Dean Lombardi Appreciation Thread

[Bandit]

Will be forever grateful to Dean for all he did and sad to see him go. Wish him all the best of luck on the future. I wish someone would have been able to interview him but I guess we may never hear his thoughts on how it all went down in the end.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

I will always appreciate Dean for the glory years he brought to the organization, but it was his time to go.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I used to play hockey at TSC during the week and I would see Lombardi's truck late - sometimes like 9-10pm. He worked long hours as GM. Gotta give the guy credit.

 

[tucson83]

flyers fan coming in peace, if dean becomes the gm for the flyers which he probably will be, is he the best gm that get the flyers over the hump like is he a risk taker and not hextall's way of just keeping the prospects and not make any moves?

 

[Sol]

flyers fan coming in peace, if dean becomes the gm for the flyers which he probably will be, is he the best gm that get the flyers over the hump like is he a risk taker and not hextall's way of just keeping the prospects and not make any moves?

Depends if Deano has adapted. You might be upset to see him be GM. He's way too old school and doesn't like the new NHL

He will trade your prospects and picks for over the hill grit.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

flyers fan coming in peace, if dean becomes the gm for the flyers which he probably will be, is he the best gm that get the flyers over the hump like is he a risk taker and not hextall's way of just keeping the prospects and not make any moves?

he takes risks
of the Cloutier / Carter / Richards / Lucic / Sekera variety

 

[KingPuckChoo]

why is everything being bumped up today lol

nostalgia

 

[tucson83]

Depends if Deano has adapted. You might be upset to see him be GM. He's way too old school and doesn't like the new NHL

He will trade your prospects and picks for over the hill grit.

i dont care because you have no idea how frustrating the flyer fanbase is with hextall not making any moves and it's been going on for five years and the team has gone no where with him and the coach he hired is a disaster, so if dean will trade picks/prospects and hire an nhl coach to get this team over hump, im all for it.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Hextall was a Dean Lombardi disciple... so expect more or less the same.

 

[lumbergh]

Dean Lombardi is a student of the game and smart as hell. He has a philosophy and sticks with it. The philosophy is less about numbers and more about personalities. He makes tangible the intangibles. When he finds a winner, he gets really attached.

He took the Kings to the promised land twice by getting a great core of players and adding the winners to surround them. His ultimate downfall was due to getting too attached to his winners (Richards, Gaborik, Sutter, Clifford, etc.) and watching the game pass him by.

If he can still find those winners, then yes, he could take the Flyers and mold them into a potential winner. It will take years because the Flyers are not built the way DL wants, from the goalie, back end and center out.

I’m frankly quite surprised that Hexy hasn’t done well. Lombardi trained him and he left just prior to the bottom falling out of the Kings. He hitched his wagon to the wrong horses. The coach selection was particularly baffling.

 

[Bandit]

Hextall was a Dean Lombardi disciple... so expect more or less the same.

Hextall was also a goalie with a screw loose (redundant, I know) that took a few too many pucks to the head, while Lombardi actually went to law school. Same ideology, sure, but execution matters too.

 

[BigKing]

Depends if Deano has adapted. You might be upset to see him be GM. He's way too old school and doesn't like the new NHL

He will trade your prospects and picks for over the hill grit.

This is the type of bullshit that led to Blake being slobbered over 1/4 of the way into last season.

Lombardi will not trade their prospects for over the hill grit. He made those types of trades once the team was a contender and two-time Cup champ except for probably the Purcell/Halpern trade. Prior to that, he moved to collect picks and prospects until he could move from a position of strength.

Regarding Hextall, Lombardi chose the wrong coach twice and almost realized it too late with Murray. Hextall needs to figure that out and then needs to realize you can't just sit on every prospect and win.

 

[KINGS17]

flyers fan coming in peace, if dean becomes the gm for the flyers which he probably will be, is he the best gm that get the flyers over the hump like is he a risk taker and not hextall's way of just keeping the prospects and not make any moves?

The Flyers should stick with Hextall. He did an excellent job in LA as the assistant GM.

When Hextall feels the Flyers are ready to make a legit push for a Stanley Cup, he won't hesitate to make a deal to push them over the top. Flyers fans may feel they are ready now, but as an outside observer I would say the Flyers are not contenders and still have a few years to go before that happens.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Hexy isn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dean end up somewhere in the west again. My bet is Edmonton, he’s stated in the past how much he enjoyed scouting in Edmonton and liked the people there.

 

[tucson83]

The Flyers should stick with Hextall. He did an excellent job in LA as the assistant GM.

When Hextall feels the Flyers are ready to make a legit push for a Stanley Cup, he won't hesitate to make a deal to push them over the top. Flyers fans may feel they are ready now, but as an outside observer I would say the Flyers are not contenders and still have a few years to go before that happens.

assistants dont make them great gms, it's the one who's the managing the team that wins them cups like dean, hextall is nothing like dean, he just sits on this team and doesnt make any moves, hextall is hextall, dean is dean. especially hextall telling us fans we are idiots and the product is terrible, how's your team any better without him?

im surprised they got rid of dean, which they shouldnt have.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Hextall was a Dean Lombardi disciple... so expect more or less the same.

The funny thing is Hextall has done almost the polar opposite of late-stage Lombardi---amass assets and do nothing. Probably why they balanced each other out so well.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Hexy isn’t going anywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Dean end up somewhere in the west again. My bet is Edmonton, he’s stated in the past how much he enjoyed scouting in Edmonton and liked the people there.

I think a DL / DS Calgary reunion is more likely than Hexy losing his spot to Dean.

 

[Choralone]

Dean wasn't afraid to pull the trigger, and he made the right moves to build a champion (sure, some luck was involved, too). Posters here lump together what Dean did post-cups versus pre-cup (and mix in the World Cup team selection). He remade the King's culture from top to bottom, and he had a plan. If he failed, it was in maintaining a champion beyond two championships in three years. First-world problems.

 

[mrkolice]

imho the notorious mike richards saga marked lombardi, on a very personal level. it's like a tattoo on his forehead. he will not be the same gm again.

 

[Sol]

This is the type of bull**** that led to Blake being slobbered over 1/4 of the way into last season.

Lombardi will not trade their prospects for over the hill grit. He made those types of trades once the team was a contender and two-time Cup champ except for probably the Purcell/Halpern trade. Prior to that, he moved to collect picks and prospects until he could move from a position of strength.

Regarding Hextall, Lombardi chose the wrong coach twice and almost realized it too late with Murray. Hextall needs to figure that out and then needs to realize you can't just sit on every prospect and win.

What has Blake done wrong besides Stevens? Here you are moaning DLs name And acting like he's going to be put in a position to rebuild while completely ignoring his last few years of bombing it/and his view of the current NHL trends. Did you forget the team USA he put together that got their teeth kicked in? Convenient you'd ignore those worrying trends.

Cut out the bullshit, please. If Lombardi is the same guy that left the Kings, he's making no team cup winners with character and Grit rather than speed and skill.

 

[BigKing]

What has Blake done wrong besides Stevens? Here you are moaning DLs name And acting like he's going to be put in a position to rebuild while completely ignoring his last few years of bombing it/and his view of the current NHL trends. Did you forget the team USA he put together that got their teeth kicked in? Convenient you'd ignore those worrying trends.

Cut out the bull****, please. If Lombardi is the same guy that left the Kings, he's making no team cup winners with character and Grit rather than speed and skill.

I did not opine on whether he would be a good GM for them or not. You said he would just trade their prospects for over the hill vets. His grasp of the game and trends has no bearing on your viewpoint that, with the current Flyers team, he would trade youth and prospects for trash. It completely ignores the fact that he didn't start trading prospects/picks until he felt they were on the cusp or they were coming off of winning two championships in three years. The LA Kings of Lombardi's final years are vastly different than the current Flyers team.

What has Blake done for the team on NHL ice besides Iafallo (already in process under DL), Stevens and Kovalchuk? My point was Blake was being lionized last season during the hot start while Lombardi continued to be shit on all because Blake didn't trade any draft picks and Lombardi's team was playing well. It is no secret I dislike Blake but I'm not saying he is trash as I like the attempts to rebuild the pipeline and it is still early to judge him, although that time is drawing near pretty quick. I do, however, have an issue with him being put on a pedestal--for no reason--at the expense of Lombardi while Blake has done little in the way of tangible results while Lombardi's entire tenure has been reduced to what happened since June of 2014, completely ignoring the entire painful rebuild and then only the greatest f***ing period in Kings history.

 

[King'sPawn]

I think Lombardi brings a lot to any organization.

He made many mistakes, like getting married to certain players, and doubling down with trying to make the playoffs with a flawed core.

But while he makes mistakes, he's methodical and isn't afraid to pull the trigger if he believes in the move.

In Philadelphia, he has a LOT of pieces he can move. I think it would be a great fit for him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Dean wasn't afraid to pull the trigger, and he made the right moves to build a champion (sure, some luck was involved, too). Posters here lump together what Dean did post-cups versus pre-cup (and mix in the World Cup team selection). He remade the King's culture from top to bottom, and he had a plan. If he failed, it was in maintaining a champion beyond two championships in three years. First-world problems.

Haha right? If the worst criticism you've got of me is "you didn't threepeat or have a dynasty after your two Cups in three years because you fell in love with your players (*except the ones who retired or otherwise did illegal things)" I'd say I lived life alright. That's a pretty legendary way to go out, too. Too loyal to your guys. Obviously the result sucks for us, but that's an admirable way to crash and burn.





Edit; when searching for that quote I came across this. I guess I didn't know this because it got lost in the excitement, but DL with the callout of the Yotes after their meltdown in the WCF: Kings' Dean Lombardi says Coyotes goalie incited crowd after Game 5

 

[damacles1156]

Lombardi proved me wrong on a number of things. Made some risky moves that helped produce Two Stanley Cups. Most GM's will never win a Stanley Cup, even with better rosters than the 2012-2014 Kings.

 

[Sol]

I did not opine on whether he would be a good GM for them or not. You said he would just trade their prospects for over the hill vets. His grasp of the game and trends has no bearing on your viewpoint that, with the current Flyers team, he would trade youth and prospects for trash. It completely ignores the fact that he didn't start trading prospects/picks until he felt they were on the cusp or they were coming off of winning two championships in three years. The LA Kings of Lombardi's final years are vastly different than the current Flyers team.

What has Blake done for the team on NHL ice besides Iafallo (already in process under DL), Stevens and Kovalchuk? My point was Blake was being lionized last season during the hot start while Lombardi continued to be **** on all because Blake didn't trade any draft picks and Lombardi's team was playing well. It is no secret I dislike Blake but I'm not saying he is trash as I like the attempts to rebuild the pipeline and it is still early to judge him, although that time is drawing near pretty quick. I do, however, have an issue with him being put on a pedestal--for no reason--at the expense of Lombardi while Blake has done little in the way of tangible results while Lombardi's entire tenure has been reduced to what happened since June of 2014, completely ignoring the entire painful rebuild and then only the greatest ****ing period in Kings history.

Are the flyers looking to blow it up and rebuild? I don't think so, how is he the right candidate for a position that's not his strength. I'm not saying he's a bad person, but anyone who suggests that a DL who focuses on Grit and Character above all else is going to be a good GM for another team is wrong. The game outgrew him. People were happy with Blake because he wasn't picks and prospect on distant hope broken players.

I mean futa gets a ton of praise on here like he's some genius and yet the Kings haven't even drafted so hot.





Unless DL has adapted, I don't anticipate him bettering any team if his mindset is still the same.