enough to save Stevens' job.
Kings General Manager Rob Blake said this about the decision:
"This is a critical period of our season and our results to date are well below our expectations. With that in mind, it was a difficult decision, but we feel it was necessary. We respect and appreciate John's time in our organization. He was a key part of our past success and we are grateful for his many contributions. "
Stevens was promoted head coach before last season and soon after, Blake was promoted to general manager. Stevens brought the Kings back to the playoffs of the transition season from Darryl Sutter's championship title to the franchise, before being swept away by the Vegas Golden Knights.
He had been with the Kings since 2010 and had arrived after four seasons as head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Desjardins was recently an elite coach at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, leading Canada to a bronze medal. He guided the Canucks back to the playoffs once every three seasons and was released in 2017 after the team's regression for a second consecutive year.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Desjardins is joined by another coach at the international CV, as the kings also announced that they will replace assistant Don Nachbaur with the current head coach and general manager of the German national team, Marco Sturm. "data-reactid =" 23 "> Desjardins is joined by another coach at the international CV, since the Kings also announced that they would replace their assistant. Don Nachbaur with the current head coach and general manager of the German national team, Marco Sturm.
The hiring of Desjardins marks Blake's second decision as head coach since assuming responsibility in Los Angeles.
You would imagine that the attention would be on him if the aging list of Kings did not achieve better results under Desjardins.
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports: "data-reactid =" 37 ">More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports:
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