Earlier this evening, Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi fired head coach Terry Murray. The Kings, sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference, have a 13-12-4 record and have dropped their last four games.
It seems Lombardi doesn’t necessarily believe that Murray, who coached the Flyers from 1994 through 1997, was the problem, but as the saying goes, you can’t fire the team. “They’re accountable. Unfortunately, the coach has to pay the price, but make no mistake, they’re the ones accountable for this,” said Lombardi, according to the LA Kings Insider.
Darren Dreger of TSN reported that Lombardi “scorched the players in a meeting a short while ago” for forcing his hand. Pierre LeBrun also wrote on twitter that a Kings player (who remained anonymous) told him, “I think it had to happen. We were dead.”
Murray will be replaced for the time being with assistant coach John Stevens. Stevens was head coach of the Flyers from 2006 through 2009, when a 13-11-1 start forced Paul Holmgren to replace him with Peter Laviolette.
Stevens has been with the Kings since June 2010. It is not expected that he will remain head coach for long, as Lombardi reportedly has a “very short list” that may or may not include former NHL coaches Darryl Sutter and Tony Granato.
Stevens failed the Flyers organization when he was unable to hold his team accountable for lack of discipline and effort. It was believed that his tight relationship with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter was a large part of the problem.
It’s difficult to say that Stevens is or isn’t ready to take over an NHL coaching gig again, as he has had two years to reflect on his shortcomings and shadow a highly regarded coach in Murray. He has been with the organization all season, though, so he still deserves some culpability in the current shape of the Kings.
The Kings take on the Boston Bruins tomorrow night. My guess is that Lombardi will wait out the results of that game to see if the team has any life before pulling the trigger on hiring a new coach. Stevens will have a very short leash, but if he can pull off a string of wins to right the ship, he could have the opportunity to finish out the season.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Stevens kept that job. He is good with young players which is what the Kings are. And he of course knows Richards and Gagne.