Although we disagree completely regarding Dean Lombardi, I respect your opinion and your comprehensive post.

Your presumption that I have formed my opinion about Lombardi "after a disappointing start to the season" is incorrect.

As I have mentioned in prior posts, my lack of respect for Dean Lombardi extends back to his handling of the firing of Terry Murray. He did, even per the quotes that you have cited, place responsibility on his players. I have no respect for that.

Subsequently... an ongoing chain of classless behavior on his part (in my opinion) has merely firmed my lack of regard for his professional conduct.

The fact that Dean Lombardi has won two Stanley Cups does not, for me, outweigh his lack of class, professionally.

Whether one wins or loses is far less important to me than doing so admirably.

You respect Dean Lombardi. I do not.

But I appreciate our exchange.
- Media_Oddball

What did you really expect from him? He's a litigator who just happens to be a hockey guy (or maybe the other way around). Litigators are not known for having sparkling character.

If I were a kings fan, I would be much more worried about his abilities as a GM currently. How much value he puts on regular season games is debatable, remember that back in the day he managed some Sharks teams that were pretty good in the regular season, but what cannot be argued is how little value he puts into amateur scouting. His track record makes him one of the worst drafting GMs in the league. The kings have a weak prospect pool because of it. His strength was always his ability to bring in quality 2nd tier FAs. That has possibly been wrecked not only by his recent handling of his own players, but also his handling of the kings salary cap. He has also always recognized that the team that gets the best player in a trade often wins the trade. He's made some exceptional trades in his career. I still can't believe the way he stole Selanne from the Ducks. That too might now be challenging because of his cap management. I understand loyalty and all that, and perhaps winning two Cups makes him a kings lifer, but being proactive would likely result in a shorter "down period" for the kings organization, if that is what its coming to.

I think Lombardi has done a fair amount of taking the blame for things that happen. When the news was first announced about Voynov, here's what he said:



Back in December 2011, everyone was calling for Terry Murray's head, and Lomabardi gave it to them. Here's what he said about Murray's firing:



GMs and coaches can't win hockey games. They can give the players the personnel, systems, and tools necessary to win, but the players have to execute. Lombardi's message at the time was that something had to change to show the players that their level of play was unacceptable. While Murray was the one that got the axe (you can't fire players), it was their poor play that needed to change. Guess what, it worked, they got the message, and hoisted Lord Stanley's cup 7 months later. I don't think anything he said here was disrespectful, at all. Here's a link to Lombardi's conference call after firing Terry Murray. Point out the disrespect for me:

LA Kings Insider - Lombardi Conference Call Transcript

Lombardi has done his job over the past decade better than 28 other GMs in the league. Last year was a setback, one that he took responsibility for, and one that he wishes not to repeat. I actually give credit to Lombardi and the Kings organization for not doing the easy thing and disclosing all the details about Richards' situation. Lombardi could have come out and said "look here's exactly what happened and why we're terminating his contract," but he didn't, and chose a player's right to confidentiality at the cost of making the Kings look bad in the media.

I have the utmost respect for Dean Lombardi, and full confidence in the team that he has built here. Even though the Kings didn't make the playoffs last season, their performance was not a significant dropoff from the three years prior where the fans were singing DL and DS's praises for getting us to 3 conference finals and 2 Stanley Cups, despite some challenging personnel and cap issues. I think you have blown all of the examples you give out of proportion, and cherry pick instances from the media to attempt to smear Lombardi and Sutter after a disappointing start to the season.
- tkecanuck341

thank you for this post
I have been scratching my head reading all these senseless post regarding DL. Yours was a lot nicer and more informative than how I was thinking of responding.
In DL I trust. This guy has made the tough decisions and made the risky trades that have brought 2 cups to LA. Considering all the negativity surrounding the Kings organization recently, Dean has handled it with a lot of class. The drama queens will disagree with me but, come on.........calling him classless is a hater thing to say. These can't be Kings fans posting this crap.

GO







KINGS







GO

Don't the Kings have enough cap space to bring in Penner ?

Don't the Kings have enough cap space to bring in Penner ?
- Byfuglien Ate Me

I think Penner would ask for about 15 pancakes more than the kings have space for.

Mersch NEEDS to be brought up! This team is an embarrassment right now!

Yikes. Those 3 3rd period back to back to back penalties were so disorganized... slow.

.. but the most telling moment of the game for me was --- and I am sorry, I forgot the player's name --- tried to see a check from behind major. That's just low. And to be laughed off the ice... teams tend to remember that.

I like the Kings... but these are not the Kings I know.


AND WHY!!! Pull the goalie again... what did Sutter think would happen? Stupid move.

2 problems...

Quick not too slick
Sutter has a shelf life

Remedy:

More goals means Sutter has 2 go if matters persist.
Track record his offense struggles where ever he goes.
His system is flawed n he's falling behind the times.
Lombardi gets him the pieces but Sutter drops the puck.
Quick will get better of course but he needs goals to win.

DL is not the problem in any way he's done his part n will
continue to do so IMO

Prediction: Boring grinding hockey gets Sutter the pink slip

Don't the Kings have enough cap space to bring in Penner ?
- Byfuglien Ate Me

I was talking to a die hard King fan a couple of days ago, and he said there's been some rumblings on King forums that "Lucic is the new Penner". He wasn't a big fan of the trade to begin with. His tenure as a King sure hasn't started out well.

After last night's loss to Vancouver, we are now 0-3 and just plain stink...Are you sure about your take about not freaking out?...This team is a train wreck right now.

2 goals.... Enough said.

Jason, do you think the team is hoping to get Sutter gone?

I was talking to a die hard King fan a couple of days ago, and he said there's been some rumblings on King forums that "Lucic is the new Penner". He wasn't a big fan of the trade to begin with. His tenure as a King sure hasn't started out well.
- quackup

penner at least was good for some comic relief...

penner at least was good for some comic relief...
- hiway39

You got that right.

penner at least was good for some comic relief...
- hiway39

lucic's play so far has been laughable

kings are a long way from being competitive. I predict 1 win in the next seven. Kings management will be looking into a possible coaching change and after 20 games, if the Kings don't have some sort of winning streak, A big change will be made. Sutter might get the walking papers. I see this as a good possibility being that the Kings look so bad. It would surprise me to see them all the sudden play like an average NHL team. My bold prediction :
first 10 1-1-8
first 20 4-3-13

I hope I'm wrong but this is an improvement from where they are now.

come on Kings GKG!!

2 goals.... Enough said.
- KINGS67

In 3 games,


But yea carry on

So I just watched that "kings never die" video https://www.facebook.com/...videos/10154071882079239/

Apparently, there is a lot of hard work that goes into sucking as bad as they did in the first 3 games (after friday dropping 4)