In Part 2, Dean is asked about his decision to become a lawyer…his baseball and hockey careers as a player…how he categorizes NHL players…
JF: Let’s change the tact and just talk about the law and your interest in it. We all have decisions to make and crossroads but that was a pretty intensive decision, to go that way?
DL: I think I probably made that when I was realized I wasn’t going to be a pro hockey player. I had a couple of good teachers in college but what fascinated me…the first time was my junior year of college. You start to think about what you’re going to do afterward and so it was a lot of philosophy tied into the preparation and it was the first time I started learning to “think”. I mentioned that in the speech when I went back to Tulane…about regurgitation. I got straight A’s in college but it was regurgitation. It was my work ethic, again, I wasn’t going to be beat because it all goes back to your father’s values about working your tail off, but it was taking notes, get the teacher back-and I got straight A’s, I got one B in four years but “it wasn’t thinking”. I started getting a touch of that my junior and senior year…from my teachers…to start delving into philosophy. There’s no right or wrong answer and it starts with Plato’s Republic and you work you’re way up and you realize, when they start asking, wow it doesn’t lend itself to “black and white”. And in a lot of ways I found that fascinating and it’s the first time where you learn the saying-“intelligence is asking the right questions”-“issue recognition”-“speaking precisely” and so it probably was not the law per se but it was the first time I was being taught to think and that’s a very different thing than just reading and writing and that’s what law school is all about, it’s not necessarily you’re learning the law. I always tell this story about how my first semester of law school was C’s and I never seen a C and I was devastated. I had some great teachers that pulled me out, I graduated with honors once I figured it out but that was a huge hurdle. You’ve got to think here, this isn’t about this and those skills, I use them every day, every moment and I wouldn’t trade that for the world. So I don’t think it’s the law per se, it was that “training of the mind” that I think we take for granted so much.
JF: You touched a little bit on it earlier so I’m going to ask you two different things. What type of player were you in baseball and what type of player were you in hockey?
DL: Oh ballplayer…I could throw a curve ball at eight years old, it could drop off a table…that’s the only natural ability I ever had in sports. I was playing at legion level at 15, which was pretty young, but the athletic ability, the ability to run, I didn’t have that. But hockey provided a way where…baseball…they’re fat and everything else…it’s hard to play like this (gritting his teeth) and hockey provided you a way of, okay, I can’t get to the top of baseball because I just can’t run a 3.3 down the baseline and my fast ball is now topped out at 88 and you’re not…you can see the guys when you start getting up there, you see these guys…oh holy smokes…look at his legs…so strong…incredible athletes…the first time I saw a guy get a full-boat to Michigan and I was like holy smoke…guy’s got a cannon…can run like a deer, it’s like whoa, but hockey was the way. I played a little as a kid but hockey you can go further, it came down to grit (gritting his teeth again), like I say ‘you can’t get mad at a baseball’ (gritting his teeth AGAIN) or grinding out so to speak, but I always loved hockey more, I was a better ball player but I loved hockey more. I think we were much closer as teammates. Back then, certainly you know, where I was from the “toughness element” back then you didn’t have to wear the mouth guards or the face shields so the fights were whatever (tough) and I took the bus rides, again I wasn’t your junior hockey (OHL/Ottawa 67’s) but New England junior hockey was pretty big at the time but hockey was…it fit my personality better because if you had a work ethic and willing to pay the price, it seemed to lend itself to that more than anything. Essentially I was captain of every team I ever played on from the time I was eight years old on and up and it wasn’t the talent, it was all about, again, work and being a teammate. So when I saw guys that were out of line as far as teammates I gave them a lesson my father taught me. (Laughing) ‘DAMN did he hit me hard’, I’ll never forget that…it came…you don’t know where it was coming from-DAMN-(remembering back in time)…to this day, I still remember exactly where I was standing’!
JF: One of my first conversations I ever had with you, you went through the levels-categorizing players. “Player”, “Star”, “Superstar” and then “Winner”. How easy is it to identify that? Maybe I should say, how difficult?
DL: I think at times you can see it, you really can, but it also can be learned. I’m convinced that a player in the right atmosphere…you talk about the Red Wings…I think that’s an “environmental skill” as much as an “innate skill”. Yes you have your guys like Clarke (Bobby Clarke), they have that certain “IT” or whatever, we’ve talked about Mike Richards, he always has that certain “It”, Jeter (Derek ) clearly, Montana (Joe), the great ones…Larry Bird, so there is a segment of born leaders but Vince Lombardi said it best, ‘Leaders are about hard work and you can work at being a leader‘. (Leaders aren’t born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal)…so Lombardi, if you read that famous quote, I think he’s dead on, like any other walk of life right? There are piano players who just pick right, guitar players, pick any skill you want…it’s a very small segment but what broadens it is people who work towards those values every day and you’re in the right environment, somebody’s there to guide them, keep them on the right line.
I think that’s why when you see dynasty’s or whatever then they say ‘handing down the mantel or the flame’…the Montreal Canadiens had it…what’s being handed down…what it means to be a champion. And so that’s why you’ve heard me say ‘culture, culture, culture’…people talk culture all the time but you got to “do” culture and that’s a lot of work and that’s again why you can say its micromanaging but it’s not. When you sit in this seat, everything has to be done right, it’s not to be anal about counting the paper clips but these guys like Vince Lombardi and Lou Lamoriello and things, ‘what they’re after is culture’. And it’s every little thing and the belief you put in a good person, a good athlete with the right values in that setting and you can “breed them”, and once you got it, it’s an incredibly powerful thing. You see Detroit (Red Wings)…how many times have you seen them through the years rise to the occasion at big moments and again you know what the Yankees are all about, so that can be taught or put in the right seedling…no question…Lombardi said a long time ago and I think he’s dead on.
I just recently finished reading Platos Republic. Good Book!
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DesertKing Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
@408kingsfan,
Does “Where The Wild Things Are” qualify as a book?
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408kingsfan Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 8:12 pm
@DesertKing, no sorry
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DesertKing Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 9:54 pm
@408kingsfan,
“War and Peace” cliff notes?
Thanks Jim good stuff!
The one thing every other past Kings GM could never get right or could even recognize was a missing ingredient here was a culture. DL said that on his first day. LA was a beach club with no accountability. Not every team over the years, but many teams weren’t playing for the right reasons. DL has instilled and bread a culture here that has led to hard work, perseverance and winning. Even when his teams aren’t winning they always play hard and battle.
DL is an excellent GM. He has built a powerhouse team here that is capable of winning for the next several years and handing down what that means to the next generation of King’s players. I just hope whoever buys the Kings will understand how important he has been to this franchise too.
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Osaka Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
@Kingfish, +1
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empire Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 8:24 pm
@Osaka, +2
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Forum Gold Reply:
November 11th, 2012 at 10:04 am
@Kingfish, Hat trick.
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luc20rules Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 4:36 pm
@Forum Gold, Absolutely.
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So they had a lunch meeting but did not determine when the negotiation resumes. No formal talk today.
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DesertKing Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
@goldielocks,
Yep, can’t settle this until the expense accounts have been used up.
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Osaka Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 5:30 pm
@goldielocks, I have to believe the “make whole” and revenue sharing are the whole ball of wax. I can’t see entry level contacts being reduced to 2 years and cap hits only being able to fluctuate a certain percent over the life of a contract being a sticking point. Those provisions actually help the union. There is only a small percentage of union members that get the 10-15 year contracts. Those restrictions only harm the super rich, the Kovi contracts. The average Joe will benefit from shorter entry level deals. They will make a few more bucks quicker. There is a cap so teams will spend to the cap, the players will get their money. The contract restrictions just make it so more union members get a bigger share instead of the few. Contracts being limited to 5 years might be a sticking point, but I’m sure the NHL could live with a 7 year limit. More than 7 years is just stupid in hockey. I don’t think Gretzky ever had more then a 7 year deal.
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luc20rules Reply:
November 12th, 2012 at 4:54 pm
@Osaka, That is not how it works. The long backdiving contracts that cheat the salary cap actually helps the NHLPA, since it circumvents the salary cap. The rich players just play with a cheating lower cap hit, which allows the team to pay the other 20 players on the team salary cap the difference. Example Kovi’s contract cap hit 6.67 mil/yr, actual if Kovi retires when salary dips $9.56 mil/yr NJ for the 9yrs Kovi is on the team can spend 2.89 mil each year extra on the other players on the team. So lets say 10 players are signed with Kovi type contracts and those teams spend up to the salary cap that would mean each year 10 NHL owners would be paying 2.89 mil, collectivelly 28.9 mil over the HRR split agreed in players salary. 28.9 mil year going to players above the agreement.
I don’t know if these deals will be recalculated, but it appears for now those are just grandfathered in.
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I love the way you set the segments up with all the pictures and tie them all together in the interview. Great stuff Jim.
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Dean is right on. I graduated High School at 14, started Collage and an apprenticeship at 15. I could do geometry and trig in HS but I didn’t “get it” until college were I learned how to think. Makes a huge difference on how you see the world.
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Sancho Reply:
November 10th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
@empire, collage?
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Santa – Ho, ho, ho, oh nooooo! Look at that “Naughty List”! Christmas is right around the corner and there are two names that have been at the top for the last 55 days! No one has been at the top of the list for that long since WWII.
Elf #1 – He, he, he, yeppeeeeee! Those are 2 very bad boys! They are gonna get some coal this year!
Santa – Ho,ho,ho, I need a report on these two names!
Elf #2 – Name #1 is Gary Bettman, also known as “Evil Load” and “Buttman.” He has denied the entire world of hockey for the 3rd time in a decade. He is known to have a strong Napoleanic complex and has been called the “Grinch Who Stole Hockey.” He believes he is smarter and better than everyone else, despite negotiating past deals that were complete failures. His ultimate evil was to cause the great Rich Hammond to lose his job with the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings hockey club.
Santa – The Grinch and Napolean? Napolean was on the top of the list for the first decade of the 1800s. Poor little Rich Hammond. Such a good boy. Remind me to put some special UCLA game tickets in his stocking this year. What about #2? What can we do to get him on the “Nice” list?
Elf #3 – Name #2 is Donald Fehr, who coincidentally has the nickname of “#2″. He also has denied hockey to millions of people and also helped to cancel baseball to all of America. He would probably enjoy getting coal for Christmas based upon his last correspondence with us when he was 6 years old. He asked for a “Super Power Attorney Starter Kit,” a copy of the book “How To Complete A Rectal Exam With Just Words,” and a “Ninja Backstabber Action Set” with the “Deep Penetrator Knife.”
Santa – Hoo, hoo, hoo, what are we gonna do? #1 and #2, are both so bad that I fear, hockey will have to wait another year. Cancel the hockey toys and video games, concentrate on football, basketball, and baseball, since with those two running hockey, its gonna go out with a puff. They’re both full of hot air, and a lot of stinky gas, which makes meetings uncomfortable and easy to pass. Lets start a new list, one for only the worst, who ruin life for others, just for the sake of thier thirst. We will call that list “Those out of Luck” and into their stockings all of them will recieve, an La Kings jersey, so they will learn to believe.”
Elf #1 – Dang, I miss the good ole days when Santa just let the reindeers crap on their roofs.
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Robert R Reply:
November 11th, 2012 at 10:57 am
@DesertKing, I’m tellin’ ya, they ALL suck fat tool. Big time.
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Thanks Jim great reading as always
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Just found out their meeting is on for today more
talks today
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Let us know if you guys would mind us here in Colorado having your GM for a year or 2. That guy is intense and his approach to picking players and motivating them is awesome. Again…you are lucky to have a guy who knows how to “build”. It’s not just a job to him. It’s a way of life. Awesome reading Jim Fox thanks.
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