What Vancouver and CBS Could Learn from Lombardi and the Kings

[CarlaMuller]

There are so many ways to build a team. In basketball superstars alone can be the difference. In hockey and the news’ business (apparently), it takes a village to win a Cup or the Nielsen Ratings. Any way, here fans in Vancouver sit with an elite netminder, no Cup, no play-offs two out of the last three years and now an unemployed GM.

I find what is going on with the Canucks a moment of extreme clarity if I had any doubts whether Lombardi was the right guy at the right time with the right plan for the Kings. There are some clichés that come to mind…. ‘Everything happens for a reason’, ‘what goes around comes around’, or a personal favorite, ‘it will all make sense in the end’. Only now, it actually does.

The current Kings’ plan under Lombardi came about – according to an Online Kingdom article – because of Luongo; or more precisely, because Luongo allegedly had no interest in signing a new deal with the Kings. This talked about and debated potential trade of Luongo for Brown and Frolov … which never happened (obviously) is how the Kings got deeper and how Nonis went from brokering one of the biggest steals of a deal to the unemployment line. (I get there was more to what down in Vancouver but the comparison is valid nonetheless.)

Funny thing is CBS tried the same Nonis plan with no better results. Only there, replace Luongo with Couric and you are on the right track. More to that in a bit.

“. . . according to sources, the Kings bowed out of the wheeling and dealing when they determined that there was no way Luongo, who is in the final year of his contract, would sign a new, multi-year deal—he will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2006-07 season.

“With what we have to do with this franchise, it would have been impossible for us to take Roberto on a one-year deal,” said Lombardi. “So to take that deal, it just didn’t make a lot of sense for us considering the direction we want to go.”

Once the Kings determined that acquiring a franchise goalie was not going to happen, they went ahead with Plan B. Blow it up and rebuild.”

The Moment Lombardi Decided to Blow up the Kings

Vancouver finally got strength between the pipes but was missing depth, strength down the middle, a winger for the Sedins, a healthy defense amongst other things. As amazing and as elite a talent that is Luongo, he cannot do it alone. Go figure…

Would Kings’ fans really be that happier if Los Angeles competed for a play-off spot but had the talent to win exactly nothing. Or, if they got in and flamed out. (Ask any Senators’ fan or player if getting in helps them sleep at night after being swept Wednesday, but gee… they are a play-off team, right? *sigh*)

The inspiration for this blog came somewhere between reading a recent N.Y. Times article and Nonis’ firing late Monday. It still blows my mind that sports is such a microcosm for other things in life. Read this section of that article and see the parallels:

“In choosing to pursue the quick fix of recruiting a superstar (Couric), as opposed to “painstakingly building a reportorial infrastructure all over the country and all over the world,” CBS tore a page from the playbook of some Major League Baseball franchises, said Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

“If you observe the behavior of heads of media organizations, there’s a tendency to try to solve the problems by hiring A-Rod,” he said, a reference to Alex Rodriguez, the lavishly paid Yankee third baseman, “rather than by building the world’s greatest farm team.”

Couric = A-Rod = CBS’ Expensive Costly Gamble

CBS banked literally on Couric being a very expensive band-aid who could somehow bring their news credibility, an audience and mask to an eroding networks’ news organization that was sinking from Small Town U.S.A. to major markets. America’s perky sweetheart is now looking for her own golden parachute. In her eventual wake, CBS is even worse off than before Couric. That just makes sense because the problems it had before have become even more pronounced with more time to fester.

Vancouver got a play-off entry and a series’ win against the Stars only with Luongo. It turns out whatever the Canucks lacked involved more than goaltending. With that need met, just as in Los Angeles, the skaters and the management/coaching team became the next accountable parties there.

If the Kings had Luongo, riddle this. Brown and Frolov would be Panthers . . . with Jokinen (an earlier Kings’ lottery pick dispatched by Taylor to win now with Palffy). Los Angeles would still need a netminder because Luongo would still be elsewhere.

Maybe the Kings get into the second season with Luongo and win one playoff round only. Does the Palffy deal keep Los Angeles fans warm at night? He delivered to the Kings what Luongo brought the Canucks. Not more than that. In this scenario with Luongo a one year King, Los Angeles probably sees these players elsewhere :

• Bernier
• Hickey
• Moller
• Johnson
• Brown
• Frolov
• O’Sullivan
• Lewis
• 2008 NHL Draft’s Best Defenseman

I get my take is speculative. Nonetheless, I maintain the best deal never made was for Luongo. In year three of Lombardi’s tenure, the future is becoming the present with Bernier, Holloway, Moller, Lewis, joining Purcell and Harrold as they start the play-offs for Manchester. The Kings are evolving into the deep, size and speed team Lombardi envisioned now.

Rest assured, losing now had a purpose and an upside if fans can maintan their patience over instant gratification. If in doubt, make some popcorn, sit back and watch Vancouver and CBS scramble for leadership, a plan and the ability to execute it despite overwhelming pressure and the temptation to grab another easy fix.

Carla Muller

Carla.hockeygal@att.net

[Royal P.I.T.A.]

Good work Carla! I don't usually agree with you, but this is spot on.

[tkell00]

GREAT to see you on this forum --love ya' on Hockey Buzz but it's nice to see you in "King's Terrritory"
Great article and you are spot on - on this assessment!

[gescom]

there was never a talked about, potential trade of Roberto Luongo for Brown and Frolov... NEVER!

[Hkyfmly]

I think this is very well done and correct. Thank you for your time doing this.

[toboggan]

Originally Posted by gescom

there was never a talked about, potential trade of Roberto Luongo for Brown and Frolov... NEVER!

I'm pretty sure thats what Florida wanted. I think DL offered Demitra instead and something else.

[gescom]

Originally Posted by toboggan

I'm pretty sure thats what Florida wanted. I think DL offered Demitra instead and something else.

not quite.

the deal Los Angeles offered was the same deal that Florida ended up getting... Keenan opted on Bertuzzi.

[PPharoah]

I am glad DL stuck with the plan and I hope he continues to do so. He plans on keeping our core guys and building a stockpile of young talent. That sounds good. Some of us have been patient for 40 years, and it doesn't matter how long it takes as long we get it right.

Thanks Carla!

[24diving]

I agree that not getting Luongo was a good move.

So, Lombardi was smart enough to not trade away two of the best upcoming players on the team which in essence gutted the team? Wow, just wow! That's a decision that really takes a genius to choose the right option. Vancouver, on the other hand, traded a player who had just been suspended by the league for a violent act on the ice. A player whose actions Vancouver wanted to distance themselves from, and you can't get any further away from Vancouver than southern Florida. In exchange they got a proven top goalie. Seems like another no-brainer.

However, the move Lombardi made instead, getting Cloutier, was a huge mistake. This mistake was then compounded by him signing Cloutier to a big extension, a goalie who had not played during the lockout year, then sustained a season-ending injury after only a few games in the season before he was acquired, when he had not yet played one NHL game after that injury. Staying with the goalies already signed with the Kings would have been the smartest move. Granted, the outcome would probably have been the same, but the financial and emotional cost of signing Cloutier would have been eliminated. Sometines doing nothing is the best move.