Los Angeles Kings hire Pierre Turgeon as offensive coordinator

The Los Angeles Kings hired Pierre Turgeon as an assistant coach, the team announced Monday.

Turgeon's primary responsibility will be to improve the Kings' sputtering offense, with the club handing him the label of offensive coordinator. Los Angeles ranked 24th in goals scored last season with 199.

The 47-year-old Turgeon knows a thing or two about offense after collecting 1,327 points in 1,294 games before retiring in 2007. His 515 goals rank 38th all-time in the league.

"We are thrilled to bring Pierre Turgeon aboard to join John Stevens and our coaching staff. For the first time in LA Kings history we will have one coach strictly dedicated to an 'offensive coordinator' role," Kings president Luc Robitaille said in a statement released.

Stevens was also welcoming of the five-time All-Star.

"Pierre had great success as a player and has a tremendous hockey background on the whole. He is a person who brings a lot of energy, passion and insight to the job along with a great deal of enthusiasm about the game," Stevens said.

"We look forward to him adding to our team, and to our staff, a real team perspective from a person who was a high-end player, especially in the offensive zone. We have talked a lot during the process of building a coaching staff regarding the qualities of the people we wanted to bring aboard."

Turgeon joins Dave Lowry, Don Nachbaur and goaltending coach Bill Ranford on John Stevens' staff. Stevens was promoted to replace Darryl Sutter on April 24 after Los Angeles missed the playoffs for the second time in three seasons since capturing the Stanley Cup in 2014.