Tim Leiweke interview

As promised, here is the full Q&A that I conducted with Kings governor Tim Leiweke. The questions were entirely reader-submitted — in a couple instances, questions were combined — and selected only by me, and Leiweke was not made aware, in advance, of what questions I would be asking. You’ll see, though, that he did take the time to scan at least some of the questions in advance. I did my best, in 45 minutes, to cover as wide and interesting a variety of topics as I could. Thanks for reading the lengthy interview here…

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Question: Is the current management group something we can expect to see for years to come? In other words, will Dean Lombardi get a contract extension or will that be evaluated once his contract is up?

LEIWEKE: “At the end of last season, the day after the last game, we pulled everybody together, Dean and Hex [Ron Hextall] and all the coaches and players, and had a pretty frank discussion with everyone about how we made progress, but everyone needs to go into this offseason understand that our goal and our mission statement now is: we have to, and we will, make the playoffs next season. What we told the team is, `We’ll do what we have to do, and we’ll make the improvements we need to make, and in turn, you have to go take care of your business during the summer.’ I felt that same way for the coaches, for Dean and for the players, which is, we had to go show, this year, that we were capable of taking that next step, and if we didn’t have that kind of progress, then I think we were really going to lose a lot of credibility with our fans. We’ve put them through an awful lot here. So I’m glad that we accomplished that.

“I think, now, that there is a new goal, and all of us, especially Dean, Hex and us — the ownership — believe that we can cause some havoc here. The commitment that I have with Dean is that as soon as the season is done, he and I will sit down and have a conversation. We have a year left on the contract. He understands that, and I was very blunt with him, during the course of the year, that we had to make the playoffs this year. He has done a good job of getting us there. Both Dean and I agree that the No. 1 priority now is the focus, and the learning curve, straight ahead, and that’s what we’re going to do now, is stay focused on that, and then at the end of this season — and I hope it’s May or June, and not April — we’ll sit down and start dealing with some of the decisions we need to make. But I believe Dean has done a good job of getting us to this point, and I’m pleased.

“We obviously took an enormous amount of flack when we let go of a legend like Dave Taylor and brought Dean in. I think the mission that we gave Dean, and the course that we charted at that time, was, `We want to compete every year for the Stanley Cup, not one year for the Stanley Cup, and no matter what pain we have to go through here, get us to that point.’ I believe we are on the verge of that point, so from that standpoint, he’s done a good job.”

Question: Does Lombardi have the financial support/OK to go after a high-salaried player during the upcoming offseason?

LEIWEKE: “Let me give a more general answer to what seems to be a constant question that the fans have for us, which is, `Are we committed to the Kings?’ I will admit, I’m troubled, and puzzled, by that one, because anyone who has spent any time with me, including the staff, the players, Dean, knows how passionate we are about the hockey team. Yes, we are a big company now and, yes, we have a lot of things that command our attention on a daily basis. But I’ve always thought it was critical for us to take the first piece of what began with AEG, which was the L.A. Kings, and prove that we, in fact, can be very good owners and have great success. We’ve had, as an organization, between the Lakers, the Galaxy, the Houston Dynamo and the teams in Europe, we have won 12, 13 championships. But the one that matters, in my opinion, is the Kings, because I think it speaks to our credibility and it speaks to our ability. So, from a resources standpoint, I have never once had Phil (Anschutz) tell me, `No.’ I have never, never told Dean, `No.’ We spent a fair amount of money at the deadline, upgrading the team with (Fredrik) Modin and (Jeff) Halpern. You look at the trade we did during the summer, with Ryan (Smyth), and Phil was very supportive. I will tell you that Dean had another deal in the works in the summer, and it was a pretty substantial deal and it was a straight pickup of a salary, and Mr. Anschutz and I both green-lit it for Dean. We have never, ever turned Dean down. To Dean’s credit, he’s never come to us with a deal that we said, `That doesn’t make any sense at all.’

“We are very committed to development from within. We absolutely are convinced that’s how you win Stanley Cups, but as we have shown with Ryan Smyth, and as we have shown with Modin and Halpern, we are very committed to giving this team the necessary tools and the environment to continue to succeed. We, as an organization, are going to have some decisions to make between now and July 1, and we’re going to have to see who we lose and how that affects us, and we’re going to have to see who’s ready to take a step up within the system. We will sit down with Dean and Hex and Terry and evaluate it. I have to get the lectures on the `boxes’ too. The fans aren’t the only ones that have to listen to the `box’ lecture. I get it often, but he is right. He is correct and, quite frankly, he is amazing with his eye toward development, and the chart and the system. He has been pretty vocal, and we hear him loud and clear, that we still have a few pieces to fill in here. We will address that when the season ends, but there has never been once, ever, since Dean started here, that we have told him, `No.’’’

Question: What is the plan for ticket prices next year? Going up, same or going down?

LEIWEKE: “That’s a good, fair question. Let me make a general statement there, because I probably should have done this up front. I’m very, very loyal, appreciative and understanding of what we have put the fans through. I know there is a sense of some frustration that it’s been eight years since we’ve been to the playoffs. Duly noted and, by the way, duly deserved. We had to change stream about five years ago. We knew, with the new collective-bargaining agreement, we were going to have to do things differently here, and we knew that the one thing we had not been phenomenal at, quite frankly, is the development from within. So we went out and got Dean, and we charted a course, at that point, about developing from within, knowing that there would be a day and time that the next challenge would be keeping them all.

“Now we are upon that next challenge, which is, `How do we keep them all?’ So we’ve been pretty good with our ticket prices, partly because we didn’t deserve a raise, and I was pretty out front about that, telling our fans, `I don’t think we have earned a raise here.’ I think we’ve earned it this year, and we’re going to need it. This is going to be one of the largest losses we’ve had. I’m not complaining and I’m not going to talk about it anymore, but it’s the reality that we’re no longer a low-level team when it comes to payroll. We’re above the medium, and we’re going to have to stay above the medium to keep this nucleus together. So the next great challenge for Dean and Luc, and us, is, how do we balance the rebuilding we are doing with our base — and trying to create trust between us and our fans now, and get back to that level that we used to be at — and, at the same time, understand the economics of trying to keep this nucleus together. We’ve already raised prices. Our season-ticket holders are already well-briefed on where we’re going. It was not a dramatic raise. [Michael Altieri, the Kings’ vice president of communications, clarified that it was a four-percent raise, with a renewal deadline of March 22, and that any time after that, the increase went up to six percent. Altieri said the Kings were at a 92-percent renewal rate.]

“I think the important thing for us is to always understand when we have and have not earned a raise, and this year I think the team has earned it, and we need it. The second piece is, we still, even with this increase, are in the bottom third of the league in average ticket price. We’re going to have to work on that, because that is an issue for us now. We are, I think, 23rd in the league now in gate. We need to do better than that, long term, but a lot of that is filling Staples Center up every night, and a lot of that is getting the average ticket price up. With respect to our fans, we know that it’s going to take us a while to get to where they have complete faith, not only in our ability to build a good team but, probably more importantly now, keep a good team. The funny thing is, two years ago we didn’t do much in the offseason, in the eyes of some of the media and the fans, but we spent more money than we’ve ever spent, because we tied guys up, long term, like Kopi [Anze Kopitar]. We’re not afraid of spending money here, and we know we’re going to have to make some very aggressive commitments this offseason, because we have some young kids we’re going to have a chance to tie up. Dean knows he has the green light to do that.’’

Question: I’d be really interested in hearing how Leiweke’s role with the team has evolved over the years. I’ve heard rumors that he was much more involved during the Taylor years and not so much now. Also, how much of a focus does the owner (Anschutz) actually have on the Kings in comparison to all his other holdings?

LEIWEKE: “Again, good question. From my standpoint, and involvement, Dean and I talk every week. Sometimes, at the more critical moments, we’ll talk every day. I never told Dave Taylor who to draft and I’ve never told Dean Lombardi who to draft. That’s not our place. We hire good people and let them try to do their jobs. I will admit that there was a frustration with our team many years ago, with our inability to be at the highest levels. When we brought Dean in, one, a lot of other people were chasing him. We did our homework, and we were pretty aggressive in looking at the candidates and talking to people in the league that are friends of mine, that I trust. When we sat down with Dean, we hired him at the end of the first meeting, because we knew that was our guy. We gave him a mission, we gave him a vision of what we wanted to do and we gave him the environment in which to succeed, and then we got out of his way. We do not hen-peck Dean. I do not try to pretend like we know more than he does. We don’t, and we know that. We are aggressive in giving him the necessary resources to surround himself with very good people, like Ron Hextall. I would put our staff against any other staff in the NHL. When you look at the depth of our organization, from an experience standpoint in particular, when you look at a guy like Jack Ferreira, who is assisting Dean and Hex, and you look at some of the other talent that has been put together here, we have a really good group of guys over there thinking this through. The last thing we’re going to do is get in their way and try to interfere with the process.

“Now, that said, we approve budgets, we approve trades, we approve long contracts. I am involved with Dean, actively, as it gets to July 1, on decisions that we need to make. Dean will inform us as to where he’s headed with his philosophy at the draft. I’ve never attended a draft. That’s not our place. We hire good people. We have 11 teams. I don’t tell (the Galaxy’s) Bruce Arena how to go run his soccer team, we don’t tell Dean how to run his hockey team and we certainly don’t tell Dr. (Jerry) Buss how to run the basketball team. We try to hire good people and let them do their jobs. The thing that surprises me the most of all, and that we have done a very poor job with our fans on – and I’ll take the blame for this – is that they tend to believe that Phil is a complete absentee, unconcerned or unemotional owner of the Kings. I’m a season-ticket holder. I think I’m one of the five largest season-ticket holders. I spend a lot of money and buy seats, because I want to have the ability to understand and be a part of this fan base. I believe in this team. I am very passionate about the Kings. If I’m in town, I’m there. If I’m on the road, I try to watch. I will be at the away games during the playoffs. I love this team. Phil doesn’t live here, so we’re in a unique situation. It is a corporation that owns this team. It is AEG, and Phil is the chairman of AEG. Phil has never missed a Frozen Fury, ever. He goes to every one. If he’s in town here, he goes to the Kings games. If he’s not here, then he’s probably watching. He’s very involved and very excited about what we’ve accomplished here. We are blessed. If you look at the last 15 years of the National Hockey League, we’ve never missed a payroll, never had an unpaid bill. We’ve never lacked for resources. We’ve never been in a situation where we couldn’t improve the locker rooms. We have one of the best, if not the best, training centers in the National Hockey League. We have always had everything we need from Phil. He bought the team out of bankruptcy. The last two owners before us went into bankruptcy. We have never, since the point that Mr. Anschutz took over here, we have never had one issue with resources here. We have one of the finest arenas in the league, one of the best training centers in the league. We’re top five in the league in management teams under Dean. We spend just about as much as any other team in the league, and he has the green light to keep this nucleus tied up, long term. Phil does care about the Kings.

“I will admit, I’m probably the crazier one here. I’m very passionate about our hockey team, and I love our hockey team, but this is a unique situation because we are a corporation. Is Phil going to go in the locker room and give the guys a pep talk before every game? No, that’s not his style. Is he going to go do media interviews? Mr. Anschutz chooses to lead a quiet, private life, and I admire that. I happen to think it’s refreshing to find an owner that doesn’t see this as his own personal play toy, doesn’t feel like he has to get involved to be the coach, and isn’t thinking that he is the story. That’s the way we try to run the franchise, but don’t see that as a lack of commitment. It’s not. It’s the way we choose to try to run our companies.’’

Question: Your title has shifted a bit over the years. Can you explain what your duties as “team governor’’ are?

LEIWEKE: “I’m on the executive committee of the NHL. It’s a dual role. I’m the governor, day to day, for the Kings, but also a member of the executive committee on behalf of the rest of the board of governors. We get involved on league issues like Phoenix, like the collective-bargaining agreement, like our television and distribution deals, and approving new owners coming into the league. I spend a fair amount of time with Gary (Bettman) and the other members of the executive committee, at his request. We try to help on plotting out a vision on where this sport needs to go. Despite what everyone thinks, Gary and I are not always on the same page. I think it’s been made clear in the past that I’m a big fan of ESPN. It’s not that I don’t like Versus. I do like Versus, and I think they’ve done a good job, but I also think that ESPN is a resource that we haven’t been able to tap into. Gary and I have different opinions. I am not in lockstep with him on every decision he makes. He occasionally gets mad at me because I occasionally get mad at the league. I think, honestly, there have been a couple games this year that I didn’t think were the best games I’ve ever seen the refs call, and Gary heard about it. He has a difference of opinion. I try to protect the best interests of the Kings. We have not always been the strongest voice in the NHL. We have not always been the most stable franchise in the NHL, and yet we are in one of the most important markets in the NHL.

“It’s critical for this team to get to a point where we take the league and the sport to the next level, by capturing the imagination of this marketplace. It also means we’re going to have an important voice on the issues of the league, whether it be Gary, the distribution deals, the future of some of the teams, and owners that we let into the league and their ability to hang in there with us. So I’d say, in a nutshell, I spend more of my time now working on league issues but, at the same time, that’s not to say that I’m not there when Dean needs me. Dean calls me more than I call him, which is the way it should be. When Dean needs something, we’re on it.’’

Question: Obviously you’re aware of criticism, whether it’s toward you or AEG or both. What are your impressions of it? Is some of it valid? Is some of it not? And has it changed anything you have done over the years?

LEIWEKE: “Anyone who says that criticism doesn’t affect them, they’re pretty cold-hearted. I’m aware of the criticism. Yes, like everyone else, I’d rather be in a situation where our fans, in their entirety, believe we’ve done a good job here. Some of the criticism is deserved. We’ve gone eight years without being in the playoffs, and I’ll take responsibility for that, but what they need to understand is, we didn’t just get here without a mission and a focus on behalf of ownership. Dean’s mission statement was not created by Dean. It was given to Dean, and he will tell you that. We told Dean, `This is what we want to do with this team. We want to build from within.’ We told Dean that we understood that we were going to have to be bad before we were good. That’s the only way to get good draft picks. There’s no way you get Drew Doughty by drafting 15th. That was a mission statement created by ownership.

“Where we’re at today is because of an effort on behalf of all of us. It’s Dean, it’s Luc, it’s their teams, it’s those guys in that locker room – who I am really proud of, because that’s what really matters – and it is ownership. We’ve done everything humanly possibly to create the right environment for our players. If you ask the players, if you sit down with Ryan Smyth, who has been in the league longer than just about anybody in that locker room, and you ask Ryan about the way we treat our players here, compared to other places he’s been – and it’s not that he’s been treated poorly – what he will tell you is, we are involved. We do care for those guys. We do create a good environment for them. That’s where I think the criticism is very unfair. Dean thinks we’re as passionate and committed as any ownership group in the NHL. So does Gary Bettman. He knows how committed we are to this team. So do our players. We obviously have an issue with what I believe is a portion of our fans.

“I walk the concourse and I talk to the fans. Occasionally I hear someone say, `Sell the team,’ and I want to go back to them and say, `Let’s just logically think this through.’ Who had the wherewithal to buy this team out of bankruptcy and pay everybody dollar for dollar? Who had the wherewithal to build this new arena, build a training center, provide charter flights and everything else we give this team? Who has the wherewithal to ultimately allow us to keep this nucleus together and sign Kopitar to the kind of contract we did? We’ve never missed a beat here, ever. If you’re frustrated with us because it took us eight years to get here, it’s well deserved and I’ll take the hit for that, but I believe we also should acknowledge that we’re here now. Let’s enjoy the ride and celebrate this together. If you think we’re bad owners, you just don’t understand the commitment that we’ve made to this team, and we need to do a better job of communicating that to our fans, because that’s unfair. We have been very good owners at financially supporting this team. As we go forward, we’re going to get tested here, to keep this young nucleus together. We will be up to that challenge. What we’re not going to do is, we’re not going to sell these pieces off to have the lowest payroll in the league.

“Amazingly, in almost every other corner of this league, we’re seen as one of the most stable, committed ownership groups in all of the NHL. We need to regain the trust of the fans, and we’re going to try to do that. That’s why you and I are talking today. It’s not that we’re trying to take the spotlight away from the guys, because that’s where it belongs and I’m very committed to those guys in the locker room. That said, I want the fans to understand that we’ve always been committed; we’ve just made some mistakes on how we built our system and how we chose our players. When we brought Dean in, I think we corrected that. You look at the choices we’ve made, and part of it has come from Dean and the right system, and part of it has come from having high draft picks, but let’s also give a little credit to Dave (Taylor) here. Quick and Brown and Kopitar were Dave Taylor’s picks. He did a pretty good job there, and that was a tough decision for us. I have an enormous amount of respect for Dave Taylor, but I also think we had to make that change.’’

Question: Do you have any insight into why the Canadian games are not televised, and have you ever thought about, either on your own or in partnership with other teams, starting your own network?

LEIWEKE: “Yes, I’m aware about the Canadian games. Yes, I’m aware of why those decisions are made and, yes, I disagree with those decisions. We have a contract with Fox that obligates them to carry 65 games, but it gives them to ability to carry more. We have to prove to them that it’s worth covering all of our games. That means us and the fans, by the way, so I’m right there with them on this one. This year, we’ve proved to them that there is a demand out there for the Kings. Our ratings have doubled and tripled in some cases. We were doing 1.5 ratings at times during this season, very impressive. I think we all need to put pressure on Fox, and let them know that there are a lot of Kings fans out there and that they should be covering every game. They certainly should not make a decision on what games to cover based on how difficult it may be to produce a game out of a certain place. We’ve had this conversation with (Fox general manager) Steve Simpson.

“All of the Fox guys are good friends of ours, and it’s hard. I’ve even gone to Randy Freer, who runs all of the regional networks for Fox, and if you ask Randy and Steve, they’ll tell you that I’m a maniac with them and that I’m constantly saying, `You should be broadcasting every game.’ They’ve asked us to readjust some things within our world, and we’re in the middle of doing that right now. We’re going to get that done. When we do that, it’s going to put more pressure on them to pick up a lot more games next year. This team deserves to be covered every night, in my opinion. We all need to convince Fox of that. The fans need to let them know that, and we are. The second part of that is, yes, we have looked at a regional sports network, and Fox is aware of this. Our contract with them runs out in 2014-15. We own a piece of the Lakers. We’ve had conversations with the Lakers, and Fox is aware of that.

“For right now, let’s admit that we’ve had years in which our ratings weren’t so good, and so we still have to prove ourselves to Fox. I think we took a huge step this year, and we’re going to take an even bigger step next year. The thing that all of us need to be excited about here is that this is the youngest core nucleus in the NHL, and we have the wherewithal and – to Dean and Jeff (Solomon’s) credit – we have the cap space to keep them. When you look at Fox, what I keep on telling them is, `Guys, this is a team that’s only going to get better now, barring any unforeseen injuries, and this is a team whose fan base is going to grow, and you’re going to be forced to have to cover us now because there are so many people out there, so many of us who like this team,’ just as you’ve proven on the website. A lot of people thought we were crazy to do what we did with you, but the fact is, we have a top-five website in the NHL today. That’s not just because you guys are good, and you’re very good, but it’s also because there’s that much demand over this team. So we’re going to keep the pressure on Fox, and we’re going to make them understand that this is a team that’s going to get better, and our audience is going to grow. That’s going to force them, I believe, to have to expand their coverage.’’

Question: As with a lot of multi-use arenas, the ice at Staples Center seems to deteriorate to the point is can hamper play (bouncing pucks/inability to make sharp passes). Are there any plans to upgrade or improve the ice situation?

LEIWEKE: “Staples is a busy arena and occasionally I remind people, including some of our hockey guys, that we live in a desert climate. This is not the easiest place in the world to make perfect ice. We have 250 events a year. As the general manager of our building likes to remind me, we have the best ice surface in the NHL for a two-team NBA building. Of course, we’re the only two-team NBA building, so I guess that makes sense. (laughs) But Luc is on me, on scheduling and when we play our games and what our fans want. Dean is on me, occasionally, for the ice, and I know that that’s an area that we’re going to continue to try to work on.

“Let me expand that. The other thing I’d like to suggest, because there are quite a few people who have brought up issues with the quality of food and the variety of food and the branding of the food, what I’d like to do is go through you. I want to pick out 12 fans that we do a focus group with, and I’m going to bring in the GM of the building and I’m going to bring in Levy, which does the catering in the building, and I want them to tell us what we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well, similar to what you’ve done here. After we’re done with this run – I hope it’s long – I would like you to be a conduit for them, and for them to come back to this group and give them questions and issues that they can address to us, and we’ll fix them. We brought in Nate n’ Al. We brought in Camacho’s. We brought in McDonalds. We’re trying to brand, but clearly I hear them. I think we have some quality issues with the building, and I want to address those. I think some of our fans think we have the best arena in the NHL. I want all of our fans to feel that way, so whether it’s pricing, branding, quality of food, quality of the ice surface, the customer experience of the building, I want you to organize a focus group. I will bring all of our people from the building and Levy in, and we’re going to hash this out and figure out how we can do a better job serving the fans, because they deserve it. They’re right, we’re not the cheapest, and I understand that. We’re going to get better there. They have my commitment on that.’’

Question: There’s a few of these I’d like to get to…

LEIWEKE: “Well, there’s one I’d like to get to, if you don’t mind.’’

Question: OK, go for it…

LEIWEKE: “Well, someone took a shot at Luc (Robitaille) in there, and I want to clear the air here. Luc Robitaille was not put in here as a token, and that’s an insult. Luc Robitaille’s ability to be a good president of business operations is not about his education or intelligence, and shame on them for questioning that. Luc Robitaille is here, one, because he’s the most passionate guy I know about this organization. Two, he loves this city and he loves this organization. Three, yes, we knew that there would be a learning curve with Luc, and we surrounded him with pretty capable executives. Anybody who doubts, at the end of the day, that Luc Robitaille is a great president of this organization, shame on them. I will fight and defend Luc all day long. He was a good choice. He’s doing a good job and I resent anyone taking a shot at Luc.

“Take shots at me all you want. I get it. That comes with the job, but it is unfair to question us putting Luc in a position because he’s a token. Luc is earning his keep here. He’s the best salesman I know. I go out on calls with him, and I’m telling you right now, we lack zero for leadership from Luc Robitaille. That was never a token, nor will I ever second-guess the decision to give him the ability to learn, and he’s good at it. I’m going to defend Luc. I think he’s doing a good job, and he was never brought in here as a token or to try to deceive the fans. Luc was brought in because I do believe that hockey should be run by hockey people, including the business ops. Luc knows more about hockey than we do, and so him running that organization on a day-to-day basis…we’ll teach him accounting and financing, and we’ll teach him about the economics of the hockey world. In fact, it’s funny. One of the first things he said, after he had been here for a couple months, was, `You know, during all that time in the collective-bargaining agreement, I thought you were maybe stretching the truth. Now I come in here and look at the numbers, and this is bad. You weren’t lying.’ (laughs) Luc has done a good job and I’m proud of him. I want to clear that up, because people have a right to have an opinion, and I get that, but as you say from time to time, we can be civilized here. People can communicate both ways, but we can be respectful here, and taking a shot at Luc was uncalled for.’’

Question: What do you make of what’s going on with the players’ association?

LEIWEKE: “I don’t. I saw that one of the questions was about what we’ve done well and what we haven’t done well. I will tell you that, during the lockout, I obviously was one of the…I guess they called me a `hawk,’ and I guess I regret, ultimately, people developing an impression that I was anti-players or anti-union. I’m not, but I was anti-system, because it didn’t work. I think, during the next round, I’ll keep my thoughts to Gary, and we’re not going to destroy the faith or the trust between us and the fans by maybe being outspoken. Whatever opinions we have on the current unrest within the union, I’ll keep them to myself.’’

Question: I would like to get Leiweke’s comments on the partial sale of the team [to the ownership group of the Boston Celtics] that fell through and what, if any, discussion there has been since that point about selling part of the team.

LEIWEKE: “That was someone who approached us. We weren’t looking, nor are we now. I’m not sure if that was ever really that serious. We’re blessed. We don’t need to sell any of the team. We don’t need help on financing the team. Phil doesn’t, at this point, need money, so we’re not out actively looking to sell the team. We get calls…I wouldn’t say all the time, but I’ve had a half-dozen calls in the last few months. We’re willing to talk to people, but what we’re not interested in is bringing in someone who wants to own a small piece and be a superfan. That doesn’t work well within partnerships. Phil’s wife would kill him if he sold the team. Nancy would probably hang him out to dry, because she’s the biggest fan out there. Phil is proud of the team. We’re obviously doing well. You look at the future, and you get pretty excited because of the kids coming. Now, that said, if we found the right partner, would we sell a piece of the team? Yeah, but again, I hear people say, `Would AEG ever sell the team?’ I tend to disagree with them, out of respect.

“I think AEG has been a pretty good owner, because we have given this organization more stability than just about any team in the National Hockey League. We’re considered the core here. If you go to Gary and ask him, out of the last 10-15 years, which franchises have you not had to worry about, we’re one of the few. We see issues in Nashville and Atlanta and Florida and Tampa Bay and Phoenix, and there’s been ownership changes in places like Minnesota, and we’ve never had to go through any of that. As long as Phil is the owner, the one thing fans can be assured of is that we will never have financial difficulties here, ever. You may fault us for our road over these past eight years, and I’ll take that. It’s deserved. We probably made some mistakes early on, but over the last four or five years, I’d say that this ownership group here has hired good people, given them the resources to succeed and gotten out of their way, and we’ve had great success. To me, that’s the kind of ownership group you want. We’re not going to sell to anyone who disrupts us from our philosophy on where we want to go, toward winning a Stanley Cup here. If anyone does come in, it won’t be because we need to bring anyone on. We don’t need money and we don’t need people to cover losses. Unfortunately, we can cover the losses. That said, if it helped and it made us a better organization and if it was a local owner, someone who cared about hockey, we would never say no. We would always entertain that conversation. We’re just currently not in a position where there is a need to have that conversation.’’

Question: With the Winter Classic, do you think we’ll ever see it in L.A.? Do you want to go for it?

LEIWEKE: “Luc wants to bring it here. The good thing is, we have earned the respect of the league. The draft is coming here. You would never think that L.A. would be a good place for the draft, but I had breakfast this morning with the Edmonton owners, and their fans are really excited about coming to L.A. for the draft. We’d like to get the All-Star Game back, and we’re bidding on future All-Star Games. We’d really like to have the Winter Classic here. Amazingly, in the history of the Ducks and the Kings, we just can’t seem to get this playoff thing correct. We’ve never been able to get there at the same time. I happen to think they have a pretty good team. I think the Olympics might have hurt some of their veterans. I happen to think they’re going to be competitive here, and I happen to think that we’re going to be competitive here.

“If we were going to do a Winter Classic, it would be great if those were the two teams and we did it at a point when we were locked in a battle for the Western Conference championship. Luc is right. We can put one on here and do well. I think our fans deserve it. I’m proud of our fans. They’re the most loyal base that I’ve seen in the NHL, and I think we want to do things to continue to build this as a hockey market. Are we going to continue to work with the league in the future? Yes. Gary knows we’d like to have one here. John Collins, who is the head of the NHL Properties, knows we want to have one here. We just have to find the right time. I think you would assume it’s going to be us and the Ducks out here, and if that’s the case, it would be great if we could have a rivalry in which we’re both hitting at the same time.’’

Question: Do you know where you’d do it?

LEIWEKE: “I think part of that is going to involve what’s going on with an NFL stadium in the marketplace, and I think that’s going to get sorted through here in the next 365 days. Some would say the Rose Bowl and some would say the Coliseum. We’ve talked to both. They’re aware that we’re sniffing on it, but I also have to throw out the possibility that maybe what we want to do is like what Jerry Jones has done with Cowboy Stadium. It would be fantastic to do that as part of the first year of a new NFL stadium. I think, whether it be Dodger Stadium, Carson, City of Industry or here, we’re going to see some progress on a football team and a football stadium in the near future.’’

Question: Anything else you’d like to add?

LEIWEKE: “One question, and I’ll answer it, was about what we have done well and what we have not done well. What has made me happiest and what has made me unhappy? What makes me unhappy is the day that we get knocked out of the playoffs this year. I will be a very unhappy guy. I’m having the best time I’ve had in a long time at this company because of the Kings right now. I’m really proud of these guys. I like these guys a lot. This is a good team to be around. Terry is fantastic. He is the most even-keel coach I’ve ever seen, God bless him. Dean is interesting. There’s never a dull moment with him. I call him the `crazy professor’ sometimes. He’s intense, he’s focused and he’s hard sometimes. He says the same about me, and he’s right. We’re both intense guys, but I’ve had a good time and they’ve done a good job. I love Ron Hextall. We’re blessed to have the organization that we have here, and most of all, I’m really happy for our fans, because Lord knows they deserve it. We are humbled that they hung in there with us, and appreciate of that. We do not take that for granted, but I’m really happy for them.

“I remember those first couple of years, with Adam Deadmarsh and that Detroit series, and it was magic. We need to be like that on a consistent basis. I want our team right there with the Lakers, taking a shot at winning championships. That’s what I care about. The good news is, we’re in the middle of enjoying what I think is probably the best time we’ve had since we owned the team. The bad news is, there will come a time when you have to deal with the fact that we’re going through a pretty competitive conference here during the playoffs. I want us to win, and I struggle when we lose. I struggle when we lose. What we’ve done well and what we haven’t… Bringing Dean here was a good decision, and I’m proud that there were other teams after him. He was being romanced by a couple other teams, aggressively, and we got in there quickly, quietly and with focus and intent, and got him here and he has built a good organization. I’m really pleased with our young kids, the quality of those guys. We’ve done that the right way.

“Character has been a trademark of Mr. Anschutz. It’s been a trademark of Dean, and when you look at Drew Doughty and Kopi and Brownie and Bernier and Quick, we’ve got character, so we’ve done this the right way. To me, that’s what we’ve done the best. The worst is clearly building a loyalty between us and our fans, and we’re going to try to do better at that going forward here. I apologize if they have sensed a lack of commitment, and we’re going to try to do a better job of earning their trust going forward.’’