In a massive overhaul of their front office, Los Angeles Kings ownership group AEG announced that head coach Darryl Sutter and General Manager Dean Lombardi have been relieved of their positions. A pair of former players and current executives have been promoted with Luc Robitaille named President and Rob Blake named the new General Manager and Vice President. The duo will oversee all of hockey operations which now includes finding a new coach. The Kings will hold an official press conference tomorrow to introduce Robitaille and Blake in their new capacities.
The sweeping changes come after a disappointing season that saw the perennial contenders miss the playoffs entirely. Despite a long-term injury to starting goalie Jonathan Quick, it was instead the offense that struggled for much of the season. Anemic at times, the offense finished 24th in the league with 2.4 goals per game behind poor production from Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, and Dustin Brown and a step backward in development for Tyler Toffoli. Much of the blame for the goal-scoring struggles fell on Sutter’s dated style and slow-paced structure and Lomdardi’s inability to add scoring via trade. Lombardi likely sealed his fate with a strange deadline deal to acquire Tampa Bay Lightning starting goaltender Ben Bishop in exchange for expectation-shattering veteran backup Peter Budaj and other pieces just as Quick had finally gotten healthy. The move did little to help the Kings down the stretch, whereas those same pieces or others could have been used to acquire a scorer instead. Los Angeles finished in tenth in the Western Conference, eight points behind the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames for a playoff berth.
AEG CEO Dan Beckerman called the move “an extremely difficult decision… made with an enormous amount of consideration”, but in the end they felt that it was the best for the team. Beckerman expressed his gratitude to both Sutter and Lombardi in the company’s statement, as the pair did build and operate a Kings team that won two Stanley Cups in a five-year span, but simply felt it was time to move on. Sutter joins a growing list of highly decorated veteran coaches available on the open market, but only time will tell if his old-school style is appealing to one of the teams in the hunt for a new bench boss. Sutter is a Hall of Famer, but his NHL future is currently in doubt. Lombardi meanwhile is not long removed from being considered a top team builder in the NHL. Lombardi built a winner in L.A., but simply forgot to keep building. Nevertheless, he will find a job in a front office sooner rather than later. The new team of Robitaille and Blake have their work cut out for them this off-season, as the Kings faces a difficult Expansion Draft scenario, likely a middling first-round pick unable to contribute next season, several contracts that should be shed if possible, and, of course, a desperate need for scoring help up front.
I’m shocked Sutters gone, Lombardi not so much
I did not see Sutter getting fired coming at all. Lombardi isn’t as surprising because he has put the Kings in cap trouble with questionable contracts & trades. You can’t put all the blame for the offensive struggles on Sutter’s system. Sure, it is part of it, but I saw a lot of Kings games this season when the Kings had plenty of opportunities to score, but couldn’t convert. That isn’t the fault of Sutter’s style. That’s the fault of the players being unable to finish.
Sorry, but Sutter should have been fired. The game has passed him by and he lost his passion for coaching. Look at how the Kings played: no fire, no passion, making the same mistakes over and over. That’s a direct reflection of the coach. Besides, Sutter tended to throw people under the bus to cover up his own lack of answers and creativity. He flattened Budaj numerous times despite the fact that Budaj played out of his mind this season. He did it again after the season finale, when he effectively threw Lombardi under the bus in this statement:
“We just didn’t have enough in our lineup. We lost a lot of goals out of our lineup and we put kids in who weren’t really looked on as goal scorers. Some guys didn’t work out, that’s for sure.”
If that doesn’t get you fired, then nothing will.
Goodbye, Darryl, and good riddance!
The guy won the Kings two Cups. I think he deserves more than a good riddance. He’s right on the money with Lombardi. They didn’t do enough with their lineup. The Kings forward core is simply not good enough. They don’t have enough offensive weapons. Hockey coaches get fired. Sutter’s time has come. Still, that doesn’t change all he accomplished with the Kings. A lot of franchises would take 2 Stanley Cup Championships in 3 years.
Las Vegas may have been handed their first coach. I’d say him or Ruff.
Mixed about Lombardi. He did some good things, but those awful contracts some call legacy contracts are killing them. Sutter’s approach no longer seemed to work in a faster NHL. Ultimately, if you don’t have enough good players you don’t make it. I guess it remains to be seen and no new coach has been named. Will miss Sutter he is a character. Lombardi may have deserved better and the Voynov and Williams fiasco were not his fault.