When you have a young and vibrant team such as the Los Angeles Kings, I would think that you'd want a young and vibrant coach that could allow the kids to develop and exude patience with the mistakes young players make.
The LA Kings, however,
decided to go with an well-traveled coach in the form of Terry Murray, a dude used to success with veteran-laden squads.
Terry Murray, who guided Philadelphia to the Stanley Cup finals 11 years ago and has coached 737 regular-season NHL games, was hired late Wednesday to succeed Marc Crawford.
Murray, who turns 58 on Sunday, has been an assistant with the Flyers since 2003-04. He hadn't been a head coach in the NHL since being fired by the Florida Panthers following the 2000-01 season. He has a 360-288-89 regular-season record and a 46-43 post-season mark as a head coach with Philadelphia, Washington and Florida.
I can't dispute the fact that Murray has a good track record, and has been a steady influence for teams with stars such as Eric Lindros, Pavel Bure, and Dino Ciccarelli, but I am puzzled as to why the Kings went to the retread bin instead of hiring and up-and-coming coach. Shouldn't a team like the Kings be dipping into the skilled AHL pool of coaching prospects?
The only thing I can think of is that Terry Murray is a patient, approachable coach, and the Kings think he'll be a calming influence on the younger players. Perhaps Murray can do in LA what Claude Julien did in Boston? I just hope Murray can handle the pressures of coaching a team that will make a lot of mistakes, because, despite his experience, Murray has never really had to coach a team devoid of star power.
Before the season, you probably could have turned a lot of heads by predicting that the Los Angeles Kings would make a run at a Western Conference playoff spot. They finished dead-last in the West a year ago, 20 points out of a playoff spot.
