Kings press release
Conference call scheduled at some point this afternoon...
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KINGS ANNOUNCE COACHING CHANGE
Kings 21st coach in team history will not return next season
Jun 10, 2008, 4:15 PM EDT
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi Tuesday announced that Marc Crawford will not return next season as the team's head coach. Crawford has one season remaining on his contract.
In his two seasons as head coach, Crawford posted a 59-84-21 with the Kings.
Kings All-Time Coaching History | Kings Coaches' History Gallery
"We appreciate Marc's commitment the two seasons he has been here," said Lombardi. "However, we believe that in evaluating where we are at and, more importantly, where we are going as an organization, we feel this coaching change was the right decision to make. We wish Marc the best in his future endeavors."
The Kings hired Marc Crawford as the 21st head coach in Kings history on May 22, 2006. Crawford formerly was the Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche/Quebec Nordiques.
Crawford began his NHL coaching career with Quebec in 1994 and in his first season he became the youngest coach to win the Jack Adams Trophy. After the Nordiques relocated to Denver he won the Stanley Cup in 1996 and with the win became the third-youngest coach in NHL history to raise Lord Stanley. Colorado went 16-6 that post-season and swept Florida in the Finals.
Crawford coached the Avalanche for two seasons after winning the Cup before leaving following the 1997-98 season. He then spent time providing analysis for CBC's Hockey Night in Canada before being hired as the 15th head coach of the Canucks in January of 1999, the club he played every game of his nine-year professional career with.
Crawford compiled a 246-213-70 record in 529 regular season games over seven seasons in Vancouver and the Canucks made the playoffs four of the last five seasons he was there. In 2003-04, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title (the franchise's first division title since 1992-93) and in 2003 the Canucks advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals.
Overall, in 12 seasons and 905 games behind the bench as an NHL head coach, Crawford, has compiled a regular season record of 438-342-125 and a playoff mark of 43-40. He is also the first head coach in Kings history to have a Stanley Cup on his resume.
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J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
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this is absolutely the right move for the Kings.
WOW...I never saw this coming this late after the season was over. If they were going to fire Marc Crawford, now would have been the time. I guess the former Lightning coach Tortelli or however you spell it, is the logical hire.
Why now, why not during the long losing streak last season when the team needed some sort of spark.
Come on Kings get Quenville
Good play Deano. Would have liked Ron Wilson. DL, please sign John Tortorella.
Anyone care to explain why they are hoping DL hires the only coach that had a worse record than Crawford and a very similar coaching style? Why Tortorlla?
This smells fishy. I hope DL has a great replacement in mind. That would exclude Tortorella, Hartsburg, and PLEASE NO LEWIS!!!
2 Words... Scotty Bowman ;-P
One name that people may be overlooking is Darryl Sutter. He coached for Lombardi in San Jose
Man my head is still spinning..... This was an inevitable event but I didn't think it would happen until after the season started. Perhaps DL has seen accepted what he had known all along. That Crawfish is not the right person to head up the development of the young, burgeoning talent that the Kings have and will continue to acquire in this year's draft.
I agree with Iblocal about Ron Wilson. I think he would have loved to stay out here in California in warm weather but I'm not sure if he even knew the Kings job was going to be available.
So who's out there? The obvious names are Joel Quenneville and John Tortorella. Paul Maurice was a bust in Toronto but otherwise a good coach?
I think Crawfish is a good coach but more of a guy who steps into a team that's already developed. He'll turn up somewhere i'm sure..... along with Dan Cloutier.
I sure hope DL will trade up and hire someone who will take this team and take a big step forward.
With the right talent Crawford might have done a good job. Hopefully this is the first of many moves to wake up this underachieving group. Face it, the Kings are a disaster. The fans deserve a winning team and it all starts with all-star quality goaltending and solid defense (which does not exist in L.A.). Why is that so hard for Dean Lombardi to understand? Maybe top notch free agents don't want to play under his discretion? How long will we be asked to remain patient while this never ending rebuilding process goes on?
Brilliant,
Now we are front runners for the number one draft pick next year. TAVAREZ is coming to LA.
No can coach can help this team right now. There is no supporting cast.
Frolov does not have any linemates to compliment his style.
Yes for cheap tickets on EBAY!
I wonder how much it would take to bring
Scottie Bowman out of retirement.
Not that I'll lose any sleep over this, but what took Lombardi so long? Did he purposely wait until Ron Wilson was hired by the Leafs, like Ayatollah Khomeini not releasing the hostages in 1981 until Reagan was sworn in as prez?
Brian,
While Sutter would be a great choice for a coach, I doubt he would quit his job as the Flames GM to go to LA for a coaching position...just a thought
Do you think low season seat renewals had anything to do with this?? Especially with Friday being the last day!!
I don't like anyone on this list.
We need a fiery, no nonsense coach!!
Who fits that description and is available??
Dark horse pick: Larry Robinson
Who better to develop and teach young defensemen at the NHL level? Just a thought.
I'll put my vote in for Morris. This is not a job that a high profile coach would want. We're not winning next year. We're still 2-3 years away from really competing.
This is the perfect job for a young coach. He's coached most of the young guys and has had success with some of them. There's no pressure, except to show improvement.
DL has someone in mind, that's almost a certainty. And it is likely someone with whom he's intimately familiar. As many other posters are implying, what happens with this club over the next two years is critical to DL's tenure. This has to be a coach who DL feels can handle youth, provide good direction, and win.
Very interesting development.