John Stevens to go from assistant to Kings head coach

— -- The Los Angeles Kings?will name assistant John Stevens the head coach.

New general manager Rob Blake confirmed the decision to Fox Sports West on Sunday.?Blake never expanded his search past Stevens, a source confirmed to ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, focusing his discussions only with Stevens in determining whether there was a fit.

The defense-minded Stevens, 50, was coach of Philadelphia from 2006 to '10, after which he has served as an assistant coach and for four games in 2011-12 an interim head coach with the Kings.

Stevens went 120-109 with the Flyers, losing to the Penguins in the conference finals in 2007-08.

The Kings introduced Blake and team president Luc Robitaille on Tuesday, one day after coach Darryl Sutter and general manager Dean Lombardi were fired despite winning Stanley Cup titles in 2012 and '14.?The Kings also dismissed assistant coach Davis Payne.

Los Angeles has won only one playoff game since raising the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history in 2014.?

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.