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Thursday afternoon, after the Kings officially introduced Terry Murray as their next head coach, I had a chance to ask GM Dean Lombardi a few questions about the direction of the team. Needless to say, the performance of the Kings over the last few seasons hasn’t excited anyone, and last year seemed particularly disappointing. The Kings looked to fill in around a talented group of young players with more experienced free agents, the majority of which didn’t work out. The defense faltered, the goaltending was weak, and the Kings found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference, tied with Tampa Bay for the fewest amount of points in the NHL.

Whether Murray can guide them to a better mark remains to be seen, but it’s clear he won’t have the option of relying too heavily on grizzled vets over the kids, simply because there aren’t very many of those dudes on the roster. The trade of defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky to Edmonton, along with the draft day deal that sent Michael Cammalleri to Calgary, indicates the already young Kings are only going to get younger. Among other issues, Lombardi addresses potential playoff hopes this year (right now, things don’t look promising), the attributes his new coach will need, and what the Kings are lacking as they try to grow into a top shelf squad. (NOTE: Click below for the full transcript, or for a sample, enjoy the audio provided. Not every question was asked by SportsHubLA- in this case, me- but our questions are clearly indicated.)

Dean Lombardi, Part I

Dean Lombardi, Part II

Q: Do you expect to make the playoffs this season?

Dean Lombardi: I would say right now, looking at our core? And I think that’s a worthy touchstone- It’s hard enough to predict when a league gets diluted, who in fact are the good teams. I think you see that certainly in the East, that the difference between the top teams (and bottom is smaller). You’ve got some teams that almost didn’t make the playoffs that ended up going to the third round. I think in our conference, there’s still a stronger line of demarcation between what in fact is a top team, and what isn’t. So we’re fighting that.

As far as the core, right now, I have to be honest with you: It doesn’t match up. That’s what we’re trying to build, to put that core together. So if I have to make a prediction and look at the cores, it doesn’t match up with those top teams. But you use that as a touchstone. When I talk about building, that’s what I’m looking at. If that’s your touchstone, the cores, it doesn’t match up right now. We have to keep on working at it and do it the right way. Now can anything happen? Yeah. Maybe one of our young players is more ready than we think. Maybe our goaltender gets hot. But if you’re asking me as a builder to match up the cores right now? It doesn’t. But that’s what I keep my eye on.

Q: What does Terry Murray bring that, say, your previous coach, or any other coach might not have?

Lombardi: (New Jersey Devils GM) Lou Lamoriello said this a long time ago, and I think I really understand it. Sometimes there’s no good or bad coaches, it’s (about) the right fit. Getting young is a process, and you have to understand, when I said (during the introductory press conference) the (LA Kings) job is the toughest job in hockey, here’s what I mean: I think it’s tough to multi-task. If you have a very good team already in place, it’s easy to focus just on the next game, because that’s all you have to do. A coach in (the Kings’) situation has a two-pronged attack. He has to focus on this game, but he can’t get so wrapped up in it and lose sight of the big picture, and that’s how teams get off track, or kids get ruined, because (coaches) don’t see the big picture.

(Murray’s) been through the process, and I think the way I manage here, as I’ve done before with Darryl (Sutter, his coach in San Jose) was to include them in the process so they can say “Okay, I see where this is going,” when you have these nights when they want to know why we don’t go out and get that seven million dollar guy. And that’s hard. And it’s also hard where we’re at, in terms of our payroll structure, it’s there for a reason, for the long term benefit of the franchise, but for the immediate purpose of that coach, that’s a hard thing. So what I mean when I say it’s the toughest job, and this is not to degrade what it takes to coach the Red Wings, but it’s more multi-tasking. And I think the emotional toll on a coach of being able to say, “Put it behind us, the kid might have cost us the game,” or whatever, and come in the next day, right away, and say “We have to make him better.” Not dwell on anything.

I know for me, personally, the experience of having been through this whole building process in San Jose, as much as I still go a hundred miles an hour and I get emotional, I know what’s coming. I’ve been through this. So like (Murray said in his press conference), there is the element of what experience can do for you.

Q: Did you think of hiring him before hiring Marc Crawford?

Lombardi: No. Actually, we did a lot of things very quickly when I first got here, and that wasn’t a long, drawn out process at that time.

SportsHubLA: When you talk about the core of a hockey team, the amount of players you need, first of all who qualifies for that? Then where are you at this point, and where do you need to go?

Lombardi: If you look at the good teams, it’s traditionally been seven. I still see the quality teams like Detroit, it starts with the goalie. The whole way that exercise starts is that if I give you your pick of Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, or Patrick Roy, who do you take? Well, they’re all great players, but you ask what’s the most important position on winning? And any hockey person will take the goalie. He’s in. What’s the next most important? Most people take the defenseman. Then you go to the center. Then it’s the next defenseman. So it’s a seven man core. If you look at those great teams, it’s strength up the middle. Three of the top four are two defensemen and a goalie, and that’s our problem.

(Anze) Kopitar (right) I think certainly qualifies as a potential number one center, Dustin Brown has certainly moved into the bracket where you can consider him a potential power forward, you’ve got potential skill in Alexander Frolov and Patrick O’Sullivan. But you’ve got those three critical positions- goaltending, a number one defenseman, a number two defenseman, then a number two center, and the other two wingers. That’s traditionally where you start. ..

SHLA: So you guys, even though you have a lot of talent on the blue line, aren’t at a point where you can count on those players to be part of a “core?”

Lombardi: No. We’ve only started doing this the last two years. It was the weakest part of the reserve list when I took over. Our best prospect was Patrick Hersley, and we were able to move him (to Philadelphia for Denis Gauthier and a second round pick in 2010) and he would have been around eighth on our depth chart. But we should be better. That was the purpose of having all those draft picks. So we should have improved that. The (Jack) Johnson deal (with Carolina in 2006) helped us a lot, because that’s one player we didn’t expect to get, who’s young, and can fit in with the crew that’s coming. The trouble is he’s on the front end of that crew, but he’s still young enough to grow with that crew.

So like I’ve said, I think (defense) is the strongest part of our reserve list, but then, that’s why we kept those draft picks. The other team that’s become very strong on the reserve list is St. Louis, another team that’s in the rebuilding mode, they’ve gone out and drafted defensemen. It should be there, but you want to make sure you have it, keep it, and develop it so when your turn comes (we get) our turn to have Pronger and Niedermayer.

SHLA: Taking the direction you have with the roster, do you have to evaluate the work of a coach on a different level than just wins and losses?

Lombardi: Yes. The only thing you can really grade your coach on? This is the old adage: If a coach has 30th place talent and gets you to 25, but he’s only 25th in the league, and another guy has third place talent and finishes fifth, who’s the better coach? Well the guy who finishes fifth is probably going to be recognized as a great coach, but essentially he didn’t get the most out of what he had. So the guy who is at 25 is probably a better coach. So that’s the first standard as you’re judging a coach: Did you get the most out of what you had? Set your expectations realistically. Yeah, you have to go out there and try to win every battle, there’s no question about it, because you have to instill your players in that faith, but in terms of evaluation at the end of the year? Be realistic. Did you get us to reasonable expectations?

But the second part, also, is going forward. Knowing what you’re going to do in the process of getting young. You know the challenges involved there, and you have to have the emotion but you’d better not let it consume you where you lose sight on the ultimate war. And then you have the teaching, the communication, the development, and those other things.

SHLA: Have you set those expectations for this team, or is it still too early?

Lombardi: I still think it’s a little early. We’re still looking for a left-shot defenseman (for example). My biggest risk here now is that I’m uncertain right now on how to use the young guys (Note: He’s talking about defensemen Drew Doughty (right), Colten Teubert, and Thomas Hickey, all number one picks). There’s a side of me that wants to send them all three back to Juniors, and let them play for the Canadian National Team, and there’s another side of me that’s trying to see where they are. All the first rounders. That’s the first thing. We certainly have some defensemen in our minor league system, but our perceived high end prospects are those first round picks. That’s what most hockey people look at and say, “Woah, put that with Johnson and you’ve got a hell of a stable.”

So we’re looking at who’s the most ready? Well, we’ve had one setback already because (Hickey) had a ligament tear. He played in his Junior playoffs with a severed tendon. That’s getting repaired now, so we haven’t been able to see him. He’s here, but hasn’t been on the ice in the development camp. So where’s he at? Doughty was just here in his first camp, but he was still going up against just Junior kids, so that’s going to be a process to see how he adopts to (playing against) men. Teubert is raw. And then you’ve got your other kids who were in the minors.

So I think on paper right now, in terms of being certain that there’s an NHL player ready, you can clearly see that the left shot (defenseman) is necessary, and some guy who can play minutes. But these guys don’t grow on trees, that’s the whole problem. That’s why you draft those guys, because nobody trades them. That’s why Lidstrom stays in Detroit for 20 years, because you can’t replace him. And Zubov and those guys are invaluable. So I’m not dodging your question–

SHLA:– It’s okay, I’ll ask again in training camp.

Lombardi: And you know what, I’m gonna give you the same answer. Because once they go to training camp (you pick a young player and think) “Oh, he looks good against the rookies,” then the veterans come in and it’s “Oh, he’s not so good.” Then the exhibition games– it’s the Bernier thing. (Referencing young goalie Jonathan Bernier, who was very strong in camp and through the exhibition season last year, but- no surprise given his tender age- struggled starting the year with the big club.)

SHLA: I’m just talking about calibrating your expectations for the coach in relation to where you think the team should be, so at some point, those expectations have to be set.

Lombardi: Right. I did this with Darryl Sutter every year, and I thought it was really good. We sat down and said, “Where are we?” And we came within five to seven points every year, in terms of where we (thought we) were. And he exceeded it, and got us on the high side, and that kept us in line. We had a team up there that once it got its foothold, we got younger and better every year, and eventually it was on its way up, and it was younger. But that was the whole part of including your coach on the building process. You say, okay, this is reasonable, make sure that (Patrick) Marleau keeps coming, and Stuart, and these guys. And then the plan keeps moving (in the direction they want).

Right now, there are significant holes back there (with the Kings). Those are critical, in terms of what I said about the core. They’re not only core positions, they’re positions critical to winning. That’s again, when I talk about a process, it’s day to day. That’s why it’s a tough job. It’s not like you can look there and say, there’s Lidstrom, there’s (Brian) Rafalski, there’s (Brad) Stuart. Boom, they’re in. There’s no evaluation there. And that’s not to say (the Wings) job isn’t a hard job, because they’re expected to win it all, but it’s a different job.

SHLA: So at the end of camp, or whenever you do it, say 80 points, or 85 points, or whatever number is where you should be–

Lombardi (smiling): We would never tell the media that.

SHLA: But that’s the standard Murray will be graded against?

Lombardi: And I think that’s fair. That’s all you can ask your people to do. It’s like a player, just be the best you can be. And the best we can be, we figure is this (number they’ll come up with). Now, we can’t tell you that, but internally if we’re going to manage a rebuilding process without people flipping out or getting off board, and all the outside pressures the media causes, you have to stay focused, and that’s what the focus has to be.

Brian Kamenetzky hosts the Lakers Blog and Blue Notes: A Dodgers Blog for the LA Times.com. He’s a contributing writer to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com. Write him at bk@sportshubla.com.

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