Boris the Bullet-dodger, aka Dean Lombardi 2012-14

[Rorschach]

Ok, off-season thread time.

During the time DL was building up to and maintaining the Kings as contenders, there were many situations where DL was attempting to improve the team significantly, failed, then went with plan B (or even C or D), then it magically worked out even better.

This is why him having a vision led to our victories, because he kept going. And it also makes me feel like we were a team of destiny since so many times we whiffed only to connect later at the very best time and situation.

What were some first-time fails that led Lombardi to try again and get it spectacularly right later?


My example will be where Lombardi offered to CBJ to acquire both Carter and Nash with no retention. If we got Nash, the cap hit would be so huge that the re-signs of both Quick and Brown would have significantly affected the roster. And maybe we don't draft Pearson, who was excellent against the West in the 2014 run.

Click to read more...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Tried to sign Brad Richards in 2012 after he had acquired Mike Richards. That may have prevented the team from pursuing Jeff Carter at the trade deadline.

Who knows what may have happened if Ryan Smyth elected to stick around as well. Funny how if he stuck around that season, he may have had a shot at getting his name on the Cup.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Probably the B. Richards signing.

The Carter/Nash proposal would have sent back Brown, from what I've heard. That was why his name was in the rumor mill that deadline, which sparked him to the most incredible run of his career (PPG from trade deadline through Cup win).

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Kovalchuk springs to mind.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Gagne getting hurt, and then he and Penner combining for 14 total goals in 11-12? If Gagne doesn't get hurt, Brown doesn't move to LW, which doesn't open up a spot for Carter on the right side. Penner wasn't brought in to score a whole 11 regular season goals in 117 games in his Kings career either.

Would Lombardi have been perfectly happy to go with Doughty, Johnson, Mitchell, Voynov, Greene, Martinez, and Scuderi as his 7 d-men? Can't predict nobody getting hurt come the 2012 playoffs, so why not? Had Gagne and Penner done what they were supposed to do, why make the Johnson/Carter deal?

Then a few years later, after Brown stopped scoring, and Richards disappeared, it was much easier to move Carter to C, as opposed to trading for a top 2C, then got Gaborik for a song, and he went on to have one of best goal scoring playoff runs in history.

So, thanks for getting that concussion Simon? But seriously, Gagne was such a slick player.

 

[kingsfan28]

Probably the B. Richards signing.

The Carter/Nash proposal would have sent back Brown, from what I've heard. That was why his name was in the rumor mill that deadline, which sparked him to the most incredible run of his career (PPG from trade deadline through Cup win).

I think the proposed deal for Nash didn't include Brown, but the same pieces for Carter , plus some of our top prospects. The Brown rumor from what a remember was just a bunch of scouts playing the "what if game" and someone passed it off to Bob McKenzie, then it exploded.

 

[Legionnaire]

I think the proposed deal for Nash didn't include Brown, but the same pieces for Carter , plus some of our top prospects. The Brown rumor from what a remember was just a bunch of scouts playing the "what if game" and someone passed it off to Bob McKenzie, then it exploded.

I swear I remember Bob saying on the deadline show that the Kings were actually trying get get both but the assets and numbers just didn't work out for both sides.

 

[Rorschach]

Another one is us winning the last game of the season and missing the 1OA. Then we draft Drew and win two Cups with him while Stamkos has sniffed one Final series even though having Hedman on the team. The balance of Kopitar, Doughty and Quick is the envy of everyone in the league...even Chicago and Pittsburgh must respect it.

Despite dealing off so many major pieces, that one extra win totally changed everything. None of the other consensus top defensemen have their names on the Cup.

 

[Legionnaire]

Another one is us winning the last game of the season and missing the 1OA. Then we draft Drew and win two Cups with him while Stamkos has sniffed one Final series even though having Hedman on the team. The balance of Kopitar, Doughty and Quick is the envy of everyone in the league...even Chicago and Pittsburgh must respect it.

Despite dealing off so many major pieces, that one extra win totally changed everything. None of the other consensus top defensemen have their names on the Cup.

Very true! Winning matters.

But there was a ton of talk that Dean was going to take him number one if we ended up there. We'll never know, but I'm pretty sure he realized that JJ wasn't the franchise defensemen we were looking for.

 

[Sol]

Dean did good, and he fell on his own spear. Live by the sword, die by the sword. He took too many risks, character blinded him, he got lucky and I don't think you can say that he didn't, because he never changed, and did the same thing over and over again, then his luck turned sour. Dean was a good GM, but he was awful at adapting.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Edit.

 

[Rorschach]

Very true! Winning matters.

But there was a ton of talk that Dean was going to take him number one if we ended up there. We'll never know, but I'm pretty sure he realized that JJ wasn't the franchise defensemen we were looking for.

Then there's trading Johnson, who was supposed to be a huge acquisition for us. Instead when he was dealt, Voynov emerged.


Another one was whiffing on the O'Sullivan for Williams trade...we had to do the trade twice and at the additional cost of a 2nd but Williams was great, re-signed for a discount and Conn Smythed his way into hockey history in the last year of that discount deal.

 

[Legionnaire]

Then there's trading Johnson, who was supposed to be a huge acquisition for us. Instead when he was dealt, Voynov emerged.


Another one was whiffing on the O'Sullivan for Williams trade...we had to do the trade twice and at the additional cost of a 2nd but Williams was great, re-signed for a discount and Conn Smythed his way into hockey history in the last year of that discount deal.

I was soooooooooooooo mad about that trade. Boy, was I wrong.

 

[Rorschach]

The Carter/Nash proposal would have sent back Brown, from what I've heard. That was why his name was in the rumor mill that deadline, which sparked him to the most incredible run of his career (PPG from trade deadline through Cup win).

That's another...Brown having a bad season and Lombardi "failing" to trade him (who knows if he even tried hard) led to Brownie having a near Conn Smyth run in 2012.

 

[BigBrown]

Not wanting to accept Colin Fraser from Edmonton in the Smyth deal. The trade was first for Gilbert Brule, but then Lombardi learned that he was concussed. So they had to trade for Fraser instead who, as it turned out, also was dealing with injuries. Lombardi was pretty pissed about the whole thing but in the end Fraser solidified and gave an identity to a fourth line that had been a complete mess for a long time.

 

[Legionnaire]

Not wanting to accept Colin Fraser from Edmonton in the Smyth deal. The trade was first for Gilbert Brule, but then Lombardi learned that he was concussed. So they had to trade for Fraser instead who, as it turned out, also was dealing with injuries. Lombardi was pretty pissed about the whole thing but in the end Fraser solidified and gave an identity to a fourth line that had been a complete mess for a long time.

Good one. In the end, Fraser was the only person to have won a Cup before on that 2012 team, and I think his experience mattered.

 

[Sacha Baron Corbin]

I would say the obvious ones were Kovalchuck, Brad Richards, and Smyth.

Another one that comes to mind was Vanek/Erhoff in 2014. I don't have a solid citation for this one but If I remember correctly Buffalo wanted Toffoli in the deal? So Dean went with Gaborik which was a steal of a trade, obviously Gaborik lead the playoffs in goal scoring and was a major part of that second Cup run.

 

[yankeeking]

Even before the 2012 run there was the pursuit of UFA drury ,Gianta etc that signed for many years at like 6 million per many on here ,including myself, thought AEG had cheaped out on us again but Lombardi said he had a number and when they wouldn't sign for that he didn't just throw more stupid money after it , don't know if this counts but it would have changed what we could have done going into those runs

 

[King'sPawn]

Good one. In the end, Fraser was the only person to have won a Cup before on that 2012 team, and I think his experience mattered.

Justin Williams won with Carolina and Rob Scuderi won with Pittsburgh.

 

[Fishhead]

Good one. In the end, Fraser was the only person to have won a Cup before on that 2012 team, and I think his experience mattered.

It seemed trivial at the time, but having one of your cup winners, playing on the 4th line, come out and score the first goal of the final was huge. I never really even thought about that until watching the replays months later.

 

[Rorschach]

Not wanting to accept Colin Fraser from Edmonton in the Smyth deal. The trade was first for Gilbert Brule, but then Lombardi learned that he was concussed. So they had to trade for Fraser instead who, as it turned out, also was dealing with injuries. Lombardi was pretty pissed about the whole thing but in the end Fraser solidified and gave an identity to a fourth line that had been a complete mess for a long time.

Yep, that works, I remember that we had "bad blood" with Edmonton for a while.

 

[johnjm22]

Trading one of the top ranked prospects in the game, a young soon to be top notch power forward, and a 2nd round pick, for guy that only had a few years of good hockey left in him but was signed for 9 more years was a mistake that panned out.

If that trade doesn't get made, maybe there's not enough justification to fire TM in 2012. Maybe Carter is never acquired.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Even though he connected, the failures of Ethan Moreau and Trent Hunter made way for Nolan and King.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I swear I remember Bob saying on the deadline show that the Kings were actually trying get get both but the assets and numbers just didn't work out for both sides.

There was a guy on LGK at the time (think his name was something like DoughtyOneTimer) who appeared to have serious connections. I remember him saying the rumored deal for both Carter and Nash was a first, Johnson, Brown, and Jordan Weal.

Edit: And the deal breaker for Dean was allegedly Weal.

 

[Rorschach]

You see a guy like Sakic failing to trade...we all know his team is going nowhere.

In this thread I'm hoping Blake has a bit of 2011 Lombardi in him and that he has access to Anschutz's full support.

Remember Lombardi filling the team with tweener UFA vets? The team was very disappointing and Lombardi was able to convince ownership to give him full control and to rebuild even though AEG needed to fill Staples and the new LA Live.

What I don't want is another Taylor, respected ex-player who just makes some willy nilly deals, winning on overall value but the team never improving. And then adding a few decent picks but never developing them just to dump them all for the one good player they couldn't develop.