Blame Crawford: Kings Fire Lewis and Johnson

As if often the case, one or two assistant coaches have to take the fall when a head coach is fired. In this instance, the LA Kings fired both Mike Johnston and Dave Lewis (pictured), letting new coach Terry Murray pick new assistants that will do his bidding and fetch his slippers.

Make no mistake, Johnston and Lewis are two of the brightest coaching minds in the business, and won't be out of work long. This firing wasn't about them or their coaching abilities, it was simply because Marc Crawford was a lousy coach.

Yes, Crawford led the Kings down the road of despair, and his two assistants paid the price because of it. Crawford made the Kings look so bad that Lewis and Johnston looked bad just by association.

I do kinda feel sorry for Dave Lewis, given that it has been a tough few years for him. After a brief stint as the Wings' head coach, Lewis was the head coach in Boston for ONE season before getting canned. Then, he goes to the Kings and gets canned after ONE season. At least he's got to be good at packing dishes and books into boxes.

As for the replacements, the Kings' went out and got Mark Hardy, a long time Kings player, and Nelson Emerson, whose coaching experience is rather limited. Certainly, this can't be seen as anything but a downgrade.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-07-2008 @ 1:09PM

Barry Woods said...

The story will always be the same in LA. Buy a hockey team, meet celebrities, lose money and put a fair team on the ice. It seems like the management of the Kings, going back to Cooke, could care less if the team brings a Stanley Cup to LA. The Lakers are here, the Dodgers are here, The Angels are here.

The coaches that management has hired are not given the freedom to go out and develop a team. Management makes trades for older players that will play in LA until they retire or if young until traded to another team. The coaches, like Bob Berry or Bob Pulford or Pat Quinn or Marc Crawford seem to want to build a finesse team. You can’t have the finesse team if it is knocked around. There have only been a few players with the Kings who knew how to check, Gilles Mirotte, Don Kozak, Dan Maloney, Dave Lewis and of course the surfer, Rob Blake are but a few, but not enough.

When you look at Detroit you see a team that always finishes their checks. Don’t go into the corner with the Devils of a few years ago. After about the forth or fifth heavy body check you are looking around for the next one. You are no longer concentrating on the puck.

Until the Kings hire someone, as coach, with this attitude they will continue to disappoint the followers who have stuck around since they entered the league, with teams like Philadelphia or St. Louis, who always leave their opponents black and blue.

King ownership, don’t be like American business looking at the next bottom line, develop a 3-5 year plan and bring a Stanley cup to L.A. The loyal fans deserve it.