TSN: Flyers contact Lombardi about role

[Flukeshot]

http://www.tsn.ca/report-flyers-contact-ex-kings-gm-lombardi-1.745790

Who is the current head of scouting? I'd guess that's the role.

Click to read more...

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Ugh. I was worried about this.

 

[Larry44]

Ugh. I was worried about this.

Nothing to worry about. Lombardi will come on as a Sr Advisor or something like that. He was with the Flyers before he went to LA.

 

[Hockeypete49]

Ugh. I was worried about this.

Why worry? Where do you think he came from before la? I am sure Ron has a spot in mind for him in some sort of management position in the scouting department? Ron learned a lot from Dean and knows what kind of talent he is. Look most people thought that only Sutter was going to go and for the most part were caught off guards when they both were let go. If he does come on board it will only be a positive thing for us. Relaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

[Striiker]

Based on his actions in LA, we don't want his advice.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

He'll probably land another GM job sooner than later. So he's not going to take a job with much responsibility if he does. Last time he was a Western Conference pro scout for the Flyers. So he wasn't leaving the West Coast much after being fired from San Jose. I'd imagine a similar thing will happen again if he does get a job here.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I know it's probably a loyalty thing and that Clarke did the same things for Lombardi when SJ let him go.

And it's certainly not the end of the world. But in general I want to see Hextall continuing to evolve from the LA Kings of several years ago mindset, not taking steps back toward it. I can do without adding members of the antiquated management team of Team USA of the most recent World Cup and Olympics.

 

[Grare]

If he wants to help the Flyers have him get another GM gig somewhere and trade us their best player for Bellemare

 

[Beef Invictus]

Meh.

 

[Lindberg]

Based on his actions in LA, we don't want his advice.

Yeah because winning two cups is such a bad thing.

 

[Striiker]

Yeah because winning two cups is such a bad thing.

Oh well I guess any GM who wins a cup is a great GM then, right?

Kings did a good job drafting, but Lombardi style trades and signings aren't what we want here.

 

[The Burdened]

Yeah because winning two cups is such a bad thing.

This is a world where a guy who has built 2 franchises and won multiple championships like Lombardi is a bum because of trying to keep the championship window open with the Brown & Gabroik signings & striking out on going all in with Lucic BUT a guy like John Chayka is spectacular because he collects L's, he buys low on fallen prospects and "TEH VALUE"

I lurked for a long time before signing up, and it was hysterical lurking the Avs and Sabres section after Dean was fired and half the crowd was "DO NOT WANT DEAN." Like... what? God forbid you get somebody with a clue in there and tries to save either of your orgs ayy lmao

Bring Dean in. It would give him something to do until someone wants to hire him as a GM or Pres.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

It's pretty hard to get fired in this league three years after winning a cup but Lombardi accomplished it & rightfully so. The amount of damage he did to that franchise in such a short turn around was pretty amazing. They still could take some death blows from it specifically if Doughty walks in two years too. So they're not out of the dark just yet there. He just never adapted to a changing league. He burnt through assets & cap space like nobodies business. If anything drafting well (which acquires having a reasonable amount of draft picks) & making smart value signings are the life line of maintaining a window. Lombardi did the opposite. He signed everybody possible down to fourth liners/third pairing defensemen who he overpaid for too. He traded away draft picks & prospects like crazy. Meanwhile his drafting philosophy was outdated leaving him further behind the eight ball.

You also have the Team USA epic failure at the World Cup too. Where there was no other factors than just picking the best team. He picked a ****** team though that predictably played awful.

 

[Magua]

Kings did a good job drafting

Every team has their occasional hits, but did they actually draft well?

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Every team has their occasional hits, but did they actually draft well?

Lombardi's first draft was 2006. I think you can make the conclusion that the high picks &/or sheer volume helped them out a lot.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00006664.html

They never changed their player philosophy though & that doesn't fly here in 2017. The Flyers have drafted Dove-McFalls & Twarynski under Hextall that's reminiscent of guys that LA has drafted in droves under Lombardi.

 

[JABEE]

Lombardi won't be making trades.

 

[Striiker]

Every team has their occasional hits, but did they actually draft well?

Well they got the cornerstones of that first cup through the draft so at the very least you could say they didn't shoot themselves in the foot while drafting. Quick, Kopitar, Brown, Voynov, Doughty, and then also Simmonds and Schenn who were good enough to get them get another big piece of that 2011-2012 team.

 

[Embiid]

Meh.

Meh too....

Not a game changer...

 

[Garbage Goal]

Yeah, rather not here too. Even if thinking he was a bad GM and never adapted to the modern NHL trends weren't affecting how I view him, there's the whole World Cup thing. Above all those other negatives though is the fact that this would absolutely stink of an old boys club style signing, which is the last thing I want to see anywhere. Especially from a guy like Hextall who I hope to be better than that.

 

[Psuhockey]

It's pretty hard to get fired in this league three years after winning a cup but Lombardi accomplished it & rightfully so. The amount of damage he did to that franchise in such a short turn around was pretty amazing. They still could take some death blows from it specifically if Doughty walks in two years too. So they're not out of the dark just yet there. He just never adapted to a changing league. He burnt through assets & cap space like nobodies business. If anything drafting well (which acquires having a reasonable amount of draft picks) & making smart value signings are the life line of maintaining a window. Lombardi did the opposite. He signed everybody possible down to fourth liners/third pairing defensemen who he overpaid for too. He traded away draft picks & prospects like crazy. Meanwhile his drafting philosophy was outdated leaving him further behind the eight ball.

You also have the Team USA epic failure at the World Cup too. Where there was no other factors than just picking the best team. He picked a ****** team though that predictably played awful.

Team USA was a disaster but I don't think you can completely kill the guy for what happened in LA. One he did win two cups. Two his team never recovered from losing Voynov who was deported. Kind of hard to see that coming. Three drugs took out a couple of his players. Again a hard thing to avoid. Four is forgetting the draft and going for it each year. Hopefully Hextall won't fall into that trap when they start to compete. And five is old school loyalty by signing players based on past performance into their declining years. That unfortunately is still prevalent in hockey. Bowman did it with Toews and Seabrook. We will see if Hextall is immune to it when Simmonds comes up.

Lombardi's biggest failures where forgetting the draft and signing his vets to bad contracts. That's really just old school GMing. The league as a whole hasn't caught up to life in the cap world where the draft must remain a constant source of cheap talent and you have to cut loose your vets before they start to decline, not after. Look at the NFL and how successful teams operate under the cap because that's where the league is going. Hopefully Lombardi learned from his failures and can advise Hextall against resigning into the declining years.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

NHL people decided it was enough of him after three years from winning a cup. No matter what this is pretty damning. This is a league full of people who will die on their own sword over making a quick responsive move even if it's 100% the right thing to do.

It's pointed out above that no one really expected him to be fired previously. It wasn't that people thought he didn't deserve it. They've just seen NHL personnel hold on hoping for something to magically change way too many times before.

 

[Psuhockey]

NHL people decided it was enough of him after three years from winning a cup. No matter what this is pretty damning. This is a league full of people who will die on their own sword over making a quick responsive move even if it's 100% the right thing to do.

It's pointed out above that no one really expected him to be fired previously. It wasn't that people thought he didn't deserve it. They've just seen NHL personnel hold on hoping for something to magically change way too many times before.

Things can spiral out quickly from one bad break. The Kings never recovered from losing Voynov. Holmgren never recovered from the Pronger injury. He made bad move after bad move tying to get that team back.

I am not saying the guy didn't leave the Kings a mess because he did but just a little perspective. I don't see anything in what he did that 80% or more of the GMs in the league wouldn't have done.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Oh well I guess any GM who wins a cup is a great GM then, right?

Kings did a good job drafting, but Lombardi style trades and signings aren't what we want here.

Can't support you on this one, man. He GM'd two Cups and somehow got out of the Richards contract.

I'm fine with him around.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

The Kings still had/have Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, & Alec Martinez all in their prime though. The Flyers losing Pronger left them with an aging Timonen & Coburn essentially.

 

[BernieParent]

I am confident that Lombardi knows where the Flyers are at: rebuilding. If anyone thinks he's going to run in on Day 1, lock himself in Hextall's office and trade 2-3 D prospects for veteran muscle, they need to lie down with a cold cloth on their forehead. Plus, this is Ron Hextall's team.

I was going to jokingly suggest that Lombardi would orchestrate a deal for Quick ... until I checked Quick's contract. Ouch. 6 more years at $5.8 million. Quick will be "and the dead" before that contract is up.