COMMENTARY : It Isn’t Webster’s Fault That the Kings Traded Away Key Players

An open letter to King owner Bruce McNall.

Dear Bruce:

Not again.

Not another rebuilding project cut off before the concrete is dry. Not another midcourse correction on a journey without apparent end.

During the weekend, your general manager, Rogie Vachon, indicated that, if your struggling club didn’t straighten out on this four-game trip, firing Coach Tom Webster was one of the options under consideration. And you publicly backed Vachon.

The team’s two victories since then have at least given Webster a reprieve. But for how long?

A better question might be: How long are the Kings going to keep trying to solve their problems by looking behind the bench? Webster is the 16th coach in a quarter century of frustration for this club.

True, you are responsible for one of those coaches being let go.

And you , too, decried this policy less than two years ago. After Webster’s first season at the helm, after the Kings had suffered through yet another second-round elimination from the playoffs, after rumors abounded that either Webster or Vachon or both might be fired, you announced there would be no changes. The only change, you said, would be toward a policy of stability, reversing years of trying to solve player problems with coaching changes.

Given a free hand, Webster declared a new era of conservatism on the ice. Defense was in, wide-open hockey was out.

Webster announced that his club would cut down the goals against by 50, drawing sneers from several corners.

Sure enough, Webster was wrong. The Kings cut down their goals against by 83 , won a team-record 46 games and their first Smythe Division title.

Webster was second in voting for coach of the year.

Injuries to Wayne Gretzky, Tomas Sandstrom and Bob Kudelski certainly contributed to the Kings’ early playoff elimination last season.

But the foundation had been laid. The wisdom of stability had been proved.

So did you stick with it?

Not exactly. The thought of obtaining Jari Kurri was too tantalizing. As a result, the chemistry created last season was destroyed by the trading of Steve Duchesne and Steve Kasper.

Webster might have sat in on those trades, but he didn’t make them.

It’s not his fault that Gretzky is suffering through the worst season of his career, that Kurri has failed to regain the level he achieved with the Edmonton Oilers, that Kudelski didn’t work out as the second-line center, that nobody has been able to duplicate Duchesne’s abilities as an offensive defenseman or his skills as the point man on the power play.

It is not his fault that nobody has been able to replace Kasper as the center on the checking line or win as many faceoffs, that goalie Daniel Berthiaume self-destructed, or that Sandstrom and Rob Blake have had a season riddled by injuries.

That is not to say that Webster is blameless. His two stick-throwing incidents were disgraceful, as was his fight with the Calgary Flames’ Doug Gilmour last season.

But does that mean that he can’t coach? Has he gone from being one of the league’s best coaches to being unsuitable in 10 months?

It also has been argued that some players haven’t always given their best effort on the ice and it is the coach’s responsibility to see that they do.

That is true, but it is also true that the high salaries and long-term contracts have insulated the players from any threats by coaches. If the huge amounts that you are paying them has not been enough of an incentive, as some claim, why would they listen to a coach’s plea?

A cliche keeps coming up, the idea that you fire one man because you can’t fire 20.

Is that the message you want to send, that the players can continue to perform at their present level and, if things don’t work out, well, don’t worry about it? The coach will be the scapegoat.

At least wait and see how this season plays out before making a move. As bad as the Kings have been, they are one point out of second place.

You have shown yourself to be a marketing genius by filling every seat for every game in what was once considered a non-hockey town. You got the best player in the game and surrounded him with talent.

But the job isn’t finished. Get a second-line center, get another defenseman, get a backup goalie for Kelly Hrudey and let this season run its course.

That would be the fair thing to do. That adjective, fair , always seems to come up when any of your employees describe you.

It’s one thing for a captain to go down with his ship. It’s quite another to make him walk the plank at the hands of a crew he didn’t hire.

Signed,

An Interested Observer