Dean Lombardi on acquiring Robyn Regehr – how, the price, etc.

We’re going to have a lot of quotes up this afternoon from Kings GM Dean Lombardi. After pracitce today he shared thoughts on a myriad of topics, starting with yesterday’s trade with the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Robyn Regehr…

Question: Can you take us through the process of how something like a [Robyn] Regehr trade comes together?

Lombardi: “Fortunately, we’re at the stage, unlike in the past, I think it’s safe to say that we were really zeroing in on a certain type of player. Certainly unlike 5-6 years ago we went from basically acquiring draft picks and prospects to maybe a couple years ago we started looking for smaller editions, to now. Your market really gets finite because you’re clearly looking for a certain element. And even though you have a lot of discussions with people as a practical matter, you essentially zero down into just a couple of teams. The one thing about this whole process, too, we were engaged fairly early obviously because it wasn’t looking good for Willie Mitchell. Losing two guys like that right away, it’s safe to say I’ve been looking for this all year. You’re looking at two, big, physical guys that were clearly part of our identity that have not been in our lineup all year. We knew it was going to be long-term so you could argue that this process started two months ago. It’s just that people aren’t really willing to deal until this time of year.”

Question: Did the price go up as the discussions went along because of some other deals that were being made out there?

Answer: “I guess so. I think that’s what people generally tend to do, they’ll see what other guys go for and you kind of work within that framework. But it still comes down to, and it might just be a starting point, but it still comes down to you’re competing against other teams. Generally there are two things the other general managers consider: one, the biggest price, and secondly, and in this case, where the player will go, and then do you want them out of your conference. Those are usually the three things that enter into the price that might effect it to a certain degree. But in the end its just like when a player signs as a free agent and the general manager’s probably going to take the most that he can and you hope that’ll outbid people.”

Much more to come shortly.

RELATED ARTICLE:  Dean Lombardi – ‘Bernier trade not feasible, he’s too valuable’

Follow @mayorNHL

Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please include a link to www.MayorsManor.com