How is it going? I know you are busy figuring out which third-round talent you are going to take with the number two overall pick at tomorrow's 2008 NHL Entry Draft, so I apologize for this interruption.
About a year and a half ago, my good friend (and best man) Money Bags asked if I would be interested in joining his fantasy baseball league. He and his old high school friends had a league together for about ten years but it had started to decline recently. So Money Bags took over as league commissioner, let go of the managers who did not want to stick around, and offered teams to some of his other friends and co-workers. His goal was to start fresh, every team starting from square one.
Since I know you are such an avid GameTime, TBD© reader, I know you have noticed the lack of baseball-related posts. I am not the biggest baseball fan, and my lack of baseball knowledge has proved costly. I thought my success in fantasy football (I'd like to thank my coworkers for the new plasma and Xbox 360 over the past two seasons) would translate into success "on the diamond"; I was wrong. For starters, I finished second-to-last and am not fairing that much better this year. Why is that you ask? Because I was not around to draft my team the first year; I was auto-drafted by the (stupid) computer. And believe you me, when you are playing in a keeper league, using your third and fourth round picks on closers is not a strategy to go with. Oh, and in the draft lottery for this season, with the second best chance of getting the number one overall pick, I got the eighth pick. The lesson to be learned you ask?
When drafting, it is a good idea to have a coach. So imagine my surprise when you announced last Tuesday that the Los Angeles Kings had fired head coach Marc Crawford, a mere ten days before the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. I know what you are thinking to yourself right now, "What is this guy talking about? GM's do the drafting." Yes, you are correct, general managers do the actual drafting (more on this unfortunate point later), but it is the coach who decides what system the team is going to play, and the system should play a roll in the type of player the general manager (that would be you if you've forgotten) drafts.
Every hockey fan in Los Angeles (by this point in time, there might be only about five of us) is wondering why the Kings waited until now. You had just finished tied for last in the entire league, the franchise's second-straight disappointing season, and fifth-straight season out of the playoffs. So when you were asked, "Why now?", here is what you gave us:
- it was "a gut call."
- there was "an organizational change in philosophy."
- "we're committed to the way we're going after my meeting with ownership this week."
It was "a gut call"? SIX weeks after the season ended? Ten DAYS before the NHL draft? After several teams had hired some of the prime coaching candidates?
The organizational philosophy of getting younger is not a change in philosophy, it is what you said two years ago when the Kings first hired you to be the general manager, Dean. You said it would take three years until things started to change around here because you were going to get younger, develop the talent in our farm system, be more aggressive in the free agent market. So this is not actually a change in philosophy. Let us call it what it really is: a mistake. When you hired Marc Crawford two seasons ago you made a mistake and it has set us back on your timetable and now you are trying to back track.
Just admit it, Crawford was never the right fit. You probably knew this going in. But you did not think you could sell the fans another Andy Murray-type hiring, someone without experience at the NHL level, because, after all, the team had just fired AM. So you went out and found yourself a coach who had won a Stanley Cup and made this the focal point of his credentials. And you had to, because behind the smoke and mirrors was the fact that Marc Crawford was not known for his ability to develop young talent. He was a coach that took already-talented teams to a higher level. So when the Kings began their youth movement two years ago, an uphill battle in-and-of-itself, it was like you had shot them in the foot before they even started climbing.
So now you are out there looking for the twenty-second coach for the start of the teams forty-second season, TWENTY-SECOND. I am not positive, but I think the old saying goes "third times a charm." And while I appreciate that you are looking for a coach schooled in the old Hockey Canada system (wait a sec, isn't that the same system AM ran when he was here? Weird.), I am going to tell you how to make the twenty-second time a charm: hire John Tortorella. That is right Mr. Lombardi, the ex-Tampa Bay Lightening coach is the guy for you. He was won a Stanley Cup the way the Kings want to do it, by developing their young talent. He took a perennial last-place team (alright, I will admit they finished tied with the Kings this year) to four playoff appearances and the Stanley Cup in six-and-a-half seasons by taking young superstars-in-training Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, and Brad Richards, and turning them into actual superstars. The Kings youth is bursting with superstars-to-be: Kopitar, Brown, Cammalleri, O'Sullivan, Johnson, and Bernier. It is also not to late for Frolov to develop the consistency everyone has been waiting for.
But maybe that is not what you are looking. Maybe Anschutz is actually planning to move the Kings to the booming hockey market of . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . Kansas City once his new arena opens out there. So when you say that ownership is committed to the way the team is going, you are actually saying ownership is committed to losing so the franchise loses enough to justify the move. I think I have seen this movie before, so let me give you a piece of advice: do not hire Lou Brown. He will find out you are losing on purpose and next thing you know, he will be pulling pieces of clothing off a life-size cut-out of Anschutz (ew, that's gross).
But I guess we will find out exactly what you are thinking tomorrow during the NHL draft. I know you are desperately trying to move the number two. You have always hated high draft picks. I give you credit for the success you had in San Jose where you used late first round picks to find that diamond-in-the-rough. That is great; there is nothing wrong with using the twenty-fifth overall pick to take a chance. But this is the second overall pick we are talking and you have the chance to either trade for some much needed goaltending help or draft a player who might make a difference. I know the easy choice would be to take Drew Doughty or Zach Bogosian, two puck-moving defensemen. And I would not blame you. Puck-moving defensemen are all the rage in the post-lockout NHL. But last time I checked, we have two puck moving defensemen on our roster (Johnson and Visnovsky) and you drafted one last year.
So take a chance and draft (La Femme) Nikita Filatov. I know it is not a guarantee that his Russian club will let him come, but he wants to come and he has all the makings of the next Ovechkin. Yeah, you might have heard about that Ovechkin fella, I hear he has been doing some pretty impressive things over in Washington. Besides, after the number two pick you have eight more picks in the first four rounds to play with. I am sure you can find a puck-moving defensemen then, or maybe even a stay-at-home defenseman with speed, something I think everyone would agree that the Kings need.
I will be at the Kings draft party tomorrow with my Brother-in-Law while you are in Ottawa working your "magic". Since my Brother-in-Law is connected to the NHL, I have promised him I will not make a scene if you do something stupid. So how about you do me a favor. Do not do something stupid. Do something smart. Then I will not even have to be concerned about making a scene. Can you do that for me, Dean? I would really appreciate it.
Hope you have a great time in Ottawa. Say hi to the family for me.
Best regards,
GameTime, TBD©
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