Lombardi said that Thornton, who also had a no-trade clause, gave him a list of four teams he would like to go to that he thought could win the Stanley Cup. The Kings almost had a deal with one of these teams but then that team went and did a large deal that ended up keeping that one from happening.

The Lombardi interview is coming up next …

“I wasnt really looking forward to leaving my kids for a couple of months so Im happy to be able to stay with them. Im a little disappointed that this team is not in the playoffs. Thats probably the biggest disappointment right now.

“I just do the same thing every day, I come in and do my job. Who knows what theyre going to do down the stretch here, whether its going to be a revolving door of kids or if were just going to stick with what we got and play it out. I dont know if they have a plan yet as to what theyre going to do. All we can do is come in and act like a pro every day.

“We all want to win. This is my 18th year and I havent won. So of course I would love to win a Cup, but Im also aware it would have had to be a perfect fit for me to go somewhere and it just wasnt meant to be. Meanwhile, I dont want to cheat these guys out of anything the last 18 games so I just have to hold my head up and play hard every day.”