LAKings.com feature: Northern Roots

My weekly LAKings.com feature has been posted, and I hope you’ll give it a read as part of the Kings-Sharks series preview. It details the efforts of Los Angeles players, coaches and executives in helping to shape San Jose’s early identity. I spoke with Darryl Sutter, Kelly Hrudey and Jack Ferreira, whose roots stretch between the two clubs, while taking a look at the part Dean Lombardi played in helping to build the base of success sustained by the Kings’ Northern California rivals.

LAKings.com: Northern Roots

Several quotes that did not make their way into the feature:

Kelly Hrudey, on his impressions of his 18-year-old teammate, Patrick Marleau:
Just an unbelievably focused athlete. He was very quiet, but there was a burning desire that was so noticeable. It was really cool to watch because he was, as you said, a really young guy, 18 years old that first year for him, and it was cool for us because he lived with my family, and we really got to know him really well, and he became like a big brother to our daughters. As much as I really enjoyed being around him as a player, I think it was off the ice that that’s where my feelings for him really grew in the sense that not only was he a teammate, but to a certain degree he was kind of like a son to me because at my age, I was I can’t remember 37 or 38 – so I had that feeling for him.

Jack Ferreira, on the early goals in building the San Jose franchise:
The one thing that we tried to do was we tried to go from the back out. We were lucky enough to get Arturs Irbe and Jeff Hackett, But Arturs played for us in the minors at the time. So he was going to be our goalie of the future.

Ferreira, on what he had learned from his experience in San Jose:
The one thing that I learned from there when I went to Anaheim, you get absolutely no respect as an expansion team. So when I went to Anaheim, I made sure we had a big, strong team, and we got a lot of respect. But I learned my lesson in San Jose. That’s one thing I learned.

Ferreira, on Dean Lombardi’s responsibilities as an assistant general manager:
He was involved in everything. Back then, you had like four people in your front office. It isn’t like now where everything is so departmentalized. It was Dean and I – Dean did all the negotiating the contracts. He actually did some scouting. He oversaw a lot of the budgets, because in Minnesota and San Jose we used to work on a monthly budget, not yearly. Our budget was broken down to 12 months. Dean was in charge of that. He would go watch our minor league team. We just divided up the duties and we did them. We carried on.

Ferreira, on Lombardi’s attributes:
I knew he was a relentless worker. He was a good judge of talent. He loved the game. It was easy to work together. Everything that you see in him now. He asks a lot of questions. He always seems to try to find a better way to do things. Sometimes it was frustrating, but most of the time it worked.

Previous LAKings.com features:
Great Expectations
Alec Martinez: Ready to Play
Ice Chirps
Rogie and Quick
Their Move
Jumping Off Point
Weekend in Manch
Silver and Black Lining
Winter’s Spell
Culture Shift
Five-Ringed Granger
Loosened Reign
Halfway There
Robyn’s Flight
Net Gains
Mark Morris: An Open Door
Darryl Sutter: Playing Hardball
Influencers
Another Go
Dining Out with Willie Mitchell
Kings of CHLA
West is Best
Their Words
Numbers Aside
Follow Me
Talk About It
Padded Down
Little Time for Rest
Make Them Better
Comfort Level
Getting There
Will to Win
Buying In
Fine Tuning
Battle Tested
Smooth and Selke
Up, Up and Away
In Their Eyes
Work in Progress
Committed
Scuderi’s Actions Speak
Brown’s Model a Path for Doughty

Elsa / Getty Images Sport

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