Los Angeles
The Kings promoted former defenseman Rob Blake to vice president and general manager. Longtime executive Luc Robitaille was promoted to team president in charge of all hockey and business operations.
The moves bring an emphatic end to the best era in the mostly ordinary history of the Kings, a Second Six expansion franchise. Los Angeles won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, but hasn’t won a playoff round since.
The Kings (39-35-8) missed the playoffs this spring for the second time in three years with their worst record since 2009. They finished 10th in the 14-team Western Conference, fading down the stretch with a veteran-laden team that struggled to keep up with faster, younger opponents.
Panthers Make Changes
Sunrise, Fla.
The Panthers reinstated Tallon as general manager on Monday, removing Tom Rowe from both that position and his role as interim coach one day after a Florida season that began with Stanley Cup-contention expectations ended well short of a postseason berth.
It has been a muddled last 12 months for the Panthers, starting with Rowe’s promotion to general manager. Florida revamped its roster in the offseason, making decisions in large part based on data gleaned from analytics. And head coach Gerard Gallant — who was well-liked in the locker room and led Florida to its best regular season ever — was fired after 22 games and replaced by Rowe.
Canucks Fire Desjardins
Vancouver, British Columbia
The team announced the move on Monday, a day after ending the season with its eighth straight loss. Assistant coaches Doug Lidster and Perry Pearn were also let go.
In three seasons with Vancouver, Desjardins went 109-110-27. The 60-year-old led the club to the playoffs as a rookie NHL head coach in 2014-15, but the rebuilding Canucks took a big step backward last season and then finished 29th out of 30 teams in the NHL standings this year.
