Jim Hiller, a member of the 1991 Wildcats’ national championship hockey team, was named the interim head coach of the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings.

The Associated Press reported at about 2:30 p.m. Friday that Hiller was being elevated from Kings’ assistant to interim head coach to replace Todd McLellan.

The AP story said that McLellan was fired despite the team being in the seventh playoff spot of eight in the Western Conference as the Kings had a record of only 3-8-6 since Dec. 28, the three wins being the fewest in the 32-team league in that time span.

Their current record is 23-15-10 for 56 points, close to the Detroit Red Wings’ 26-18-6 record for 58 points in the Eastern Conference as the Wings are also tied for the seventh spot in their playoff race.

Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan, left, and assistant coach Jim Hiller watch from the bench during a recent Los Angeles Kings home game. (Photo courtesy L.A. Kings Insider website)

Teams are now on the All-Star break with the All-Star game scheduled for Toronto this afternoon. Most teams are getting a week to 10 days off, including the Kings, who don’t play again until next Saturday to start an East Coast road trip that won’t include the Red Wings.

Hiller was one of the stars on the ’91 NMU championship squad, the only national title won by the Northern hockey program since its inception in 1976.

In the 1990-91 season, the sophomore right wing had some eye-popping numbers in a more wide-open offensive era, according to numbers on the Wikipedia website chronicling that team. NMU as a team scored 283 goals in 47 games, an average of just over six per contest for the entire season.

In 43 games, Hiller had 63 points, tied with senior defenseman Brad Werenka for second most on the Wildcats, potting 22 goals and claiming 41 assists as the team finished with a 38-5-4 record after its 8-7 triple-overtime victory over Boston University for the national championship on March 30, 1991, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Hiller’s assists that season were also tied for second with leading scorer and sophomore Scott Beattie (who also had 48 goals and 89 points), while Hiller’s goals were tied for fourth with junior Dallas Drake, who would go onto a long and storied career as an NHL player.

This is part of a promotional illustration featuring JIm HIller when he was named an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Kings in 2022. (Photo courtesy L.A. Kings Insider)

A Port Alberni, British Columbia, native, Hiller was previously a 10th round pick by the Kings in the 1989 NHL draft before spending three years with the Wildcats. Another Wikipedia website about Hiller said he rolled up 86 points the season after the national championship, 1991-92, then turned pro and joined the Kings’ organization.

As a rookie in Los Angeles in ’92-’93, he was traded to the Red Wings, then went to the New York Rangers in 1993-94. That was the last he would see of the NHL as a player, playing for clubs in Europe before retiring in 2002.

Hiller jumped into coaching almost immediately after, starting with the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and becoming a head coach for the first time in 2005-06 with his hometown Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the British Columbia Hockey League.

He re-entered the NHL as a coach in July 2014 as an assistant with the Red Wings, one of his main duties overseeing Detroit’s power play, an area he has been considered to be an expert in, according to the L.A. Kings Insider website at lakingsinsider.com.

After one season in Detroit, he followed head coach Mike Babcock to the Toronto Maple Leafs and was an assistant there in charge of its power play. In June 2019, Hiller then joined head coach Barry Trotz of the New York Islanders, but soon after Trotz was fired three years later, so was Hiller.

Then in July 2022, Hiller was hired by McLellan with the Kings. McLellan had been head coach there since April 2019.

McLellan is the sixth NHL head coach fired this season, joining Edmonton’s Jay Woodcroft, Minnesota’s Dean Evason, St. Louis’ Craig Berube, Ottawa’s D.J. Smith and the Islanders’ Lane Lambert. Babcock resigned at Columbus on the eve of training camp after an investigation into his practice of asking to see photos on players’ phones.

Hiller has been responsible for the L.A. forwards and its power play, according to Friday story posted on the L.A. Kings Insider by Zach Dooley.

“Hiller was instrumental in revamping the approach of the power play over his time with the organization,” Dooley’s story said. “Since he joined the staff, the Kings rank seventh in the NHL on the power play, with a conversion rate of 23.8%.”

Dooley expanded on Hiller’s success on the power play.

“Hiller came to Los Angeles with a track record of improving the performance of teams on the power play. All four NHL clubs he’s worked for have improved on the man advantage within two seasons of his arrival, including the Kings, who rose from 27th in the NHL at 16.1 percent in the 2021-22 season to fourth-best in the NHL last season at 25.3 percent.

“In his prior stops, Hiller’s lone season in Detroit saw the team jump from 18th to 2nd in the leaguewide rankings, with an improvement of more than six percentage points. In Toronto, the Maple Leafs ranked 2nd, 2nd and 8th over Hiller’s second, third and fourth seasons with the club. With New York, the Islanders ranked third to last before Hiller’s arrival but steadily climbed the league’s leaderboards during his time in charge of that unit.”

Dooley also talked about expectations for Hiller.

“Under Hiller’s direction, the Kings will look to right the ship, with the postseason still well in sight. As of today, the Kings have 56 points in the standings, good for sole possession of the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. With a return to early-season form, retaining that spot or reclaiming a spot among the three teams in the Pacific Division are both well within reach.”

The author also added that the Kings’ organization wouldn’t be talking to the media immediately due to the All-Star break.

“(Kings) General Manager Rob Blake is slated to address the media on Monday, February 5, to address the coaching change. Interim Head Coach Jim Hiller will address the media on Thursday, February 8, the day the Kings return to practice following the All-Star break.”

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 552. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.