The Los Angeles Kings have promoted assistant coach John Stevens to be their new head coach.

Stevens was previously the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and is more recently the long-time assistant coach to Darryl Sutter. New general manager Rob Blake decided to hire the internal candidate, which may signal staying the course as opposed to potential bold new ideas from an outside bench boss.

If you believe in the theory that head coaches perform better on their second team than their first, then Stevens could get the most out of a two-time Stanley Cup winning team that has since gotten older. With this hire, Blake may be saying that he is willing to give this core one more run at a Stanley Cup before cleaning house.

The Kings finished 25^th in goals for (2.43 goals/game) and finished 6^th in goals against (2.45 goals against/game) in 2016-17. Interestingly, they have been the top Corsi For % team over the past few seasons. Or to put it another way, they are among the league leaders in most shots taken and fewest shots allowed. This also means that they also have one of the league’s lowest shooting percentages. So Stevens’ coaching efforts should be directed toward quality instead of quantity when it comes to shots.

Blake on the hire:

"John and I had very productive dialogue this last week in relation to his head coaching philosophy and specifically how he would implement a strategy to activate our players offensively while maintaining the defensive philosophies we have come to be known for."

To change the Kings’ fortunes, Stevens may have to open things up. Jeff Carter was the only King to near his ceiling last season, so a push toward offense should have little impact on his totals. However, Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli could both be in for rebound seasons. A different coaching style may factor in here, but so could better luck. Kopitar shot 6 percent below his career average last season; Toffoli, 2 percent. But the younger Toffoli also missed nearly 20 games because of injury and will shoot more pucks going forward.

Any thoughts of a more wide-open style should negatively impact the team’s goalie, who will face more shots. Quick has maintained a .915 to .918 save percentage over the last four seasons, and there’s no reason to think he won’t again in 2017-18. But his 2.25 goals-against average over the past three seasons will definitely be put to the test. At this point let's assume that UFA-to-be Ben Bishop will not be back with the Kings, but nothing is ever 100 percent. 

Remember that none of this will matter if the new boss is virtually the same as the old boss and Stevens simply copies Sutter’s game plan. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that a coaching change may have little effect on an aging team that is trending downward.

Players this helps, in order:

Tyler Toffoli

Anze Kopitar

Jake Muzzin

Drew Doughty

Players this hurts, in order:

Jonathan Quick

Fantasy owners are now weighing in. Give your take here!