Wednesday's practice notes
The players were late getting on the ice because of a 15-minute, closed-door meeting. Crawford said he was the only one to speak at the meeting, and his message seemed to be for everyone to erase Tuesday's debacle from their memory.
``We have to move forward from last night,'' Crawford said. ``That game was not us. We know how we have to play, the effort we have to give and how we have to prepare to get that effort. That’s what we concentrated on today.
``I told players let's just control the things that we can control. The things we can control certainly start and end with effort, then we control our habits and the structure in which we play. That is the answer. It is the answer when you play well and it's definitely the answer when you play poorly.''
The players echoed Crawford's sentiments to forget about Tuesday's 7-0 loss to Nashville and move on to Thursday's game against Toronto.
``If nothing else, I think we talked about being committed to our team and how we need to play,'' Patrick O'Sullivan said. ``We really have played well since Christmas with the exception of last night. We kind of got away from what we’ve been doing, so we’ve got to get back to that and I think we’ll be fine.''
It almost seemed like a training camp with the players forced to do wind sprints from around one goal to around the other at the conclusion of practice.
``We hadn't done anything like that in a while,'' O'Sullivan said. ``I don’t think it necessarily had anything to do with the game but, at the same time, we had a hard practice today and I think that’s good for us to forget about yesterday, come to rink today and work as hard as we could.''
``Obviously, we got to get back to basics and part of basics is working hard,'' Dustin Brown said. ``I think that’s what today's practice was all about, getting back into that mindframe of working hard day in and day out. Sometimes that’s what a team needs. We responded well to how hard that practice was. It's not every day you get a practice like that.''
Cammalleri skated at the end of practice like on Monday. Again, he didn't handle any pucks. He said afterward that there was nothing new to report on his recovery from the rib injury.
As to what went wrong Tuesday, no one really wanted to talk about that. Part of the whole forget-and-move-on mantra. But Brown did seem to suggest that the Kings didn't get a full effort from everyone.
``Something that has to happen within the room, not necessarily in a player meeting but in respect to everyone in the room -- we've got to have everyone playing,'' Brown said. ``You look at teams that are winning, it’s not one line or one player carrying them. It’s 20 players pitching in and pulling on the same rope. That’s just a matter of us coming together as a team.''
I think the Maple Leafs are in trouble.
hey matthew, have you been able to talk to Blake or see his demeanor? i know after the loss to calgary he sounded pretty frustrated, I would be curious to know his reaction after last night.
David, I haven't talked to Blake since Monday. He wasn't in the locker room when we were let in after the game last night nor when we got in after practice today.
While I'm no Crawful fan, I will say that he IS trying to promote the right atmosphere. There is no point in yelling and screaming at these guys and beating them up over this. They need to find some concept of team and some reason to find a new level of energy. Some reason to play this last half of a wasted season. Going Keenan on them and playing mental games isn't gonna work at this stage, with this team. I'll give him that credit. Begrudgingly. Go Neil
Matthew, sounds like there is something afoot, a player or coaching move - do you agree?
When I see young talent like Brown & O'Sullivan staying positive and motivated, it gives me some hope for the future. I sure wish we had a descent goalie though.
if any sort of move is being made its blake being traded
but with how literally horrible he has been the past few games i cant imagine us getting anything worthwhile in return for a 6mil a year defenseman who can be counted on to leave his man wide open in the slot at least 3 times a game. and hes the Captain of the team that lost a game 7-0 and didnt even look like they cared, not a fight, no memorable hits, and now theyre just gonna act like it never even happened.
only 48 more days until the trade deadline, I can't wait.
I just read Matt's article in the Daily Breeze. I know the new trend on this site as well as letsgokings.com is to fire Crawford. I for one don't agree; however, that is not why I felt compelled to leave a comment. In your article Matt, you made it sound like the whole arena broke out in a "Fire Crawford" chant and the only way to quiet it down was to mask it with the organ. Well, I was at that game---like I am at EVERy game and the whole arena was not chanting that. A couple sections started and it was noticeable and I am sure all who were there heard it, but not everyone was chanting. It had to be less than 100 --Morons---yes I called you all morons who chanted this!----who do you all see coaching this team better? I have been a fan for a lonnnnnnnnnnnng time and although it hurts and is sometimes painful to watch this team lose we finally have a plan for the future. The kids are getting better under Crow-------give him some credit. You blame him for losing, you got to give him credit for the young guys improving. I hope to God that Kings management ignores these ramblings. For so many years in the past, management tried for the quick fix. It doesn't work. Sure it may get us further up in the standings, but come on is being 17th-25th in the league that much better than 30th. All are still out of the playoffs. At least we have the possibility of getting a young stud in the draft.
Dustin Brown says it all: ``Something that has to happen within the room, not necessarily in a player meeting but in respect to everyone in the room -- we've got to have everyone playing. You look at teams that are winning, it’s not one line or one player carrying them. It’s 20 players pitching in and pulling on the same rope. That’s just a matter of us coming together as a team.''
Simple, isn't it? But the vets won't have any of it. They're rentals and they know it. They may step it up a bit soon to keep some semblence of worth for their next job.
Personally, I hope they continue to tank to get the highest draft pick possible. It's going to be an unusually deep draft.
Teach
Crawford needs to go because the Kings are regressing and not getting better. He did a shit job in Vancouver and is doing a shit job here. In October
the Queens beat Preds 6-0
and looked awesome doing it. It may have been their best performance of the season. Complete domination
in all facets of the game.Last night you saw the same result in reverse
and that coming after Preds
got crushed the night before. You see the same mistakes night after night.
The team consistently comes not prepared to play and do not get a wake up call until they are trailing. Last night the wake up call never came.
Preissing and Stuart should play in a no checking league because they almost never hit anybody. This team lacks preparation and/or
motivation on too consistent a basis. Crawford is nothing more than a mediocre coach who won with colorado because that team was loaded with talent and he had Patrick Roy. He is the wrong coach for these players because they are not improving.Can it be the team is just too cheap to eat his contract or is it that lombardi is too stubborn to admit he made a mistake by hiring him in the first place when he could have hired Teddy Nolan instead. If the Kings had not hired crawford they would also probably not be stuck with Cloutier contract which is a waste of 6 million dollars which could have been used on player (s) who
could have filled one of their many needs. The fans
calling for Craw's head could easily find many more reasons to call any of his supporter's morons.
The Kings have a plan. I read this all the time. Really? What is "the plan" exactly? Has Lombardi stood before a mic and explained "the plan"? Has Crawford stood before the press and explained the details of "the plan"? Has Tim ... oh, never mind. Hello - there is no plan. Guys in the room. Bridge players. Mentors. Nope, those plans don't seem to be working, do they? No one ever explained in detail what it was going to take to re-build the Kings because they have no clue. And you clueless saps who cling to "stay the course" for another 3-5 years, and THEN we'll know if Lombardi et al were selling us crap, and then we wait ANOTHER 5 years. Please. Everything that's wrong with the Kings comes to full view in today's story. Crawford's closed door advice "seemed to be for everyone to erase Tuesday's debacle from their memory." Oh yeah, that's right, click your heels three times and it never happened. Well Mr. Crawford, here's a news flash for you. It DID happen, and we, the fans, are never going to forget it. It's like the Scarlet Letter branded on the forehead of you suits and every lazy chump who wore a Kings sweater Tuesday night. L. Losers. So go ahead coach, if you enjoy living in denial, you can probably live without the money in my wallet until "the plan" works out and we can start remembering games.
Has Blake or any of the other "leaders" had/lead a players only meeting this season? Happens a lot in other sports and in recent years. Just wondering if the "leaders" are going to step up and lead.
I think teach works for the Kings season ticket department.
Nobody is calling for the Kings to call off the rebuild and do a Keenan move of getting 40 year olds to play for a season and get into the playoffs and suck for 5 more years.
What they are calling for is at least effort on the ice. Andy Murray faced not some of, but THE worst injury laden years in the NHL two years running and his teams still gave effort.
If your teams lose but look like they give a rats ass and are giving the effort, at least you can watch.
This bovine feces we've been watching is rediculous.
Crawford is getting desperate and needs to really get this team into the playoffs or just eat Crow all season for the #1 pick. Anything in the middle would be counter productive.