Kings Article: Dean Lombardi's Loyalty Problem

ADifferentTim

Knowledgeable & Pure
Dec 18, 2013
4,564
0
LACo/IE; SoCal
Sigh. Yet another overreaction article.

I actually agree with one of the posters on Jewels from the Crown that blatantly mentioned the neurological aspect.
 

CowMix

Go Kings Go!
Feb 12, 2006
5,671
402
Loyalty has only been a problem with the Richards buyout but has probably helped with a lot of the other smaller cap hits around the team. So basically its not a problem.
 

kenito7

Registered User
May 27, 2014
235
98
California
Loyalty has only been a problem with the Richards buyout but has probably helped with a lot of the other smaller cap hits around the team. So basically its not a problem.

I guess you didn't know Dustin Browns cap hit is 5.875m for 7 years. Who are these other smaller cap hits you are talking about?
 

CowMix

Go Kings Go!
Feb 12, 2006
5,671
402
I guess you didn't know Dustin Browns cap hit is 5.875m for 7 years. Who are these other smaller cap hits you are talking about?

Gaborik, Clifford, Nolan, Pearson, Voynov, etc

Brown could still live up to his contract with a rebound year
 

kenito7

Registered User
May 27, 2014
235
98
California
Gaborik, Clifford, Nolan, Pearson, Voynov, etc

Brown could still live up to his contract with a rebound year

Gaborik is no discount he will 40 by the time his contract is up. He will get 34 million dollars over his contract. Pearson was an RFA with no leverage and was paid accordingly. Cillford and Nolan are paid fairly. Would they make more on the open market maybe but many players on many teams could also. I agree on Voynov but where is he now? As for Brown he has scored a total of 26 goals in the last two complete seasons. I do not think he has ever had a year that justifies the 7.25 million he was paid this year and again next year. Lombardi has done a fantastic job building a team but not such a good job dealing with the salary cap.
 

Keith Sweaty

Registered User
Apr 13, 2015
191
25
This article is a little dramatic. Clifford & Nolan contract complaints are a stretch and I'm struggling to find a reason to complain about those.

Stoll contract, hmm maybe.. RR contract complaint, what?

Did I also mis-read, was he really saying that Dean supports abuse towards women?
 
Last edited:
Jun 30, 2006
5,544
2,228
TL; DR

Lombardi is one of the great GMs of this generation. Even the best GMs tend to have a bad season.

Dean is very critical of himself and has saved the biggest criticism in his season ending conference call for himself. He noted that he "batted 50 percent" last year and that this year he was "5 percent". Pretty harsh assessment and doesn't sound like a happy camper.

That being said, he's certainly going to make some tweaks and changes to the roster. I suspect those changes will happen through trades and tweaks coming from the pipeline. I really don't see any chance of FA pickups given limited cap space. The loyalty "issue" is largely overblown here.
 

Jeff18

Registered User
Nov 12, 2014
2,750
0
Another one of those people who think winning is just luck. What a joke.

And Lombardi devalues women hockey fans because of Voynov, who he signed before the incident?
 

Captain Mittens*

Guest
This author needs to write political pieces, not hockey.
 

Captain Mittens*

Guest
Another one of those people who think winning is just luck. What a joke.

And Lombardi devalues women hockey fans because of Voynov, who he signed before the incident?

Yeah...attacking the Regehr extension was a joke too. Regher has mostly been a rock back there. The Kings are really going to mis him next season.
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
21,938
20,929
Lombardi is loyal to a fault, but that's not a problem for the Kings.

How can one create a culture of winning and family, without the familial aspect?

How about keeping Futa, who has teams knocking on the door to have him be the next GM, and instead he takes a promotion with the Kings?

Lombardi's loyalty isn't a problem. It may lead to some decisions that don't work out, but every GM makes those mistakes anyway.
 

Keith Sweaty

Registered User
Apr 13, 2015
191
25
Lombardi is loyal to a fault, but that's not a problem for the Kings.

How can one create a culture of winning and family, without the familial aspect?

How about keeping Futa, who has teams knocking on the door to have him be the next GM, and instead he takes a promotion with the Kings?

Lombardi's loyalty isn't a problem. It may lead to some decisions that don't work out, but every GM makes those mistakes anyway.

Boom, this.
 

Ron*

Guest
"In failing to worry about problems that extend beyond his personal bubble, Lombardi has devalued the lives of women hockey fans."

Just stunning and jaw-dropping to read this garbage.

Folks, all it takes is $50 a year and you can have your own website and publish any kind of garbage opinion you want to, without restraint or ethical concerns. You can attempt to instantly stain the reputation of a good person and and even better tactician when it comes to building a two-time championship hockey team.

Fortunately, that attempt has failed, and failed miserably. One wonders if this piece would have seen the light of day had the Kings made the playoffs and another deep run this season.

Doubtful.

The rest of the piece made little sense as well. The Clifford and Nolan signings were not only necessary, but pulled off with minimum cost and maximum benefit. These two four-liners made an impact throughout the season, and their improvement in particular after the relief of getting these contracts behind them was obvious to anyone who was paying attention. Our fourth line consistently outplayed our third line on a nightly basis, and sometimes the first line as well.

"The boat hasn't been sunk yet because the crew has been stellar, but Anze Kopitar and his group of super-friends can't bail out water at this rate forever. After a certain point, Lombardi's fealty to loyalty becomes an increasingly large threat to the buoyancy of this ship."

I guess truth gets in the way of any hit piece that misses its mark, and I guess the author felt compelled to add this lonely paragraph at the end in an attempt to salvage the shred of credibility he may have had before writing the first word. Sadly, alas, the attempt failed. Lombardi built the team to contend for years, but every run ends at some point. The author harpoons the dying whale that was his article, quite effectively in claiming the players that Dean should have never signed in the first place are the very players responsible for the team's success.
 

Captain Mittens*

Guest
Lombardi is loyal to a fault, but that's not a problem for the Kings.

How can one create a culture of winning and family, without the familial aspect?

How about keeping Futa, who has teams knocking on the door to have him be the next GM, and instead he takes a promotion with the Kings?

Lombardi's loyalty isn't a problem. It may lead to some decisions that don't work out, but every GM makes those mistakes anyway.
Let's expand on this.

I know we are all supposed to be be bandwagonners who became fans in 2012, but does anyone remember what happened when DL thought he had Chara signed? TSN even announced that the signing ead about to happen. Then, Borque and Neeley called Chara and mentioned the Kings history of treating players and talked him in to signing in Boston.
DL has taken LA from a place seen as a anti player organization with meddling management to a team that is respected around the league.

Even of DL is loyal to a fault, it has and will help us tenfold down the road.
 

Captain Mittens*

Guest
"In failing to worry about problems that extend beyond his personal bubble, Lombardi has devalued the lives of women hockey fans."

Just stunning and jaw-dropping to read this garbage.

Folks, all it takes is $50 a year and you can have your own website and publish any kind of garbage opinion you want to, without restraint or ethical concerns. You can attempt to instantly stain the reputation of a good person and and even better tactician when it comes to building a two-time championship hockey team.

Fortunately, that attempt has failed, and failed miserably. One wonders if this piece would have seen the light of day had the Kings made the playoffs and another deep run this season.

Doubtful.

The rest of the piece made little sense as well. The Clifford and Nolan signings were not only necessary, but pulled off with minimum cost and maximum benefit. These two four-liners made an impact throughout the season, and their improvement in particular after the relief of getting these contracts behind them was obvious to anyone who was paying attention. Our fourth line consistently outplayed our third line on a nightly basis, and sometimes the first line as well.

"The boat hasn't been sunk yet because the crew has been stellar, but Anze Kopitar and his group of super-friends can't bail out water at this rate forever. After a certain point, Lombardi's fealty to loyalty becomes an increasingly large threat to the buoyancy of this ship."

I guess truth gets in the way of any hit piece that misses its mark, and I guess the author felt compelled to add this lonely paragraph at the end in an attempt to salvage the shred of credibility he may have had before writing the first word. Sadly, alas, the attempt failed. Lombardi built the team to contend for years, but every run ends at some point. The author harpoons the dying whale that was his article, quite effectively in claiming the players that Dean should have never signed in the first place are the very players responsible for the team's success.

Ron brings it. Everyday.
 
Jul 31, 2005
8,839
1,485
CA
The Kings are in position to let the older, slower players go and re-tool for next season. Lombardi stuck by the guys that won 2 out of 3 Cups and they just all happened to look old together too. Time to move on from Williams, Stoll and Richards and let younger, hungrier, faster players take their place and move forward. Along with Regehr who retired these 4 guys aren't exactly the core of the Kings. Lombardi will have to be busier this offseason than he has in the past but I don't see any reason to not believe Lombardi will replace these guys and the Kings will be better next year.
 

KingsFan7824

Registered User
Dec 4, 2003
19,376
7,463
Visit site
It would be a short list when it comes to GM's that have built teams that managed to win, and then got rid of anyone they could. Outside of the Florida Marlins, who else has done that?

For every Richards situation, there's trading for McNabb because he knew he wasn't going to be able to keep Mitchell. That's replacing a guy before he's even gone. Not only because they were up against the cap last summer, but also because Mitchell was 37, and Lombardi had two defensemen that were at least a decade younger that were going to be UFA's this summer. There's trading Johnson after signing a team friendly contract because it gave the team a better chance to win. There's trading Visnovsky just before his contract kicked in.

Being a little more loyal to guys that have won for you is not the worst thing in the world.
 

Reclamation Project

Cut It All Right In Two
Jul 6, 2011
34,135
3,783
So essentially the Kings success is built on luck and not precise calculation and phenomenal scouting? Nope. Absolutely false. Luck is the residue of design.

What a ridiculous hodgepodge article. Simply all over the place. And what the hell was the women bit about? I couldn't even finish it.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad