Crawford Is Prepared to Make a Mark

The Kings officially announced Marc Crawford as their new coach Monday, but General Manager Dean Lombardi knew he had his man about 12 hours into the second interview.

“We met from 7 p.m. to midnight the first day, then started at 8 a.m. the next day,” Lombardi said. “These job interviews can be so scripted sometimes, so I told Marc let’s just go talk hockey. Now I have a lot of energy, but about 8 p.m. the second night I’m wearing out and Marc was standing up talking about goaltending. I said, ‘That’s the juice I want.’ ”

On Monday, Lombardi brought “what feels like a friend” into the organization he is trying to overhaul. In Crawford, the Kings have a coach with glossy credentials. He won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996 and ranks 16th all-time among NHL coaches with 411 regular-season victories.

Yet, Lombardi said he was looking beyond the resume.

“I didn’t zero in on him right away,” Lombardi said. “When I finished meeting with players and reviewing game tapes, I had an idea what kind of coach the team needed. Right away I knew Marc had 80% of that. After we met, I knew he was the right fit. What impressed me is he admitted making mistakes and didn’t know everything but was willing to learn from those things.”

Crawford, who has spent the last 6 1/2 of his 11 seasons coaching the Vancouver Canucks, takes over a team that has missed the playoffs the last three seasons. The Kings unraveled last season, going from second place in the Western Conference in early January to 10th.

The collapse cost coach Andy Murray his job in March. General Manager Dave Taylor and interim coach John Torchetti were fired after the season.

Crawford was also left without a job after the Canucks finished ninth in the conference. The Kings job was appealing to him because of Lombardi.

“He was going to do things the right way,” Crawford said. “He wasn’t going to put Band-Aids on problems. We were going to try to forge ahead and do the right thing. The most important thing for me was to be in an organization where the philosophy and vision was very similar to what I’ve always had.”

Crawford will begin meeting with Kings players and working on hiring assistant coaches.

“Any time you can bring in a coach with those credentials, it’s impressive,” Kings alternate captain Craig Conroy said. “He will hold guys accountable here. If a coach comes in and screams at you, if there is a reason for it, that’s fine. We’re big boys, we can take it.”

Many Kings players had expressed their weariness with Murray’s motivational style during the season, though Lombardi has been quick to point out that “they lost the right to that when they didn’t respond for the next coach.”

In reality, it took a village to create a disappointing season, Lombardi made clear.

“What I’ve found is there were more mole hills than I thought,” Lombardi said. “They continued to grow until it all collapsed.”

Crawford took over a Vancouver team that had only 58 points in 1998-99. The Canucks improved their point total each of his first four seasons and made the playoffs from 2000 to 2004.

“It’s not the technical aspects that you bring, it’s the relationship that you develop with your players,” Crawford said. “You have a strong relationship, it will lead to success.”

With Crawford in place, Lombardi will look to fill out the rest of the front office. He will hire an assistant general manager, a director of player personnel and a salary cap specialist. He will go to the scouting combine in Toronto to prepare for the NHL draft.

Lombardi’s overhaul has been extensive and has included remodeling the Kings offices. He has cleaned out the entire equipment staff and the only member of the training staff who remains is Pete Demers, though in a lesser role.

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Early success

New Kings Coach Marc Crawford has won 411 regularseason games in 11 NHL seasons, the third-youngest coach to reach 400 victories and third-fastest to reach 400 among active coaches.

Youngest coaches to reach 400:

Scotty Bowman...43 years 148 days

Glen Sather...44 years 198 days

Marc Crawford...44 years 355 days

Fastest to reach 400, active coaches:

Ken Hitchcock...736 games

Bryan Murray...789

Marc Crawford...795