Dean Lombardi

No one can say that Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi isn't sticking with his long-term vision -- even if it means more of the same in the short term for the team. Despite having loads of money to spend under the NHL's $56.7-million salary cap as a result of two cost-cutting trades, Lombardi said he isn't going to repeat last year's attempt to buy a winner through free agency as the annual shopping spree opens today. Call it a lesson learned.

This is what the Kings were looking for, and why they will announce today that Dean Lombardi is president and general manager. Lombardi saw an opportunity before the 1998 NHL draft and acted, with a jackpot payoff. The Nashville Predators, who held the third pick, craved center David Legwand. Problem was, the San Jose Sharks were looking down on them from the second pick. Lombardi, then the Sharks' general manager, had already decided to draft defenseman Brad Stuart.

The work ethic that Dean Lombardi seems intent on bringing to the Kings was apparent shortly after he was introduced as the team's president and general manager on Friday. An hour after the news conference, Lombardi was meeting with Mattias Norstrom, the Kings' captain, and Craig Conroy, an alternate captain, to discuss what went wrong this season. Lombardi was moving almost as fast as the Kings did.

Typewriters. That was a clear indication of the difficult chore Dean Lombardi had taken on as the Kings president and general manager. In a world of instant see-it-now technology -- e-mail, high-speed Internet access and real-time video -- some front-office employees were still banging away on typewriters.

For the Kings to reach the postseason, it would take a Miracle on Manchester-like intervention. But even if the Kings are going to be home for the sixth consecutive postseason, they appear to finally be going places. They've built a core of talented young players -- goaltender Jonathan Quick, defensemen Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson and Kyle Quincey, and forwards Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown are all 24 or younger.

Dean Lombardi has officially waved the white flag on this season. I agreed with most of the moves Lombardi has made since becoming the GM, until now. I was shocked to read that he said it was a possibility that Patrick O'Sullivan might be further along as a player if he hadn't held out at the beginning of the season. Then to say Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Gaborik had too steep of a price tag! Dean, how much cap space do we have? The Kings are so close to becoming a playoff team. This trade was a step backward.