The sun peeked through the morning haze and greeted Willie Desjardins when he got up early and walked out of his hotel room in El Segundo. It was more than 30 degrees warmer than his home in Medicine Hat, Canada, and Desjardins was already energized to meet his new team.
“I walked for about 25 minutes and I had to phone [assistant coach] Dave Lowry and say, ‘OK, where exactly is the rink?’” Desjardins said.
Desjardins and the Kings will eventually learn the right direction. That was the expectation Monday after his first practice as the 25th coach in franchise history.