This has been quite the roller coaster year for the Kings and I suspect specifically Marc Crawford. The team started the year post London with an eight game losing streak. The team sleep walks through a game against Dallas and somehow royally rebounds in the last eight minutes or so to make history with the five fastest goals in team history. Oddly, that loss for Dallas and win for Los Angeles triggered far less predictable results.
The Stars end up firing their general manager and Dallas goes on a huge winning streak. The Kings follow that game with far more losing than winning. That created quite the sticky wicket where some started counting how many games it might take for Crawford to get the heave ho.
I have made no secret of the fact that while I am not sure he was the right choice. Now that he is here, I believe he should stay at a minimum this season. Any organization that goes through fifty percent turnover in players at the AHL and the NHL levels needs some stability. The blame game also rarely works anyway.
Line Changes:
This is bar none the biggest complaint leveled against Crawford. Since I have never played hockey, I acknowledge that Crawford can be quick to mix it up, there is also now a pattern of far less tinkering than the beginning of the season.
As examples, the first and fourth line have remained unchanged a majority of recent games. These lines are:
Brown – Kopitar – O’Sullivan
Ivanans – Giuliano – Thornton
The second and third lines most often (sans recent injuries) are:
Willsie – Handzus – Calder
Frolov – Armstrong – Nagy
The power play units have remained consistent far more often as this make-up:
Brown – Kopitar – O’Sullivan
Calder – Armstrong – Frolov
Crawford has definitely been tinkering with the defensive pairings, but the most common combinations now are:
Johnson – Blake
Visnovsky – Stuart
Preissing – Modry
I get why he does it. He cannot go on the ice personally. His only means of control during games is vocally and changing his lines. I implore others whom are most critical of Crawford to consider the possibility that when so little of life is within our own personal control, the easiest and most emotionally satisfying response is to change what is within our control. That just is. Is it the right way to go? .... Sometimes.... In fairness, some times doing nothing provides better results.
The most recent example is Thursday’s victory over the Ducks. Due to a Parros penalty and unsportsmanlike conduct call levied against the Ducks’ bench, the Kings had a full two minute two man advantage. I think Crawford got greedy. The power play units have remained far more intact than not. He put out Kopitar, Brown and Frolov, rather than O’Sullivan. I get that Frolov has been on fire since returning from a groin injury that is not fully healed.
I found that two minute opportunity to be painful to watch. The Kings kept the puck in the offensive zone nearly the entire time. Despite maintaining possession, not one shot made it to the net. Kopitar hesitated when the puck was passed to him. The whole unit seemed stuck. I blame Crawford for that in part. There was no need to tinker then. The Kings had a lead, earned that opportunity and inexplicably he couldn’t trust his players to get it done the way they had previously earning themselves the 4th best power play in the league.
Recycling the Past:
Lombardi and Crawford are both guilty of recycling their past player relationships rather than finding the best players based on their current game. I still remember one of Crawford’s first interviews after the Cloutier trade. He said something to the effect of how Cloutier was an improvement over LaBarbera and Garon.
I get this team needed an upgrade between the pipes. I also can appreciate how bringing the netminder from your last team gave Crawford more confidence. I blame him for assuming that Cloutier was a step up just because he didn’t know Garon or LaBarbera. That is a cop-out. I blame him more for not making Cloutier earn the #1 spot.
That is the most obvious recycle. The next one I peg against Crawford was calling up Klemm from Manchester to aid the woeful penalty kill. No doubt Klemm earned that trust in Colorado in the late 90’s ... ouch! Years later, what was he thinking.... Seriously? Again, the easiest choice is rarely the best one, just the path of least resistance. Shame on Crawford for that. Enough said.
The Kings then tried Gauthier in that spot. That experiment failed since right now that isn’t Gauthier’s game – at least it wasn’t during his short NHL stint this year. Finally, someone figured out that a defensive specialist made for a far smarter plan. Enter Giuliano.
I have read in more than one place how fans think the Kings should ship Giuliano out and bring up a player who will score. That is like trying to put a round peg in a square hole. The penalty kill on this team has been far more effective since he got here. It just has. (I didn’t research the precise stats of the PK before he got here and how he left admittedly.) For those wanting him gone, watch the guy, watch him seriously!
I credit Crawford for keeping and playing Giuliano once he earned the coach’s trust. That might show that Crawford is coming around. Time will tell.
As an example, Giuliano on the penalty kill is one of the few players who uses his stick to cut off passes, stays mobile and outworks the opponent. In other words, just what you want a player on your team to do. Another example includes the second period of the last Ducks’ game. Despite the scoreboard, most of the second period belonged to the Ducks. Anaheim did everything but score.
The fourth line of Thornton, Giuliano and Ivanans goes out and single-handedly takes three shots on goal within seconds of each other. That sparked the team as much as the Parros – Ivanans fight. It just did. Giuliano know his role and plays it to a “T”. I hope he sticks for this year and more.
Veteran Leadership:
The youth of this team is definitely the Kings’ future. Brown and Kopitar have already essentially achieved or surpassed their last year’s statistics by game 50. O’Sullivan is proving why trading Demitra was such a steal for what he is doing out there. Frolov when healthy and nearly healthy is impossible to get off of the puck.
This summer Lombardi told Rich Hammond of the Daily News how he wanted the kids to take responsibility for winning. I contend they are doing their best to do that and more. I also see them taking responsibility for losses.
One of my biggest rants this year is why the team’s veterans don’t take responsibility for losses. Most of the veteran players on this team are on short contracts (
sans Visnovsky) pegged to be filler or bridge players. They are here not only to lead on the ice but off the ice. In theory, they are supposed to be teaching the younger players how to be professionals, not just players. I contend there is a difference.
The one time I heard Modry on the post game show, not a cliché to be had and a lot of honesty. If players like Blake, Thornton, Armstrong and Cammalleri would take accountability for losses, they would not only be setting the right example, they just might hate it enough to start hating to lose and leading more on the ice.
If the veterans aren’t fulfilling this role, then it better be Crawford forcing the issue. He has the authority to compel this from the team’s designated and de facto leaders. Is he getting this done? I suspect no since it is the younger or recalled players who step up in these situations and rarely if ever a veteran.
Face-Offs:
Other than defensive deficiencies, this opportunity for puck possession is a definite team weakness. Armstrong and Kopitar have some consistency for being better than not. That isn’t a ringing endorsement of either.
Handzus is so interminably bad in the circle, it begs the question why is he there? More to the point, is this a skill being practiced with regularity in practices? If it is, the coaches needs a better plan because it isn’t taking. If it isn’t, shame on the largest coaching staff in the NHL.
I believe it is in Handzus specifically, the weakest link in the circle. In the last Ducks’ game, Handzus had one of his better nights and helped break a 15 game point scoring streak for Getzlaf. In fact, Handzus’ line kept the Getzlaf and Perry line look mortal. That is why Handzus is here. The team needs more from him.
Until or unless Handzus does better in the circle with some regularity, it is time for Crawford to stop putting the player with the least success out there. Just as it took trial and error for this team to call-up and trust Giuliano, there needs to be similar work on the face-off portion of the Kings’ game. Force the players to earn that spot and consider practice, practice, practice....
Bottom Line:
When this year’s Kings are at their best, it is some of the most exciting hockey I have ever seen in person. That tells me Crawford and the players are doing some things right. For the things that aren’t working, time for Crawford to tinker and force players to earn their roles.
Carla Muller Carla.hockeygal@att.net
CarlaMuller
State of the Kings Part Two - Marc Crawford 
