Former Senators coach D.J. Smith headed to assistant’s job with Kings

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D.J. Smith didn’t have to wait long to return to a National Hockey League bench.

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League sources confirmed to Postmedia Monday the former Ottawa Senators coach will join the Los Angeles Kings as an assistant to interim head coach Jim Hiller for the rest of the season.

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Smith couldn’t be reached for comment Monday night but it’s believed he was en route from his home in Windsor to Los Angeles, and the expectation is his hiring for the rest of the season will be confirmed in the coming days.

Hiller, 54, an assistant on the club’s staff for part of two seasons, was promoted to the head coaching role by Kings general manager Rob Blake Friday after the club made the decision to fire head coach Todd McLellan after the Kings posted a 3-8-6 record in their last 17 games.

Fired by the Senators on Dec. 18, Smith was in the final season of his contract with Ottawa. He worked with Hiller on Mike Babcock’s staff with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2015 to 2019, after which Smith joined the Senators as the club’s head coach.

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The Kings are in fourth place in the Pacific Division and are sitting the first wild card spot in the Western Conference. The club is in the middle of a break in the schedule and the players will get their first practice with the new staff Thursday night.

“We would like to add an assistant from the outside,” Blake said during a press conference Monday in Los Angeles. “That will be a process here over the next few days to look into, just to give us a different look.”

Smith will join a staff that will includes Trent Yawney and Derik Johnson.

The 46-year-old Smith could have sat at home and collected the rest of his contract this season, but anybody who knows him understands that he wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity to get back to work.

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Not only does he have familiarity with Hiller, Smith also played with Blake while in the Colorado Avalanche organization. Smith can help by being a conduit between the players and Hiller.

During his nearly five years behind the Senators bench, Smith finished with a 131-154-32 record and helped lead the club through a difficult rebuild. The club had lost four straight and was 11-15-0 when Smith was let go.

If all goes well, Smith will get the opportunity to coach in the playoffs with the Kings. He will be reunited with former Senators goalie Cam Talbot, who was signed by the Kings as an unrestricted free agent and just returned from the NHL’s all-star weekend in Toronto.

Blake’s decision to fire McLellan came as a surprise, but the club just hasn’t been pleased with the results and the Kings are hoping a new voice behind the bench can the club back to playing with consistency.

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“I look at our season, there’s 48 games … 24 were good, 24 have not been good,” Blake said. “Everything we dictate from this point and from this going forward is based off of wins and losses.”

McLELLAN A CANDIDATE IN OTTAWA?

If you’re wondering if you can add McLellan’s name to the list of candidates for the vacant head coaching job in Ottawa, the short answer is yes that’s likely, but the expectation is that interim head coach Jacques Martin will finish the season with the Senators, and then a full search will begin.

The talk in league circles is that the 56-year-old McLellan is somebody who would be on the radar screen of Senators general manager Steve Staios. In 1,144 NHL games in parts of 16 seasons with the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, McLellan’s teams have a 598-412-134 record.

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You can certainly add McLellan’s name to a list that includes Toronto Marlies head coach Jon Gruden and former St. Louis Blues coach Craig Berube. The club isn’t any hurry to make a decision and heading into the break the Senators were headed in the right direction under Martin.

The Senators scored a 4-3 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings last Wednesday on the road to head into the break with a 6-2-2 record. The club is 9-10-2 in the 21 games that the 71-year-old Martin has coached in his second stint behind the bench.

Staios told reporters 10 days ago that the club would revisit its head coaching position once the season wraps up.

“We’ve put some names together that might fit,” Staios said. “The off-season will be a great opportunity for us to look at that again.”

The Senators will resume skating Thursday at 4 p.m. to prepare to face the Toronto Maple Leafs at home Saturday.

Staios, who owns a home in Toronto, was on a list of 17 scouts that were taking in the Leafs game against the New York Islanders on Monday at Scotiabank Arena.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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