It was reported last Saturday that the Los Angeles Kings will not renew the contract of Mike Stothers. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, Stothers was the longtime coach of the club’s minor-league affiliate the Ontario Reign.
Stothers was in his 6th season coaching the Reign when the season was suspended to the coronavirus pandemic. There was no clear indication from the Kings that a new contact was in the future as Stothers’ contract was set to expire on June 15.
Stothers coached the AHL (American Hockey League) club since it was located in Manchester, N.H. While there, he leads the team to the Calder Cup title during his first season back in 2014-15. If you ask me, that is pretty impressive.
Kings General Manager Rob Blake made this statement regarding Stothers:
“We appreciate everything Mike has contributed to the organization. He has played an important role in helping develop our players and we want to thank him for his years of service and guiding us to a Calder Cup Championship in 2015.”
The rest of the coaching staff will remain with the team. Just some random FYI about Stothers here, he was the second-longest tenured member of the franchise not to be kept on board. Kings Assistant General Manager Mike Futa was the first and had been there since 2017.
