I’m not even sure that the tragedy was really in this past week’s results — more that they point to the tragedy this summer when Lombardi decided to not spend any money on this team. Every single game is now tainted with the “what if” syndrome — what if Lombardi had gotten another defender (and dropped Doughty down to an easier pairing), what if Lombardi had gotten a top-six forward to help out Kopitar and his friends, and what if Lombardi had manned up and gotten a franchise goalie?

We’ll probably never really know what impact a few million could have had on the Kings, but I think this past week we got a sniff of what could have been. Way to save some dollars, DL.

Khabibulin? I seem to remember a few people calling me out after I said the Kings needed a veteran #1. There is talent in the pipeline, but it is not going to be ready anytime soon. Overpay someone for a year or two to hold the fort until you are ready to give Bernier the reigns.

I finally bit the bullet and “signed up” for ANOTHER blog.
Who took my “cristobal” screen name?
Anyway, I applaud the fiery (why isn’t it spelled “firey?”) critique.
The problem I have is that Murray is losing these games, despite all the positives he’s brought.
Sure we’re playing pretty good defensively as a team.
But there’s at least as much talent here as there is in Chicago – outside of goal.
When will someone, anyone, approach Murray face to face and ask why the hell he continues to skate Ivan and Zeiler EVERY GAME? Against Detroit, no less.
I still believe Lombardi should go hire Igor and get him in here as an assistant – I don’t care if we pay him more than Murray.
We’ve got some good players here and they’re being played out of position.
Simmonds is great and I love the kid, but for now he’s clearly a 3rd or 4th (what a concept) line guy.
Throw Brown out with someone other than Calder on his wing and see what happens – like Fro/Zus/Brown.
Is this that difficult to figure out?
We’ve got every player on the team committed to playing defense, so why can’t we have 4 lines that are balanced?
We’ll lose nothing by sitting Ivan and Zeiler, or by at least breaking them up and letting them ANCHOR (and you know what sense I mean anchor) two proven players.
I also love Doughty, but he’s cost us more than 2 games. Early in the season he got whipped by Smythe in the Colorado game, and the Calgary game he blew coverage on Langkow even though Murray tried to blame that on Kopitar not “digging in.”
And finally, where the fuck is Brian Boyle?
This kid had one bad game (anchored by who else but Ivan and Zeils) and gets shipped out to Manchester.
We seemed to be doing a lot better with Boyle in the lineup from what I remember.
I guess you have to be big, slow, punchy, and have no up-side to get a regular start for the team, not that you’re going to see more than 6 minutes or anything in the 3rd.

PS – Maybe if you don’t have capable goaltending the game-plan ought to be “outscore” the other team instead of “limit them to 16 shots and lose 3-4 in the shootout.”

Nice rant. I TOTALLY agree about Fro. He’s leading the team in goals but why does he look like he’s skating in molasses?? Protecting the puck used to be his thing, now he’s giving it away … a lot…

I’m going to have to go ahead and disagree strongly with all of the comments so far except Connie’s. Earl, I know I argued with you in the offseason about Lombardi’s lack of spending but it would have been completely pointless to sign a bunch of players in the offseason like we did last year. One, Simmonds, Harrold, Doughty, Moller, Purcell, and Ersberg might not have gotten a shot. We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see how they all play, and much like the Rangers, it wouldn’t have been our young core’s “team”. There is no garauntee that whoever we signed would have made our record any better, and then everyone would be calling for Dean’s head for more stupid signings.
Pj, again, Khabibulin would have been pointless. Although I like him a lot, there is no point in paying a goalie 5 mil and denying Ersberg a shot (at the start of the season). Ersberg is 26, so he doesn’t have a whole lot of time left to make an impression (which I think he has). It would have been great if Labarbera would have been worth a shit this season, because then the Kings would have gotten something for him possibly at the trade deadline. Now, probably not, but it was worth it for that possibility. Now, Khabibulin is kinda the the de facto number one in Chicago so we would probably have to give up too much to get him and I would still rather go with Ersberg when he’s healthy and maybe give Quick and Bernier a shot. Finally, Murray is not the reason we lost these games (well, maybe a small part, but not the main reason). These guys need to learn how to win a game. As soon as we get a lead in the third we are playing not to lose, and that almost ensures that you will. You have to bury teams, but we are playing scared and will continue to lose in those close games (and I will punch more holes in my wall) until we figure that out.

Nut.

You must be a nut to believe what you’re saying.
An established Cup winning goalie wouldn’t help this team?
You have a problem with Lombardi spending money on a good goalie?
You have a problem spending money when we have the cheapest team in the league?
You agree that Frolov isn’t playing well?
You deny that Murray is costing this team games and blame it on the young players?
The players cannot set the lines or choose the starting goalie in Buffalo or Detroit.
The players cannot call real NHL prospects up from Manchester and play them without Ivanans, Zeiler, or Armstrong on the wing.
The players cannot put together a 4th line capable of taking a shift with 10 minutes left in the game when you’re leading.
And I’m sure the players can’t figure out why Raitis Ivanans is playing against Detroit.
Don’t forget this happened against Detroit, Calgary, Toronto, Phoenix, Colorado, and Edmonton.
The writing has been on the wall for months now.
Get a real 4th line with some of these kids and they’ll adapt and start scoring. They have scoring potential.
HERE IS THE FUCKING 4TH LINE

Purcell – Boyle – Lewis

Calder – Stoll – Simmonds
Moller – Handzus – Brown
Frolov – Kopitar – O’Sullivan.

Change them around whenever you want.

I agree that if the right free agent/trade came available, that the Kings should have done it. The problem was, there weren’t any of those guys (at least free agents) that would have really helped a whole lot. Does Khabibulin put us in the playoffs? Maybe, then first round exit? We could have way overpaid for Mike Commodore like other teams, but Lombardi got a better option in O’Donnell. Do we make a trade for Eric Cole (look how thats working for the Oilers). Lombardi tried to get Blake back but we know how that went. I still would have liked our guys to get the experience this season.
Yes, the coach has to get the team ready for the game and has a lot of responsibility for morale on the team, but its ulitmately up to the leaders on the team to pump up there guys when they need to dig deep in games. Right now those leaders are mostly in their first season in those positions, and it will take time for them to figure things out. I’m not agreeing with everything Murray has done (I love Ivanans, but jesus christ, stop playing him every game), but his positives over last season way out weigh his negatives.

Does Khabibulin put us in the playoffs? Maybe, then first round exit?

Well, if there’s that much pessimism about the postseason, maybe better not to go for it then. You’ll have to keep ignoring any possibility for success (I’ll let you in on a little secret: a LOT can happen in a seven game series, and making the postseason even as underdogs can be a huge deal: see Anaheim 2003).

But if Lombardi’s really on-plan, then we should probably stop writing these gripe pieces when the team does blow leads with frequency. It’s all part of the bigger plan.

I wonder if it wouldn’t be better for some of the kids’ development/confidence to be on a winning team (or even to experience what playoff pressure is like), and I wonder if that sort of winning environment would help the Kings attract free agents, but hey, I’m of a different mold, I suppose.

Earl- you are discribing the kings teams throughout the late 90s and this decade, where we would sign guys that were there to make it competitive but only once were able to push us past the first round. I would be ecstatic if the kings made to the first round of the playoffs this year, but not at the expense of being able to go farther in the future. Giving up any kind of of draft pick or prospect is not worth it for khabibulin to squeak into the playoffs. Most kings fans who have been around awhile aren’t giving lombardi a pass because we are comfortable with losing; rather, I can’t remember a time when the kings had more than one prospect that was reason to get excited over. Now we have the second best crop in the league (according to Hockeys future) and a slight glimmer at the end of the tunnel. Deans also brought in OSullivan, Johnson, Handzsus (yes, I think that’s a positive), and Quincey through trades and signings, so I’m willing to trust him (as long as there’s no more cloutier sized fuck ups).

Lombardi and Leiweike (not going to look up how to spell) have both stated that if the right deal for the right player or the right player was available, that they would go after them. Lombardi also stated that he was going for Gomez and Drury two years ago but was unable to get/afford them. So its not like they won’t go for anyone, I think they just are waiting for a world class player under 30 and those don’t become available everyday (Kovalchuk!). Also, you are correct in saying that not every draft pick pans out. But Lombardi has a better track record than most, and has called picks and prospects “assets” multiple times before. So while some will definitely become full time Kings (Doughty) others can be used in trades. Now, however, is not the time to start trading/signing lots of players. Also, It would be great to have had Yzerman and Fedorov to mentor the young kings and let them ease their way into the league. However, those players were drafted by the Red Wings and Yzerman came in with the Wings in 83-84 when the Wings were miserable. They didn’t have a winning record until his 5th year in the league. The Kings kinda started from scratch as well, so hopefully Kopitar, Doughty and Brown can ease in our prospects in 10-15 years. But you gotta start somewhere.

Well we’ll see whose Kool Aid’s better in a few years. At least we’ll peak with young players. The Ducks dominance disappears in a proportionate ratio to Getzlaf’s hair.

sorry, with our young players.