Some news, Insiders!
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that longtime goaltending coach Bill Ranford has been promoted to the organization’s director of goaltending after 17 years as the coach of the Los Angeles Kings. team goalkeepers. Additionally, current Kings goaltending development coach Matt Millar has been named the North American goaltending scout, working in support of Ranford and the organization’s goaltending goals. aim.
This means two things.
First, the Kings are increasing their resources invested in the goalie position.
This is a new role and position within the Kings hierarchy at the executive level, not simply Ranford replacing an existing member of the front office. Ranford is understandably the go-to candidate from an internal perspective, given his experience as the club’s goalkeeping coach, but that also means leaving the day-to-day role he has held for so many years. In doing so, it adds a seat at the table, if you will, for a specific goaltending department within the Kings’ management team hierarchy. Millar’s role is also evolving, as he moves from coaching the organization’s prospects to scouting across North America. Ranford’s oversight will include directing the team’s goalkeeper coaching, as well as directing scouting and development going forward, both with goalkeepers currently within the organization and those which are external.
Second, it means the Kings and Ontario Reign will have new goaltending coaches this season.
As noted, Ranford has been in the role for several years, originally joining the Kings in 2006. As several training regimens have changed, Ranford has been one of the constants in the organization, serving as a bridge between the various coaching teams as he has worked closely with goalkeepers who have come through the system. For the first time since the 2005-06 season, the Kings will have a new person in this role and it represents a large-scale change. On the AHL side, Millar was originally hired in 2019 to replace Dusty Imoo and has worked with the organization’s up-and-coming goaltenders for the past four seasons in an on-ice coaching role. He will now work more as a scout, with a new face taking charge of day-to-day Ontario as well as Greenville and the goaltenders who have been drafted and play at the amateur level, whether junior, college or junior. ‘foreign. .
The statement said the organization is actively seeking candidates to fill both positions immediately, with one position available for each staff member.
This is the first real change for the Kings this offseason. The Kings made a change last season, as Marco Sturm went from assistant in Los Angeles to head coach in Ontario, with Jim Hiller as assistant for the Kings. Now it’s Ranford in a new position and a new face taking on the title with the NHL club. At a position with only three players under contract going forward, there could be a few new faces in the organization for next year and it will work both on and off the ice.
From the team’s official release –
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that Bill Ranford has been promoted to director of goaltending after serving the past 17 years with the Kings as goaltending coach.
In his new role, Ranford will oversee all aspects of the organization’s goaltending department, including coaching, development, programming and scouting. Additionally, Matt Millar has been named the North American Goalkeeper and will see him supporting Ranford and the club’s goalkeeping goals. The Kings are actively seeking applicants to fill NHL and AHL goaltending coaching positions.
Since joining the club’s coaching staff in July 2006, Ranford and the Kings have won two Stanley Cups (2012, 2014) while the Kings have rewritten nearly every single-season statistical goaltending record and in the playoffs in Kings franchise history. A two-time Stanley Cup champion as a player (1988, 1990) with the Edmonton Oilers, Ranford won the Conn Smythe Trophy and shares the single-season playoff record for most wins (16) in 1990. Originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in In the third round (52nd overall) of the 1985 NHL Draft, Ranford holds a record of 240-279-76 in 647 games in 15 seasons with the Oilers, the Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. Prior to joining the Kings staff, Ranford was a goaltending consultant for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants (2004-06) and BCHL’s Burnaby Express, which he co-owned.
Millar served the past four seasons as goaltending development coach for the Ontario Reign, the AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, after joining in 2019-20. Prior to joining the Kings, Millar served as director of hockey operations and goaltending coach for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 2013 to 2019. During his six years with the Fighting Saints , the team has qualified for the playoffs every season, winning at least one playoff series every year, including an appearance in the Clark Cup Finals in 2016. The native of El Segundo, Calif., also has spent time with the Arizona Coyotes, USA Hockey and his alma mater, Bethel University.
