EL SEGUNDO, CA — On June 10, the Los Angeles Kings fired head coach Marc Crawford, who coached the team for the last two seasons.
“We appreciate Marc’s commitment the two seasons he has been here,” said Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi. “However, we believe that in evaluating where we are at and, more importantly, where we are going as an organization, we feel this coaching change was the right decision to make. We wish Marc the best in his future endeavors.”
Crawford, who was the Kings’ 21st head coach, was hired on May 22, 2006, and earned a 59-84-21 record with the Kings.
Although Crawford’s firing does not come as a total surprise given his team’s poor showing, it was certainly not expected. And given the fact that his teams were made up of young, inexperienced talent at the top end and not much else outside of over-the-hill or drastically underperforming veteran players, it is quite clear that Crawford really did not have much to work with.
As such, this move makes one question how much of it was to deflect the heavy criticism being aimed at Lombardi and his staff by fans who are no longer willing to wait for their team to be a consistent winner and contend for the Stanley Cup.
And with John Tortorella, who was recently fired by the Tampa Bay Lightning now available, one has to think he is the leading candidate to replace Crawford.
Check back after 2:45 PM PDT, or thereabouts. Lombardi will hold a press conference call at 2:30 PM PDT, so Frozen Royalty will have more comments and details at that time.
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What do you all think about this move? Was it justified? Did it come too late? Is Crawford just a scapegoat? How about candidates to replace Crawford? Would John Tortorella be a good choice? Others?