The Los Angeles Kings announced it has fired coach Willie Desjardins.

The LA Kings have informed Willie Desjardins he will not be brought back. Kings will have a new head coach shortly. — David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) April 7, 2019

The Los Angeles Kings have parted ways with Willie Desjardins. This season, the team had a record of 31 wins and 42 losses, 9 overtime losses, and finished in the 8th spot in the Pacific Division.

Over his four-year NHL coaching career, Desjardins has split his time between the Vancouver Canucks, and the Los Angeles Kings. Overall he has 136 wins and 144 losses, with 35 overtime losses. His greatest success was with Canucks in the three seasons he was the head coach. He finished with a 48-29-5 record and second in the Pacific Division during the 2014-15 season.

What This Means for the Team’s Future

On LA coaching front, I suspect they will move quickly as Florida appears to be.

Willie Desjardins has been informed as @TheFourthPeriod just reported.

Todd McLellan still at top of list and my choice for next Kings coach. — Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) April 7, 2019

This last season had to be frustrating for the Los Angeles Kings. Not only did they finish 30th in the league, but they were also dead last in the Western Conference. They managed to ruffle some feathers by winning three of their last five games.

Winning against the Arizona Coyotes pretty much knocked them out of contention for a playoff spot and they also downed the Vegas Golden Knights.

The team has a 13.5 percent chance of receiving the first overall pick with the prize being Jack Hughes. To mention that this team’s future would be in good hands with a talent like Hughes goes without saying.

Besides attempting to improve their team through the draft, the Kings may be looking to sign some free agents this summer to get them out of the doldrums. The Kings are also getting older with an average age of 28.7. A quick rebuild is in order and they had begun that when they traded away Jake Muzzin.

Another big question mark is will Jonathan Quick be back? Jack Campbell certainly showed his worth near the end of the season.

Now, the search goes forward looking for a head coach, and it seems that Todd McLellan has the inside track.

In fact, this just in…

The Los Angeles Kings have asked Edmonton permission to speak with Todd McLellan — Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) April 7, 2019



nbsp;

Embed from Getty Images