Lombardi quote on O'Sullivan

Thanks Rich. Really a shame it has gone this far with Sully not signed.

Excellent work Rich!! What was his tone like? Did he sound any bit optimistic, we all know about the whole nabakov thing in San Jose and that being one of the reasons he was let go. Is that the experience he is referring to?

You know what....GOOD! I'm glad they are playing hardball with him and his lame agent. He will sign a long-term deal or he won't play. Dean gave up alot to get him, gave him his shot and now he wants to screw us?? F-That! 5 years at 18mill. Take it or SIT!

Rich – just curious, does DL normally return your calls on the same day?

Also, do you feel that DL is intentionally being vague to prevent contaminating negotiations?

thanks Rich..was wondering are the Kings the only ones in this position? are there any other hold outs or RFA's sitting out in the NHL?

This sure smells like its got Liewike/AEG all over it

Jayrew...it has so much Lieweke and sons all over it...it's frightening.

I hate to say it, but POS is starting to be a cancer...Does he think he deserves more than Brown?? If so, give him his walking papers...He's not even half the player Brown is..This is just killing me..Rich, we are forever indebted to you and your hard work that you provide for us...THANKYOU!!!!!!!

Everybody needs to take a step back and take a deep breath! Think about it...its most likely not just sully saying pay me more...don't you all think that his agent has a little of the blame to share. sully probably is just getting bad advice from his agent. Besides, there is plenty of blame to go around, its just sad that it has gotten to this point! this hurts all involved, the kings, DL, the agent and most of all O'sullivan. Just a thought....

So, lets say this an extended hold out. Who are the potential replacements?

Its sad that Sully has let it get this far. His agent may be to blame, but Sully needs to man up and tell his agent to go jump off a cliff.

At first I was like "dean, what are you doing? Sign Sully already". But i've started to think that Sully and his agent are more the problem than DL

Without knowing what the numbers are and what term is on the table, it is very hard to tell if the situation is the fault of a greedy SOB agent, or the fault of Kings Management. Very unfortunately, Kings Management has such a heinous track record, long time observers tend to suspect that the fault is likely on the AEG side of the table.

Having said that, Kings fans implore DL to disprove their suspicion.

Most fans do not care whose fault it is -- we just want you to "get 'er done".

You do not "prepare your team" Dean, by not getting one of your best young players signed. Forget blaming anything or anybody or any other excuse. Get the man signed to some kind of a deal, or if you are incapable of that, then trade him and get on the next train out of town.

Can you say Nabakov.

Again very concerned that this fantasy of building through the draft is a load of crap. Once these kids develope into something the some how the Kings cant sign them. First Cammy and then POS.

People seem to discount the Cammy thing but look at the guys stats over the last 3 years and he is just entering into his prime.

This franchise is a joke

I have been a fan for over 25 years, most of my childhood and my entire adult life. I game my newborn son the middle name Luc and my very formal wedding had my wife sporting her Kings crest tatoo in most of our pictures. I am a diehard like many of you. Will this garbage of an organization ever really give us hope of seeing a winner. If it's not one thing, it's another.I am so glad that I did not renew my seats this year and I am so sorry for my newborn twins. They are doomed to grow up Kings fans.

tired of waiting,

So many people bring up Nabakov and how bad of an example it is as a shanda (sp?) on DL. They never mention that after Nabakov held out he then signed and still plays there today. The Nabakov situation certainly hurt DL, no question about that (though it was several other things that happened around the same time that led to his firing), but really... did Nabakov's hold-out hurt the organization? Maybe a little that season, but ultimately? I think not.

Tired of waiting,

for the first, cammy took kings to arbitration and lost and he had a hard time to forget that and he showed no interest in being a king after that. regarding sully, of course DL could have got him signed for 5 mill a year. Is sully worth that amount of money now????? NO HE IS NOT. If sully want to be a king he signs a deal simillar to brownies. If you give sully 5 mill what do you have to pay kopi and jj next season then????

JDM - To the contrary, if the Nabokov situation forced Lombardi out of San Jose, it did them a world of good.
Again we have a situation that should never have occurred. Its absolutely priceless how people are already turning on O'Sullivan in a blind panic. Great fans.

I hate this crap.

Let's hope it doesn't go on long enough to
poison the well, so to speak.

Rats!

Oh no! The sky is falling!

Rich,

Your blog is getting quite popular for lifting your writing without credit. Be proud, it is an actual newspaper this time.

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_10504208

"This isn't totally unusual in the business," Lombardi said Thursday. "The goal is to get him on a long-term contract. ... Sure we need him and we want him, but the team has to start preparing even if he's not here. I think it's better for everyone's focus, based on my experience, that that's the way we deal with it."

Just realized it's your byline in a different newspaper. In best Rosanna Rosanna-Danna voice: "Never mind!"

one of the positives at this point is that there aren't rumblings or rumors (that i know of) that POS wants out of the organization.

cristobal,

first of all, what's up? Long time no argue =).

Second, I don't know how what you said is contrary to what I said. My point was just that whatever happened in San Jose worked out well in the end, with or without Lombardi. If San Jose benefited from having DL do all their drafting and then get the boot after he'd established their core, then awesome. I'd be fine with letting DL go after this years draft and bring in a GM who can sign all the guys and make the right trades. Though I worry about having our young talent traded away.

I like DL, as you know, and I hope he is here to take us all the way, but I'm not married to him and ultimately I want whats best for the team, not the GM or any one of the players.