Reaction soon
After some initial crossed wires, I expect to have some comments from Dean Lombardi soon. Any questions? I have also reached out to Marc Crawford, but it's usually iffy as to whether a coach will speak in these situations.
And to answer a question from earlier, I'll say honestly that no, I did not see this coming. I hesitate to speak for other reporters, but I think it's fair to say that this subject had come up a few times over the last few months, and at no point did Lombardi indicate or infer that Crawford's job was in serious jeopardy.
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
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.com.
Rich, please end the Tippett speculation...he's under contract through next season.
Thank Rich! The obvious questions, "Why now?" and "Do you have a replacement in mind? In-House or Outside?"
Ask him why do this now and not at the end of the season. What was so different in June that wasn't evident in April?
ask if he had any conversations with Ron Wilson
Is the timing due to someone who just came available or someone who is about to be snatched up by someone else?
Anyone but an internal hire.
Here's a few (maybe obvious) questions to throw at Dean,
What were some of the actual motivations for the move?
Timing, Why now? Was there an advantage to wait until the playoffs were over?
Was the list of currently available coaches just too attractive to pass up the opportunity to upgrade?
Did DL take the pulse of any players to see how they felt about Crawford's coaching strengths / weaknesses over the past 2 seasons?
rich, does that mean the entire coaching staff is released? Or it of just Crawford?
What about the Ass. coaches.
Are any of them on the hot seat.
I can't believe this wasn't done the day after the regular season ended! Is Pat Burns being considered?
Here's a somewhat different take:
Does Lombardi now feel pressured from within the organization to win now, which wasn't going to happen with Crawford constantly switching lines like a Vegas card dealer.
Also ... I always got the feeling the players did not like playing for Crawford, and maybe THAT kept some of the bigger free agents from even thinking about signing with the Kings before last season. Did that play a part in finally letting go of a putrid past in favor of a possibly fantastic future with all the talent in the Kings organization?
A bit of a dark horse here, but a good coach that has faded away was Ron Low, former NY Rangers and Edm. Oilers coach. Low got alot out of a (back then) low budget Oilers team who had alot of younger players. I recall those Oilers gave Dallas a few fits during a few consecutive playoff years.