If the choice Tuesday night was a microphone or a dentist drill, it’s unclear which one Seattle Kraken coach Lane Lambert would’ve least liked having near his mouth.
This hypothetical comes to mind in the wake of Lambert’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it postgame press conference at Climate Pledge Arena. All uncomfortable 57 seconds of it followed the Kraken acquitting themselves well in a 5-3 loss to the NHL’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche. Seattle actually carried a 3-2 lead into the 3rd period against a Colorado team that had lost two games in regulation all season.
Seattle Kraken screengrab
So we’re all surprised that in the interview room, no one is offered the question-asking wireless microphone, which is standard procedure, by the media relations staff.
It’s left to Kraken website editor-in-chief Bob Condor, an accomplished journalist with a wonderful heart, to be the sacrificial question-asking lamb.
Here’s the last two of Bob’s five questions.
Condor: “How about Philipp Grubauer’s night?”
Lambert: “Played well.”
Condor: “Any update on Montour?”
Lambert: “No.”
The Kraken have lost eight times in regulation over a span of their last 10 games. The team is quickly spiraling out of playoff contention with more that half a season left to play. Could that be why Lambert’s answers were short and surly?
We hope not.
We also hope there’s no difficult situations with the Lambert family. Also, no management ultimatums affecting his job security, or bad injury news he didn’t care to share, or that the coach was bitten by the flu bug that has affected many within the dressing room.
Any of the above, and many other unmentioned scenarios, could all be valid reasons why Lambert was less in a talking mood even than his usual taciturn persona with the media. But, minus a reason to cut Lambert some slack, the behavior is unacceptable for a professional sports coach.
No, not because the press should expect coaches to genuflect, regardless of how poorly their team has played. Full disclosure: I’m a regular postgame question-asker, but rarely after a loss. Why? Because I can imagine the shoe on the other foot. “Glenn, your third paragraph in Sunday’s story was short on context, devoid of style, and showed virtually no command of the English language. Your thoughts?”
So I don’t relish turning the spotlight on a player or team’s still-raw miscues, even though that’s a requirement of the profession we, and they, have chosen.
What concerns me is if Lambert is truly pouting merely about his team’s losing ways, and his inability to effect improvements. Was his perfunctory appearance channeling the Seahawks Marshawn Lynch, who famously explained at Super Bowl media day in 2015, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined”?
That’s a luxury no coach can indulge in, because of the message it sends to both players and fans: I’m out of ideas; I’m feeling sorry for myself. A team that’s lost nine of its last 10 already has a fragile psyche. Lambert doesn’t actually have to believe he can steer the Kraken out of their skid, but he darn well needs to make his troops believe he can.
Conversely, the wrong vibe (even unwittingly) communicated by the coach can, in extreme cases, cause players to tune out and/or reduce effort levels – because if the coach has lost faith in us, why bother? We don’t know if Lambert was equally downcast with Kraken players behind closed doors – we didn’t get a chance to ask him.
Look, everyone is entitled to a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. An award-winning children’s book assured us it was okay. Everyone’s had ’em, including in Lambert’s chosen profession, and he thankfully isn’t in the class of John “Scorched Earth” Tortorella.
What matters is what happens next, on a four-game road trip against Pacific Division foes beginning Thursday in Calgary. Lambert provided the prescription to Condor just 48 hours ago. “When you get into a slump, at times you can get discouraged. We have to know the only way we’re going to get back to our winning ways is to stay positive and be in a good mind frame.” It’s a message he also expressed after the Dec. 8 loss to Minnesota. “We have to stay positive and work our way through.”
Coach, heal thyself.