LOS ANGELES—Pierre Turgeon has been sworn in by the LA Kings as the newest addition to their coaching staff, Head Coach John Stevens and General Manager Rob Blake disclosed on Monday, July 10.

According to Kings President Luc Robitaille, the 47 year-old, who hails from Rouyn, Quebec, has been appointed as the team’s Offensive Coordinator for the first time in franchise history. In addition to Stevens, Turgeon will join fellow Assistants Dave Lowry, Don Nachbaur, and Goaltending Coach Bill Ranford.

This season will mark Turgeon’s NHL coaching debut. The former center was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 1987, a few months shy of his 18th birthday. He commenced his professional career with the team and would play for four full seasons before being traded to the New York Islanders in 1991, the Montreal Canadiens in 1994, and the St. Louis Blues in 1996. Turgeon played five full seasons with St. Louis (1996-2001) before moving on to the Dallas Stars at the start of the 2001-2002 season and played with the organization until 2004. Turgeon spent his final two seasons in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche (2005-2007).

Following his 19 years in the league, Turgeon ranked 38th overall in career NHL goals with 515. He has 1294 career regular-season games, 1327 points (comprised of his 515 goals and 812 assists), and 452 penalty minutes. He is ranked 21st all-time in power play goals with 190, tied for 21st all-time in game-winning goals with 86, 30th all-time in assists with 812, and 32nd all-time in points. He made a total of 109 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances and collected 97 points (35 goals and 62 assists) and 36 penalty minutes.

Throughout his career, the five-time NHL All-Star (appointed in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1996 and 2000) posted an average of 1.03 points per game. In nine different seasons, he scored a minimum of 30 goals and a minimum of 80 points in eight different seasons. In 1992-1993, in addition to reaching career peaks in goals with 58, assists with 74, and points with 132, Turgeon was awarded the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.

“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. 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. We feel strongly that Pierre will help compliment myself, Dave Lowry, Don Nachbaur and Bill Ranford and we are together looking forward to the start of the season,” said Stevens of the new hire.