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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. 27. Dean Lombardi, Los Angeles
Lombardi is a good GM who is having a bad run lately. In San Jose, he built a very good organization and was moderately successful,
Lombardi is a good GM who is having a bad run lately. In San Jose, he built a very good organization and was moderately successful, but his foray into Los Angeles has seen him struggle mightily to try to bring the Kings back to respectability. It didn’t help that all of his off-season acquisitions with the possible exception of Tom Preissing – Kyle Calder, Michal Handzus, Ladislav Nagy and Brad Stuart – have been very expensive disasters. He placed his faith in Jason LaBarbera, which wasn’t a totally bad idea considering the promise the goaltender had exhibited. Failing to get Rob Blake to waive his no-trade clause so he could get some youth in return was a blow.
First, I can think of at least 10 other GMs in this league worse than DL without even an argument.
I mean, he finds gems in the draft like Simmonds and Holloway and Moller and Linden Rowat that were not even on anyone's radar. Heck, even Hickey has improved greatly and I offer that Hickey will be a better defenseman than Alzner when Hickey plays his first NHL game.
Frankly, I disagree that Stuart was a "disaster". He was a little slow to get up to speed with a totally new defense, but I wouldn't call his play "disastrous", just a little below average until Christmas. After that, he was fine. I can only remember 2-3 games where it was Stuart's fault single-handedly that we lost. In fact, I would blame THN's darling Preissing more than Stuart for the bad defense, but really Blake and Lubo were the worst by far, and the reason we lost so many games.
Calder and Nagy were doing fine until their injuries. I mean, Nagy wasn't better than last year, but he wasn't worse either. Nagy's just streaky like that. You had to know that going in. The injuries are not DL's fault, but it sure affected the team in a negative way. Still, we were MORE affected by the likes of Thornton and Willsie still hanging around. You can blame DL for those contracts as well, but at least get it right.
So really, only the Handzus contract is a complete disaster. It's right up there with the Cloutier contract.
Let's see, Labarbera ended up with a .910 save percentage behind a horrible defense. Yeah, that was a bad move?!? And it may have taken 11 goalies, but we finally have stability on the way with Erberg/Labarbera in LA and Bernier/Quick/Taylor in Manchester. Solving that problem without being able to sign a big name is a major accomplishment. And Rowat and Zatkoff are looking strong as well.
Re-signing Blake will be the problem, not his refusal to stop being selfish...
I mean, he finds gems in the draft like Simmonds and Holloway and Moller and Linden Rowat that were not even on anyone's radar. Heck, even Hickey has improved greatly and I offer that Hickey will be a better defenseman than Alzner when Hickey plays his first NHL game.
Can we hold off on labeling guys with zero NHL games played "gems"?
Winning teams have the highest ranked GMs, and losing clubs have the lowest ranked?
say it aint so...
further proof the only good portion of THN is the pictures on the cover.
FTFY. The Hockey News has been junk for years. I haven't bought an issue of that rag in years. Everything you read in there you can find on the net anyways. Even the draft issue has become useless.
Based on building the team to be a competitor and make a serious cup run some time in the future, next year, or maybe after that when Bernier is finally ready to answer the call, and if we can resign the kids who won't be kids by then, well yea, we are ready to win it all baby!
The Hockey News GM rankings 
CBGB
