Success and failure in the National Hockey League are easy to measure.
Succeed and you hoist the Stanley Cup.
Darryl Sutter – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Fail and you don’t.
Monday night the latter was evident when the Los Angeles Kings fired head Darryl Sutter and general manager Dean Lombardi.
A statement from club by Dan Beckerman, President and CEO of Kings parent company AEG, included the requisite empathies and talk of difficult decisions but clearly the end result was known for weeks.
“This was an extremely difficult decision and was made with an enormous amount of consideration for what we have accomplished in our past. But the present and future of our organization is the highest priority,” said Beckerman. “Words cannot express our gratitude and appreciation for what Dean and Darryl have accomplished for the Kings franchise.
“They built this team and helped lead us to two Stanley Cup Championships and will forever be remembered as all-time greats in Kings history.
“But with that level of accomplishment comes high expectations and we have not met those expectations for the last three seasons. With the core players we have in place, we should be contending each year for the Stanley Cup. Our failure to meet these goals has led us to this change.”
The simple problem for the Kings this year was goals. Or more accurately, the lack of goals.
LA was 25th in the NHL in goals scored with a 2.43 average.
Jeff Carter ended the season with 32 goals and was the go-to skater for the Kings all season. If Carter did not score, the Kings were likely losing.
Carter had 34 assists for 66 points on the season.
Tanner Pearson netted 24 goals on the season and after that the club was hard pressed to find a goal scorer with double digit markers.
Defense and goaltending were not the issue this year as the club was sixth in goals against with a 2.45 average.
The loss of Jonathan Quick in the first game of the season did not help but Peter Budaj was an exceptional stand-in for him in backstopping the Kings until Quick returned after 59 games.
Budaj was rewarded by being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Ben Bishop as soon as Quick returned.
Sutter’s style of hockey has fallen on hard times with the league getting faster while stepping away from the grinding style of the last few years.
Lombardi has suffered from having saddled the club with huge deals that will hamstring the Kings for years including Anze Kopitar’s eight-year $80 million contract. That contract is seen as an albatross around Lombardi’s neck given Kopitar had his worst season in the NHL this year.
Then there is the issue of  Mike Richards whose contract is on the books through the 2031-32 season.
While several clubs were making coaching changes including St Louis, Boston and Montreal, Lombardi stood pat with Sutter most likely for loyalty for the two Stanley Cups won in LA.
Would a change in mid-season have made a difference? Not likely given injuries and a malaise that settled in early in the campaign.
The Pacific Division is full of speed now with the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames; and the Arizona Coyotes are getting faster and younger.
Promotions were also announced Monday night with current assistant GM Rob Blake moved to GM and Kings business executive Luc Robitaille named Kings’ president.
The Kings’ owners wasted no time clearing house now will they work equally fast to fill the head coaching void?
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