The debate is less about whether Laviolette is a perfect hire and more about whether the grading accounts for why Los Angeles moved on from Hiller in the first place.
Peter Laviolette received a lower offseason coaching grade than Jim Hiller after Ken Holland and the Los Angeles Kings hired him this offseason to replace Hiller behind the bench in Los Angeles, and the article explains why that grade stood out for the wrong reasons.
Yardbarker graded NHL head-coaching hires earlier this offseason, and Rink Royalty’s pushback this summer reflects a broader argument around the Los Angeles Kings coaching change: mixed reactions to Laviolette are fair, but placing him below Hiller is hard to defend without ignoring context.
The disputed grade
The debate starts with a simple comparison. Laviolette, a veteran coach with a Stanley Cup on his résumé, was graded lower than Hiller, the coach Los Angeles had just moved on from after repeated first-round playoff exits, according to Rink Royalty’s summary of Yardbarker’s offseason coaching grades.
That does not mean every grade must reward reputation. Coaching fits can be complicated. A coach with a long history can bring credibility, but also habits, systems and expectations that may or may not fit a roster.
Still, this particular ranking drew attention because the two coaches are directly linked. Hiller was not just another hire elsewhere in the league. He was the coach Laviolette replaced with the Kings, making the comparison unusually clean and unusually awkward.
Why Laviolette made sense
The Kings’ decision was not made in a vacuum. Los Angeles had become a good regular-season team with a postseason ceiling, and the frustration around early playoff exits had become part of the franchise’s identity.
Holland’s move to hire Laviolette signaled a preference for experience and playoff structure. Laviolette has more than two decades of NHL head-coaching experience, has reached multiple Stanley Cup Finals and won the Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, according to Rink Royalty.
That track record matters because the Kings are not behaving like a rebuilding team. They are trying to extend a competitive window, sharpen their playoff habits and solve problems that have shown up when opponents have time to game-plan.
For a team in that position, a “safe” hire is not automatically a timid hire. Sometimes it is a practical one.
The case for skepticism
There is a reasonable argument against giving Laviolette too much credit before a puck is dropped. He is not a novelty candidate. His résumé is long enough that evaluators can point to both high-end success and past exits.
Modern NHL teams often want coaches who can adapt quickly, manage younger players and build offensive flexibility. If the concern is that Laviolette represents an older-school approach, that concern is not absurd.
The Kings also need more than authority behind the bench. They need answers. A coaching change can change deployment, pace and accountability, but it cannot single-handedly fix roster flaws or turn a stagnant attack into a dangerous playoff offense.
That is why the mixed reaction to the hire makes sense. Laviolette’s name carries weight, but weight is not the same thing as guaranteed progress.
Hiller’s grade needs context
The harder part to justify is not praise for Hiller. It is placing Hiller above Laviolette while downplaying why Los Angeles made the change.
Hiller may yet prove to be a strong hire for the Toronto Maple Leafs, as Rink Royalty noted. Coaches evolve. A disappointing ending in one job does not mean failure in the next one, especially if the roster, front office and expectations are different.
But Hiller’s recent Kings tenure is central to the comparison. He did not get Los Angeles beyond the first round. If the Kings believed their playoff pattern required a new voice, then grading his next opportunity above the replacement hire requires a persuasive argument about fit, upside or organizational need.
That argument may exist. It just has to be stronger than “fresh start.”
What grades often miss
Offseason coaching grades are useful because they force quick judgments. They are also limited because they compress several different questions into one letter or ranking.
- Résumé: Has the coach won, adjusted and survived pressure before?
- Fit: Does the coach’s style match the roster’s strengths and weaknesses?
- Timing: Is the team rebuilding, contending or trying to escape a plateau?
- Risk: Is the hire a bold bet, a stabilizing move or a familiar name?
Laviolette scores strongly on résumé and stability. Hiller may appeal more to evaluators looking for a reset or a coach with room to grow in a different environment. The disagreement is really about which category matters most.
That is why the grade stands out. It is not because Laviolette is beyond criticism. It is because a lower mark than Hiller’s seems to discount the specific problem the Kings were trying to solve.
The real test comes later
No offseason grade will decide whether the Kings made the right call. Laviolette has to show that his playoff experience can translate into better results for this version of Los Angeles, not just decorate a media guide.
Hiller, meanwhile, gets a chance to reshape the narrative elsewhere. If he thrives with Toronto, the favorable view of that hire will look smarter in hindsight. If the same postseason questions follow him, the skepticism will grow louder.
For now, the fairest read is narrower: the Laviolette hire deserved scrutiny, but it also deserved credit for matching the Kings’ stated needs. A lower grade than Hiller’s may be defensible only if the evaluation is heavily weighted toward upside over proven playoff experience.
That is the unanswered question behind the reaction. Was the grade judging the coaches, the fits, the freshness of the hire or the ceiling of each move? Without that clarity, Laviolette’s lower mark looks less like a sharp critique and more like a ranking that missed the reason Los Angeles changed coaches at all.
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