Crawford abstains from goalie controversy

Read this first.

You will find quotes from several key Kings regarding the current (season-long?) goaltending controversy in LA.

There are quotes from the man directly involved in the whole thing - goalie Mathieu Garon, team captain Mattias Norstrom as well as key playmakers Michael Cammalleri and veteran Craig Conroy.

A notable exception in the Chris Foster article is the team coach: Marc Crawford. I believe his not speaking out on the issue hurts the team.

Well, not only is he not speaking OUT, I don't believe the Kings, in the trenches of their dressing room, do hear what's on Craw's mind in regards to starting goaltending. Even if they do, the message, as relayed by the players, is quite fuzzy:

"I don't know about that," Garon said when asked if his play warranted being the top goaltender. "As I said at the start of the season, we have two good goalies here and whoever is playing the best is going to play. That's always the case."

The better and hotter goaltender does not know whether his number is up for the next game, especially in the light of his counterpart Dan Cloutier sucking up big time for the league-worst GAA and SV% among goalies who played 10 or more games?!

58

DAN CLOUTIER

LAK

15

378

50

3.67

4

8

2

328

.868

0

0

1

0

817:08

What sort of communication between the coach and his players is this supposed to be?

"Right now, we need our goaltenders to give us games like this," Conroy said. "We have two guys who can do that."

I'm sorry, Craig, but you're wrong. Cloutier cannot give you, at least at the moment, a game like this (one goal or less per 60 mins). In fact, here's a roundup of all his games so far:

Game	Dec	GA	SA	SV	SV%	SO	PIM	TOI	EV GA	PP GA	SH GA
Nov 22, 2006 vs. SJS	L	5	12	7	.583	0	0	28:51	3	2	0
Nov 18, 2006 vs. PHX	W	3	39	36	.923	0	0	59:41	3	0	0
Nov 16, 2006 vs. PHI	L	4	30	26	.867	0	0	58:50	4	0	0
Nov 13, 2006 vs. SJS	W	2	18	16	.889	0	0	59:55	2	0	0
Nov 7, 2006 vs. COL	W	5	34	29	.853	0	0	60:00	3	2	0
Nov 4, 2006 vs. PHX		1	7	6	.857	0	0	33:11	1	0	0
Nov 1, 2006 vs. PIT	O	4	23	19	.826	0	0	62:45	3	1	0
Oct 27, 2006 vs. CBJ	L	2	14	12	.857	0	0	58:16	2	0	0
Oct 25, 2006 vs. MIN	L	3	29	26	.897	0	0	57:30	2	1	0
Oct 23, 2006 vs. COL	L	6	32	26	.813	0	0	40:00	3	3	0
Oct 18, 2006 vs. MIN	O	2	27	25	.926	0	0	60:25	2	0	0
Oct 16, 2006 vs. DET	L	3	27	24	.889	0	0	58:32	1	1	1
Oct 12, 2006 vs. DAL	L	4	29	25	.862	0	0	60:00	3	1	0
Oct 10, 2006 vs. NYI	W	2	25	23	.920	0	0	59:53	2	0	0
Oct 6, 2006 vs. ANA	L	4	32	28	.875	0	0	59:19	3	1	0

Do you see the same pattern?

Dan is yet to start a game and NOT give up two or more goals! Regardless of the W/L outcome (which is poor, again), Cloutier does not warrant, heck, or even stand a chance of turning out numbers and co-players confidence that Garon has established recently.

I'm no Cloutier or Crawford basher, mind you (even though I do vent anytime someone brings to mind the extension given to Dan BEFORE he played a single game in a King uniform). In my opinion though, it is perfectly within the confines of proper big-level coaching skills to name a starter based on being hot, having better numbers and being physically and mentally ready to take the challenge of the next game. And to communicate it to himself, the goalies in question and the team itself. Heck, perhaps to us, the blogosphere and the media, for a change...

All in all, at the moment, the Kings , have one NHL-quality goaltender (MG) and will be better off sticking to him while he provides the goods. It might (and probably will) not be forever, but for now - Garon gives the team a better chance to win.