Murray on playoffs: `Why not us?'
I'll be heading out to practice shortly, and then to conduct what should be a lengthy interview with Dean Lombardi, but I wanted to post this in the morning for everyone to chew on, because I thought it was quite interesting. I asked Terry Murray a relatively simple question yesterday about talking to players about making the playoffs, and he gave a in-depth answer about how his expectation level for the team has changed during the season. I found it to be a really good answer, so hopefully you'll enjoy it...
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Question: How often, if ever, do you explicitly talk to the players about making the playoffs?
MURRAY: ``Oh, I've been doing that for quite a while. You've got to raise the bar. We started off playing at a very good level. The first month, two months of the season, we played at a very high level, out-shooting teams, out-chancing teams, and maybe not coming away being able to close the game out at times, but everything as far as the execution of the opportunities, that was there. So when you see that over a period of time, there needs to be a change of attitude as far as, we want to get better as a team and we want to be good defensively and cut back on shots and chances against, but now the expectations are, OK, we're doing that stuff, so let's look at the playoffs. Why not us? We're playing against teams in our conference and a few teams from the East, and our comparables are right there in front of us. We're seeing it every night that we play, so we're saying, `Why not us?' We're doing a good job, and that should be our goal right now. Let's get ourselves in that position and get into those playoffs, and then you see how it goes from there.''
Question: When was that bridge crossed, so to speak, in terms of when you wanted them to change that attitude and think about the playoffs?
MURRAY: ``It was quite a while ago when I first brought it up. I don't know exactly, maybe a month or a month and a half ago when we first started to address it with the team and bring it into the locker room. We talked about playing with a playoff mentality, in our pregame talks, (telling players) `This is a playoff kind of a game that we need to play tonight.' It's going back quite a ways. It's important, from an organization side of it, to get to the playoffs, obviously. It's also important to lay those expectations out there, from my side of it. I want to see how we respond. I want to have an evaluation of all the players as we go through this process of developing and playing games. `How do you handle and take on that responsibility?' Because we all know that you don't get lucky to get in the playoffs. You earn the right to get into the playoffs. It's a little more pressure and a little more responsibility, and that's a good thing. It's a good kind of pressure to have on you. That's the tough part of the game.''
Question: Do you learn a lot about players in those situations? Who responds well? Who goes into a shell?
MURRAY: ``Absolutely you do. Games like (Saturday), the game against Calgary and all the remaining games, when you're in a position to make a push to get into the playoffs, that's clearly an opportunity for everybody in the organization to evaluate performance.''
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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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Well hot diggity dog, this is exactly what I want to hear. $y reponse: Hell Mutha F***in YEAH! Why not us? I look at the others teams around us and there isn't a single one we can't be better than. Also, we have games in hand on everyone! This is the tightest race I've seen in a long time, and coming up we play all the teams we are battling with. Our future is in our own hands, and this team has no quit in them. I remember seeing this turn around in attitude and emotion starting right around when Patty O gave an awesome interview in which he said (paraphrasing) "Screw just improving, we want the playoffs". Team of destiny anyone? I'm so excited to see how these kids kick it into high gear down the stretch. Let's start with a good solid whoopin on Atlanta. Its always fun watching a player like Kovaluchuk. Hopefully he gets a taste of the good life out in SoCal eh? His trick last night was a thing of beauty. That being said, I hope Johnson punches him aquarely in the nuts.
Regarding the playoff race, who do you want to win in a game like tonight's Edmonton vs Phoenix? The Oil is 4 pts ahead of the Kings but the Yotes are only 1 pt behind.
hey...it's good to know that the team listens to t.m....it's evident that the players like playing for him and have looked past the line juggling...they are as hungry as anybody else out there...and if t.m. continues to show them glimpses of what lobster can test like in april, the kings should be starving by then...
love how the team is playing right now...however, the team still needs to close out teams better and play a complete 60mins every night...but, right on, t.m....keep 'em thinking forward...!
@ JDM. There's nothing like a good nut punching.
This should be the motto for the rest of the year, "Why not us?" It sorta sounds like something Charlie Brown would say, but maybe we can kick the football from Lucy this year...
As a fan what I have found really interesting these past 2 months (versus the prior 3-4yrs) is that we are starting to shift from a "I hope we win" attitude to an expectation of winning. I want to remain positive when we do good things (like finding a way to still get a point vs. the Oilers despite the loss) but it makes everything more intense. I mean I hope the crowd tonight is as in-to the game as they were the other night.
As I look at the standings today I was a little flustered that we're 5 pts of the playoffs (games in hand but still..) but you know we're also only 6 pts out of the 5th seed. The real key is the rest of the way we're playing a ton vs. our own conference.
If we make the playoffs it may be a first round series vs. the Wings or Sharks, but we play a defensive style with a bonus of dirty grinding goals (along with some pretty ones) that could really gives teams a tough time
Ducks suckingly yours,
-Shakes
The point is made on the talk shows frequently on SiriusXM that it is very difficult to make up ground late in the season because of the three-point games.
The best way to judge deficits to get into playoffs is the following:
Deficit + 1 = length of required winning streak
This is true because most teams play at least .500 hockey over any late-season stretch, thus trailing teams must make up ground to get to the same level above .500 as the playoff teams... plus one game to move ahead.
As a result, 5 + 1 = 6 game winning streak.
Just keep winning and the rest takes care of itself especially at home where they have not been so stellar.
JDM, you're a funny dude.
Every time I read your posts, I know somewhere along the line there will be a zinger.
I only have one expectation for the rest of this season. It's to fight like we did in the 2nd and 3rd periods of the Oiler game in every single game the rest of this season.
If we make it, great. If we don't, I'll still feel very proud as a King fan knowing these kids gave it their all.
I saw some serious toughness going on against Edmonton and to me, that's what hockey's all about.
Well said Waves.
I go on record stating that I just don't see it happening, but I want to see these kids fight their asses off to get there, and I would like nothing more than to be proven wrong.
Prove me wrong boys.
Agree with waivesinair completely. I'll be thrilled if we make the playoffs but Ive already seen more fight this season than I have in who knows how many seasons....not since Allison-Deadmarsh-Palffy for sure.
Im renewing my season tickets if we continue playing this way. Thats right I said it.
Might help if I was signed in if I'm going to go on record...
JimmyCrack, re EDM/PHX:
There is a site that runs randomized models of the remainder of the season using a computer model. It generates thousands of virtual seasons playing out every game with a virtual coin toss for each contest determining the winner. Then he publishes the "final standings," showing what the odds are of team x making the playoffs. Then he shows how the outcome of each individual game affects the final results.
For the game you mentioned, a Phoenix win results in an increase of the Kings odds (making the playoffs) by 0.6%. An Oilers win results in a decrease in the Kings chances of 0.4%.
The Kings overall odds of making the playoffs is at 31.2%. For comparison, the Ducks are at 37%, Edmonton at 57%. Phoenix at 8%. Avs at 4%. Remember this assumes that the outcome of every game for every team is random, but it always starts with the standings as they are currently.
So according the computer model, it's better Kings-wise for Phoenix to beat Edmonton. The worst outcome for the Kings is for Edmonton to win in OT, a drop of 0.7% in the Kings' chances.
"There's nothing like a good nut punching."
There's also nothing like a good laugh towards the end of the day. Thanks for that.
Why not us? Exactly. Why not.
And Dean..
Please, please don't dump a bunch of young talent for a rental. It's not worth it. You know it, Terry knows it, and we know it. Go Kings!!
Thanks Quisp!,
31.2%?, almost 1 outa 3 so I'll take it for now and hope to see that % increase in the coming weeks, along with the % of teams ahead of us decreasing. You'll have to throw out periodic updates as we move along here. I was also thinking that, any 3 pt games by teams fighting along side of us is not good.
"There is a site that runs randomized models of the remainder of the season using a computer model."
So what's the site? Is it the Eklund blog on HockeyBuzz? Is it a secret or something?
wavesinair -
I had given the link before, on another thread, but haven't repeated since no one seemed to care.
They do it for all sorts of sports, not just hockey. Follow the link to the Kings from the link below:
http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL.html
I also recommend this site because they convert standings to "points per game" and then project it to final standings.
http://zorak.best.vwh.net/nhl/#projected
Lastly, this site for stats:
http://hockeystats.no-ip.org:81/health_table.php?id=12
Notice, for example, that goalie stats are broken down to SV% on hard, average and easy shots (never mind how they get there). There's lots of fun stuff like that.