As the townsfolk gather in the square to light their torches before marching down Figueroa Street to the GM’s office, they need to be reminded of a few things:
- They love what Dean Lombardi has done with this organization.
- They love that he built a real farm system.
- They love that he went out and got a guy like Mike Richards.
- They love that he’s managed the cap and signed players to (mostly) really good contracts.
- They love that he fired Terry Murray…even if it was a little late.
But now, as he prepares to make what is likely to be his most important decision yet –putting in the best coach HE BELIEVES will help this team move forward– those that love him are ready to send him out of town on a rail.
That just because it’s Darryl Sutter as his choice, Dean has now…all the sudden…after doing so much to help this team…gone “nuts” as some have said.
Please help me understand how the people of LA –who value loyalty and hard work (values that embody the game of hockey itself)– can be so fickle and flighty at the flip of a switch. So unwilling to loan trust to a GM who has earned a ton of credit.
If we, as a collective, are now going to start calling for Dean Lombardi’s job if he hires Sutter –as it appears is imminent– then we, as a collective, deserve exactly what we have had for 40 years… no Stanley Cup.
Dean has made mistakes, no doubt. What GM hasn’t? But if he believes Sutter is the right man for the job then, by default, so should all of you.
It may not work out in the end, but if we are to be a classy group of fans who value the traditions of hockey, then we need to check ourselves before we give the rest of the NHL even more reasons to call us the laughing stock of the league.
The town of LaLa Land may be a joke to many in the hockey world, but for us, it’s where we call home. So before you go down this road, take a moment to breath, step back from the ledge and put out your torches.
Regardless of whether or not you like Sutter (and there are some great reason not to, see variables article below) I say we give Darryl Sutter a chance if for no other reason than our GM says it’s the right choice. That way we can get back to talking about what matters most…getting our beloved hockey club back on track.
I see your point, but that doesn’t mean I’ll change my mind that he’s making a BIG mistake. I certainly don’t want DL to go, no way! I do want him to rethink his strategy and not panic like he seems to be doing though.
Darryl Sutter is a Terry Murray who yells a lot. Do we really need that right now?
I’m just hoping that if he does sign Sutter that it is only until the end of the season with an option for the kings to opt-out at will. #1 choice for me is Tippett and if I have to wait this season to get him, I most certainly will.
I’ve written a nice, lengthy e-mail to Tim Leiweke. He did me a favor about 10 years ago after leaving him a voice mail and this is the first time I’ve contacted him since. He’s a much businer man than before, but it’s worth a shot. TL is one helluva down to earth guy. Have you written your e-mail yet?
@Cynic:
i agree, C…
WAVES – yr take is very well-written and has plenty of credence to it…
i realize that my take on the possible hiring of sutter is somewhat out of character, as not only a dl supporter, but someone who likes to give peeps a legitimate shot at hitting the pinata before i hit them with my own…eh, um…verbal stick…or should i say schtick…(?)…
and as much as i want to drink the kool-aid…(provided by QUISP, of course)…i can’t on this one, knowing deep-down inside that he’s not gonna be much different than what we’ve already experienced…
and much like CYNIC’s take, i don’t want dl to go…however, in many ways, if he goes and gets sutter for the job, he’s running back to the devil he knows…they both were fired together then…and they will probably both be fired again in the future if this does take place…i don’t think reuniting these guys is a good idea…and i don’t think sutter is the voice of inspiration and/or type of old-time discipline these guys are gonna be influenced by or believe in…
i respect yr point about supporting a gm in making the right decision for his team and organization…but i just can’t believe that this is really the way he should go…
all gm’s have their comfort zones…but dl rarely ventures out of his…and this is the time to do so, to try something different – fresh and exciting that is on par with the type of roster we have…
by going back to the ol’ cupboard and looking for an old, expired prescription to relieve and reverse the pain of the season thus far, is not the way to treat this modern-day infection that ails OUR kings…
i will be the very first one to admit i was wrong if things should dictate otherwise…i have no problem publicly eating grow on the subject if sutter proves to be the right flavor of tonic…
and, in all honesty, i hope i’m wrong on this one…(!)
Well written, good points. I think we all just want something fresh, and Sutter isn’t that. It’s like we fire the friendly dad and hire the drunk uncle. I’m willing to give him a chance, and by chance i mean i’m gonna watch the games and root for the Kings. We’ll see. I’m still “we’ll see” on Lombardi too.
I do not wish to see DL head down the road. That being said, I most certainly hope this next move is the correct one. Oddly enough, I see reasons to believe it is the correct move. 1. Darryl Sutter will not employ a system which requires vast reworking. Mid-season is not a time for a reinvention of the wheel, and I suspect DL would avoid this. 2. What many people, Dustin Brown included, say is missing, is a team attitude. This team has struggled to find it’s identity all year. I see Sutter resolving this quickly, bringing a very hard nosed attitude to a team that others dread facing. 3. The ingredients are there; they are well taught. The personnel are present. Sutter can make them believe they can win; at that point they will. 4. Sutter WILL hold players accountable.
Whereas I, like Cynic, would prefer Tippett, I don’t see DL waiting to get him. They want a deep run THIS YEAR, and don’t want to see the sell-out crowds go away, which they WILL if the fan base decides we have been lied to again. Just my $.02
wow DL going to be fire next when he fires Sutter that going to suck…
Sutter is not a right fit for the Kings …
@KingsfanFTW: i mean hire Sutter
I just made a post on JftC (don’t read it… a bit too much sarcasm in it probably) but then I saw your post Waves. So I’ll defer to the ‘healthier’ part of my post.
What I said essentially was this: On the ‘positive’ side of the ledger with regards to Dean Lombardi, I love that he has a point of view. Any successful writer, artist, sports franchise needs to have one.
As you point out, he has done a lot of good things for the Kings.
However what I didn’t see the first three years, but started to become more and more evident to me about a year and a half ago, is the following: it’s one thing to have a point of view, but when said point of view becomes crystallized to such a point that there is no adaptability in it, when it’s not a bit malleable, then there is a problem. Because as I see it, all this pov needed was some Space in it to be able to fold in some other ingredients. But his drafting has been very ‘d heavy’, the teams approach on the ice very ‘d heavy’ and then the choice of another coach the same.
Defense is great. The Baltimore Ravens even managed to win one Super Bowl with it. But if you look at the way most major league sports are played now (and yes, in the nba playoffs defense does become huge), they all need an element of imagination, creativity and offense. I’ve not seen that in the Kings….. save for short bursts in the odd game here or there.
Here’s my last analogy. I was listening to espn ny about a year or more ago and they were talking about the NY Jets lack of a lethal passing attack. The commentator did a brief monologue about how the NFL which used to essentially be a Running League had now become in fact a Passing League dominated by great quarterbacks (his feeling being that the Jets needed to adapt to a certain extent to the league as it is now….. not how it used to be).
I think my analogy to the Kings is pretty clear. I never said nor would I ever say ‘stop playing defense’…… but there exist shades of gray in life.
@number 6:
Anytime a leader surrounds himself with ‘yes men’ he is doing himself and the people he represents a disservice.
I’m not sure who Dean’s inner circle is, but I get the sense they are all mostly on the same page when it comes to the overall system that is in place for the Kings.
Perhaps if he had (and maybe he does, who knows) a young, hungry forward thinking offensive mind in his fold, he might adapt to new ways of doing things.
All that being said, it is widely understood that systems for all 30 teams are quite similar and that, as with any sport, much of the success of that system is dependent upon individual players and how they mesh together as a team.
I’m of the mindset now that much of the Kings problem is more about what’s in their head and not X’s and O’s. Perhaps what Dean needs, then, is not so much a flexible approach to the game of hockey but a better understanding of human behavior and motivation.
Fear only goes so far until resentment builds and there’s a backlash and that’s what I’m afraid he’s cultivating now.
Said by Waves—“Perhaps what Dean needs, then, is not so much a flexible approach to the game of hockey but a better understanding of human behavior and motivation.
Fear only goes so far until resentment builds and there’s a backlash and that’s what I’m afraid he’s cultivating now.”
…
…..THIS! Really.
@Cynic: Amen to that.
Waves, I agree with you, and at the same time I disagree with you.
I don’t have loads of time so I’ll do my best here. The way that I agree is that we’re strangely saying a very similar thing. How we are in life links to everything. Fine, lets say that all 30 teams use more or less the same system. Jim Fox said it. But who is responsible for implementing the players that play it? On every level; the players who are drafted, how they fit with each other, who they are coached by. It’s clearly the GM. So if he’s rather rigid (my word not yours) in dealing with other human beings, you can be assured that that same rigidity will leak over into every aspect of his work (see above).
My personal point of reference (probably too open for a blog, but what the hell). I do photos. As I’ve found things about my character and way of relating to others that needed to change, guess what? My work changed. My photos changed.
If it’s true about the same system, why is it that Detroit plays like Detroit, and that the Kings have looked like they need a suppository. Have you ever bought a pair of jeans (or shoes) that looked great, felt pretty much alright, but a bit tight? And the sales person said, no worries. They’ll give. They’ll adjust to your body (or feet). And it was true. I know that I have.
Well use the analogy of ‘give’ in the context of Lombardi. There is very little ‘give’ (i.e.adaptabiltiy) that I see in how he approaches a lot (not all) of his work. And I see on the ice a team structured so tightly ‘to fit’ that there is no give to sort of move and adjust to fold into it the possibility of slightly more movement in the system, slightly more ‘give’ in the system.
That is just one reason, to say nothing of a drafting philosophy, and ‘old boys club’ philosophy (see Moreau, Hunter) that the Kings look like and play like the Kings and not the Redwings.
An architect creates what he creates, and one is left to judge it based on their experience of it.
And one last point that I’d meant to make. I KNOW for almost a fact that at some point you were watching a Stanley Cup playoff game or something and the announcer said, these guys can play it however you want to play it. Wanna play gritty, want to open it up and skate, a close defensive game?
It’s easy to dismiss that in saying that the Kings don’t have that talent level. But these other teams beyond being good are able to adapt their X’s and O’s to at least a certain extent. I don’t see that at all with the Kings. And I do feel that Lombardi is at least in part responsible for that, and it became exceedingly clear to me w the choice of Sutter.
This is so good it could be in a magazine. What a great article! Let’s hope they make the right choice.