Todd McLellan took the Kings back to the playoffs in 2022 and did it again the following year, but both seasons ended in first-round losses to the Edmonton Oilers. Hiller, who replaced McLellan first on an interim basis midway through the 2023-24 season, has two series losses of his own to the Oilers.
There is reasonable assessment, and also emotional blame-tossing, that goes with any playoff defeat. Most of it gets aimed at the head coach, which is basically part of the job description. Hiller took heavy criticism for some decisions he made after the Kings’ blown 2-0 series lead this past spring.
But beating the Oilers in a seven-game series is hard to do, and few have done it recently. Which is why McLellan understands what Hiller faces now in trying to take the Kings farther than he did.
“It’s doable,” McLellan told The Athletic on Wednesday, a day before his Detroit Red Wings played the Kings. “Florida’s proven that. But they’re incredible players. They are. And sometimes breaks go your way. Sometimes it’s calls. Sometimes it’s injuries.”
As he continued to reminisce, McLellan thought back to the first Kings team he took to the postseason: the 2021-22 group that overachieved and fought through numerous injuries to push Edmonton to seven games. How they shouldn’t have ended a three-year postseason absence then and “maybe skipped a step.” It might have been the high point of his five seasons in Los Angeles, as a fortified 2023 playoff team let a 3-0 lead in Game 4 — and a chance to take a 3-1 series lead over the Oilers — get away for good.
Ahead of his first return to L.A. since being fired by the Kings in February 2024, McLellan was back at the practice facility when he used to run workouts, game plan against opponents and try to get the most out of his players. This time, the 58-year-old coach will be on the visiting bench.
Hired by Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman last December, McLellan is doing what he typically does: win. He went 26-18-4 for the remainder of 2024-25 and has the Red Wings off to a 7-3-0 start in a season with a simple goal — ending the franchise’s nine-year playoff drought. Winning when he makes it there is another story, but he knows how to get a team into the dance.
While he was without a job, McLellan kept tabs on the league and was eager to return to a bench. But that’s changed now that he’s again got a whistle, and the Kings are very much in his rear-view mirror.
“I think we’re all in a situation where we’ve got so much work to do with our own team,” he said. “I don’t know who it was, maybe Jacques Lemaire, said it’s hard enough to coach one team and follow one team and figure out your own team. That you shouldn’t be worrying about what the other team is doing. I have enough issues with our team and how we’re playing and what we need to do.
“I can’t tell you what’s good, bad or indifferent here. I know they have an outstanding group of players and a good coaching staff, so I’m sure they’ll put it all together when it counts.”
Hitting old stomping grounds isn’t anything new for McLellan, and coming back to Los Angeles only brought warm feelings, especially running into security personnel or trainers he worked with. Even media members he dealt with more regularly.
“It’s not necessarily the location, the rink or anything like that,” he said. “It’s the people.”
And that includes Rob Blake, the now-former Kings general manager who fired him after a terrible January 2024 threatened to throw the spiraling Kings out of playoff position following a 20-7-4 start. McLellan hoped to see Blake later Wednesday. He said he’s maintained relationships with his former boss and Hiller, his successor, who joined the staff as an assistant in 2022.
He’s been around long enough to know there’s little use in holding ill will.
“That’s how fast the game can turn on you,” McLellan said. “You’ve got a ton of confidence. We’d won 10 road games in a row early in the year. We set team and league records, and boom, all of a sudden it goes south on you. We couldn’t get it back on the rails quick enough. Management thought they needed to make a change and that’s what happens.
“I know the players — the texts and calls that I got after that — I know Blakey and the management team, nobody feels good about any of that. You never want it to happen. I haven’t lost any friendships over what happened. I understand how it works.”
In a 338-game run with the Kings, McLellan went 164-130-44 for a .550 points percentage, with his first two seasons coming in a franchise rebuild. He’s coached his teams to a .582 points percentage across 18 seasons behind an NHL bench. He didn’t taste playoff success with L.A. and Hiller now has that joyless baton to win a race against unemployment. But it doesn’t mean there weren’t good times.
“I don’t think about the end,” McLellan said. “I think about the journey. When I walked in and I’m looking around the building and seeing the people being on the ice again, I reflect back on the journey with that family at that time. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It was an unreal experience for me as a coach to get to know the players, to be part of this community. We loved living here. It was an outstanding place for my wife and I and when my family was around, it was incredible.
“Zero regrets and hey, I chose to be in the coaching world. And really, how does it end? You either retire or you get fired. Or they don’t sign you again, but it’s the same thing. There’s only two ways that you end your stay in any place. I wasn’t ready to be done, so I’m working again. I’ll keep doing that until I think I can’t be a factor anymore.”