Crawford on the goalies
As previously reported, Jason LaBarbera had surgery this morning to repair a sports hernia and will miss the rest of the season. Here's what Marc Crawford had to say about the injury, which had been called a ``groin strain.''
``We had feared that that was the case,'' Crawford said of the sports-hernia diagnosis. ``It's unfortunate. He's had a decent season for us. I think he's proved that he's a capable NHL goaltender and obviously he played the bulk of the time for us. So, it's a tough injury but on the positive side, it allows him to have a long period of recovery and hopefully he'll be ready to start fresh at the start of next season.''
That leaves the Kings with Erik Ersberg and Dan Cloutier, and Crawford indicated that Ersberg might get the majority of the work over the last 14 games.
``I think what we're doing now is, we're just saying that Ersberg has played well and we'll keep going with Erik and see if he can continue to play strong. He obviously isn't tired or anything like that.Dan, I think, came in here and he had no pressure on him, with Jason being the No. 1 goalie. I thought he performed well. Since he became the guy, so to speak... maybe we can lessen that burden on him. Both of them just have to go out and play.
``Obviously we're in a situation, quite obviously, where we're looking right now and we're seeing where these players are at. It's exciting that Erik Ersberg is young and looks like he's got a little something, much like it was exciting at the start of the season when we had had a young goaltender, Bernier, come in and show that he had something that you could look forward to. (Ersberg) is going to get a chance to play right now, and we're excited for him and I think our guys have focused in, even that much more. When you've got a young defense and you've got a young goaltender, that's the type of situation where your forwards have to take ownership of the defensive part of the game. We've got to be defending as a group of six back there and making sure that we limit chances.''
I'll have some stuff from Ersberg a bit later...
I've got to repeat myself.
What do you guys say about this.
Lord Cammalleri
Antonio Labarbera
-to Nashville
Ryan Suter
Shea Weber
-to L.A.
Jeff Zatkoff in goal. He's been like a wall in the College ranks.
Coaching statements are so filled with bovine scatology. BS. They qualify this, measure that: "I think, we hope, it looked like, if we'd had a little more of this, when he came in we thought, we're going to let him show this, earlier in the season when we had so-and-so, his injury is taking a bit longer than we thought."
Baloney! Why not say he stunk? This is the worst goalie ever and his pads reeked of excrement? Where is the drive, passion and commitment from my players? He should be HEALED by now, dammit!? This player couldn't shoot a puck through an open barn?
After decades of piss-poor Kings teams...I'm tired of it, coaches' blather too. Period.
Sorry, but I had a really good couple rounds of Stella Artois at lunch (and a great tequila), so I feel like opening a can of whoop-ass.
Crash
Anthony,
The GM over in Nashville would have to be a freakin moron to accept that trade. Are you kidding me?
I think the kings would have a hard time getting either Weber or Suter from Nashville based on that kind of package. Lombardi HAS to have offered similar packages for those players, and Nashville hasn't bitten. I doubt they will, unless the Kings sweeten the pot considerably.
why would they give us Weber AND Suter for the squid and a serviceable backup? that makes no sense whatsoever. I can see them giving us one of those players and a pick for that.
anyway, after reading Crawdad's "Since he became the guy, so to speak... maybe we can lessen that burden on him." line about 4 times, it finally occurred to me what he was trying to say. and still it doesn't really have any real meaning to it - what freakin' "burden" is on this guy at this point. NONE!! I mean maybe this is a nice way of him saying the guy sucks but stop being afraid of hurting his feelings, tell him to just play the freakin' game like an NHL goaltender and stop acting like a viscious sieve. he had one good period in his last game which might be one more than the previous start, but it's still two less than we need. not that we're playing for anything more than pride + a pick and a few more games under the belt for the first and second year guys now.
I just realized that ridiculous trade was posted to this blog twice. once was more than enough... someone make it stop.
Anthony, you are kidding about that trade right. Why in the heck would Nashville give up 2 great defense prospects for Cammy and a guy who would be backup on 75% of the NHL teams?
Just a thought guys.
You can all put your guns away now.
What trade would you guys propose to help our D.
"Ersberg is going to get a chance to play right now, and we're excited for him and I think our guys have focused in, even that much more. When you've got a young defense and you've got a young goaltender, that's the type of situation where your forwards have to take ownership of the defensive part of the game. We've got to be defending as a group of six back there and making sure that we limit chances."
Young defense?!?!?! The only young guys on defense are Harrold and Johnson. How does he explain the poor defense that the Kings have had all season? Saying that the defense has had a bad year due to some injuries, (I'm convinced that Lubo, as well as Stuart, has an undisclosed injury that has been plaguing him this season), would make a lot more sense. Defending as a group of six should always be the case, not just now.
Thank the lord Crawford actually is telling the forwards to start helping out defensively. Everybody can put all the blame on Lubo and Blake, but watching Kopitar and Brown and others play on the defensive side of the puck is like watching a train wreck.
Ryan Oliver
Congrats you get it. It is not only the defenseman.
How many close games has this team lost in the 3rd period or overtime because
the forwards got caught up ice?
It is the responsibility of the fowards to help out in the defensive zone, no doubt...but when Lubo is turning over the puck at the blue line its kind of hard to expect the fowards to be able to get back in the zone quickly to help out. We've seen that happen way too many times.
I disagree with the ascertion that Kopitar and Brown do not come back to help out. I think Kopitar is one of the better defensive forwards on the team. That doesn't mean there isn't room to improve, but he comes back a lot more than other guys do.
I takes all six guys on the ice to keep the puck out of the net. We can all find fault with every aspect of the defensive coverage from fowards to D, to goalies. That's why we've given up the most goals in the league. (i'm pretty sure)
as a guy who plays hockey for fun and usually gets cast as a defenseman, I can vouch that sometimes forwards can often leave 2 d-men hung out to dry, defending 3 or 4 guys. it's not a good feeling and I think it's one aspect the Kings' team defense can and will improve. but I think our centers have been doing a decent job so far. look at O'Sullivan the guy is exactly what we need all our forwards to be (strong at both ends) and he's bound to rub off on the others. and he's only a 2nd year guy. give it a little time.
I agree with ryan, I think when Crawford says it's a young defense this is code for we need to step it up. technically, it is younger if you consider the experience of Modry and Stuart are gone replaced by Harrold and Dallman. Johnson is getting a shiz load of ice time and is still going to make the occassional mistake, but he's been good and getting better.