The Los Angeles Kings have fired head coach Marc Crawford.
Kings president and general manager Dean Lombardi made the announcement Tuesday that Crawford will not return next season as the team's head coach despite having one year left on his contract.
In his two seasons as head coach, Crawford posted a 59-84-21 with the Kings.
"We appreciate Marc's commitment the two seasons he has been here," Lombardi said in a press release. "However, we believe that in evaluating where we are at and, more importantly, where we are going as an organization, we feel this coaching change was the right decision to make. We wish Marc the best in his future endeavors."
''Marc's record speaks for itself in terms of his winning record but I guess it just comes down to a matter of fit,'' Lombardi said during a conference call Tuesday.
The Kings hired Marc Crawford as the 21st head coach in Kings history on May 22, 2006.
''I think it's fair to say we did not expect the team to be out of the playoffs in January this year,'' Lombardi added. ''I don't think we were kidding ourselves into thinking we were world beaters, we set realistic expectations.''
Crawford began his NHL coaching career with Quebec in 1994 and in his first season he became the youngest coach to win the Jack Adams Trophy. After the Nordiques relocated to Denver he won the Stanley Cup in 1996.
Overall, in 12 seasons and 905 games behind the bench as an NHL head coach, Crawford, has compiled a regular season record of 438-342-125 and a playoff mark of 43-40.
