Three Veteran NHL Coaches That Must Be On The Kings And Ken Holland's List

During Friday’s exit meeting for Los Angeles Kings GM Ken Holland, he revealed that interim head coach D.J. Smith isn’t officially the coach for next season, but is a candidate for the job in the search for a new face behind the bench.

With that, he shared that he already has a list of candidates of various degrees of experience, admitting that his radar is about “five to eight” names long. Though Holland’s preference doesn’t seem to be concrete in terms of his next coach’s experience, there are plenty of veteran bench bosses out there.

Here are three veteran head coaches who should be on Holland’s list going into the 2026-27 regular season.

Bruce Cassidy

For teams that are looking to be competitive and a contender for the Stanley Cup playoffs, Bruce Cassidy should be at the top of that list for all those organizations.

Cassidy has led two different teams to the Stanley Cup finals. First, it was the Boston Bruins in 2019 when they eventually lost to the St. Louis Blues. He won the Jack Adams Trophy just one season later.

Most recently, he pushed the Vegas Golden Knights to be Cup champions for the first time in franchise history in 2023.

He was also an assistant coach for Team Canada when they won gold at the 4 Nations Face-Off and silver at the Olympics.

The Golden Knights fired him on March 29, and he is currently on the market and is probably on Holland’s short list of coaching candidates.

Bruce Cassidy (Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports)

Peter Laviolette

Peter Laviolette has been a head coach in the NHL for a very long time. He’s coached over 1,500 games in the league, winning a Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006, and also visited the Stanley Cup final on two separate occasions with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and the Nashville Predators in 2017.

He’s spent this past 2025-26 campaign on the sidelines. His last stint was two years with the New York Rangers. In his first season with the Rangers, he took them to the Eastern Conference finals, followed by missing the playoffs in the next year, ultimately costing him his job.

Nonetheless, he’s accomplished big achievements with whatever team he’s guided in the past, even if he has a shorter shelf life than others.

Report: Kings’ D.J. Smith Named Team Canada Assistant Coach For 2026 World Championship According to reports, Los Angeles Kings’ interim coach for the 2025-26 season, D.J. Smith, has been named to Team Canada’s coaching staff for the 2026 World Championship.

Gerard Gallant

Gerard Gallant is another bench boss who has seen the Stanley Cup final. He was the coach who led the Golden Knights to the final in their first year of existence in 2017. He also won the Jack Adams Trophy that season as the NHL’s best head coach of the year.

Gallant has been out of the NHL for a little while now. His last stint was with the Rangers from 2021-22 to 2022-23.

Since then, he’s coached Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in 2024-25, and this past season, he devoted his time in the KHL, coaching the Shanghai Dragons, but he lasted until he resigned in January.

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