Former player Ray Whitney returns to the NHL as a coach.

The trend of former National Hockey League players turning to coaching after their career on the ice has come to an end continues on Monday, with another former player taking on a prominent role in the NHL.

The news on Monday comes courtesy of NHL insider Darren Dreger who is reporting that long time former NHL player Ray Whitney is set to take on his first coaching job in the NHL. According to Dreger, Whitney is set to join the staff of head coach Peter Laviolette where Whitney is expected to take on the role of assistant coach under Laviolette.

This is a very interesting hire for the Kings for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Whitney brings with him a whole host of experience as a player. Whitney played in 1330 regular season games during his career in the NHL, scoring 385 goals and adding 679 assists for a whopping 1064 career points in the league. He also had an additional 108 playoff games with 21 goals and 32 assists for 53 career points in the playoffs, and that brings us to the next interesting detail about this hire.

There is a deep connection between Whitney and Laviolette and it seems that connection has remained a strong bond over the last 20+ years. When Whitney was still a player in the NHL he would win his only Stanley Cup championship as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes at the end of the 2004-05 season, a team that was of course coached by Laviolette himself.

We have seen some of the former player turned coach hires work out really well for other teams in the NHL and obviously the Los Angeles Kings are hoping they can capture some of that magic themselves. That Laviolette is putting Whitney is this position speaks to his confidence in the former player's ability to deliver behind the bench much like he did on the ice during his career.