loading...
Canwest News Service
General managers like to talk about blueprints for building a successful organization like they're talking about blueprints for building a deep-space probe but, when you come down to it, the most efficient method for turning around an NHL team has been the same for the last 40 years.
That is, there is no point in being sightly malodorous. If you're going to stink, don't fool around. Stink like rotting fish. And the longer you stink the better because you'll eventually accumulate the necessary draft picks that will enable you to stop stinking.
Then everyone in the hockey world will laud you as a genius.
Now, we don't know if this was Dean Lombardi's template when he took over the Los Angeles Kings, but we do know this. The Kings have executed that plan to perfection. Over the last five seasons they've finished 26th, 29th, 28th, 20th and 20th overall, which is largely why they came to Vancouver on Thursday night with a winning record, a dazzling array of young talent on their team and another layer percolating in their system.
Top to bottom, there might not be a more exciting organization in the NHL right now. And, while we don't know if the Kings will take the next step and become consistent winners, we do know it's going to be a lot of fun waiting to find out.
"I've heard it a million times," said Lombardi, the Kings GM. "'L.A. wants stars.' But that's only partly true. They want stars who win. Our market isn't different from any other market in that regard."
Well, that part about the L.A. market being the same as, say, Edmonton or Buffalo is debatable, but Lombardi's overall point is valid. That's because, for the first time in their four decades in La-La Land, the Kings have drafted and are developing a group of blue-chip prospects who have a genuine chance of long-term success.
The big names, you know about. Anze Kopitar is among the league's scoring leaders. Drew Doughty has yet to turn 20 and is already a Norris Trophy-calibre defenceman. Team captain Dustin Brown just turned 25. And there's another tier on the NHL team that includes 22-year-old Jack Johnson, 21-year-old Wayne Simmonds and Drew Drewiske, 25. Together, they had the Kings in fifth place in the West before Thursday night and vying for their first playoff spot in, gad, seven seasons.
But that's only part of the story with this team. Thursday, the Kings called up 18-year-old centre Brayden Schenn, the fifth pick of last summer's draft. Schenn is part of a secondary group of prospects who should keep the Kings competitive for the next decade. They also have Colten Teubert, who might be Team Canada captain at this year's World Junior Championship; Thomas Hickey, fourth pick in the '07 draft; and goalie Jonathan Bernier, the 11th pick in '06 who might be the best in the AHL this season.
Add it all up and it appears Canucks fans better get used to treating the Kings as an archrival and not, as the case has been for the last five years, their personal scratching post.
How the Kings arrived at this point is the next question and that's where things get interesting. Lombardi took over from Dave Taylor after a terrible 2005-06 season armed with a five-year contract and signed a group of free agents which, for the most part, were disasters. Old friend Dan Cloutier topped the list but there was also Rob Blake, Tom Preissing and Alyn McCauley.
Those signings were designed to keep the Kings competitive while they rebuilt their reserve list but, in the end, they provided a far more valuable service to the organization. They kept the Kings rancid, which allowed them to draft Thomas Hickey in '07, Doughty in '08 and Schenn last summer. Mike Cammalleri was also flipped for Teubert.
Et voila, you have the makings of a great young team.
"When I came here I said, if we're going to win it all we're going to have to go back and establish a core and a culture. The only way to do that is draft and develop your own," said Lombardi."That hasn't changed."
But where you draft is even more important, and that's the part the Kings got right.
