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Jim Hiller Still Has Two More Trash Can Kicks

keith fries
·2 min read

On Monday, January 20, 2025, the Los Angeles Kings hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins, losing 5-1 in regulation.

Many fans were quick to deem it one of the worst games of the season for LA; a sentiment Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller echoed in his postgame press conference, summarizing the contest with one word: “disappointing.”

“I can tell you… I can probably count, maybe, only five times I’ve been disappointed in our team […] this season. Tonight was one of them; maybe the most.” – Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller after loss to Pittsburgh Penguins, January 20, 2025

I referenced in the Game Thirty-Three Preview: Jets @ Kings that former NHL Head Coach Dave Tippett, known mostly for his time with the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes, once said (and I'm paraphrasing), "as the Head Coach, you can only kick the trash can in the locker room three times a season before the boys tune out."

Essentially, Coaches must be calculated when voicing or displaying their frustration with the team.

In that article, I assumed Hiller made his first kick of the can after the 7-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on November 25, 2024.

While Hiller described Monday’s loss as, “disappointing,” I don’t think it resulted in the second kick of the trash can.

Think of it like this… When a child messes up, you’ll hear a parent say, “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed.” To me, kicking the trash can happens when you’re not just mad, you’re incensed!

Hiller’s disappointment with how the team played on Monday is not something he necessarily needed to make a display of. Rather, it’s a chance for the boys to have their own come to Jesus moment.

Which it appears they did.

After the game, Kings Captain Anze Kopitar made it clear that the team needs to be better going forward.

“It was definitely not our game tonight. From top to bottom, we didn’t get anything going. Even when [we scored] the power play goal, they [came] right back and scored the fourth one which turned out to be a big goal. […] We just weren’t good enough, that’s the bottom line. Top to bottom, left to right, the game was not there.” – Anze Kopitar after loss to Pittsburgh Penguins, January 20, 2025

Kopitar did acknowledge that, “[s]o far, [the Kings] haven’t had too many games like these. It’s probably the only game, as a whole, that was like this. We’ve had some bad stretches in periods here and there. But, I think for the most part we’ve been pretty sharp.”

Monday’s loss wasn’t great, but it wasn’t so bad that the custodian needed to collect overtime pay.

From what I saw, the Kings had their chances but couldn’t capitalize. Was it a bad loss? Yes. Could it be considered the worst game of the season? Sure. But, did it warrant a kick of the trash can? No.

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