John Stevens is fired as coach by Kings

The club planned to announce other staff changes later on Sunday, including who will take over for Stevens.

A 4-1 win over Columbus on Saturday didn’t save Stevens’ job. The Kings were a lackluster 4-8-1 this season, last in the West and last in the NHL in winning percentage. Stevens’ record as their head coach was 49-37-9.

Stevens was welcomed by players as a soft-spoken but authoritative change from the hard-driving ways of Darryl Sutter. However, he couldn’t manage to squeeze enough goals out of the team for the Kings to rise to the top of their division. This season, he emphasized playing at a faster pace but their scoring woes continued, despite the off-season signing of free agent…