New Associate Coach Phil Housley Wants Kings To "Attack The Game"

Phil Housley nearly became an LA King as a player.

The pick that Buffalo used to take the future Hall of Fame defenseman was once Los Angeles’ first-round selection, though it was traded to the Sabres before the draft. The rest, for Housley, was history, as he went on to become one of the NHL’s most prolific offensive defensemen, on route to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Certainly a miss for the Kings of many years back.

44 years after the pick was traded, though, I suppose Housley has come full circle, as he joins the Kings’ coaching staff as Associate Coach under Head Coach Peter Laviolette.

Housley and Laviolette are far from strangers. During the summer, as Laviolette interviewed with multiple organizations, he looped Housley into the process early. Not in that Having worked together in Nashville and New York, there was a familiarity and comfort there, one that both men wanted to continue. Once Laviolette zeroed in on the Kings job and eventually got hired, Housley was his first call.

“Lavi and I have always had good communication, throughout the time we were let go in New York and [when] he was thinking about getting back into it, he was getting anxious and I said ‘hey, I’ll listen to anything if you hear of anything’ so we kept that communication going,” Housley detailed. “As it was coming to fruition a little bit towards the end of May, where he talked to several teams, but he really, really, really wanted to get to LA and I was happy he did because I’m really excited to get to LA. I love the setup there.”

The Laviolette/Housley pairing found success together in both previous stops. The Rangers were two games away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2024, their most recent time together, and the Predators were two games away from winning a Stanley Cup championship earlier in their time together.

“Lavi and I have had some success,” Housley said. “We went to the finals in Nashville, we won a Presidents Trophy, we were two games away from getting to the finals in New York, so I really feel comfortable working with him. I love his system, I love his energy, his motivation. Coming to work every day, he is an easy guy to work with and he demands a lot, but every head coach, has got to have some priorities and some expectation. He’s just been great to work with.”

The entire bench staff will be new in Los Angeles, led by Laviolette and Housley.

As Associate Coach, as Housley described it, he’s in an elevated assistant coaching role. And that makes sense. The other two assistants on staff – Ray Whitney and Chris Hajt – have a combined two seasons of NHL coaching experience. Both are from Hajt, who worked on Housley’s staff in Buffalo, so there is a relationship there. Both have experience in their own right, but Housley is a veteran of the game who has been the NHL so many times, both as a player and as a coach. He knows the drill and his experience is clearly something that Laviolette values.

In terms of diving deeper in the nitty gritty, Housley said a few things that peaked my interest.

Housley clearly has a vision for how he wants the Kings to play from the backend. The production from the blueline was not good enough last season and he understands it needs to be better. Housley spoke to that style several times and while he sees how it should really allow a player like Brandt Clarke to thrive, he needs the rest of the group to play that way as well, a style that is extremely demanding and requires a higher level of conditioning to match the aggression. He spoke about his experiences coaching Erik Gustafsson and how adding him to the group creates a competition on the blueline that was not there last season. He spoke about the importance of changing certain things about how the Kings play in 3-on-3 situations, which was especially important for last season’s Kings. I think that he’s got a ton of ideas and we should see a lot of experimentation in training camp. We’ll see some of the same and some things that are different. Laviolette will make the ultimate decisions and Housley seems to be in lockstep with his line of thinking.

Sharing those in full below, along with the full video –

Housley on getting more offense from the defensemen this season
Well, we have to. I mean, if we’re going to be in the picture of a really good hockey team, we’re going to have to get some more production of our defensemen without being a liability. We want to attack the game. They’re going to have to get up in the rush. We have to create that four-man attack. That’s going to be a must, there’s no negotiation on that. We’ve got to get up the ice and I think we can. Just watching the playoffs, obviously Colorado’s a good team, but you got one goal and one assist out of the six D that played. How are you going to win hockey games? We’ve got to be able to go under, slam walls, keep the puck and sustain pressure on the opposition. I don’t know if they were able to do that last year or I think they could have been a little bit more aggressive without being reckless, right? I mean, we’ve got to have support from the forwards that when we’re going to go in there and we may even slam down below the hash mark, that’s how aggressive Lavi’s system is and that’s why I love it, because that’s what you have to do to keep the puck in the offensive zone and help the forwards sustain pressure on the opposition. I think the guys were really excited about being more aggressive, but I do agree. Our number one priority is to play defense, that’s our job, we’re the last line of defense back there and we have to defend hard, but in saying that, the best defense is a good offense. If you’re up in the play and you’re up there sustaining pressure and you get to be in the offensive zone, to me, that’s the best defense.

Housley on Erik Gustafsson, who he coached to a successful season in New York
I really enjoyed Gus. I mean, he came in and filled a huge role for us. His mobility and his mobility to get into the play really helped us. He can move the puck. He has an idea what he’s going to do with the puck when he gets in the retrieval mode and on breakouts and he’s got a knack, a really good IQ for that. I really like when he was able to skate and get up in the play and join the play, which is going to be a really required element coming in the camp. Speaking with all the defense last week, just to introduce myself and see how they’re doing, see how their summer’s going, and relay a message from Lavi – we’re going to attack the game. That’s going to require some conditioning from our D. They’re going to have to get up ice. They’re going to have to be involved in the offensive-zone play. Erik is really good at in the zone and picking a spot. When Adam Fox was out for an extended period of time, he jumped into that first power-play unit and it didn’t miss a beat. So, he can run a power play. He’s got experience. He’s very mobile and he’s ready. There’s seven really good defensemen back there, so it’s going to be a little bit of a competition.

On he and Laviolette’s approach to 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 hockey
Lavi and I have had a huge agreement on having a plan 3-on-3 and 4-on-4. It’s really important that guys understand the situation 3-on-3. I mean, we can talk about possession til we’re blue in the face, right? That’s the main thing, possession, but I think there’s got to be some plans in certain areas, especially in the defensive zone. Offensive zone, when you’re getting into certain areas, you better have a plan where they can’t double up and now you lose possession. We have a really good, structured plan, 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 and I think it’s going to help. I know in New York our first year there when we won the Presidents Trophy there, we had great success in overtime and I think you’ve got to allow the players to use their skills, that’s why they’re out there, but also within that framework is just have an idea what certain things are. It might be a breakout, might be a neutral-zone regroup, what are we going to do with the puck when we have total possession in the offensive zone and it’s man on man? Are there ways we can create confusion and maybe see some better ice? So, there’s a lot of things that go into it. I’ve got two hours and 15 minutes of 3-on-3 that I’m watching right now and getting prepared for training camp and I can see that just the structure a little bit could be better. I’m not trying to knock anybody but I think they were attached to their guy too much. You can be in a 1-2 sort of triangle and that will eventually evolve when you get in the defensive zone. So, there’s some ways I think we can improve, especially when we don’t have the puck.

Full interviews is embedded above & below! For full transparency, there is one edit, right at the end of the video……when Phil’s doorbell rang and he had to get up quickly to answer it……to find it was some kids in his neighborhood trying to sell him lemonade. Otherwise, interview is shown in full and I appreciated Phil’s insight and time.