Lombardi announced as GM of the Year finalist

Dean Lombardi was announced as a finalist for the General Manager of the Year Award today along with Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks and Marc Bergevin of the Montreal Canadiens. This is the first time Lombardi has been a finalist, while Bergevin and Murray have previously been named as finalists for the award first presented in 2010. The winner of the award voted on by the 30 NHL general managers will be announced at the NHL Awards on June 24 at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.

The league’s release noted the Kings’ fifth consecutive playoff berth in support of Lombardi in addition to the team’s third straight appearance in the Western Conference Final and the seven players signed to new contracts last summer. There was also an inclusion of the trade deadline acquisition of Marian Gaborik, who leads all players with nine postseason goals.

But something that the award doesn’t note – and likely one of the reasons why he is placed in a high regard by so many of his peers – is much more intangible than any contract extensions, trades or point accumulations. It is the construction of a team identity within the Kings, an organization that, while it boasted a 40-plus year tradition, was bereft of a solidified culture at the time of his hiring in 2006.

“He needed to be able to put in place a team that was probably behind the eight ball in terms of a lot of different things, in terms of the whole management part of it, probably the scouting part of it,” Darryl Sutter said. “It’s good, because it’s an award – we never used to have it – so now it’s voted by the managers, I believe. A lot of ‘em aren’t.”

There’s a great story from the 2012-13 season that includes Lombardi discussing the process of developing an identity and, eventually, a team culture. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s a highly recommended read.

An excerpt:

“I think you’ve heard me talk about culture – and, quite frankly, and this has always been in the back of my mind. First you need stability and continuity. Then you get an identity, and then you have culture. But if you don’t have the first one, you’re not going to get the culture. And culture takes time, and the only way you’re going to do it is keep a bunch of good players together that care about each other, learn through the ups and downs and learn to win. And that’s a ‘culture’. And that’s not going to happen in one year. It’s a process, just like we’re just starting to get an identity now.”