With all the shock, awe and anger of the fans present last Tuesday, one person asked a question on many people’s minds. Sure, Crawford is a good coach, but is he the right coach for this organization?Hextall’s response was atypical. He said something to the effect of:
• The Kings were a hard team to coach this season;
• Is it fair to judge Crawford on the team’s results based upon the team
he was given?
• Crawford’s record with younger players is solid.
In short, Hextall explained that everyone can do a better job than the organization did last year. He included himself, Lombardi, Crawford or in another words, every single person employed by the Kings. Let’s break down the team the Kings had a bit. From last year’s team, there is the ‘defined future’ of the team who now can safely include:
• Kopitar
• Brown
• Frolov
• O’Sullivan
• Johnson
Some question marks:
• Cammalleri (With 1 year to free agency, no one expects him to re-sign IMO)
• Handzus (Signed for 3 more years and was one of the bigger disappointments of last season)
• Visnovsky (Sure he is signed for five more years, but will he earn that salary)
• Preissing (Signed for four years but hardly gave everything he had last year)
• Blake (The captain who too often played his chronological age rather than what the Kings needed)
• Giuliano (Is he a career AHLer or is he part of the Kings’ new shut down line)
• LaBarbera (Can he stay healthy)
• Ersberg (One of the good surprises of last year, can he play that well for an entire season)
• Cloutier (No further debate needed)
• Armstrong (What is his role really with this team)
Then there is last year’s filler and bridges:
• Modry
• Stuart
• Nagy
• Thornton
• Willsie
• Calder
• Aubin
With Lombardi’s refreshing candor, how do the UFAs really become a part of the Kings with it being such common knowledge these guys are at best place holders? That leads to another question asked by a season ticket-holder, why the turnover, how could these veterans truly ever belong.
Robitaille responded by saying that the Kings need to have their own culture before UFAs can truly make a difference here. This is akin to a team that has a specific need, e.g. think Rafalski or Hossa. These players knew their role on their new teams. With the Kings, no such definitions exist …. Yet.
In direct contrast, some may blame it all on coaching. That is way too easy. Besides defensive issues, goaltending questions and the obvious lack of wins, what Los Angeles also lacks is an identity or a team culture. This was precisely Robitaille’s point. Figuring out where someone belongs on the Kings would require a crystal ball, an ability to see the future and a lot of luck frankly. That is a huge issue that won’t go away until this organization has such an identity and roles for each player.
There is a litany of players who came here to retire, watch the sunset along the beach, and get a tan and bank a lot of dough. As Hextall poignantly explained, “We want hockey players not sand blowers.” The number of past Kings’ sand blowers could litter the proverbial retired Kings’ playground.
With hindsight for clarity, it begs the question did the Kings have something to do with the failure of these veteran UFAs. The easy answer is yes. Without purpose, defined roles or known expectations, these disappointments continue to mount. How to fix this? I speculate that the creation of a culture at the NHL level may just come out of the AHL Monarchs.
Many know that last year’s Manchester team got to the Eastern Conference Final. Key players were LaBarbera, O’Sullivan, Tukonen, and Zeiler amongst others. This year’s club had far less of a veteran presence, and even less than that when Giuliano got called up and never went back down. That left Klemm and he spent the last part of the season with the Kings.
It turns out that this was the best thing that ever could have happened to this organization. In the absence of veterans, the kids owned the room and rightly so. These kids came together and had a run at season’s end very similar to what the Capitals did at the NHL level.
Hextall explained that as close as the prior year’s team was, this year’s team told him that they were even closer, had even more of that elusive chemistry and were more of a team than their predecessors. That is no small statement considering the 2007 version was the first team in Manchester’s history who not only got out of the first round but made it to the Final Four in the post season.
When Hextall spoke of the lack of veteran leadership at the AHL level, he said that if he brought these unnamed veterans into the Monarchs, than Boyle and Gauthier would have had second rather than first line minutes. They also filled the leadership void when they assumed those roles. It is often said that luck is when opportunity and preparation coincide. Boyle and Gauthier were meant to lead and only needed an opportunity. This last season provided just that.
Hextall continued that the growth of Manchester from the beginning of the year to the end was huge. The team bonded and became the most close knit. The combination of youth, unmarried players, free time and accountability created what may just be the nucleus of the Kings fans long to see. Think about who comprised the Monarchs in their late season run…
• Boyle
• Purcell
• Murray
• Harrold
• Bernier
• Quick
• Moller
• Bagnall
• Cliche
• Moulson
Bottom Line:
While patience often wears thin for Kings’ fans, I encourage others to read the responses of fans of other teams on my Hockey Buzz blogs. There, you will see that other teams wish they could be where the Kings are now with the future Lombardi and Hextall helped build.
There is a long way to go, but the future is becoming part of the present, albeit slowly. I encourage others to take a seat because bailing now is a decision I suspect many will regret.
Carla Muller Carla.hockeygal@att.net 
Carla Muller
Coaching and Culture - Town Hall Meeting Part II 
