Lombardi quotes

On signing Brown to a six-year contract at such a young age: ``That's just kind of the climate of this system with young players now, as you've seen with (Rick) Nash and (Ales) Hemsky and those type of guys, that in the past you were able to let things play out a little longer with free agency at 31. This is just a function of the way the system is. When you have a good, young player, you try to lock him up at a fair price that keeps with your game plan cap-wise now and for the future. In the past, as a general manager, you were able to let things play out a little more. That was a function of the old system I liked. A player had to learn to play in the league and then win in the league, and when he was 31 certainly he had matured in terms of his upside. But this is the way you've got to do things now.''

On the danger of a player not working as hard after getting a big contract: ``Part of this is he has to continue to get better. He has to continue to improve for this to work for everybody. One thing you can say about Brownie, I think he's matured a lot in the past six months as a person and a player. He's not a guy that's going to cheat you on effort or desire. I think he cares. If you're going to go long-term, those qualities are as important as his ability as a player. If you're going to give somebody that type of security, you better have a player who cares and is able to critique himself, and I think he does that.''

``It's not only the player, you also have to know the character of the guy. Because it's too easy for guys to just get comfortable. I think that's one of the biggest things with Dustin. That won't happen with him. I really believe that.''

On if Brown's play so far this year made the Kings want to lock him up: ``This is one of those things where the amount of time that can go into a contract, this (process) started as much as 2-3 months ago. It's not an easy deal to make for both sides when you're talking six years. This stuff doesn't just happen like that.''

On the possibility of the signing disrupting chemistry: ``These are the things that go through my head because, if you're trying to get chemistry, you could have an older player say why is he getting that. I think a lot of the older players are wondering when they see kids start getting this. I was thinking about it. But I don't think it's a problem with this team.''