Reports: Kings to hire veteran coach Peter Laviolette, ending DJ Smith’s interim run

The Los Angeles Kings are poised to make Peter Laviolette their next head coach, according to multiple reports on Monday, effectively closing the loop on a coaching search that started after the team moved on from Jim Hiller midseason. Laviolette, a veteran NHL bench boss with Stanley Cup experience, would take over a program that has repeatedly arrived in the postseason but has not advanced far in recent years.

The Kings’ decision-making accelerated earlier this season. On March 1, 2026, the team relieved Hiller of his duties and named D.J. Smith interim head coach for the remainder of the schedule, with Kings general manager Ken Holland citing the need for a leadership change to give the group its best chance to compete.

Smith’s run was enough to stabilize Los Angeles after the reset, and it still kept the club in the playoff conversation. Holland later said Smith would be a candidate for the full-time role, noting that the team responded under him and put together a 11-6-6 stretch over 23 games. The Kings still carried meaningful questions into the postseason, however, and in the playoffs they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

Sportsnet reported that Smith and Jay Woodcroft were among the candidates the Kings considered before choosing Laviolette. Other outlets also described the Kings’ search as one focused on experience, including a report from ABC7 that the plan is for a three-year deal, and that Laviolette had also drawn interest from other NHL openings before LA moved toward a decision.

For Laviolette, the move represents a return to a franchise role after a year away from an NHL bench. Sportsnet said he has coached 1,594 career NHL games across multiple stops, won the Stanley Cup with Carolina in 2006, and reached the Cup Final with Philadelphia in 2010 and Nashville in 2017. The Kings, meanwhile, are coming off a season that included their fifth straight first-round playoff exit, a pattern that has raised expectations that the next coaching staff must do more than simply qualify.

Hitting that line is especially important for a team that has spent much of the last year managing urgency and continuity at the same time. The midseason firing of Hiller was not just a change of voice, it was a statement that the organization believed it needed a different on-ice plan to reach its ceiling. Now Laviolette inherits a roster that still looks capable of competing immediately, but needs consistent execution in the games that define a season.

The immediate offseason watch is whether the Kings can translate Laviolette’s track record into a clearer identity on both special teams and in playoff series. Also, the next staff-building decisions will matter, including whether key members from Smith’s interim staff remain in place and how the new head coach sets the tone for training camp. If LA is going to break the first-round pattern, it will likely start with sharper starts, more reliable discipline, and a more repeatable game plan against top opponents.

Under the reports, Laviolette’s first job will be to convince a franchise that has earned playoff tickets but struggled to move beyond round one that this search was not just about experience, but about a coaching fit capable of changing outcomes.