Crawford interview
He talks about practice, Blake looking ready to play, Ellis' first game, the December struggles, the goalie problems and Tip-a-King.
``Everyone was here and at least got a workout in. The guys are really diligent about that. We have a lot of guys coming back from injuries. I think the guys are feeling good about themselves, and when you’re feeling good about yourselves it’s not a chore to come to the rink.
``Rob looking healthy and being ready to play is very positive for him and very positive for us.
``I thought it was a really good day for Teddy Purcell to work on his battle and compete on 2-on-2s. So many situations are the 2-on-2 battles that happen. There’s the little read involved defensively with the player who’s not checking. The first player’s got to keep the second offensive player in his sites and keep him on his backside and really maintain his position, but also be ready to come in and support. For a guy like Teddy, if he gets better at that read and strong at his compete both offensively and defensively, that’s where the improvement in those types of players I think is the most dramatic.''
On Ellis: ``I thought he was quite good. His skating was better than I expected. I knew he would play an energetic game but his skating, in our group, is actually pretty good. With those energy guys at the back of the lineup, that’s what you want. You want them to have the ability to get behind the fore-check, their work ethic to be uncompromised and their enthusiasm to be at a high level. Hopefully when they play at a high level, they give you some extra features, which might be scoring, might be playmaking, faceoffs, penalty killing, competing against other players. There’s lots of big teams in our division. Matt’s a bigger forward, and his size doesn’t hurt as well.
``I think we’ve been really good since Christmas. We had that stretch in December where we played too many games. We were fatigued and we had terrible goaltending. That stretch was the one that killed us. Take away that stretch or even get four wins and all of a sudden we’re not that far out of the race. And you wouldn’t have to manufacture the enthusiasm and desperation that would naturally be there. You can’t go back but that December was the demise of this group, especially when we lost so many close games.
``We know we’ve got a good group of young players. They’re as good as any young group in the league. Our goaltending has got to pick up. It has to. It’s the biggest factor that would make the biggest improvement on our team.''
On Tip-a-King: ``I thought it was great. We have terrific fans, we really do. They’re very supportive when we talk to them. They’re very knowledgeable. They know the guys who have come up and played well. Lots of questions about what our plans are for our players in Manchester who have played so well this year. It’s nice to see they are as passionate and knowledgeable as they are. That was a great function last night and I thought it raised some money for some worthwhile charities.''
Coach spent 15 minutes with me answering questions very candidly. It was great.
Once again, Crawford's comments bug me.
No, it's not his comments about the fans...it's this:
"We had that stretch in December where we played too many games. We were fatigued and we had terrible goaltending."
So the reason December was bad was b/c of the goalies and the team being tired. Give me a break. Maybe the goaltending was also poor b/c the defensive coverage in front was awful too? "Too many games" is an excuse. The Kings don't need that in the their dressing room.
And Matt, thanks for your coverage, and could you please let Crawford know that "compete" is NOT a noun. Thanks.
It is great that Mark Crawford is so candid. My question, however, is why did they put themself in a position where a December like this could happen??? Goaltending is always the issue with this team and they are always just hoping that things will work out.
Scott Pearson, "Coach spent 15 minutes with me answering questions very candidly. It was great."
and???.............