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Los Angeles Kings Blogger •
First, congratulations to Luc Robitaille for being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
You deserve it.
There are many questions going into this season. Some which are expected to be addressed on Friday and again on July 1st or 2nd.
But what about the three veterans whose contracts expired.
Love him or hate him, Denis Gauthier was certainly a decent “filler”. “I told this to him twice“, Lombardi began. “I’ve just to keep my options open in terms of whether one of the kids is ready and what would fit with this group. The one kid who had moved along a little quicker was Drewiskie. This kid is so focused. He’s a coaches dream. We’ll know more about where he’s at in mid July and we still might have a box open, so to speak, and then it becomes an issue of “do we fill it” or do we et a guy that is maybe more of a puck mover, because Drewiskie would trend more towards the steady”.
There are still many questions to be answered up front. Is Purcell ready to take it to the next level? “We’ve driven into him “you’ve got to get to the blue and you’ve got to pay the price””. Will Moulson be back? Will there be several surprises this season as we had with Wayne Simmonds and Osacr Moller? For those wondering if Kyle Calder would be returning, Lombardi simply stated, “I have to look for an upgrade”.
As for the locker room and fan favorite Derek Armstrong, who never took a shift off and always played like it was his last game, he just may have played his last NHL game. Lombardi also admitted to trying to deal him to a playoff contender at the deadline but only had “A couple of nibbles. I talked to him about what he wants to do and he does want to continue to play. If it’s not here he’ll go to Europe and play. Switzerland is already after him”.
Lombardi often mentions young players having the opportunity to grab a spot, so I felt this was an opportune time to bring up my favorite whipping boy, Brian Boyle.
“That’s one of the guys that’s penciled in for a shot again”, referring to the shots given last season to himself, Simmonds and Moller. “He had some flashes but coming into camp, he was a disappointment. He got flat out outplayed by those other two guys”.
“I can’t pencil him in again. I’ve had this discussion with his agent because obviously his contract is up and I said “what do you want me to do? The job was there last year and he didn’t grab it”. He had to go back down, and to his credit, he fought his way back and at the end he played pretty well. But it is time. He’s from Brownie’s draft. It’s time here”
I then asked about the recently signed college kids, Corey Elkis and Patrick Mullen. Lombardi explained that former King Mike Donnelly has been working the college trenches recruiting and that the Kings are now offering a great opportunity for development and the chance to play, and players are starting to listen. “He was on everyone’s list” Lombardi said of Mullen, who is the son of former NHL great Joey Mullen “It came down to us and Vancouver, and he took us”.
Justin Azevedo will also be signed to an NHL deal. Then I asked about last years’ 3rd round selection, Bryan Cameron who was not offered a contract and will go back into this years’ draft. “Not good enough”, he began. “His numbers were ok but these are the decision you gotta make. We’ve only got 50 contracts so it wasn’t a money issue. We’ll be the youngest team in the minors so that means a lot of contracts so you have to be careful”.
Andrei Loktionov, who made an impression on everyone during the Memorial Cup run is one of Lombardi’s favorite subjects. He repeated his enthusiasm at the State of the Franchise meeting. “He’s ready for the next step. He was really good. He was the perfect… you talk about development? The Russians were trying to get all of those kids to sign 4/5 year contracts and then we couldn’t get ‘em, period. We couldn’t even buy them out of it under the league rules”.
“In Loktionov’s case, they were going to let him go through (the entire draft) and we only took him in the 5th round, and he kept his word. He came here in the summer and then we were lucky” Lombardi wanted him acclimated to the North American game and sang the praises of former NHL players Bob Bougner and Warren Rychel. “They’re cowboys, and they win”.
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play in Manchester. I think he’s ready for that. He’s just too smart. The only way he won’t is if he starts acting up”.
With Voinov also set to return to Manchester, Lombardi is finally building the reserve list he’s longed to have.
“We’re in a position to start doing things. I can arguably talk about trading the 5th pick. We’ve got a lot of pieces now and I know who we’re gonna be offered for that 5th pick and we’re probably gonna have to walk away and you’ll ask me next year to tell you and you’ll say “you’re crazy”. How’s that for a teaser?”
Of course that was a perfect segue for me to ask about all of the off season turmoil surrounding Jack Johnson and that he seems to be talked about in every single trade deal. Lombardi cleared the air.
“Aw, that’s not fair. This is the truth. The thing that set off the firestorm was the comment about the father calling Russia. I kind of just blew it off. I know the coach and I played for the coach over there in St. Petersburg, Gary Smith. I was more pissed at him, “what are you doing? You’re just being used for leverage”. He said “His father called me!”
During negotiations last season, Johnson dismissed his agents leaving his controversial father to take over negotiations. “Okay. It’s not the first time a father’s wanted to do it, or sit in on it”, Lombardi explained. “It kind of went on for a while before the father actually came in, sat down and talked for a while.”
When Johnson finally did settle on an agent, his clients included NASCAR and NFL players, and since he needed to learn the ropes and Johnson wasn’t eligible for an offer sheet or arbitration, there was no sense of urgency. Except from a fans standpoint.
“The problem was, it was kind of out there that we’re talking about doing a contract and nothing’s happening so everybody assumes were fighting. There’s nothing happening! There’s no need for it! He’s hurt, he’s changed his agents but there’s a perception dragging on but we just said “fine, we got all the time you want”. THEN somebody puts out there that the kid is asking for 5.5 million dollars. That’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because he never asked for it. Even on his proposals that we talked about originally, we weren’t anywhere near that!”
But what about the internet chatter that Johnson had refused a conditioning assignment to Manchester following his shoulder surgery? “We kind of talked but it was a mutual thing. That’s one of the things you ask your coach. Murph said “lets get him in”. I think we talked about it but it was more internally up here (front office) like “what’s the best thing for him?” I do remember having some discussion about it and I probably would have been in favor of putting him down there but Murph said “he’ll be fine. Let me just make sure he’s healthy and we’ll break him in”.
So, does that clear up any misconceptions about Jack Johnson? As for Tom Preissing, I simply asked “what happened”? Lombardi took a long time to answer and simply stated,
“I don’t know”. He explained that they knew Preissing’s numbers in Ottawa were inflated and he never considered him a top 4 but as a “bridge” player, he certainly worked.
“In the first year he was pretty decent and this year I think he lost his confidence. We had guys go right by him. He’s a better player than that and I do have some interest in him but right now its clear were staring to move beyond that. We didn’t have Quincey at the time, Doughty comes in and plays, now you got Jack and maybe Drewiskie and a couple of kids in the minors are going to be nibbling his tail very shortly. The other thing is, Doughty comes in and does the job. Now we have our right shot puck mover, lets get another type guy in the mix.”
“But he’s a better player than that. I do have interest in him like people know. Obviously, we’ve already told him we’re going to try and move him.”
You deserve it.
There are many questions going into this season. Some which are expected to be addressed on Friday and again on July 1st or 2nd.
But what about the three veterans whose contracts expired.
Love him or hate him, Denis Gauthier was certainly a decent “filler”. “I told this to him twice“, Lombardi began. “I’ve just to keep my options open in terms of whether one of the kids is ready and what would fit with this group. The one kid who had moved along a little quicker was Drewiskie. This kid is so focused. He’s a coaches dream. We’ll know more about where he’s at in mid July and we still might have a box open, so to speak, and then it becomes an issue of “do we fill it” or do we et a guy that is maybe more of a puck mover, because Drewiskie would trend more towards the steady”.
There are still many questions to be answered up front. Is Purcell ready to take it to the next level? “We’ve driven into him “you’ve got to get to the blue and you’ve got to pay the price””. Will Moulson be back? Will there be several surprises this season as we had with Wayne Simmonds and Osacr Moller? For those wondering if Kyle Calder would be returning, Lombardi simply stated, “I have to look for an upgrade”.
As for the locker room and fan favorite Derek Armstrong, who never took a shift off and always played like it was his last game, he just may have played his last NHL game. Lombardi also admitted to trying to deal him to a playoff contender at the deadline but only had “A couple of nibbles. I talked to him about what he wants to do and he does want to continue to play. If it’s not here he’ll go to Europe and play. Switzerland is already after him”.
Lombardi often mentions young players having the opportunity to grab a spot, so I felt this was an opportune time to bring up my favorite whipping boy, Brian Boyle.
“That’s one of the guys that’s penciled in for a shot again”, referring to the shots given last season to himself, Simmonds and Moller. “He had some flashes but coming into camp, he was a disappointment. He got flat out outplayed by those other two guys”.
“I can’t pencil him in again. I’ve had this discussion with his agent because obviously his contract is up and I said “what do you want me to do? The job was there last year and he didn’t grab it”. He had to go back down, and to his credit, he fought his way back and at the end he played pretty well. But it is time. He’s from Brownie’s draft. It’s time here”
I then asked about the recently signed college kids, Corey Elkis and Patrick Mullen. Lombardi explained that former King Mike Donnelly has been working the college trenches recruiting and that the Kings are now offering a great opportunity for development and the chance to play, and players are starting to listen. “He was on everyone’s list” Lombardi said of Mullen, who is the son of former NHL great Joey Mullen “It came down to us and Vancouver, and he took us”.
Justin Azevedo will also be signed to an NHL deal. Then I asked about last years’ 3rd round selection, Bryan Cameron who was not offered a contract and will go back into this years’ draft. “Not good enough”, he began. “His numbers were ok but these are the decision you gotta make. We’ve only got 50 contracts so it wasn’t a money issue. We’ll be the youngest team in the minors so that means a lot of contracts so you have to be careful”.
Andrei Loktionov, who made an impression on everyone during the Memorial Cup run is one of Lombardi’s favorite subjects. He repeated his enthusiasm at the State of the Franchise meeting. “He’s ready for the next step. He was really good. He was the perfect… you talk about development? The Russians were trying to get all of those kids to sign 4/5 year contracts and then we couldn’t get ‘em, period. We couldn’t even buy them out of it under the league rules”.
“In Loktionov’s case, they were going to let him go through (the entire draft) and we only took him in the 5th round, and he kept his word. He came here in the summer and then we were lucky” Lombardi wanted him acclimated to the North American game and sang the praises of former NHL players Bob Bougner and Warren Rychel. “They’re cowboys, and they win”.
“I’d be surprised if he doesn’t play in Manchester. I think he’s ready for that. He’s just too smart. The only way he won’t is if he starts acting up”.
With Voinov also set to return to Manchester, Lombardi is finally building the reserve list he’s longed to have.
“We’re in a position to start doing things. I can arguably talk about trading the 5th pick. We’ve got a lot of pieces now and I know who we’re gonna be offered for that 5th pick and we’re probably gonna have to walk away and you’ll ask me next year to tell you and you’ll say “you’re crazy”. How’s that for a teaser?”
Of course that was a perfect segue for me to ask about all of the off season turmoil surrounding Jack Johnson and that he seems to be talked about in every single trade deal. Lombardi cleared the air.
“Aw, that’s not fair. This is the truth. The thing that set off the firestorm was the comment about the father calling Russia. I kind of just blew it off. I know the coach and I played for the coach over there in St. Petersburg, Gary Smith. I was more pissed at him, “what are you doing? You’re just being used for leverage”. He said “His father called me!”
During negotiations last season, Johnson dismissed his agents leaving his controversial father to take over negotiations. “Okay. It’s not the first time a father’s wanted to do it, or sit in on it”, Lombardi explained. “It kind of went on for a while before the father actually came in, sat down and talked for a while.”
When Johnson finally did settle on an agent, his clients included NASCAR and NFL players, and since he needed to learn the ropes and Johnson wasn’t eligible for an offer sheet or arbitration, there was no sense of urgency. Except from a fans standpoint.
“The problem was, it was kind of out there that we’re talking about doing a contract and nothing’s happening so everybody assumes were fighting. There’s nothing happening! There’s no need for it! He’s hurt, he’s changed his agents but there’s a perception dragging on but we just said “fine, we got all the time you want”. THEN somebody puts out there that the kid is asking for 5.5 million dollars. That’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because he never asked for it. Even on his proposals that we talked about originally, we weren’t anywhere near that!”
But what about the internet chatter that Johnson had refused a conditioning assignment to Manchester following his shoulder surgery? “We kind of talked but it was a mutual thing. That’s one of the things you ask your coach. Murph said “lets get him in”. I think we talked about it but it was more internally up here (front office) like “what’s the best thing for him?” I do remember having some discussion about it and I probably would have been in favor of putting him down there but Murph said “he’ll be fine. Let me just make sure he’s healthy and we’ll break him in”.
So, does that clear up any misconceptions about Jack Johnson? As for Tom Preissing, I simply asked “what happened”? Lombardi took a long time to answer and simply stated,
“I don’t know”. He explained that they knew Preissing’s numbers in Ottawa were inflated and he never considered him a top 4 but as a “bridge” player, he certainly worked.
“In the first year he was pretty decent and this year I think he lost his confidence. We had guys go right by him. He’s a better player than that and I do have some interest in him but right now its clear were staring to move beyond that. We didn’t have Quincey at the time, Doughty comes in and plays, now you got Jack and maybe Drewiskie and a couple of kids in the minors are going to be nibbling his tail very shortly. The other thing is, Doughty comes in and does the job. Now we have our right shot puck mover, lets get another type guy in the mix.”
“But he’s a better player than that. I do have interest in him like people know. Obviously, we’ve already told him we’re going to try and move him.”
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