First of all, a Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season, in spite of the dreadful hockey you’ve been subjected to this month. Along those lines, since the Kings have been off for a few days, I’ve had a chance to reflect on how/why this season has started to swirl the drain. Some thoughts, in no particular order…

— Yes, this is a building season for the Kings, part of the “plan.” But even by those standards, it’s a tremendous disappointment. Making the playoffs is the goal every year, but realistically, Kings brass expected this to be at least a .500 team. They’re now 11 games under .500. To break even at this point, the Kings would have to finish 28-17, or some equivalent thereof. Would you bet on that today?

— Should Marc Crawford be fired? That’s a rhetorical question. I think I know what the majority opinion is here. It probably won’t happen — at least for now — but it’s certainly a legitimate topic of discussion. Since this team is underachieving, even by its modest preseason expectations, then the coach should be examined. It’s fair to question whether Crawford is the correct coach for this team. It’s a young team — Dean Lombardi disagrees with that, but it is — and there are some fragile personalities on the team. Is Crawford’s coaching style and demeanor the best fit when it comes to building a young-ish team? That’s an important question.

— There are two glaring numbers: 125 and 77.5. They are, respectively, the number of goals allowed by the Kings and the Kings’ penalty-kill percentage this season. They have allowed the most goals in the NHL and have the second-worst penalty-kill percentage in the league. Injuries in goal have played a part in this, but top to bottom, this team just isn’t tough enough. Not at forward and not on the blue line. Having a relatively small, skillful set of players is nice, but it must lead to a highly prolific offense. The Kings don’t have one. They (usually) have an average offense, and that’s not good enough to make up for defensive shortcomings. Who, on this Kings team — with the exception of Dustin Brown — really scares an opposing forward? Lubomir Visnovsky is a hard worker who cares deeply about winning, but he has been mostly dreadful. This should have been his season to break out, but it’s gone completely the other way.

— The Kings have totaled 13 goals in this seven-game losing streak. Secondary scoring is an issue that has never been resolved, and I still point to Michal Handzus and Ladislav Nagy. During training camp, they were two-thirds of the Kings’ second line. There was a reason for that. Revisionist history aside, they were counted on to be top-six forwards when they were signed. Now, combined, they have 10 goals and 15 assists. Guys like O’Sullivan, Calder and Armstrong shouldn’t have to be top-six forwards on this team, but they often are because Handzus and Nagy haven’t gotten it done. And that falls on Lombardi’s shoulders, along with the mostly underwhelming signings of Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing.

— Is the future bright? It certainly seems so, although the operative word there is “seems. Nobody will know for certain until these guys start playing in the NHL. Jonathan Bernier is the golden child right now, but young goalies are famously unstable. Will Ted Purcells scoring touch translate to the NHL? Its accurate to say that the depth of young talent in the organization is better than it has ever been. Lombardi turned that around very quickly and deserves great praise for it. He works the draft perhaps better than any GM in the NHL. But now, were going to see what his batting average is. How many of these prospects will become bona-fide NHL players? That will be the true litmus test of Lombardis reign.

— I look around the locker room at times and think, who are the leaders? Rob Blake is highly respected, but hes not an emotional, in-your-face captain. Scott Thornton isnt even a full-time player. Visnovsky isnt performing well. Michael Cammalleri has taken major strides in this area, but hes still developing as a leader. Who else is there? When I think of stand-up, were-not-going-to-take-this-crap-anymore guys, Jack Johnson is near the top of the list, and he hasnt even played a full season in the NHL. He’s 20 years old. Lombardi talks about not creating a culture of losing, but in order for this team to make some strides, more guys need to be flat-out angry about losing. Luc Robitaille was like this. Even Sean Avery, for all his faults, hated to lose. He often lashed out in inappropriate ways, but at least he sparked some emotion.

So, there you go. There’s no easy way to turn any of this around. It’s more about attitude than skill, so we’ll see if the Kings come out of this holiday break with any type of new attitude. Once again, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone, and thanks for the continued interest and support this year.