Posts About "Dean Lombardi"
New Sabres GM Will Have His Hands Full
April 25th, 2017 The Buffalo Sabres have officially started their search for a new general manager and head coach. While the hockey world has spent days speculating who might replace the recently dispatched Tim Murray and Dan Bylsma, owner Terry Pegula tipped his hand during Friday’s press conference at Key Bank Center. “Experience is going to...
Sabres Hitting the Reset Button Again
April 22nd, 2017 As time ticked down towards an announcement, most fans had already packed Dan Bylsma's bags but the collateral damage in the aftermath was quite unsettling. https://twitter.com/BuffaloSabres/status/855062550215577600 This tweet sent shockwaves around the National Hockey League and felt like a Muhammed Ali right hook to the temple...
Overtime With BSC: Offseason Dominos Starting to Fall
April 12th, 2017 While the Stanley Cup Playoffs are starting Wednesday for 16 teams in the NHL, 14 other teams are looking to get a head start on their offseasons. Whether it's the draft, decisions with coaching staffs or planning which pieces are part of each respective teams' future, the offseason is often busy for clubs. Even for teams that narrowly...
Kings or Jacks? The Statistics Are Telling
April 4th, 2017 In my previous post, I proposed a few questions to the Los Angeles Kings fan base; primarily whether Darryl Sutter or Dean Lombardi, or maybe both, are to blame for the team’s struggles the past few years. The Kings might have been officially eliminated from playoff contention after Sunday night’s loss to the Arizona Coyotes, but...
Should King Sutter Be Dethroned?
March 29th, 2017 Whether or not to dethrone head coach Darryl Sutter is the question Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi must be asking with seven games left in the season and the Kings sitting 11 points back of the St. Louis Blues for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference. The Kings begin a three-game Western Canada road trip...
LA Kings: A Looming Resurgence?
February 16th, 2017 Timing is everything when it comes to winning Stanley Cups, even if that team is the Los Angeles Kings. Having a sure thing for a system doesn’t matter when its players are riddled with injuries. The structural integrity of the Kings’ system is taking a serious beating this year and it’s quickly knocking core pieces off of the...
Could Iginla Retire a King?
January 9th, 2017 At 20-16-4, the Los Angeles Kings are essentially treading water through 40 games, performing at a level slightly above one might expect with Jonathan Quick out indefinitely with a groin injury. Inconsistency remains a problem, but the loss of Quick isn't the reason why the team has struggled to catch fire this season. It's a much...
Chronic Challenges Looming for Kings - Part 1
October 17th, 2016 It’s no secret the Los Angeles Kings have gone through a series of challenges since winning the 2014 Stanley Cup. From not making the playoffs in 2015, losing in round one of the playoffs last year, to salary cap constraints, the LA Kings are between a rock and a hard place. It’s safe to say these challenges are not as easy to...
It's Tanner Pearson's Time to Shine
October 2nd, 2016 With all the chatter over the departure of Milan Lucic to Edmonton this summer, pundits have speculated over what the Kings can do to replace his production. Let's face it — never an offensive juggernaut to begin with, the team's addition of Ted Purcell and a few other pieces just doesn't seem like enough. However, to use a...
Kings' System Reveals Inefficiencies that Stagnate Improvement
October 1st, 2016 The 2016-17 NHL season will say a lot about just how sustainable the Los Angeles Kings’ system really is. When Dean Lombardi became the Kings’ general manager back in 2006, he had the long term goal of sustainability in mind. Now, a decade later, and two Stanley Cups, we’ve been conditioned to expect surprises. However, the...
5 Reasons Why the Kings' Cap Situation Will Improve
August 30th, 2016 Much has been written about how the Kings' lack of salary cap flexibility has tied one hand behind the team's metaphorical back over the past few seasons. I've discussed it myself on a number of occasions. It's understandable. Dean Lombardi turned an also-ran franchise into a two-time champion, and as other Cup-winning franchises...
Michael Mersch Working His Way into the Kings' Plans
July 31st, 2016 It's a good thing that after two championships and five playoff appearances in his first eight seasons as general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, Dean Lombardi amassed a huge amount of equity. Over the past two, he's spent a fair amount of it. The 2014-15 campaign saw his team miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008-09. To...
Is the Bryan Bickell Deal a Blueprint for Trading Dustin Brown?
June 16th, 2016 If you're a Kings fan, you've probably resigned yourself to the notion that long-time power forward Dustin Brown is untradeable. And to that end, you may be right. Brown's Painful Measurables Consider the headwinds general manager Dean Lombardi faces in trying to move Brown and his absurd contract: -$5.875 million cap hit -Signed...
