The NHL head coaching carousel is beginning to pick up some steam across the league, as the Vancouver Canucks hired Adam Foote, the Anaheim Ducks brought on Joel Quenneville, and the Philadelphia Flyers landed on Rick Tocchet.

And it looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins' search is getting more active as well.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Penguins have spoken to Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love and Los Angeles Kings assistant coach D.J. Smith.

Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh & Seattle remain on the hunt for a new Head Coach.

Per sources, the Penguins have spoken with DJ Smith about their HC vacancy.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) May 14, 2025

Mitch Love is also on Pittsburgh’s radar.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) May 14, 2025

Love, 40, is currently the defensive coach for the Capitals. He was hired prior to the 2024-25 season and helped lead Washington to the best finish in the Eastern Conference at 51-22-9.

He has spent most of his coaching career in developmental leagues, beginning as an assistant in 2011 with the Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League (WHL). In 2018, he was named head coach of the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, leading them to the playoffs in his first season and putting three strong seasons together. 

And in his next gig - which came with the Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers of the AHL - he won coach of the year in back-to-back seasons right before being brought onto Washington's staff.

Smith, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1995 and later appeared in NHL games for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. Following his playing career, he was hired by the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL as an assistant coach and remained there until 2012, when he was hired as a head coach by the Oshawa Generals. 

In his third season there, he led the team to an OHL championship as well as a Memorial Cup, which earned him an assistant coaching gig with the Leafs, where he remained through the end of the 2018-19 season before becoming the head coach of the Ottawa Senators.

Smith was in Ottawa for parts of five seasons before getting fired during the early part of the 2023-24 season. In 317 total games with Ottawa, Smith was 131-154-32 with a .464 win percentage.

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Although the Penguins are casting a "wide net" in their search for a new bench boss, POHO and GM Kyle Dubas has expressed a desire to make experience in developmental leagues a focus. The Penguins rolled with former head coach Mike Sullivan - now head coach of the New York Rangers - for 10 seasons, and given that they find themselves in a rebuild, someone who works well with young talent will likely be paramount.

Following Sullivan's departure, Dubas said he expects the Penguins to hire a new coach by early June in advance of the 2025 NHL Draft on June 27-28.

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After several days of intense speculation, the LA Kings confirmed today that there was indeed some fire in all that smoke by announcing that Ken Holland will be the franchise's 10th General Manager. 

Welcome to LA! 🌟

We've named Ken Holland the 10th General Manager in franchise history.

📲 https://t.co/hzLeQdCZnG#GoKingsGopic.twitter.com/mDzBrRxlP6

— LA Kings (@LAKings) May 14, 2025

The former NHL goalie will immediately be called upon to make some big saves. The NHL Draft is just over a month away and the status of unrestricted free agents Vladislav Gavrikov, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Tanner Jeannot, as well as restricted free agent Alex Laferriere, will need to be gloved down.

Despite assurances from Team President Luc Robitaille on retaining the services of head coach Jim Hiller next season, Holland could very well decide to make a change behind the bench. Holland fired Jay Woodcroft in Edmonton after a 3-9-1 start to the season in 2023, replacing him the relatively unknown Kris Knoblauch. That move turned the Oilers' season around, leading Edmonton to their first Stanley Cup Finals since 2006.

With LA, Holland will inherit a solid team that regularly underperforms in the playoffs. Thus, much like his tenure with Edmonton, the Kings' new GM will be tasked with getting a team to the next level. Unlike Edmonton, however, he won't have superstars like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to work with. 

Instead, he will have promising youngsters like Quinton Byfield and Brandon Clarke, as well as the aging duo of Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar and a rejuvenated Darcy Kuemper between the pipes. 

Will Holland feel that this team's current roster is good enough to compete for the Stanley Cup or will he shake things up with an off-season trade? Holland is often described as a "win now" type of executive so a move or moves wouldn't be completely out of character. His 2001 trade for Dominik "The Dominator" Hasek was a huge factor in Detroit's 2002 Stanley Cup win. In 2008, Holland flipped two draft picks to the Kings for defenseman Brad Stuart to line up with Niklas Kronwall on a top-four pairing and guess what? Detroit won another Cup that year. 

Team President Luc Robitaille believes that if you are looking to add on July 1st your team is in a good spot. It will be quite interesting to see where Ken Holland thinks the Kings are this summer and how he intends on getting LA past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

As the Buffalo Sabres' off-season continues to unfold, there are many voices arguing the team should be doing what many NHL teams are doing -- namely, augmenting their front office with a veteran voice who has many years as a successful GM in hockey's top league. And the Los Angeles Kings are the latest organization to do exactly that, hiring former Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland Wednesday as the Kings' new GM. 

To be sure, Holland's incredible experience as a Stanley Cup winner and team-builder was behind L.A.'s decision to insert him as replacement for longtime GM Rob Blake. The Kings have been a solid regular-season team for many years, but Los Angeles' inability to win a playoff round in Blake's tenure led to the decision to replace him with Holland. It was time for a change for the Kings, and L.A. went with a proven winner in Holland.

And while there are no guarantees Holland will guide the Kings to playoff success, the Sabres need to heed the example set by L.A. and figure out which experienced and available management member will at the very least help current Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams, and at the very most serve as Adams' replacement if and when Sabres ownership chooses to pink-slip Adams.

Does that addition have to be Lou Lamoriello? No, not at all -- although the Sabres could do far worse than the former New Jersey, Toronto and New York Islanders GM. But certainly, bringing in someone who doesn't have any experience as an NHL GM -- we're looking at you, new Sabres management hire Eric Staal -- doesn't mean Buffalo should stop hiring management members to assist Adams.

Indeed, there's no salary cap limit on front office members, so Sabres ownership can hire as many experienced hands as they can get. And while there is such a thing as too many cooks in the kitchen, adding someone who knows the terrain of the NHL leadership landscape can only help Buffalo.

The Sabres are going to be under incredible pressure just to make the playoffs next sesaon, let alone win a round or two. So having someone on board who's handled that kind of pressure and thrived in spite of it is exactly what the doctor ordered for this franchise at this point in Buffalo's history. The Sabres need someone whose temperature won't be in fever territory when things get difficult, and that almost assuredly means they need someone who's seen just about everything there is to see as they try to construct a year-in, year-out winner. 

Staal Hired By Sabres As Special Assistant To Adams The Buffalo Sabres were expected to make some changes to their coaching and management staff in the wake of their 14th straight season missing the playoffs, and on Wednesday, the club announced the hiring of former Sabre Eric Staal as a special assistant to GM Kevyn Adams. 

You can argue that Adams deserves another kick at the can as Sabres GM -- and while we don't necessarily agree with that perspective, you can't convince us that Adams should be charting a course for Buffalo without the assistance and feedback of someone who's achieved something as an executive that Adams hasn't yet achieved.

Time will tell how the Sabres flesh out the rest of their management team, but one thing is for certain -- if all they do in this off-season is hire Staal to help Adams out, they haven't done nearly enough to give themselves a bona fide opportunity to finally break their now-14-year playoff drought. And the blame for that will fall squarely at the feet of Buffalo ownership.

There should be no expense too rich for the Sabres to turn things around at the management level, and hiring someone like Holland to help reverse the team's fortunes is the very least they can do. Holland's hiring in L.A. is the latest instance of an NHL team hedging their bets with a GM who's seen and done it all, and Buffalo needs someone very similar to him in order to end the playoff-free streak and get the Sabres back on the winning track.

J.T. Miller has a hobby outside of playing hockey and that is golf. 

With the New York Rangers not making the playoffs, Miller decided to attempt to qualify for the 2025 U.S. Open Golf Championship. 

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Unfortunately for Miller, he did not make the cut after he finished a 4-over-par 76 in the initial round of local qualifying, falling four strokes back of the cut line in the one-day, 18-hole event at Quicksilver Golf Club.

“It was hard,” Miller said via NHL.com. “It got windy. I thought it would be harder with the rain. ... I had a month to practice. So, I felt good coming in here. Typically, it always comes down to making putts. That’s what those guys are a lot better at doing.”

Regardless of the result, Miller is still happy he at least attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open and he has no regrets.

“I had an opportunity to play for one day,” said Miller. “I know who I’m playing against out there. I’m a competitive guy, so I just kept the expectations realistic. I’m happy with myself.”

It’s safe to say Miller hopes to be competing for a Stanley Cup with the Rangers next year as opposed to playing golf. 

“The goal is not to be available to play in this,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, that’s what happens.”

Coaching is an essential part of hockey, especially in the NHL. Every successful team has a head coach who puts his players in the best position to succeed. Right now, the Chicago Blackhawks have a vacancy in that role. 

After Anders Sorensen completed his interim head coaching stint, replacing the fired Luke Richardson, it became obvious that Kyle Davidson and his staff would conduct a widespread search for the next bench boss. 

A few high-end candidates have come and gone. David Carle, who was at the top of Chicago’s list, will remain the head coach of Denver in the college ranks. Mike Sullivan was fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins and hired by the New York Rangers just a few days later. 

On Wednesday, two more coaching vacancies filled up. Rick Tocchet, who left the Vancouver Canucks on April 29th, was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers. There had been speculation for weeks that Tocchet would go to Philly, and it finally came to fruition. 

A few hours later, the Vancouver Canucks announced that Adam Foote, their assistant coach, would take over as the bench boss in place of Tocchet. This move will be met with mixed reviews, but another team is off the market for a new coach. 

The Blackhawks are left with the Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Seattle Kraken as the only teams with a hole to fill behind the bench. Of the four, the Blackhawks have the best situation in terms of prospects and draft picks to build around. 

The Bruins, Kraken, and Penguins have also all had their rumors and speculation. The Blackhawks, outside of Carle, have not. Kyle Davidson, outside of saying that Anders Sorensen is in the mix for the job, has not let anything leak. Nobody knows who he likes, who has interviewed, or has a sense of where they are in the process.

It won't be long before something happens. The dominoes are falling around the league now, and the options for candidates are dwindling. If a young team with a bright future is what an incoming coach wants, Chicago is their best bet of the four remaining. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

The Vegas Golden Knights are preparing for a must-win Game 5 with the possibility that their captain, Mark Stone, won't be with them, according to Sin Bin Vegas.

The 33-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in Game 3 and was immediately announced day-to-day. He was a full participant in practice before Game 4 and played 21:42 of ice time. The injury has seemingly gotten worse and will force him to be out for a must-win Game 5. 

Multiple sources have confirmed to us that VGK are proceeding forward with the expectation that Mark Stone will NOT play tonight.

Both McNabb and Pietrangelo are expected to go.

Brandon Saad is not expected back in this series.

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 14, 2025

With Stone out, Cole Schwindt will likely check into the lineup as he did not stay after practice with the expected healthy scratches. If he does play, it'll be Schwindt's playoff debut. 

Brandon Saad has been nursing a lower-body injury, which has kept him out of the lineup since Game 2. 

Fortunately for the Golden Knights, Kaedan Korczak and Ben Hutton remained on the ice after practice, indicating that although Alex Pietrangelo and Brayden McNabb did not skate, they should be in line to play. 

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