From Helene Elliot of the L.A. Times:
Lombardi made the right move to fire him. He probably should never have hired Crawford, who had unlimited skill at his disposal in Colorado with Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Co. and couldn’t get some solid Vancouver Canucks teams past the second round of the playoffs.
The Kings had more hope than skill and Crawford couldn’t function under those circumstances, couldn’t be patient with kids who were learning and making mistakes and needed a teacher more than they needed a screamer who demanded more than they were capable of delivering.
Read the entire article here.
Cannot say I disagree with the firing either. The Kings need to hire a coach who is able to work with and develop young players. If they hire the right coach, the talent on the team will be evident to the rest of the NHL, and the Kings won’t be outside of the playoffs for very long.
