EL SEGUNDO — At a press conference held on Friday afternoon, Mike Altieri, the Los Angeles Kings’ Vice President, Communications and Broadcasting, opened the proceedings by saying that the team was about to “embark on a new era of Kings hockey in Los Angeles.”

After ten years under the ownership of the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the Kings have very, very little to show for it, with just three playoff appearances under their ownership, advancing past the first round just once.

And after a good start to the 2005-06 season only to see the team totally collapse in the second half and miss the playoffs again, AEG decided that it was time to clean house.

After President/Hockey Operations and General Manager Dave Taylor fired head coach Andy Murray with just twelve games left in the regular season on March 21, the house cleaning continued as Taylor lost his job on April 18, along with interim head coach John Torchetti, assistant coaches Ray Bennett and Mark Hardy, and goaltending consultant Andy Nowicki.

Also gone are Vice President and Assistant General Manager Kevin Gilmore, and Director of Player Personnel Bill O’Flaherty.

Although Taylor has been asked to remain with the Kings in another capacity and Gilmore has been re-assigned to other duties in AEG, the house cleaning was so thorough that even John Wolf, the assistant to the general manager, was swept out of the Kings’ El Segundo offices.

AEG was looking for new blood, new ideas and new energy, so they looked outside of the organization and they found what they were looking for in former San Jose Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi, who becomes the Kings’ eighth General Manager in franchise history.

“We wanted to try to find somebody who can be the leader in this organization and bring their personality and vision to the forefront and ingrain that in everything that we’re doing here,” said Tim Leiweke, President and Chief Executive Officer of AEG.

“We’ve been out talking to folks in the hockey world the last few weeks,” Leiweke explained. ”We’re fortunate that we have good friends who we respect in the hockey world, and I went to them and asked for their advice, and there was one name that kept popping up with the guys I respect the most.”

Dean Lombardi.

“This is a guy who I believe in,” Leiweke added. “I love his intensity. I love his track record, I love his experience. Everybody I talked to said great things about Dean. I’ve had a half-dozen other hockey guys—presidents, GM’s—when the word got out that we got Dean, and they said ‘uh oh, LA’s going to be a force to be reckoned with now.’ People know that with Dean coming here, with the ingredients that he has, that this is an organization that is going to be heard from in the future. Everyone respects the guy.”

“I had guys like [New Jersey Devils CEO/President and General Manager] Lou Lamoriello telling me that not only did we get the best guy in the league, but in particular, what they said was that “you guys, in the next couple of years, are going to be very, very good.’”

Lombardi, 45, has eighteen years of National Hockey League front office experience, including seven years as the Sharks’ general manager from 1996 - 2003.

“I’m excited about the opportunity I have been given here with the Kings,” said Lombardi. “I chose the Kings for a number of reasons. First off, I’m a builder, and I see a foundation put in place by Dave Taylor from which to build from and take to the next level.”

“I see a commitment to win here, I see a Staples Center that is second to none in the National Hockey League, I see one of the top practice facilities in the league, and I know that the Los Angeles Kings have a reputation for doing things first class in everything they do for their players,” added Lombardi.

Lombardi also did his homework on the Kings.

“During my research on [Kings’ majority owner] Mr. [Philip] Anschutz and Tim, it was very clear to me that in their professions, they were some of the preeminent builders in the world and what became clear to me, they not only build things, they build things right and they build them to last. Hopefully, we can do that with this hockey team.”

Building a strong team identity is clearly a big part of Lombardi’s philosophy.

“Building requires a vision,” Lombardi explained. “Unfortunately, often times in this business, ‘vision’ is being able to see what other people can’t. But when you have a vision, you need a theme. That theme is simple. Everybody has to be on the same page. From top to bottom, from the assistant equipment manager right up to your owner, everybody must sing from the same hymn book. You go through the tough times together, but you stick together.”

“Execution is all about working hard, but not only working hard, but working smart,” he added. “And when you work hard and smart, then you have to understand the element of timing. Timing does not always work in your favor but you’ve got to have the guts not to make a move for expediency that might cost you down the road. And lastly, you need a little bit of luck. But if we have half as much luck as I feel today, then we’re going to have enough luck down the road.”

“When you put it all together, then you’ve created something that will last. You’ve created an identity of what you are, not an image of what you hope to be. And when you have that, you will have a franchise where your players—every one of them—who puts on a Kings’ jersey no matter where they go, feels ‘once a King, always a King.’”

Leiweke was clearly thrilled that Lombardi decided on the Kings.

“We wanted to find somebody who brought a new level of intensity and a fresh vision toward this organization,” said Leiweke. “We were fortunate to be able to speak with a number of qualified and capable individuals, but the one person who impressed me with, not only his track record, but also his intensity toward the game and the league was Dean.”

“There is no question in my mind that Dean will give us a realistic chance of competing for the Stanley Cup long-term,” added Leiweke. “These have been difficult decisions and there will be more difficult decisions ahead of him, but with that said we feel that we have a real opportunity to create a special organization. Dean’s decision to join our organization is a huge step forward and sends a strong message to this industry about the direction we are headed.”

Leiweke certainly had to move fast to get his man.

“My heart was set on going back East,” said Lombardi, who was also being courted by the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders. “You hear the rumblings and things, but at the time I was very much involved with the Islanders. I told Tim before I went back to Boston, I said, ‘The Boston Bruins are the team I grew up with and to dream to go back and work there.’”

But Lombardi decided to forego that dream.

“This is a good day for the Kings because we’re not the only ones who had this man on their list,” said Leiweke. “What tends to happen sometimes in hockey is people forget about us out in Los Angeles. Maybe we’re not always the first choice. But in this particular case, as you can see, we were the first choice. And that’s a good thing for us because he, by the way, was our first choice.”

“We were worried that if we didn’t move quickly, we were going to lose who we thought was the best candidate.”

Not only was Leiweke not going to let Lombardi slip through his fingers, but he also had to pry him out of the tight-fisted grasps of Philadelphia Flyers owner Ed Snider and general manager Bobby Clarke—Lombardi was a pro scout for the Flyers this season.

“We had to go to Philadelphia and get their blessing, and that was not easy,” said Leiweke.

Not easy indeed. Kingshockey.com has confirmed that the Kings had to give up a second-round pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft as compensation to the Flyers for releasing Lombardi from his contract.

Leiweke said that the price paid was well worth it.

“We gave up some resources to sign him,” said Leiweke. “I prefer not to give any of Dean’s pieces away, but if that’s what it took to get this guy, we were committed. You’ve got to make a statement once and for all. We’ve got to find a leader. We’ve got to find a guy who takes his personality and ingrains it in the organization.”

“We just decided that we’re not going to screw around here,” added Leiweke. “For once, we’re going to go for the jugular. We’re going to get it done, and we’re not going to be the guy sitting on the sidelines saying, ‘if only we had done this.’”

One of the reasons Lombardi was chosen was because of his reputation around the league and his established relationships throughout the NHL.

“I’m very, very impressed with this guy’s intensity, his knowledge and in particular, his respect and communications to the other key decision-makers with other clubs,” said Leiweke. “We’re going to be in the loop. We’re going to be able to make some deals because Dean knows everybody in the league.”

That statement implies that Lombardi will enjoy greater success in making trades because he has established relationships at a level that Taylor was unable to reach during his nine years at the helm.

Leiweke also explained that unlike how hockey operations was run under Taylor, AEG will keep its nose out of the day-to-day decisions, including those involving player personnel, and this may have been the key to Lombardi signing a long-term deal.

“We signed him to a five-year contract, so he has our long-term support here,’ Leiweke explained.

He also said that AEG has not specified a time frame for Lombardi to make the Kings a Stanley Cup contender.

“We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the team and how quickly we can compete for a Cup because I think Dean said it well. He believed that he needed to come in and meet with the players and understand our assets first,” said Leiweke. “In our discussions, there was no expectations that he gave to us, and in turn, we have not given him a mandate on what we expect.”

“What we told him is, give us your best effort, tell us what you need, we’ll give you one hundred percent support and we’ll get out of your way. We’ll see where we go.”

“What I can tell you for sure is that there’s not a doubt in my mind that there’s going to be an intensity, a focus and a work ethic that Dean brings to this organization that will give us our best shot,” Leiweke emphasized. ”Whatever we got, whatever we pick up this off-season, whatever ingredients that Dave created for Dean, one thing I’m certain of is the intensity Dean will bring to this organization every day is going to be unbelievably healthy for us. So whatever happens next year, his intensity and work ethic will give us our best shot.”

Lombardi played the key role in the Sharks becoming a solid playoff contender before he was fired in 2003 due to conflicts with ownership. During his tenure, the Sharks reached the playoffs five times, including two trips to the second round.

Lombardi was the general manager when the Sharks selected players such as Patrick Marleau, Vesa Toskala, Jonathan Cheechoo, Brad Stuart, Scott Hannan, Marco Sturm, Marcel Goc and Christian Ehroff. Marleau, Toskala, and Cheechoo are still with the team, while Stuart and Sturm were part of a blockbuster deal with the Boston Bruins this season that landed superstar center Joe Thornton in San Jose, helping make the Sharks a playoff force to be reckoned with, if not a Stanley Cup contender.

“I wanted a team that was hard to play against,” Lombardi said about his work with the Sharks. “We believed that you could get by with special teams in the regular season but the playoffs were a war. And if you didn’t have players with character who weren’t willing to go through a brick wall, you weren’t going to win in the playoffs.”

Lombardi’s teams also improved every year from the 1996-97 season to the 2001-02 season, tying an NHL record for consecutive seasons of improved point totals, and his experience at San Jose will certainly help him in his new job as he works to right the Kings’ ship.

But that will take some detective work first.

“My first thing that I feel is most important is that I’d like to meet with some key players,” said Lombardi. “After all, it’s their team. I’m really interested in finding out what happened. I saw a team that was having tremendous fun, that’s the bottom line. What happened? How can it go south so far? We’ve got to get that back.”

“Particularly in the era of the [salary] cap—the purpose of the cap is to distribute talent evenly,” Lombardi explained. “So where do you find an edge? An edge is in your chemistry. The guys like coming to the rink. They like each other. I want to find out how many guys actually like hanging around together. If you get that, you’re going to get that five or ten percent on your competition that you’re going to need.”

Lombardi said that his first task will be talking to Taylor and the players to find out what went so very wrong.

“Anybody who thinks they have the answers right now is lying,” said Lombardi. “There’s nobody who knows the answer to that better than anyone who sat in that seat. I think it’s important to be able to debrief as many people in the organization as possible.”

“There’s a feel you get from running a team that’s as important as statistics or making trades,” added Lombardi. “The thing that I want to get a feel for is that this was a team that looked like it was going in the right direction just completely collapses.”

And true to his word, the first thing Lombardi did after he was introduced on Friday was to meet with Kings defenseman and team captain Mattias Norstrom and Kings center and assistant captain Craig Conroy.

Lombardi also quickly dispelled any notion that injuries were an overriding excuse for the Kings’ woes.

“I know there was talk about injuries, but I just came from a franchise that just broke a record for injuries, but maintained its place and is primed for the playoffs,” he said. “So I think the most important thing right now is to ask the right questions.”

But just as important will be the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, which is just two months away.

“The most important thing right now is the amateur draft,” said Lombardi. “My goal in San Jose each year was to get your staff fired up to bring home at least two players. If you can hit along those lines, you’re doing pretty good, and I know you get seven or eight picks, but that’s reality. But you can’t afford to get shut out.”

Although there is obviously a great deal of turmoil in the Kings’ front office, Lombardi knows that this cannot get in the way of the Kings’ draft efforts.

“This is obviously a very tough two weeks for everyone,” said Lombardi. “This is not a lot of fun. It’s not a lot of fun for me to come in here and realize what’s happened to some people. But those guys have to stay focused right now. Those amateur scouts are crucial. They spend eight months on the road. They have to stay fired up to make a couple of solid picks.”

And Lombardi will be relying on the Kings’ amateur scouts far more this time around than he normally would.

“Unfortunately, this is going to be the tough part,” Lombardi explained. “My job in Philadelphia was the pro side, so I’m going to totally rely on the scouts that are here. So we’re going to have to develop some instant chemistry because we’ve got to do a good job.”

“That’s why I’ve got to meet with [Kings Director of Amateur Scouting] Al [Murray] as soon as possible because we’ve got to be focused,” Lombardi added. “This is a tough time. This is what happens when organizations go through this. But you can’t afford to let a draft go by the wayside.”

Finding a new head coach is clearly not as high a priority as the draft for the new general manager.

“I don’t think it’s imperative [to hire a head coach immediately],” said Lombardi.

“The only thing we might run into is that there’s so much going on around the league, you might have to act quick if you have a good feel for a guy because they’re going to be gone quick. That would be where we might have to accelerate it if someone becomes available.”

Besides, until he knows what went wrong, looking for a new head coach would be premature.

“I’ve just seen a team not respond to one type of coach and then not respond to the new one,” he said. “I want to find out what happened and then try and find a coach who will be the best one for this team.”

To know what is best for the Kings, Lombardi knows that he will have to assess its strengths and weaknesses quickly.

“I think in this case, in San Jose I was starting from scratch,” he explained. “I had a team that was one of the worst in the league. I could bring in a coach that had my vision as we put the players in, knowing where we want to go. But my point is that there’s some quality assets here. It was easy in San Jose because it was bad. We finished last and by a good margin. So it wasn’t very hard to see where you were and where Detroit and Colorado were ahead of you. In this case, there’s some good things. The key is to find the good and not mess with those.”

“Sometimes, the instincts when people take these jobs they want to make it look as bad as possible so they can paint themselves as the hero,” Lombardi elaborated. “But let’s get real. There are some good things here. And that’s the key—to find those. And once you find those and what we do well, where we want to go and where the game is, are we going to have to look at players who we didn’t want to look at before? And now tie that in to the type of coach who fits that.”

“So it’s a little different in that because there are some assets here, there is a consideration in terms of what this team needs,” Lombardi said. “And the other thing, let’s face it, I want to know what happened to this team. How can a team fall off the map like this? It’s easy to pin it on the coaches, but the players have to take responsibility. And then, quite honestly, you brought in a different coach and it didn’t work. So...OK boys. Which one is it? That’s what we’ve got to find out.”

His “new” players had the answer.

“The responsibility falls on the players,” said Norstrom. “We are the ones out there on the ice. We’re supposed to get it done. When things go well, we should be the first to get the credit. But we should also be first in line when things go badly like they did this year. No one else.”

“[Here in Los Angeles,] we have the Clippers and the Lakers, they both made the playoffs,” said Conroy. “That’s our bottom line, too. We want to get in there, too. And the Ducks. It’s embarrassing for us. If you’re not embarrassed, something’s wrong.”

“It wasn’t Dave Taylor and it wasn’t Andy Murray,” added Conroy. “It was the players. It falls squarely on our shoulders. They got us prepared, but we didn’t execute.”

But as Lombardi looks back to find out what went wrong with the 2005-06 Los Angeles Kings, he is also looking forward to what could be.

“When you get it going in LA, it’s great for the league,” said Lombardi. “If you can ever think of an LA Kings-Boston Bruins or New York Rangers final, that’s got to be the best. That’s how the NBA was built with the Lakers versus the Celtics. If we could do that for hockey, that’s exciting.”

A big question raised by Friday’s big move is: Will AEG really stay out of the day-to-day decisions, especially those involving player personnel? After all, they have a track record of not only constantly looking over Taylor’s shoulders but also dictating player personnel moves, such as the trade that brought a washed-up Jeremy Roenick to the Kings, who turned out to be a huge bust.

Moreover, will AEG really give Lombardi everything he needs to build the Kings into a Stanley Cup contender, or will they shortchange him financially like they did to Taylor this season (and in every other season) when they handed him a budget that was capped $5 million under the NHL-mandated salary cap? Although it is true that throwing money at the roster does not always prove to be successful, AEG”s actions placed the Kings under even greater limitations than many teams in terms of acquiring talent. And after Leiweke admitted back in late July that the Kings have been rather miserly prior to this season, it is absolutely clear that AEG tied Taylor’s hands throughout his tenure as general manager and that has contributed greatly to their failure.

One can only hope Lombardi actually receives the autonomy needed to make the Kings a perennial Stanley Cup contender. But to reach that goal, he must be given the sole authority to make trades, sign free agents, draft young prospects and much more, all without interference or meddling from ownership. Indeed, AEG needs to allow the people who know hockey and the NHL to do their jobs for a change without having someone from ownership looking over their shoulders, pressuring them into decisions that are not in the best interests of the product on the ice, or worse, having those decisions made for them.

Leiweke said that all this would be the case, and the Kings went so far as to state that Lombardi “...is solely responsible for all hockey operations decisions, including all player personnel moves at the NHL level, directing the professional and amateur scouting staffs, negotiating all contract matters, and overseeing the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League, the Kings’ primary affiliate.”

But as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. As such, with AEG still holding the ownership keys, and in light of their less-than-poor track record, heavy skepticism and disbelief should rule the day until they prove that they have turned over a new leaf.

Gann Matsuda, who has been writing about the Kings since 1986, is the News Editor for Kingshockey.com.
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