LA Kings decide to fire Sutter, Lombardi in bold move

The LA Kings are ending an era and moving on.

In a swift move, both general manger Dean Lombardi and coach Darryl Sutter were relieved of work. This happened less than 24 hours after the Kings season ended with an overtime loss.

In a press release from AEG, Luc Robitaille was promoted to club president. Rob Blake was elevated to Vice President and General Manager.  That means that the two former Kings teammates are now in charge of the whole show.

Both Sutter and Lombardi proved capable of taking the Kings to the pinnacle with the franchise’s first two Stanley Cups. The failures of the subsequent years were too much to witness in Beckerman’s eyes.

With the changes in the front office, the Kings will now begin a search for a new coach.   They may look internally to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.  Strothers has sustained that success in their transition to Ontario from Manchester, leading them to the playoffs the last two years as well.

Another option is assistant coach John Stevens, who the Kings have annually kept other teams from interviewing with an eye to replace Sutter.  However, his ties to Sutter may mean he is out of the running.

Finding a coach may be easiest task for the Kings, they also have to get ready for the NHL draft and  be prepared to lose players in the expansion draft for the new Las Vegas franchise.

On top of that the team must navigate it’s salary cap difficulties as they seek to re-sign restricted free agents Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson.

Next: Angels Manage Hectic Comeback

With the firing of Lombardi and Sutter the Kings are entering a new world after so many years of consistency.  Hopefully for fans the new brain trust can return the team to glory.