Lombardi, on O’Sullivan and goalies

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First, here’s what Dean Lombardi said about the progress of contract negotiations with restricted free agent Patrick O’Sullivan…

“(Jeff Solomon) is down there working on him now. Solly has to get to work. That’s our team’s lawyer. We had some preliminary dialogue there before the draft but the next stage is getting some of these guys under contract.”

I asked whether he thought something was “close”…

“I’m not sure. After today we might know a little more.”

Lombardi was asked whether the Kings would consider signing a “bridge” goalie this summer…

“That’s a good question. I think I’ve been asked this before. If we do get a goalie, it would strictly be a bridge. I don’t want to get into a two-year deal. We were fairly aggressive on Vokoun (last summer) because I thought he was a proven No. 1. So i don’t see us taking a swing at a (long-)term deal. The bridge would probably be the only thing. The one thing we might look at is, we do have our development camp coming up and I’ll be curious to see where Bernier and Quick and Zatkoff are. Is one of them ready to back up Jason? We’ll see where Ersberg is. It’s dangerous to talk about that but it does allow us to see where they’re at. Ideally, I’d like to see them do the thing we did with (the goalies) in San Jose. So the most we would look at is a bridge.”

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  • Hi

    First lala beat Anthony

  • lblocal

    Rich, your value to this fabulous forum and our beloved LA Kings is immeasurable. You’re the most diligent and hard working person that I know. (virtually speaking)

    Continued THANKS..

    Your audience is riveted!

  • anthony

    Why is this DL giving Babs the starting job.
    Clearly, the best goalie last year was Ersberg.
    That’s a no brainer.
    Last season, Ersbergs game put Babs game to shame.
    Especially on giving up rebounds. Babs was terrible about giving up too many rebounds. Ersberg was like a sponge. Even MC stated that.
    He should be given a fair shot to win the starting job.
    And I think he will win it.

    Babs will either back him up or get traded.

  • Cob

    “to back up Jason”

    We trade Cammalleri, we trade Lubo, and Jason is still the #1 starter. Our we gunning for Tavares or Hedman next year?

  • Sign Hossa

    HEXTALL!!!!!

  • joe

    Well, Ersberg certainly impressed last year. I think there will be some great competition for the goalie postion.
    At the Kings draft party, Bernier was one of the guests and he clearly stated that he had every intention of making the big team this year. I’m curious to see if he can actually step up or not.

  • KingzzFan

    Like I said, we will have another season close to last season. There’s another good draft lot coming in next year and we have 12 picks. He may actually be gunning for first to get Tavares. Look it worked for the Pens and the Blackhawks. Two good years of high picks can turn a club around, especially when you also have 4-5 prospects slated to make the jump to the big club.

  • AmaysnKingsfan

    Why is DL not handling this himself Sully is an important sign shouldn’t the GM know whats going on with the signing of an important player? Or maybe be the one signing him Does the lawyer do most of the negotiationsor is there something i’m missing

  • Goon Squad

    Alright, I guess it’s my turn to agree with anthony on something. LaBarbera has a whole lot of proving to do in camp before he should be given the starting job. Yes, he’s proven himself more than anyone else we have, but Ersberg really did put him to shame down the stretch. And Bernier pretty much put him to shame last fall. Hopefully we’ll get not only one guy but several playing well this year.