The Los Angeles Kings’ summer overhaul is starting to take shape behind the bench, and Peter Laviolette may be bringing in one of the biggest names from his Carolina days.
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Laviolette is expected to hire Ray Whitney as an assistant coach. Whitney, who played 22 seasons in the NHL, would be making the move into coaching after a career that produced 385 goals, 679 assists and 1,064 points in 1,330 regular season games.
Whitney’s connection to Laviolette runs straight back to the 2005-06 Carolina Hurricanes, when the two won the only Stanley Cup of their careers. Whitney was a key piece on that team, usually skating on the second line with Rod Brind’Amour and Justin Williams. He finished that regular season with 55 points in 63 games and added 15 points in 24 playoff games during the Cup run.
An Alberta native, Whitney started his NHL career with the San Jose Sharks in 1991-92. Now he appears set to join Laviolette on the Kings’ bench as the coach continues to build a staff aimed at changing the club’s identity.
That shift is part of a broader organizational reset in Los Angeles. The Kings moved on from interim head coach D.J. Smith this summer and hired Laviolette, a coach known for pushing a faster, more aggressive style than the slower, defense-first approach Jim Hiller had used in previous seasons.
The Kings are trying to break through after years of coming up short in the playoffs. They have been a regular presence in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this decade, but they still haven’t advanced past the first round. From 2022 through 2025, they lost four straight first-round series to the Edmonton Oilers, then were swept this postseason by the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche.
Laviolette’s first season in Los Angeles will also be the first without captain Anze Kopitar, who retired after the 2026 campaign. General manager Stan Bowman is currently reshaping the roster in hopes of making the team better equipped to score when it matters most, an issue that has hurt the Kings in their playoff exits.
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