{"id":44936,"date":"2019-04-07T14:59:51","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T18:59:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=44936"},"modified":"2019-04-07T17:13:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-07T21:13:30","slug":"los-angeles-kings-fire-willie-desjardins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2019\/04\/07\/los-angeles-kings-fire-willie-desjardins\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Kings Fire Willie Desjardins"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"td-page-header\">\n<h1 class=\"entry-title td-page-title\">The Los Angeles Kings announced it has fired coach\u00a0Willie Desjardins.<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td-page-content\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The LA Kings have informed Willie Desjardins he will not be brought back. Kings will have a new head coach shortly.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFourthPeriod\/status\/1114942026632581125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/kings\/news\/gm-blake-thanks-desjardins-for-serving-as-interim-head-coach\/c-306556194\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Kings have parted ways<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/coaches\/desjawi99c.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Willie Desjardins<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0This 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.<\/p>\n<p>Over his four-year NHL coaching career, Desjardins has split his time between the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/canucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vancouver\u00a0Canucks<\/a>, and the Los Angeles Kings. Overall he has 136\u00a0wins 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.<\/p>\n<h2>What This Means for the Team\u2019s Future<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">On LA coaching front, I suspect they will move quickly as Florida appears to be.<br \/>\nWillie Desjardins has been informed as <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheFourthPeriod?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheFourthPeriod<\/a> just reported.<br \/>\nTodd McLellan still at top of list and my choice for next Kings coach.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dennis Bernstein (@DennisTFP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DennisTFP\/status\/1114942725000810496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>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\u00a0dead last in the Western Conference. They managed to ruffle some feathers by winning three of their last five games.<\/p>\n<p>Winning against the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/coyotes\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arizona Coyotes<\/a> pretty much knocked them out of contention for a playoff spot and they also downed the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/nhl-teams\/knights\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The team has a 13.5 percent chance of receiving the first overall pick with the prize being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteprospects.com\/player\/305432\/jack-hughes\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Hughes<\/a>. To mention that this team&#8217;s future would be in good hands with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/2019\/03\/31\/jack-hughes-scouting-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">talent like Hughes<\/a> goes without saying.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/2019\/01\/28\/jake-muzzin-trade-toronto-maple-leafs\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">traded away Jake Muzzin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Another big question mark is will <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/q\/quickjo01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Jonathan Quick<\/strong><\/a> be back? <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/2019\/04\/04\/jack-campbell-los-angeles-kings\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jack Campbell certainly showed<\/a> his worth near the end of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the search goes forward looking for a head coach, and it seems that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/coaches\/mclelto01c.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Todd McLellan<\/strong> <\/a>has the inside track.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, this just in&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Los Angeles Kings have asked Edmonton permission to speak with Todd McLellan<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PierreVLeBrun\/status\/1114992115287773184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nnbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"gRn1WrfjTJtxc_gX8lZsDw\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1068598354\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'gRn1WrfjTJtxc_gX8lZsDw',sig:'14U4cQ1fWz63HmzrdLaNM8twQozH6xitN5LQkR-6bs0=',w:'594px',h:'392px',items:'1068598354',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Kings announced it has fired coach\u00a0Willie Desjardins. The LA Kings have informed Willie Desjardins he will not be brought back. Kings will have a new head coach shortly. \u2014 David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) April 7, 2019 The Los Angeles Kings have parted ways with Willie Desjardins.\u00a0This season, the team had a record of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2959,"featured_media":44955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2,34],"tags":[3503,78,1142,1526],"class_list":["post-44936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kings","category-featured","category-news","tag-jack-hughes","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-todd-mclellan","tag-willie-desjardins"],"modified_by":"William Grigsby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2959"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}