Sad news for Los Angeles Kings: He will not return..
After a terrible loss and “stupid hockey” against the Sabres, Todd McLellan and the Los Angeles Kings are under fire.
Todd McLellan anticipates that his Thursday morning will be typical. He and his staff will rewatch the game from the previous evening. There will be a formal team meeting as well as casual get-togethers for individuals or groups. a workout on the ice. All of this was completed quickly before the Los Angeles Kings took off for Denver, where they will face Colorado Avalanche and Hart Trophy contender Nathan MacKinnon.
Will McLellan be seated on the aircraft is the question. And if he does, is that even a good idea?
These concerns got more pressing after the mistake-prone Kings lost 5-3 to the equally unimpressive Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night, despite having just the night before suffered a humiliating setback in Anaheim. The Kings had trailed 3-1 in the first period. Anže Kopitar assessed Los Angeles’ record, which stands at 12 losses in 14 games—even after deducting five more “pity points” for reaching OT amid this hazardous leak.
Things reached a breaking point for a club that has struggled mightily over the last month and is now attempting to hang onto its tenuous hold on a wild-card place rather than chasing down Vancouver and Vegas in the Pacific Division, as it had done when it was 16-4-3.With 14 straight wins, Edmonton has surpassed the Kings, who had a terrible start.
After hiring Kris Knoblauch, who has gone 24-6-0 since taking over on November 12, the Oilers fired coach Jay Woodcroft.Craig Berube, the Stanley Cup winner for the St. Louis Blues, was fired by general manager Doug Armstrong.GM Lou Lamoriello of the New York Islanders just brought in Patrick Roy to take Lane Lambert’s job. Kings general manager Rob Blake, meanwhile, has so far shown support for the 56-year-old McLellan, offering him a vote of confidence last week as the team suffered its ninth consecutive loss, which included a dismal stretch of 0–4–4.
Blake talked on McLellan’s situation as Los Angeles began a crucial four-game home stand. There was only one victory over the New York Rangers. It was surrounded by defeats to clubs that weren’t quite murderers’ row: Buffalo, San Jose, Nashville, and now Buffalo. In the first three months, the Kings had mainly lived up to high expectations, thus McLellan’s seat was relatively cool. However, the heat is rapidly rising and could soon reach scalding temperatures.
In response to a query regarding his job security raised by Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period, McLellan responded, “Well, that’s a very fair question.” “I would ask you that if I were in your position and you were standing here. It’s my fault for this. And I’m accountable for the fact that the team that played the first 25–30 games, if you will, doesn’t resemble the team that is currently in action. To help them turn things around, our staff is doing everything that we think we can. We’re experimenting with various things at various points.
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