Stevens and Nachbaur Fired

[SettlementRichie10]

Dean's MO when giving a long term contract was to get a discount on the cap hit. He didn't get that with the Kopitar deal.

Exactly. Dean and his mentor Lou both championed the original cap circumventing contract.

I wrote a post a long time ago about Dean/Kopitar inevitably settling on an 8 year, 65 million dollar contract. Kopitar would have gotten max or close to max dollars for the first four years followed by large decrease over the remaining years. It’s how Dean structured the original contract he offered to Kovalchuk.

It’s clear someone caved. Maybe Dean really did have second thoughts and decide to just give Kopitar the bank. But I just don’t see him publicly saying, “we’re not even in the same ballpark” to settling on 8x10, ESPECIALLY when Luc was publicly saying they would get a deal done no matter what.

 

[YP44]

At best they looked bad/middling when not playing the Czechs or South Korea. Even without NHLers they should be better

Other than the game against Germany I thought they did well.

 

[Legionnaire]

What about Lowry? Our power play sucks and has sucked.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

What about Lowry? Our power play sucks and has sucked.

Since the 1st PP goal, it's been running at 30%......that sucks?

 

[BigKing]

Exactly. Dean and his mentor Lou both championed the original cap circumventing contract.

I wrote a post a long time ago about Dean/Kopitar inevitably settling on an 8 year, 65 million dollar contract. Kopitar would have gotten max or close to max dollars for the first four years followed by large decrease over the remaining years. It’s how Dean structured the original contract he offered to Kovalchuk.

It’s clear someone caved. Maybe Dean really did have second thoughts and decide to just give Kopitar the bank. But I just don’t see him publicly saying, “we’re not even in the same ballpark” to settling on 8x10, ESPECIALLY when Luc was publicly saying they would get a deal done no matter what.

We saw the difference between DL and the new regime with Doughty's deal.

Just give him what he wants and also delay rebuilding because you need to make him happy.

 

[Legionnaire]

Since the 1st PP goal, it's been running at 30%......that sucks?

 

[KINGS17]

nice read, via laki:

Coaching change representative of shortcomings across many levels - LA Kings Insider

rosen also gave something interesting in the comments below, quote:

"... and the org believes this group settled into some familiar habits they couldn't shake."

reading between the lines it means the players are united, nothing sick going on in the locker room. that's very important right now.

they'll be fine.

From the article:

"Stevens didn’t help his own matters in one minor episode earlier this season. Several players were put off by his assertion – never mind how accurate it was – that the team had “stopped playing” in the 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Taking into account the training camp – referenced by Doughty as the hardest he’d ever been a part of, one that left him “gassed” – and the fact the previous season’s team had plateaued after the first half and hadn’t been showing signs of trending towards sleeker, attacking hockey, a change was made. The team is open towards an honest and thorough evaluation of its practices and operations, and, of course, its personnel."

So, Stevens telling the players the obvious after the 7-2 pasting by the NYI was a problem? Training camp was too hawd for wittle Dewey? Give me a break.

 

[Master Yoda]

From the article:

"Stevens didn’t help his own matters in one minor episode earlier this season. Several players were put off by his assertion – never mind how accurate it was – that the team had “stopped playing” in the 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Taking into account the training camp – referenced by Doughty as the hardest he’d ever been a part of, one that left him “gassed” – and the fact the previous season’s team had plateaued after the first half and hadn’t been showing signs of trending towards sleeker, attacking hockey, a change was made. The team is open towards an honest and thorough evaluation of its practices and operations, and, of course, its personnel."

So, Stevens telling the players the obvious after the 7-2 pasting by the NYI was a problem? Training camp was too hawd for wittle Dewey? Give me a break.

The part about the training camp, I don't have an Athletic subscription so I don't know what was said exactly, but at the time I was thinking that with so many split squad games, they were playing the veterans a lot more than I ever remember and it seemed strange to have them play so many meaningless games.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

From the article:

"Stevens didn’t help his own matters in one minor episode earlier this season. Several players were put off by his assertion – never mind how accurate it was – that the team had “stopped playing” in the 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Taking into account the training camp – referenced by Doughty as the hardest he’d ever been a part of, one that left him “gassed” – and the fact the previous season’s team had plateaued after the first half and hadn’t been showing signs of trending towards sleeker, attacking hockey, a change was made. The team is open towards an honest and thorough evaluation of its practices and operations, and, of course, its personnel."

So, Stevens telling the players the obvious after the 7-2 pasting by the NYI was a problem? Training camp was too hawd for wittle Dewey? Give me a break.

I was pissed at that too. "They stopped playing" was about as accurate an assessment as I've seen. While on the other hand I can see that rubbing ultra-competitive people the wrong way, it's your duty to go out and prove him wrong, not sulk like a rained-out little bitch. BUT--it also pissed me off on the other side because that was also Stevens passing the buck to the players when he consistently failed as well.

I don't remember if THAT was the day I said it's over, but I remember feeling that being a breaking point. Getting wrecked at home with zero emotion after an awful road trip.

 

[Zippgunn]

He couldn't get an assistant job in the NHL after his firing and Canada didn't look great in the Olympics, so this may be his way back to the NHL (here or somewhere else)

Seriously? Are any of the players on that ECHL quality Canada team playing in the NHL? He got a bronze medal out of table scraps.

I'm amused by all the Canuck fans here predicting doom and gloom; Willie was (and, ridiculously, still is) so hated by the "true" Canuck fans that they even stooped to ridiculing his facial tics (calling him "Twitchy") like a bunch of schoolyard bullies. As a passive Kings fan (who would be much more of a fan if they reverted to their old purple and yellow jerseys which I have loved since I was a kid) I am cautiously optimistic by these two hirings. With Willie what you see is what you get, an old school motivator who runs a meritocracy (which got him in hot water with Canuck fans many of whom thought that, among other things, Tryamkin should be gifted top 2 minutes based on potential alone) and who is capable of kicking some bums around to get players on track. He is also a super class act (watch his firing presser from the Canucks; he thanks everyone from the bottom of his heart). Sturm has been a wunderkind in Germany and is a lock to be an NHL head coach somewhere IMHO. In a perfect world I would make them co-coaches but that is unlikely to happen in the supercharged ego driven atmosphere that permeates the NHL. As for Dave Lowry I think he is a good coach and a quality person. Keep him for now. And maybe see if Willie Mitchell is into doing some defensive coaching...

 

[BigKing]

These are the same dudes that couldn't handle it under Sutter anymore.

Same dudes. They are made men. Ownership and then current management dumped the Cup winning GM and coach but didn't move a single player from the last Cup team until Gaborik was moved, unless you count Nolan who apparently asked to get out of here.

I'm not sure we will see a big improvement due to the coaching change. There is usually an embarrassment factor with these things when it is a coach who is respected etc. Say what you want about Stevens, but he was here for the whole golden era so this isn't like the Cleveland Browns firing another coach. Problem is there is nothing more embarrassing than getting a 2x Cup winning coach and GM fired so this will be a fart in the wind for these guys.

The second Stevens said anything that questioned these made men, he got snuffed. These are the same dudes that we bitched about during Sutter's Last Stand and, as far as leadership goes, it was more of the same last year:

-Kopitar played great after a down year. He has done this the last four seasons, alternating between good/bad. This is the bad season, currently.

-Doughty continued to run his mouth while not sticking up for himself, embarrassing himself against Tkachuk once again and then topping it with the infamous outburst against Chicago that cost them a win during the playoff race.

-Quick is rad

-Carter is rad but was out.

-Brown is still the true leader of this team and, ultimately, the biggest beneficiary of Sutter leaving. Sutter is like Sean Avery to him, post 2013.

Anyways, it is the same guys from the last four seasons but definitely not the same guys from 2012-14. There was a lot more to the leadership core back then.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

From the article:

"Stevens didn’t help his own matters in one minor episode earlier this season. Several players were put off by his assertion – never mind how accurate it was – that the team had “stopped playing” in the 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Taking into account the training camp – referenced by Doughty as the hardest he’d ever been a part of, one that left him “gassed” – and the fact the previous season’s team had plateaued after the first half and hadn’t been showing signs of trending towards sleeker, attacking hockey, a change was made. The team is open towards an honest and thorough evaluation of its practices and operations, and, of course, its personnel."

So, Stevens telling the players the obvious after the 7-2 pasting by the NYI was a problem? Training camp was too hawd for wittle Dewey? Give me a break.

Goes back to what I was saying, the culture has rapidly changed in LA. Guys got there contracts and like living near the beach.

 

[Sol]

I don't know what people expect when they bring up top end talents and the amount of coaches they have had? So f***ing what? Those are the same players who spend their careers on the same team.

Expecting top tier players to have a small amount of coaching changes during their careers is such bad logic.

 

[BigKing]

I don't know what people expect when they bring up top end talents and the amount of coaches they have had? So ****ing what? Those are the same players who spend their careers on the same team.

Expecting top tier players to have a small amount of coaching changes during their careers is such bad logic.

It is worth noting when they quit on the best coach in franchise history then proceed to continue sucking.

I'm not going to put too much into Terry Murray because he was what he was: a guy that instilled the basics in a young team but has never been the guy to put it over the top.

Sutter is an issue but, hey, he has pretty much had the same career arc at all of his stops so it isn't surprising they got tired of it. Still, it feels like the question with Sutter is "Are you willing to go with this system and fully commit, even if it is hard, or do you want to just go out, play hockey and see what happens?"

They take the latter at this point. Do they want more Cups? Sure they do. As much as before winning them and, for some, starting families and all that shit? Not a chance. If that were true, Doughty would not have signed and/or he and Kopitar would have taken lower cap hits.

I want to stress I don't blame them for not taking a discount: get paid when you can and good for them. It's just a little bit of talking out both sides of your mouth, IMO.

 

[Moses Doughty]

Other than the game against Germany I thought they did well.

They were barely scraping out wins with guys who were very good KHLers and guys who were close to the NHL but would rather play elsewhere. Barely beat Finland, had a close game against an inferior Czech team. Looked too close to what the US team was.

Seriously? Are any of the players on that ECHL quality Canada team playing in the NHL? He got a bronze medal out of table scraps.

About your Mitchell point-think he loves living around and doing nature stuff too much to live in LA again as a coach.

And the Canadian team would absolutely blow the hell out of an ECHL all star team-these guys are AHL caliber at worst guys who wanted to be paid more elsewhere, or were NHL tweeners looking to get a shot to look better. In fact, Chris Kelly got a NHL contract right after the Olympics. Each team missed its NHL players so while the US/Canada got hit the hardest, the Canadian team still had the talent to look better than they did