Dean Lombardi, through the Kings, put out the following statement this afternoon after he was fined $50,000 by the NHL for his public criticism of league VP Mike Murphy on LAKings.com last night…
LOMBARDI: “I spoke to the commissioner today and he made it very clear to me that my actions last night were inappropriate and detrimental to the game. There is no question that his assessment is correct and the punishment fits the crime. Just as important, I apologized to Mike Murphy this morning and I sincerely appreciate his willingness to accept my apology. Like the team must learn from its mistakes, the GM has to learn from his mistakes as well.”
50 large, that is quite a fine…
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50 large well worth it!! crappy call and I for one was happy he pointed out that the kings get no love outside of Los Angeles! what do we have to do to get calls right! the NBA does it NFL does it MLB is another story! but the NHL broke into video review and all the other leagues fallowed! and passed the NHL bye!… Integrity is a big part of the game. the NHL needs to get calls correct or the game will fade away!. DL was 100% right on this! NEXT GAME PLEASE!
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A suggestion for Dean Lombardi:
“The NHL has fined me $50,000 for making a public statement regarding my opinion about the capabilities and integrity of NHL employees who are charged with making impartial reviews of goals in NHL games. I will accept and pay the fine. But, as the Commissioner has made no reference or comment whatsoever regarding whether the call I was referring to was accurate, inaccurate, wrong or a mistake, and as I have no idea of what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman intends to do with my fine, I instead choose to write a personal check for $50,000 made out to the Kings Care Foundation to satisfy the fine.”
Results:
Lombardi loses $50,000 out of pocket (Bettman’s desired action). Bettman wins.
Bettman refuses to accept Lombardi’s terms, faces continent-wide headlines of “NHL Commissioner Doesn’t Support Kids”. Bettman loses.
Do it Dean. Make Soloman earn his retainer.
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DL you can’t get fined for saying the fine sucks can you? That would just about sum it up.
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Buster Reply:
January 21st, 2011 at 11:34 pm
@Dominick,
He might get one if he sends along a jar of Vaseline and tell them to stick the fine where the sun don’t shine.
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Dear Mr. Bettman:
Although I am a King’s fan Dean Lombardi was way out of line to make the statements he did. The NHL officials must be respected and you were correct to fine our General Manager more money then most of us make in one year.
Next time a player sucker punches or swings his stick at another player I would like to see you take such quick and decisive action.
(HockeyNerd holds his breath and starts turning blue…….)
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I love our GM! Perhaps this will help the team…good strategy if it does.
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There are two separate and distinct issues hear. Were Dean Lombardi’s comments inappropriate and was it a good goal or not.
On the former, CLEARLY Dean Lombardi’s comments were inappropriate. In fact, I will take it a step further. Even if he is 100% correct about Mike Murphy, his comments would STILL be inappropriate because the NHL cannot allow to stand, unchallenged, any comments by players, coaches, or management, that challenge the integrity of the game. To do so would have ripple effects far and wide that would last for a long, long time. And Dean Lombardi knows all of this. And the fact that he knows all of this and STILL made the comments is the best indicator of all about how badly this call was blown and goes to my latter point.
I think almost any dispassionate observer, and even some passionate observers (e.g. Coyotes fans) would say that the refs on the ice blew the call, which was bad enough, but the video review people in Toronto GROSSLY blew the call. One can only wonder what the conversations were that took place among the video review personnel in Toronto.
The impact this has had on me is that for me I have absolutely no faith in the video review system. I would just as soon see the NHL scrap it and have the ref’s call on the ice be final. No reviews. At least that would speed up the game. To have sat around for five minutes waiting for the game to get started waiting for such an egregiously wrong decision to be handed basically was just a waste of the players, coaches, and fans time.
But lest the focus remain on this issue for too long, the REAL issue for the Kings is whether they can take a team that has pretty much COMPLETELY hit the skids and salvage something from this season.
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