Germany's men's ice hockey coach Marco Sturm has been signed up by NHL side Los Angeles Kings ©IIHF

Marco Sturm, who coached Germany to ice hockey silver at this year's Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics, has been hired as an assistant coach for the National Hockey League (NHL) side Los Angeles Kings.

Sturm, a former NHL player, will conclude his time with the national team after the Deutschland Cup next weekend.

He will then move to Los Angeles to join new head coach Willie Desjardins behind the bench for the Kings.

The move comes after Kings head coach John Stevens and assistant John Nachbaur were fired.

Desjardins was announced as the team’s interim head coach.

The two new Kings coaches are acquainted - Desjardins was in charge of the Canada team that suffered a shock 4-3 loss to Germany in the Pyeongchang 2018 semi-finals.

Forty-year-old Sturm last coached in the NHL in 2017 following a three-year stint coaching the Vancouver Canucks.

Marco Sturm, second left, celebrates with his players after they took a surprise silver medal at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games following their final against OAR ©Getty Images
Marco Sturm, second left, celebrates with his players after they took a surprise silver medal at the Pyeongchang 2018 Games following their final against OAR ©Getty Images

It is a return to California ice hockey for Sturm, who was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the first round in 1996, before playing parts of eight seasons in San Jose before being traded to the Boston Bruins.

After retiring from the NHL in 2014, Sturm served as head coach of the German men's ice hockey team starting in 2015 and has guided them successfully since.

No successor has yet been named to take over the German national team.

They lost the Pyeongchang 2018 final 4-3 after overtime to the neutral Olympics Athletes of Russia team, after a shock run to the final.