On Monday, following the LA Kings missing the playoffs for the second time in three years, AEG President and CEO Dan Beckerman announced the exit of GM Dean Lombardi and coach Darryl Sutter, as both were relieved of their duties.
“This was an extremely difficult decision and was made with an enormous amount of consideration for what we have accomplished in our past. But the present and future of our organization is the highest priority,” said Beckerman. “Words cannot express our gratitude and appreciation for what Dean and Darryl have accomplished for the Kings franchise. They built this team and helped lead us to two Stanley Cup Championships and will forever be remembered as all-time greats in Kings history. But with that level of accomplishment comes high expectations and we have not met those expectations for the last three seasons. With the core players we have in place, we should be contending each year for the Stanley Cup. Our failure to meet these goals has led us to this change.”
Luc Robitaille will be taking over as President of all things Kings-related and Assistant GM Rob Blake was bumped up to the General Manager’s seat. Below is live video of Tuesday’s official press conference at Staples Center, courtesy of LAKings.com:
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That was an underwhelming press conference. Granted it is just day 1 but I certainly didn’t get a feel that Rob Blake had the basis of a plan that he wanted to begin to put into place. Frankly, he acted like a deer in the highlights.