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Behind the Scenes

A look behind the laptops, as Samson Lee & Cole Lussier play a key role on Kings coaching staff

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To the uninitiated this might look like any windowless office in any high-tech firm with its long tables and phalanx of desktop computers, laptops, tablets, keyboards and, in this case, a half-eaten lunch on a plastic plate thanks to the arrival of a visitor full of questions.

But pull back the curtain on what really happens here in this nondescript room at the Los Angeles Kings’ practice facility in El Segundo and take a closer look at the men who toil tirelessly here, and you’ll find that this is as far from mundane as one can get in the world of pro sport.

Los Angeles Kings Head Coach Jim Hiller ponders the best way to describe the work that is performed in this room (and similar rooms around the National Hockey League when the Kings are on the road) by the masters of this domain, video coaches Samson (Sammy or Sam) Lee and Cole Lussier.

It takes a moment because Hiller wants to get it right.

“They’re such a critical piece,” the coach said. “I would go so far as call them the hub. Everything comes out from there. The central nervous system. That might be better. Everything runs from there and then out.”

Hiller starts listing elements – travel, lineups, practices, anything to do with the organization.

“Reminders for the coaches,” Hiller continues. “Coaches forget all the time. These guys, for whatever reasons, never seem to forget. Personally, I lean on them a lot because they have a little bit fresher perspective, I think. They see the game from a different perspective. And so, I like to talk to them about their insight, about what they’re seeing as well.”

Lee is from Vancouver. He attended Boston College where he studied accounting but that went out the window quickly when he ended up volunteering as the video coordinator for the Boston College men’s hockey team working alongside legendary Hall of Fame coach Jerry York.

“Coach York was very instrumental in helping me along the way. One of the greatest people ever,” Samson said.

Samson met long-time NHL GM Ray Shero, who recently passed away, during Samson’s time at BC and after leaving college Lee joined the Pittsburgh Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre as their video coordinator. Three years later he moved to the NHL and the Kings in 2015.

He recently celebrated 1,000 pro hockey games to his credit, a rare accomplishment. Still, don’t expect to see Samson out twirling about during staff games of shinny or things of that nature.

“I was a terrible player. I was a terrible goalie and I knew that was going absolutely nowhere,” Samson acknowledged.

His lack of on-ice acumen has done little to blunt his importance to the Los Angeles Kings.

Hiller was first introduced to Samson during his tenure as Todd McLellan’s assistant before taking over as head coach midway through last season.

“As an assistant coach, I could see Sam right away was highly capable. Understood the subtleties of the game. So, you get a level of comfort. In a week, I was like, okay, this guy’s on it. He understands hockey as well as anybody here in the room. So that’s fine,” Hiller said. “Cole’s new, but it didn’t take long either. You just observe conversations and I could see that Cole was on top of it.”

Lussier came to this crazy video coach life also somewhat haphazardly.

He lived several houses away from a hockey player named Jared Nightengale when Nightengale was playing junior hockey in Lussier’s hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Nightengale, who also worked for Lussier’s mother when Nightengale was going to high school, went on to coach in Flint, Michigan and Lussier joined him there as a video coach and assistant director of hockey operations. From there Lussier spent two years with the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate in Ontario before joining the Kings this season.

Lussier also played some Division III hockey so he would have the edge over Lee in any one-on-one video coach hockey action, not that that is likely to happen.

Lee likes to tell the story of a conversation with former Pittsburgh executive (and long-time NHL player) Tom Fitzgerald early in Lee’s tenure in Wilkes-Barre.

Fitzgerald, now the GM of the New Jersey Devils, asked Lee what Lee’s job was. Lee went through various explanations, none of which satisfied Fitzgerald.

“Finally, he said, ‘Your job is to make sure that the coaches have whatever they need and that they’re prepared and everything goes off without a hitch. That’s your job,’” Lee recalled. “I like to use that line lots and I have lots. Our job is to make sure they can do their job at the fullest, in any way we can, so that they’re not looking back on it and saying, ‘If only we had this’ or if only we could do that.”

You can start with the basics, the boilerplate structure of video coaching, identifying and cutting up (digitally) clip after clip of five-on-five plays, power play segments, penalty kill segments and goalie segments.

But drill deeper and what Lee and Lussier bring to the computer console and to team meetings and everything else connected to the team’s preparation is a clear and unwavering understanding of the game and more specifically the game as Hiller and the Kings envision it being played.

“Whatever they feel like can help the team, whatever they feel like they need in terms of information or technology or any sort of coaching aid, our job is to provide them with that,” Lee explained. “The ability to convey a message, the ability to show a player something, teach something to somebody.”

A hockey team is like any successful business, a successful team is one in which everyone from top to bottom knows what is expected of them and what the goals are every day.

“I think the biggest thing for us is we’re just another mechanism to carry the message,” Lee said.

That message can be conveyed in different ways. Lots of players are comfortable with computer learning of course. But Lee recalled former Kings coach Darryl Sutter reminding Lee that there isn’t one way to do this job and he has been mindful of that as he has grown in this position over the years.

“That was Darryl Sutter’s philosophy that everyone learns in different ways and just because you’re a video guy, not every player in that room learns that way, so our job is to make sure that however they want to teach it they have the resources and the ability to do so,” Lee said.

As if it wasn’t clear already, this isn’t about cutting up a game into video bites like you might cut up cold cuts for a submarine sandwich. No. This is more precise. Like surgery delicately slicing off sometimes hundreds of parts of a 60-minute game, surgically removing critical bits of an opposing team’s tendencies and habits. Those bits can be shared with the coaching staff and players in the hopes of using that knowledge to secure a win.

You can start with the basics, studying through video five-on-five play and special teams play and go from there.

“It’s the easiest place to start. Every team does that. Five-on-five game plan and special teams game plan that’s just how the game is,” Lee explained.

Then the video coaches start peeling back the layers of the game. Lussier works with assistant coach Newell Brown on the power play attack. Assistant coach Derik Johnson, formerly the Kings’ skills and assistant video coach, works with D.J. Smith on the penalty kill preparation. There’s video that aids goalie coach Mike Buckley.

Then there are deeper dives into how opposing teams measure up or are trending analytically.

“It’s making sure that if a team’s particularly good at something analytically that we’re watching it,” Lee explained.

Sometimes the preparation will come organically from discussions the staff have internally. There’s a small opening with a sliding glass door connecting the video coaches’ room to the coaches’ office through which information – or the odd jab or one-liner of course – can be shared.
Sometimes if Lee is watching a game on an off night and sees that an upcoming opponent is riding a hot streak at five-on-five or the power play that becomes part of the collective preparation moving forward.

“So, reading through all that and making sure that those guys when they’re ready to present when they’re ready to set the tone they have a clear picture of what the message is to our guys,” Lee said.

Lee’s title is video coordinator. Lussier is assistant video coordinator. But make no mistake Hiller considers them assistant coaches on a par with the rest of the Kings’ coaching group.

“It’s not just the work. You have to understand the game and the subtleties of the game,” Hiller said. “And when you do, you can provide that much more value. That’s the important part. Full trust in their knowledge of the game and what they’re seeing.”

It’s hard to imagine the Kings having the success they’ve had this season without that trust.

“There’s a next level to it, which we really appreciate. We try to bat things around and get opinions. And we certainly value theirs as much as anybody else in the room,” Hiller said.

That level of trust is illustrated by the fact that Lee not only cuts the pre-scout video of opposing teams, but Hiller also has him do the presentation to the players, a short briefing that goes over trends and tendencies related to the Kings’ opponent.

It’s not an insignificant duty.

When Lee arrived in Los Angeles, Sutter gave Lee the job of presenting the pre-scout.

The Kings went 0-3 in their first three games with Lee handling the duties and that was it for him. For almost a decade.

Lee and Hiller both chuckle at the banishment from presenting.

Hiller wanted Lee to present regardless of his record and, of course, the Kings lost the first game when Lee did the pre-scout.

After that loss Hiller came into the coaches’ room and joked that Lee had two chances left or he’d have to invoke the Sutter plan.

“That’s just another skill set that he has. And to do that, it’s not easy because you have to understand the coach’s language. You have to understand, again, how the game works. So, you get thrown right into the spotlight. And I do think he does a really good job of it,” Hiller said.

And then there’s the video review.

Oh, you thought we forgot that? You wondered why we waited so long to get to the video review?

There is no doubt that video review is the most forward-facing part of the job for video coaches around the NHL. Still, it really represents just a fraction of the duties that Lee and Lussier handle.

Make no mistake, though, the video review is critical and with the playoffs on the horizon it’s not a stretch to suggest that the work being done by

Lussier and Lee will have a direct impact on the outcome of a particular playoff game and perhaps a series and by extension, at some point, the difference between winning and losing a Stanley Cup.

In other words, no pressure gentlemen.

While Lee handles the cutting and tagging (or labeling) of video clips in real time during a game so the coaches and/or players may use them between periods or as part of a post-game debrief, the video challenge is Lussier’s area of expertise.

Lussier’s primary responsibility during the game is to watch for plays that could become subject to a coaches’ challenge either by the Kings or their opponent. That means Lussier is focused on entries into each offensive zone. If there is a close play at the blue line and the opponent scores he must produce as much video evidence as possible to support a potential challenge or conversely share information that a challenge would not be successful. Lussier is also tasked with using a different video system called Hawk-Eye that gives him different vantage points to assess play around the net so he can be prepared to provide information on a potential goaltender interference challenge.

When a play takes place that might be the subject of a challenge, as was the case in a recent game against Utah when Dylan Guenther appeared to give the Utah Hockey Club an early 1-0 lead, Lussier finds as many video angles as he can of the UHC’s entry into the Kings’ zone. Those images are shared with the coaching staff and Lee who is the voice connecting the video room with the coaches. In this case the goal was ruled off-side and the Kings went on to win the game 4-2.

In the case of a potential goaltender interference challenge, sometimes the video coaches will ask goalie coach Mike Buckley for his opinion.

Lee and Lussier will also look for cues on the ice to help inform their decision.

Does netminder Darcy Kuemper show distress after allowing a goal suggesting he was interfered with?

Do players react if a puck appears to have been played with a high stick or that a play was demonstrably off-side?

There are other factors.

What precedents from other challenges can the coaching staff rely on to make an informed decision on whether to challenge or not?

There’s the time of the game and the score to consider. Is it worth a challenge with a big lead late in the game versus trailing early?

Given that a failed challenge will result in playing short-handed for two minutes, the staff must consider the other team’s power play proficiency and conversely how Kings’ penalty kill has been operating.

Now, imagine having to digest all of that in, oh, about 30 seconds. And then make the right call.

It’s not for the faint of heart.

So, what’s it like when you get it right?

Lussier paused.

“Relief,” he said.

Oh, there might be other emotions. But mainly it’s relief.

And if the challenge fails?

Just like the players on the ice, Lee and Lussier have to put the disappointment behind them because there might be a high stick or off-side play coming up that must be dealt with and the focus has to be reset in a matter of seconds and brought back to the game no matter the previous disappointment.

One of the interesting parts of this story is that when you talk to Lee and Lussier about the video review process they describe a collaborative effort with the rest of the coaching staff weighing in during these high-stakes moments of the game.

Maybe it’s humility or respect for the rest of the coaching staff on the part of the video coaches but Hiller makes no bones about who pilots the video review bus and it’s the boys in the windowless room.

“We talk to them, but they have full authority. They make the call. The coaches, we don’t make the call at all,” Hiller said.

It’s simple, as far as Hiller is concerned.

They’ve been doing it. They know it better. They know the rules better than me,” Hiller said. “They have better angles. They decide. That’s the bottom line. I think everybody has an area of strength in their job description. That’s theirs. They make the call.”

But wait, Lee insisted this is a group think process.

Hiller chuckles.

“Just ask him how many times I have overruled him?”

The answer, of course, is zero.

Photo by Chris Wohlers/NHLI via Getty Images

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