Homestand Could Hold Key to Murray’s Future

If it were left to Andy Murray to say whether he should return to coach the Kings next season, he’s not sure how he’d respond.

“I think that’s an open question,” he said. “I think it’s fair.”

He paused.

“I don’t know what more I can do here than what I’m doing now,” he said. “I don’t know how much harder I could work. I don’t know if there’s anybody that could have gotten more out of the team that I’ve had. I don’t know. I’m not patting myself on the back. That’s just the way it is.”

The call, as Murray noted, is not up to him, because the Kings have an option to employ him for a seventh season behind their bench. So far, they have one playoff series victory to show for his tenure, over the injury-depleted Detroit Red Wings in 2001.

The five-game homestand that began Tuesday with a hideous defensive effort in a 6-2 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes shapes up as a referendum on Murray’s future. And, perhaps, on the job done over nine seasons by General Manager Dave Taylor.

If the Kings shake off the lethargy that enveloped them on Tuesday, and if the Vancouver Canucks continue their slide and the Edmonton Oilers can’t get decent goaltending, they might, just might, grab a postseason spot. If they do, will it be to Murray’s credit?

Or will it be because a strange and strong brew has fermented on its own in the locker room to produce a feistiness the team lacked in previous seasons?

Similarly, if the Kings play as miserably as they did on Tuesday and miss the playoffs, Murray and Taylor must be held accountable.

They’ve had time to build a developmental system and instill a philosophy. They’ve failed to find consistently excellent goaltending. They’ve gotten more than expected out of pluggers like Eric Belanger, Derek Armstrong and Tom Kostopoulos and far less than reasonable from skill players such as Jeremy Roenick and Alexander Frolov. And nothing, so far, from deadline-day acquisition Mark Parrish.

For the Kings, having a chance at a playoff berth has been the result of scrapping and scraping and hoping their work outweighs opponents’ talent. Sometimes it does. On Tuesday it didn’t come close.

“We expected to be in a tough battle in a playoff spot and that’s where we find ourselves,” defenseman Mattias Norstrom said. “We find ourselves in a dogfight.”

The outcome will largely depend on whether the Kings can push themselves harder, if that’s even possible. They’ve heard all that Murray has to say.

“I don’t think that has anything to do with who’s behind the bench. Every single team in this league, if you’re sitting on top of the league, if you’re going to have success you need to find that within the group,” Norstrom said. “Because we’re the guys that are on the ice. It’s not going to be anyone else. We’re the ones responsible. It’s not the coaches or anyone else.

“We’re the ones that should take the blame when things go bad and we’re also the ones that should get the credit when things go right.”

Michael Cammalleri rejected the notion that whatever the Kings have achieved has come despite their coach, not because of him. Cammalleri said Murray is part of the collective effort, but also said the potent chemistry that has sustained players all season remains their best asset.

“This is a team that guys seem to get along,” Cammalleri said, “and we’ve done a lot of bonding on and off the ice. And I think that helps. When you have that personal relationship you’re definitely more reliable on the ice to one another.”

Murray, meanwhile, is trying to find a semblance of stability in his lineup. He regained Pavol Demitra on Tuesday but lost Belanger and Craig Conroy to injuries. None of that, though, excuses the team’s lack of energy and drive.

“I have to think that our belief system is quite strong,” Murray said. “I’d love to be back and I’d love this team to be successful. I just want our team to be about substance. You talk to anybody else in the league and they’ll say we’re hard to play against. It used to be, you know, the la-la land stuff, but we play hard most nights.”

Most is not enough anymore.