Head Coach Todd McLellan | 01.24.24 LA Kings Loss to Buffalo Sabres | Postgame Media

Head Coach Todd McLellan | 01.24.24 LA Kings Loss to Buffalo Sabres | Postgame Media

Drew both took the blame on the guys within the room of not executing right now I mean is it just a matter of that executing and do what they need to do uh well I I think they’re being Noble they the two of them shouldn’t take the blame

That’s that’s on everybody that’s on the guy wearing the suit behind the bench and that’s on the 20 others that put the uh the equipment on it’s not just 11 and 8 because they wear um letters um that’s unacceptable we’re up 3-1 uh we’re maybe not playing our best

But the stupidity that went into that loss is beyond explainable I could come up here and tell you that hey in the past we’ve been close maybe we didn’t get some luck Around the Net but I haven’t until now been able to come in and say boy we played really

Dumb and that’s what we did Todd that’s two wins in 14 games How concerned are you about your job security well that’s a that’s a very fair question if I was sitting in your seat you were standing here I’d ask you that I’m responsible for this and when you look at the team

That played the first I don’t know what do we want to call it 25 30 games if you will um it doesn’t look like the team that’s playing right now and I’m responsible for it our staff is doing what we can or what we believe we can to to get them to

Turn it around uh we’re trying different things at different times but uh um you know I’m going to keep pushing away I’m going to try and push buttons uh poke people praise people uh look at how we do things um our numbers our underlying numbers um say we’re more the

The first half team than the second half team but the wind column doesn’t say that and that’s all that matters so it’s a very fair question both Kar and dowy said there were guys who were looking for points and goals rather than playing a team game is that Al to you yep I

Would call that stupid hockey and I I think I explained that right off the bat um look we’ve we’ve struggled to score goals I think that’s evident and all of a sudden you get three in the first uh couple minutes and then everybody thinks they’re coming out of their individual

Scoring slumps and guess what suck on that at the end of the night and that’s how it went but um we weren’t playing that way when we were winning so Have We Become selfish Have We Become self-driven uh have we uh gone into our own individual shells and and um

Self-preservation um I’m not sure but uh it shouldn’t be that way coach did feel like you have reached bottom the way you lost this game and can that spark a different approach on what you need to do with these guys well there’s only so many you know

What I don’t even think this is a good analys ology to use I was going to say bullets in the chamber and that’s an awful thing to be using nowadays so there’s only so many pokes and prods that one can pull out of his

Hat and uh we pulled a lot of them out already so at some point it has to hit home and if it doesn’t hit home we’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing and that’s Insanity so um it’s it’s not what we want to be it’s not who

We are but it’s right now it’s who we’ve become and that’s concerning who do you have to lean into here going forward is it is it Drew and copi and the more veteran group or is it trying to lean into the younger kids and try to get

Through them well I think it’s a combination of both um each night um you know for for so long I thought that uh Doo’s line was really playing well and carrying us it was kind of put on the Shelf we don’t have to take care of those three like they are

They’re getting it done cop’s line got got it going tonight they they look the way they should look um but then we lost the no’s line you know they’re minus four they should have been minus three granny turned it over and and got off they sucked on that

Uh that minus for no reason uh but every night it’s a different group it’s it’s a d pinching at the wrong time it’s a uh it might be a save so we’re all over the map um but who do we lean on the group as a whole uh I see positive signs from

Some of the youth uh right now I think Quinton byfield’s a consistent steady honest player night after night after night after night put him on the ice and count on them I think laugh is evolving and developing but there’s some in between guys that really have to get

Going there are some younger ones um and then some of the older ones as well so we’re all in it together you I don’t think we can single out uh an age range you mentioned stupid hockey there it was very visible leads also mention potential selfish from a coaching

Standpoint how do you eradicate these individual mistakes well we’re again we’re trying you know the we’re it’s 3-1 we’ve got our physical tough defenseman out who’s done an incredible job and we’re running a Faceoff play that makes absolutely no sense we’re pulling a righty up to the

Top when we should have been pulling a lefty to me there’s no thought that goes into it they just call a play and they’re going to run it and it makes no sense so how do you you can’t jump into their heads at that moment um you try and prepare them as

Much as you can you try and hold them accountable but there’s moments we all have to be responsible for we have to think properly you can’t just skate around hard it’s useless energy sometimes so we got to get better at it in the past you’ve talked about wanting

To use everybody on the bus and you’ve rotated some guys in on D on the outside what’s the likelihood oh he’ll get his opportunity yep on this road trip oh yeah y sorry what does he need to do to stick in the line up now what you guys need to

Understand okay you see him skate and shoot he’s got to fit the team okay and and I know some of you guys are nodding because you’re around the group long enough and and you get it Arthur has to fit he has to work hard to

Fit and you got to be a good and I’m not saying Arthur is not a good teammate but you got to be able to fit and want to be here and want to be out there and want to be successful and when he does that he’ll play

Again when you say want to be here is that response to the no no no no no I Arthur clave doesn’t phone some guy in Toronto and say hey you know what I’m looking for a new home his agent might but he won’t so coach the concern inside that

They’ve heard almost everything you can imagine to come up with right to turn this thing around so what’s going on inside you like do I need to look up Vince Lombardi old quotes you know what I’m saying though it’s like we rely on our on our experience um some of us have

Been through this before I was in Detroit we won a Stanley Cup and 08 we went 1 n and two in 11 games if you can believe that I told a couple players that the other day but what we had going there is we found a way to pull

Ourselves out uh we still haven’t done that here and I’m not saying if we do we’re a Stanley Cup team right now we’re not we’re not even close um but we have to find ways to pull ourselves out and um the analogy that I didn’t use um we got to find some

Other things to pull out of the Hat here to convince players to play a certain way that’s on us and state is in a stage where everything now feels like you f the entire grou feels that way now um I I would say yes um I think that I get that comment for

Me the disappointing part is why isn’t every game a must-win game you know like we just went through 16 17 games like did we don’t get to give ourselves permission just because we had a nice little uh cushion hey you know what we can get bad for two weeks it it doesn’t

Work that way the league is too good but they are correct in saying that that it’s we got to dig in we can’t you know whatever the away more points you just can’t it’s hard to focus on AI after was iy team well that that is the copi career is certainly separate

From what goes on tonight and copi played well tonight probably his best game in a in a long time he looked a little little more energized but that is a separate entity so when we go and talk about that let’s honor him the right way and and make sure that we understand

That he’s done uh incredible things for for all of us in here he’s entertained for a long time and that uh you know those those minutes before the game were we’re very well earned um I’ve been lucky enough to be on both benches uh the visiting and the home with him

Involved and uh it’s been an honor to be in the rink with him um that’s going to go on for a while he’s not uh you know there’s not a moving truck at his house he’s not going anywhere and I think he still has a lot of hockey left in him

That’s a positive sign for all of us especially in the locker room what happens now tomorrow you do you practice before you fly we do we have a earlier practice tomorrow I think we skate at 10:30 if I’m correct and then uh and then we get going and um those type of

Days are really quick uh because they’re rushed uh we skate we clean out probably have a a meeting in the morning coaches will rewatch The Game there’ll be either a team meeting or there’ll be satellite meetings with different players different groups and then we get on the

Plane and go to uh Colorado do you do anything different or do you rely on the structure that you well you need to be there no we’ll um we’ll rely on experience so the coaching staff has a lot of experience we’ll rely on that we’ll look at it a

Certain way we’ll decide our demeanor and our approach with the group but it is quick it’s a quick turnaround tomorrow it’s not like we’re at home when we’ve got two days off we’re while we’re skating the trainers are hauling stuff out and putting it on the on the

Truck and we’re gone so there isn’t a lot of time to uh to really dig into it so um our day will be fast and we’ll move on is this a good time for that for a road trip well we just came off one so I mean the quick turnaround as opposed

To would you rather had two or three days where you could really get your point across well I I would like to have some practice time yes but we’re not blessed with that in the NHL and um you know we can you know if if if saying get my point across is line

Them up and skate him to death I’m not doing that I just don’t believe in that plus they need their energy to to clean out their brains a little bit right now and think clearly um our job is to try and find ways to help them and that’s

What we’ll do tomorrow in our short time time frame this last during the stretch here how often have you guys had whether it’s player coach or player own just those kind of meetings where you just kind of Ash it out oh we’ve we’ve had some of those yeah we’ve whether it’s

Individual whether it’s a line whether it’s the group um but we’ve also had those when we were winning we we had a lot of those when we were winning we had a lot of those when we’re losing so it’s nothing unusual could be different demeanor different approach a different

Uh tone but we have them regularly your comments about PL the last game maybe weren a direct message to him but I imagine that message has been sent him that he needs to be a Difference Maker do you feel like he was that tonight I

Thought he had a good game tonight I I don’t know what it you know from from afar but from on the bench I thought he had a good game tonight he uh he he was a factor in the game