Telepeer

Kings GM Ken Holland: D.J. Smith is a candidate for full-time coaching job

May 2, 2026

EL SEGUNDO — Kings general manager Ken Holland just barely made it to May to address the state of the club after it was punted from the playoffs in Round 1 for a fifth consecutive year, covering a broad array of topics on Friday over the course of 35 minutes.

While his comments will be covered in SCNG’s broader analysis on Saturday, here are the top-line takeaways from his address.

COACHING SEARCH

Holland said that on the “front burner” cooked the question of who would steward the black and silver next season, with interim coach D.J. Smith among a field of single-digit candidates. Assistant coaches Newell Brown and Matt Greene were also TBD to return based on the head coaching quest.

Holland mentioned Smith’s candidacy in his opening remarks and reiterated it later, touting Smith’s respectable .609 points percentage after taking the helm on March 1. Yet Smith was not made available on Friday, nor at Wednesday’s player exit interviews, as a head coach typically would be.

When asked if Holland would seek established, veteran candidates – Bruce Cassidy could be the most coveted name in the market – or a younger up-and-comer – Manny Malhotra has been a rising commodity in the AHL with Abbotsford – he said “I think all of the above.”

PENDING FREE AGENTS

The Kings’ modest but fruitful trade-deadline acquisitions in consecutive years are both up for new deals, winger Andrei Kuzmenko, who returned on a one-year pact last summer, and center Scott Laughton. Their top defenseman this season, Brandt Clarke, is a pending restricted free agent, while their time-on-ice leader Drew Doughty is eligible for a contract extension on July 1.

Holland said he had yet to meet with Doughty, though both his contract situation and his role with the team would be topics of conversation next week at their sitdown. That could impact the situation of Clarke, who outplayed Doughty and usurped his former position on the power play but logged fewer minutes at right defense just the same. Holland said that because of a situation with Detroit goalie Mike Vernon 31 years ago, he always shut down negotiations at a certain point in the season, which he did with Clarke and his rep Randy Robitaille after some in-campaign talks.

Holland seemed hopeful that Laughton, who expressed interest in returning, would come back to extend the value of his acquisition for what ultimately became a second-round draft pick. That would also shore up the Kings’ rail-thin situation at center after the retirement of Anže Kopitar and, before that, Phillip Danault’s departure via trade. He was less committal on Kuzmenko, who was terse in his own remarks on Wednesday.

DEFENSE AND GOALTENDING

Despite Holland’s assertions that the season was disappointing, unacceptable and totally inadequate not only offensively but on both sides of the special-teams coin, he did not seem firmly inclined to make changes on the back end for the Kings.

He praised the goaltending of Darcy Kuemper, pointing to a season and a half that were good enough to get him named to Canada’s silver-medal-winning Olympic roster in Milan, and Anton Forsberg, who seized the net late in the season and played every minute of the playoffs, a four-game sweep by the Colorado Avalanche. Erik Portillo, Carter George and Hampton Slukynsky will all be eligible to play in the AHL next season.

On defense, the Kings have purged talent with limited or no value in return in recent years. Gone are Vladislav Gavrikov, Matt Roy, Jordan Spence, Brock Faber, Sean Durzi and Sean Walker, among others, depleting a once-burgeoning corps to the point where they had to make two hasty best-player-available signings in a thin free-agent market last summer. Holland hinted at reevaluating play style and personnel, but also defended his moves and the players they netted, seemingly unwilling to commit to an aggressive upgrade on the blue line.

FORWARDS

Although they added Laughton and, before the Olympic break, aging gamebreaker Artemi Panarin, the Kings mostly lost bodies up front last year as they dealt Danault, Corey Perry and Warren Foegele for draft picks. They were also without Kuzmenko and his then-linemate Kevin Fiala for the post-pause home stretch, though Holland said Fiala’s recovery from a broken leg had progressed to where he could have played in these playoffs if the Kings had advanced far enough.

Holland said he anticipated handing the No. 1 center and No. 1 power-play roles to Quinton Byfield next year. He also said “Kopi’s a massive hole,” that will have to be replaced both individually and by committee. He said he would be working the phones for help in the middle, while the players said they would seek to replace the now former captain’s leadership as a group.

The Kings began last year with Kopitar, Danault and Doughty wearing letters, and now only Doughty remains. Leading scorer Adrian Kempe, whom Holland liked so much he named him twice in his list of core pieces the Kings retained, and defenseman Mikey Anderson seem to be the most likely candidates to take on codified leadership roles.

Orange County Register

News Details

Kings GM Ken Holland: D.J. Smith is a candidate for full-time coaching job

COACHING SEARCH

PENDING FREE AGENTS

DEFENSE AND GOALTENDING

FORWARDS

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS