The LA Kings made a gutsy move on Sunday that the Maple Leafs should have made months ago.
The Kings made a desperate attempt to salvage their season by firing head coach Jim Hiller amid two disastrous losses, including an 8-1 shellacking at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers last Thursday.
Sure, the Kings came back to win 2-0 over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. But that wasn't enough to solve what is truly afflicting the club. As such, the Kings blew the doors off the situation and booted Hiller.
We have relieved Jim Hiller of his duties and named D.J. Smith interim head coach for the remainder of the season, Kings Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland announced.
— LA Kings (@LAKings) March 1, 2026
In addition, Kings player development coach Matt Greene will join Smith as an assistant coach.… pic.twitter.com/3MCzFfNF41
What's even more surprising is the timing of this move. The Kings have 23 games to go in their season and sit three points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference.
It remains to be seen if the move will pay off. But, at the very least, the Kings didn't let their fan base down. They knew their season was slipping and weren't afraid to pull the trigger.
That's something the Maple Leafs have clearly been afraid to do. Granted, it seems like it might be a little too late for that move this season. The time to make a coaching change was back in December.
Instead, the only thing the Maple Leafs did was can Marc Savard. Then, the organization doubled down on Craig Berube. It worked for a little while, but then everything went down the drain.
Now, it seems the only thing left is to run out the season and potentially make a coaching change in the offseason. That is, if the organization has the guts to put the kibosh on this dreadful situation for the Maple Leafs.
As far as we've seen, it wouldn't be surprising to find the organization commits to both Berube and GM Brad Treliving, dumping the blame on the players, instead.
Former Maple Leafs assistant promoted by Kings
Interestingly, former Maple Leafs assistant coach DJ Smith got the nod to lead the Kings the rest of the way. Smith was an assistant coach during Mike Babcock's tenure in Toronto.
Then, Smith moved on to take over the full-time bench boss role with the Ottawa Senators. Unfortunately, Smith could not turn things around in Ottawa. Smith was let go, with Travis Green taking over.
Smith landed in Tinsel Town as an assistant and will get one more kick at the NHL head coaching can.
If things go well for Smith, he could become the full-time head coach in Los Angeles. That would be a nice turn of events for the former Maple Leafs' blueliner. Smith played all off 11 games for the Maple Leafs during the 1996-97 and 1999-2000 seasons.
Smith played an additional 34 games with the Colorado Avalanche during the 2002-03 season. Here's hoping that Smith will turn things around in Los Angeles.