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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 3050148" data-attributes="member: 2012">Crawford excited about rebuilding KingsCanadian Press9/6/2006 8:09:04 PMReturning the Los Angeles Kings to the playoffs will not only be good for hockey in southern California, but inject some excitement into a league that is struggling to keep its place in the American sports market, says new coach Marc Crawford.For the NHL to increase its fan base in the United States, the league needs strong franchises in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Crawford said during a telephone conference call Wednesday. That's why joining the Kings, and working with new general manager Dean Lombardi, was so attractive to him."If L.A. is a strong franchise, that not only helps hockey in California and maybe in the other southern States, I think it helps the entire league," said Crawford, who was hired in May to replace the fired Andy Murray."That's one of the main, exciting reasons why we've ended up coming here. We love the challenges."When Wayne Gretzky was the king of the Kings, hockey was the hot ticket in Los Angeles. Movie stars and politicians attended the games.Struggling teams and three seasons out of the playoffs have taken the shine off the club.Crawford, who was fired by the Vancouver Canucks after missing the playoffs last spring, knows something about rebuilding a franchise.When he was hired as Vancouver's coach in January 1999, the team had missed the playoffs the previous three years, had a bloated payroll and was losing both fans and money.With Crawford behind the bench, and Brian Burke as general manager, the Canucks rebuilt  themselves on the ice and grew a devoted fan base."I do see some parallels," Crawford said in comparing the Kings and Canucks."The challenge at the rink is very similar to the ones that we had in Vancouver. This club has not made the playoffs for the last couple of years. People want playoff action."When Crawford first came to the Canucks, the aging Mark Messier was the team's captain and first-line centre. The Sedin twins hadn't arrived yet and the line of Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi hadn't been formed."That group really developed and kind of grew," said Crawford. "I believe that is going to happen here as well."With training camp ready to open next week, Crawford said he likes the experience and talent he has in veteran players like Craig Conway, Derek Armstrong and Eric Belanger.The Kings have also added goaltender Dan Cloutier _ who Crawford coached in Vancouver _ veteran defenceman Rob Blake and forwards like Alyn McCauley, Patrick O'Sullivan, Scott Thornton and Brian Willsie."We have some very good experience in our forward group," said Crawford. "How our young players develop and emerge really will dictate if we are able to have those types of lines as Vancouver had."Lombardi also is no stranger to team building. He took over a San Jose Sharks team in 1996 that had won more than 20 games only once in five seasons, then transformed them into a club that won one division tile and twice reached the second round of the playoffs.Lombardi isn't sure if he'll be able to follow the same slow-and-steady approach in L.A. that worked in northern California. Instead of relying on the draft to develop talent, Lombardi said he may have to use the free-agent market to bring in proven players."I am perfectly cognizant that some of the rules I followed in San Jose are probably not applicable," he said. "In this market, I don't think L.A. can afford to fall off the map and pick in the top three (of the draft)."We have to be competitive (and) allow Marc to take his team as far as we can."Lombardi said Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Kings' owners, have given him the green light to spend money on players.Crawford heads into the season confident his team can improve on its 42-36-6 record from last year that left the Kings 10th in the Western Conference, six points out of a playoff spot."We're going to have to find ways to be better offensively than this club has been in the past, especially in the area of our power play and penalty kill," he said. "I think we've got a good base of talent and some good leadership."</blockquote>

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