I think you’re just salty after all the losing lately. I know that makes me a little more acerbic.

Bring on Voinov. We need him.

Your last sentence is the problem. The goal isn’t to make the playoffs. Just making the playoffs isn’t enough. It’s about winning the Cup. You have to build a contender to get there first. That’s what they’re trying to do. You don’t seem to get that.

Come on already. You don’t even have to be completely average in this league to make the playoffs – would absolute 50/50 mediocrity be too much to ask for after 3 years?

You actually expect O’Sullivan and Johnson to be proven winners already?

I don’t think anyone is saying that the Kings defense will be made up of studs from #6 to #1. Many are saying that it has the potential to be loaded, however, and it does. Fact is, this blue line corps has far more potential than it ever had.

Of course this team has proven nothing. It won’t do that until it becomes a contender. How does a team become that? By rebuilding, something you apparently aren’t willing to allow time for.

The point you constantly seem to be missing in all of this is that every GM tries to build a winner.
For all the talk about me being confused, or that I’m a proponent of trading to try to make the playoffs, you don’t seem to understand that this team has proven absolutely nothing. O’Sullivan and Johnson have yet to even become average players. Our defense is being heralded as the second coming of the Montreal of the 70′s, and we have no clue if Hickey or Voinov or Teubert will be anything better than Sopel, Gleason, or Corvo.
Dean Lombardi took a team full of bridge players and good prospects and traded us into a team full of bridge players and prospects.
If we’re so good defensively, why are we shipping so many cheap goals? Why can’t our defensemen contribute offensively 5 on 5?
I’ve said it a hundred times. Lombardi destroys a team and gets high draft picks. In the end, some will work and some wont, just as in San Jose.
I’m no more in favor of firing Lombardi than I was in favor of firing Taylor. I just don’t understand how someone can seriously believe our defense is “rebuilt” at this point. Every team in the league has promising young defensive prospects – arguably better than Los Angeles’s.
Sure we defend better as a team througout the game, but we’re half-way through the season and our great, young forwards can’t score to save their jobs. Plus, our defensemen are looking tired, old, and inept. Greene, if he’d been Corvo, Harrold, Gauthier, or Lubo after that NJ game, would have been crucified in front of Staples Center. Wasn’t he just spending time cutting All-Star propaganda films?
Great way to spend the time. Try learning how to play defense.

I can fully understand the lack of patience since this franchise has done nothing, aside from the 1992-93 Cup run. But your constant looking at each trade or acquisition in a vacuum without regard to the overall picture really destroys your arguments and your credibility.

And, as for Heatley. He may be expensive, but without Calder, Preissing and Gauthier’s contracts we’d break even.
Instead of wasting a lot of money on impact players we’re wasting a lot of money on guys who are contributing little, playing little, or sitting in the press-box.
When was Taylor ever guilty of so much waste?
When did Taylor ever trade a player that’s a proven NHL scorer (Cammy) for a prospective defenseman (Teubert)?
And don’t forget that Norstrom was a part of the Teubert deal as well…
Great asset management.

Under Lombardi’s, we’ve rebuilt the back end in a just few years, something Taylor NEVER had the foresight to see. Taylor’s 5-year plan seemed to change every season. Taylor should have fired Andy Murray after the 11-game losing streak at the end of (I think) the 05′ season, instead he gives them all contract extensions. WTF is that? You talk about Taylor was rebuilding? How, by trading away our 2 highest prospects (two 1st rounders btw) for a guy who would be UFA next season, and a defensemen with a broken kneecap. That’s real good asset management.

People DO also credit Lombardi with the current Sharks, although I believe Taylor has MUCH more to do with the Kings current “success” than Lombardi does in San Jose.

Also, I think the two GMs have large philosophical differences when it comes to the players they like – Taylor was more experimental and sought special skills, while DL likes the more traditional Canadian player that is well rounded on all fronts.

Also, you are WAY off on Boyle, he has all the tools to be a great, skilled big man; he’s just not getting the chance to succeed for some reason. Murray is getting it all wrong there, and there’s nothing anyone can say to make me think otherwise. The only way I see this working out well is if they finally realize that Boyle HAS been doing whatever they ask, even playing defense in Manch last year to help the FRANCHISE out – not himself or his career. He’s RFA after the season is up so we’ll see what happens. I just hope it’s not him going away and becoming a top line center somewhere else. It’s really shocking that they don’t try and use him on the PP in front of the net. To me, it seems they just don’t want to give him anything, and thats a shame.

Adam Foote is also an aged veteran near the end but Colorado gave up a No. 1 for him last year, but the return for Norstrom HAS been decent as Moller was taken with the 2nd rounder if I’m not mistaken. My only concern is that in a way it can seem like we traded both Norstrom and Cammy to get Teubert. That’s a little much looking at it solely on the 1st rounders, so I think the other picks must be considered.

Anyway, great writing and deserving of accolades, Gann. Keep up the professional job and come give a visit over at worldhockeydaily sometimes. Did you watch the WJC tournament at all? It was pretty intense…

If you’re only going to look at the value at the time of the deal, you’re not looking at things clearly, IMHO.

As for firing Taylor, he wasn’t going to take them further than he did, mostly because of AEG’s meddling and that he was his own worst enemy…I don’t think he felt he could stand up for what he believed in because of the meddling by ownership.

There is a lot of evidence that the meddling has disappeared with Lombardi at the helm. Yes, he has a budget and has to get approval for the biggest decisions, but it does appear that AEG is no longer dictating to the general manager that he must make a particular move or not make one. They appear to just be saying yes or no to major decisions. In other words, Lombardi is dictating what they’re doing in terms of hockey operations. The only thing AEG seems to be doing is providing the money.

Taylor had seven years to get something done in terms of building a contender and he didn’t do it. It was primarily AEG’s fault because of the meddling, but the fact is, Taylor was never going to take the Kings to the promised land because he didn’t have the support of ownership.

Also, if you believe that Taylor deserves credit because of the draft picks he left the Kings with (which I agree with; the cupboard was not bare when Lombardi took over), then Lombardi has proven himself to a large degree because he must get some credit, by your own definition, for what San Jose has now.

I don’t see why you continue to criticize the Visnovsky and Cammalleri trades.

What players aren’t getting ice time and are growing stale? Fact is, Boyle has skill and size, but will never be a solid NHL player unless he learns that he has to play solid and smart without the puck and become a physical force on every shift. He doesn’t skate well enough to be a finesse player. He’s going to have to get it done physically and he wasn’t even close to doing that earlier in the season. He has to work his way up the depth chart…he has to earn the right to move up to #3 center, then #2. He hasn’t come close to doing that yet. What you’re demanding is premature.

Even though I’ve skewered DL a lot, I’ve admitted that the team is much better this year than I thought it would be; and, I think Lombardi has drafted a lot of good players. I’ve been argued against because I’ve pointed out that we’ve sent a lot of good players packing with similar arguments that I’ve used here. When I ask where the return for guys like Norstrom or Gleason I’m countered with who DL has replaced them with and who he drafted with the picks. I just think DL goes a little too far with his criticism of past regimes because he hasn’t proven anything in the NHL yet. I also think the strengths of the current team lie half with DT and what he brought in. Many are very critical of DT but he dealt with 3 of the worst injuries he could have – his entire 1st line, not to mention the deterioration of Aaron Miller’s back.

I also think that its better to do your talking on the ice. Until we do that to an adequate degree, we should remain humble, and respect that other GMs are trying to get to the same place.

Maybe, in the end, Lombardi’s comments are more for AEG so that they let him continue with his rebuild. But a danger of the philosophy of that “we’re on the road to greatness” is that it risks failing to question whether your system needs tweaking.

But, I’m on board for remaining patient and not starting over in the middle again. That’s one problem I have with AEG. They fired DT while he was still building. I think he had talent coming, he just never got a chance to put it together. I’m also made nervous by DL’s penchant for discarding DT’s guys and worry that Kopitar and Frolov will be the victims of a failing current system. I don’t want to see them move on like Lubo and Cammy because I’d like to keep hope that we’ll have a skilled and fun hockey team that goes deep every year.

But I also want you to know that I TOTALLY respect your writing and the work you do for the love of it. I think you’re just a little more patient than I. So I pop up sounding crazy sometimes.

Finally, I’m still on the fence with the Murray hiring. I love the strong defensive play, but I wonder if he’s the guy to go forward with in the long run. I’ve said elsewhere that maybe DL is really a genius and that he brought in two “bridge” coaches as well. Crawford was able to get some real offensive progress out of our young guys, now Murray is teaching them the other side. The problem for me with Murray is that he doesn’t seem to be able to meld the two skill into a balanced team. That may have a lot to do with the current players and I can’t say I expected much in early October. But, again, I think this team is much better than I thought and that there must be a way to get our scoring back. It’s also frustrating to feel that young players are waiting and growing stale while players with no upside, and no future here, are getting the minutes. I can somewhat understand because we’re not mathematically eliminated from the post-season, but I’d really like to see Boyle integrated into the heart of the team in a position where he can play HIS game and be effective. Instead, I feel were pressing forward with an archaic system that won’t ever get everything clicking.

Anyway Gann, I really respect and like what you’re doing here and I think your blog is “elite!” I’m glad to see so many comments and so much good information from you.

Plus, you put up with my theatrics so well, and that’s a virtue in an of itself.

cheers and happy new year.

Weren’t they “had” with Taylor’s people?
If we’re crediting other teams for taking Bourque with our picks, why can we not credit Taylor with Lombardi’s acquisitions through trade?
How else did we get Stoll and Greene but with Lubo?
How O’Sullivan without Demitra?
How Moller without Norstrom?

’96 – ’02
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00007877.html

That’s my point with the players I mentioned. Taylor got pennies to deal with while DL has had millions. I get tired of hearing that previous GM’s made all the wrong moves. If you want to compare the programs, what has Lombardi brought in that he didn’t buy with Taylor-money, and what have they contributed? Every team has good and bad player movement and drafting. It just works that way.

It doesn’t guarantee you a Champion if you never trade or sign free agents, and the most likely reason we have for the overachievement this season is the guys Taylor acquired directly and indirectly: that includes Stoll, Greene, Moller, O’Sullivan, Johnson, Lewis, and I’m pretty sure, some others. Finally, I think you’ve got to put Kopitar, Fro, Quick, Boyle, Harrold (though he wasn’t drafted), on that list of thanks, too.

I’d say you’re not seeing what the Kings are trying to do. The playoffs weren’t the goal last season and not even this season, really. Just making the playoffs has been, for too long, the goal of this team. Winning the Stanley Cup (or at least being a serious contender to do so) each season is and that is what this team is trying to build for the first time.

Also, the players you mentioned at the end of your comment…they all came in under Taylor. Lombardi had nothing to do with them, except to sign Armstrong to an extension.

War and Peace, mate.
All that to try and convince us that Lombardi is Moses? Taylor is still keeping this club afloat and Quick was a 3rd rounder who’s looking pretty darn good.

Lombardi has done better than I thought, but it’s just a different philosophy. He likes the Broad Street Bullies style of nasty Canadian players and Taylor wanted a combination of physicality and skill.

I’d say you might see Kopitar and Frolov playing somewhere else before too long and we’ll be watching them win Cups elsewhere along with Lubo and Cammy.

Not to mention that although there were some other picks involved, Lombardi got us Teubert for Norstrom AND Cammalleri, and we maybe should have taken Tyler Myers.

Lombardi is going all “flyers-west” on us and he doesn’t seem to know who he wants to coach the team.
Is it Sir Score A Lot with Crawford? Or is it Baron von Defense with Murray? Maybe if Lombardi knew how to get us one of those goalies that are supposedly so easy to acquire, we’d have made the playoffs last year instead of waiting for LaBaby and Cloutitis to man up.

I’m sick of reading fairy tales. Just win some games and make the playoffs.

Besides, Taylor made the playoffs in his 3rd season as head coach and also brought in Jason Blake and Steven Reinprecht through free agency among other deals. They helped turn into some decent players.

All this in an era without a salary cap and by a team who wouldn’t let him spend on quality in the offseason.
Instead they funded –
Dandy Robitaille
Jon Sim
Chartrand
Steve Thomas
Klatt
Armstrong
Norton
Strbak
Holland
Tripp
and Dempsey

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=14402

Then again, had all those FAs worked out the Kings would not be seeing Doughty on the blueline, so I can be thankful for that.