As many Kings fans recall, Murray and his coaching staff came under heavy fire last season for the lack of success the team had with the man advantage during the regular season - a paltry 16.1% conversion rate, ranked 21 out of 30 teams. Then, somewhat miraculously, they found their groove in the playoffs, converting nearly 21% of the time.
Still, 'Fire Jamie Kompon' was something lighting up message boards and social media sites once the season ended.
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At a meeting with season ticket holders about a month prior though, (GM) Lombardi said there were many things wrong with the power play - "We need to gain the zone more with possession, battle in front of net and the team is short on skill." Later, he was more direct on one of those points - "(You need) really skilled players to become unpredictable on the power play and we're a little short there."
So, with the 'personnel' piece of the equation receiving significant upgrades over the last few weeks, it now begs the question - Where does the system and structure go from here?
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Then, Murray went back to a familiar script when describing what the power play could really use - "A little better shot mentality. We've been talking about that right from the day that I got here. Shooting the puck more, hitting the net.
I think from our blueline, sometimes we just don't get that puck through (to the net) the way you'd like to see it get though in critical situations. So, that's something we'll work on through training camp (in September) and talk a lot about and keep pushing it."
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Specifically, how does he plan to use Richards? Well, Murray says he hasn't spent anytime on that just yet. However, he pointed out that
the skilled centerman can play just about any position on the power play - "He can play the backend and he does a very good job back there on the power play. He's also a guy you can play right down on the goal line or in front of the net. He's a gritty guy to be able to do that."
In conclusion, Murray said that given the new tools at his disposal, he'll spend some more time on sorting out what he wants to do with the power play prior to camp - where they'll work things out on the ice.