Here’s something to keep in mind, in terms of the discussion of assistant coaches. A couple years ago, the Kings put a new policy in place. The basics, from what I understand, hold that members of the hockey-operations staff are not allowed to have contracts that extend beyond the general manager’s contract. Dean Lombardi’s contract only runs through the upcoming season, so until/unless Lombardi signs an extension, no assistant coach can be guaranteed more than a one-year contract. The Kings can, I believe, get around this a bit by including a team option for a second year, for instance, but this is likely one reason why Jamie Kompon and Bill Ranford (and a couple other people in the organization) are dealing with contract issues this summer.
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Makes sense.
Why would you stick a new GM (not saying Dean is going anywhere, obviously he isn’t) with a coaching staff he didn’t hire?
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i sure hope our next asst. coach does NOT get announced this Friday or Saturday after he officially retires from the Sharks <—- this would suck
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McDonalds Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
@coach,
I would love to have Blake behind the bench
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garry Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
@McDonalds,
You have to be kidding?
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poe Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
@garry, Ditto!!!!!No blake, please.
frank dracman Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
@coach, Do you really think Rob Blake would be a bad asst coach?
You who boo him and hate him are not true hockey fans and should be embarrassed. You people really don’t even know the man. Have you found him unapproachable? Have you spoke to him in person? Are you aware of all the great things he does around the LA area for the less fortunate? He a good man who will give his time to people. You have all blown out of proportion what is “the business” and make him out to be some kind of monster. And oh by the way he never wanted to leave. If you are lucky enough to meet him and talk to him, ask him while your shaking his hand and taking pictures with him.
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DellaNooch Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@frank dracman, He left for money and a chance to win the Stanley Cup one more time…I can’t blame him for that, but it would have been cool if he let us trade him at the deadline to get one more building block and that was frustrating for the fans as we were suffering through the worst parts of the rebuild…I can’t blame fans for being upset about that.
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Wells24 Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
@DellaNooch,
We don’t know if Blake was asked about a trade at the deadline, so that can’t be put on his shoulders. As for the Blake-haters, we do know that he was enthusiastic about his “big brother” role he had while he was here, and coaching would be a natural progression. Look at the numbers. Blake will go down as one of the greatest D-men in Kings history. I always enjoyed watching him play (obviously more so when he was in a Kings uniform). I think he could bring a lot to the organization, as would OD, if that was the decision.
DellaNooch Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
@Wells24, Blake was asked about a trade and he stated he wanted to stay in LA, then signed in SJ a few months later, it’s all in this interview…
http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/2008/02/blake-interview-3.html#more
It’s strange that most teams with contract troubles,are worried about how many players they’ll lose.The Kings contract troubles could see us keep all of our players,and lose the entire coaching staff,and management.
If it’s not one thing,it’s another.
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Doughty is the Vegas favorite to win Norris –
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Vegas-odds-have-Crosby-for-Hart-Doughty-for-Nor?urn=nhl,248297
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Rich, I read that respected hockey columnist Pierre LeBrun opined the Kings are going after Kovalchuk July 1 in part due to upper management seeing him as the needed superstar addition. Since Lombardi has made it clear he is not totally on board, and I am sure Anschutz has no idea who or what a Kovalchuk is, is DL merely posturing or is Leiweke pushing for Kovy to come to L.A. (and hoping it turns out better than his ill-fated Roenick meddling)?
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DellaNooch Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
@Jim Watson, “there are people high up in the organization who view him as the missing piece in terms of star appeal” – Pierre LeBrun, that is pretty ambiguous, it could mean DL or Robitaille or the owner, who knows.
What is your source for Leiweke pulling the Roenick deal? Never heard that before.
Personally I think DL would take Kovy at the right price, he doesn’t want to break the bank and get trapped with no cap space like a lot of other teams.
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Kingsfanone Reply:
June 14th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
@Jim Watson,
I believe Rich wrote in a previous thread that the real problem in getting Kovi boils down to money he would want, pretty much putting the Kings in a similar position Chicago apparently is in cap wise. Namely, no room to fully reward current players nor go for a trade deasdline needed player. Dean doesn’t seem like a type to paint himself into a corner when he isn’t done shaping a team yet.
I also never heard of Leiweke pulling the strings on the Roenick deal, especially since Tim seems to be letting Dean run the team as he sees fit. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen either, though.
The problem with getting Kovi may just boil down to what type of fit is he on this team as well?
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Someone please remind me what Leiweke said last month, regarding Lombardi’s contract extension. When can we expect an announcement on that front?
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Larionov for assistant coach.
Address the 5 on 5 scoring head on, and get a proven winner who has seen it all.
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54FIGHTING Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:38 am
@Cristobal,
This is a great idea.
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Assistant coaches? How about Tiger Williams, Harold Snepts and Billy Smith? No, wait, they would be duking it out in the locker room…
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jammer06 Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:08 am
@edwood2,
True, but I would pay to watch the locker room feed
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For all those roaring about how Chicago did it, I would like them to read this link. Congrats to Chicago for winning the Cup be prepared to not challenge for atleast another 5 years.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/With-cap-crunch-can-Blackhawks-bring-back-Antti;_ylt=Ar7q8qixf23xZJF33VK5gwx7vLYF?urn=nhl,247831
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Sean O’donnell should be a head coach, have him retire and assume a position as the defensive coach or what have you.
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As far as assistant coaches go… you could throw out all the names you want. Most of them (like O’Donnell) make a lot of sense.
But could that really happen? O’Donnell I think could become a coach for us shortly after he retires. Emerson is another one of those players, although it wasn’t “immediately” after he retired.
Realistically, O’Donnell is the one person that makes the most sense. But if he doesn’t retire (I don’t believe he will; I feel we still need his leadership in a team uniform), then who should we get?
I don’t know if it will happen, but I’d like to see Andy Murray come back. He was maybe the best coach we ever had, and when he got fired in ’05-06, he was 37-28-5 through 70 games. Terry Murray last year through 70 games: 41-24-5.
On paper, our team last year as much better than ’05-06, but through 70 games, only 4 wins (8 points) better. Garon was “good” that year, but only slightly above average; Quick was in the Top 8 amongst goaltenders last year (overall; I don’t weigh him down because of his late-end struggles because, as we can all agree, TM overplayed him) and he was 2nd in minutes played in the league as a 24-year-old in his first full, October-April season.
I don’t know if Andy would be willing to be an assistant coach, nor if he’d care to come back to the team that fired him, but I think he was fired more because of frustration growing within the organization from the team not making the playoffs. Remember, he and Dave Taylor were fired together. Upper management, I think, just felt it was time to go in a new direction (and the fact that Crawford was that “new direction” further illustrates my point that AM wasn’t the blame).
He wasn’t a bad coach, although TM brought the defensive-minded style we desperately needed. I’d like to see him back with us, although I doubt it’ll happen.
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luc20rules Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
@Kevin Y, I blame TL for that firing. DT was put under so much pressure to make the playoffs that year, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was forced to fire AM. AM won with smoke and mirrors for 2 years with the rash of injuries that plagued the team 500+ player games lost 2 seasons in a row. AM did a great job and was made the scape goat.
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Also, as far as Kovalchuk, DL knows what he’s doing. He’s a very smart GM, and he’ll plan the next 10 years out what the contract situation will be if he signs him to a contract just what the ramifications would be.
Him, and his “magic boxes” or whatever, will make the right choice. If Kovy is the best option available, and they could get him at a good price (whether that also means moving Stoll or Williams to shed salary) AND still have enough money for Doughty, Simmonds, and Bernier, he’ll be wearing…. OK, not #17 because Simmer has that (Simmer could wear the #57 he wore in training camp a couple years ago and give Kovy #17, although he has “team seniority” and wouldn’t have to give it up), but it’ll say “LA” on the front.
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People..nothing good will happen until they get DL signed. I think right now AEG should make that happen before rumors start. It seems to me your GM has this ship righted….and to upset that now would be a bad thing for the locker room. I am troubled by why this has not happened yet. AEG (or Leiweke) should be showing extreme confidence in what this GM has done…what is the delay? Any inside info?
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D B COOPER Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:45 am
@tellmeY,
that is a definite ‘right on’ about signing DL and i join in why hasn’t that happened already?
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regarding Rob Blake: fellow fans, forget the animosity about his leaving. He won the Norris Trophy as a King after spending years developing as a King.
why wouldn’t we retire a KING NHL Trophy winner? someone wants revenge? revenge gets us no where, and we should be trying to develop a legacy of accomplishment. we don’t have much to signify us as a serious winning franchise. he earned it; he was a KING, let’s give him his due.
i also feel Butch Goring deserves a retired jersey. he was a dynamic player on overachieving teams, when we had to face the bruins and canadian dynsties. his selfless team play, an obvious major talent( because his joinging the Islanders they immediately won 4 cups in a row), and the excitement his game brought to us fans, is deserving of a special recognition.
why not Marcel, too.
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Rainman Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 10:38 am
@D B COOPER,
In case you hadn’t noticed, Marcel Dionne’s jersey was retired nearly twenty years ago on November 8, 1990.
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D B COOPER Reply:
June 15th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
@Rainman,
thanks; i have noticed. i just couldn’t see it on the wall for some reason when visualizing who’s were hanging! and marc was an acquaintance, too!
butch still needs to go up.
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