In the Hotstove session, Ron Maclean asked Strachan to comment on the Anze Kopitar signing; instead of doing so, Strachan launched into a tirade on how DL and Hextall are apparently gearing up for or worried about a possible power struggle with Luc Robitaille; I think there was also some question about who ownership would back. I couldn't entirely follow what he was saying because he was kind of yammering beligerently throughout the entire segment.
But...what the ****? Anyone in the know heard anything? This is BS, right?
What im saying is the guy is about as creditable as Eklund.
I don't disagree...I'm exposed to him several times per week, unfortunately; I was commenting on your "DL wouldn't call him" point with my last post. Anyway, the main reason I brought this up is not because I think it's particularly likely, but because it's just so out of left field that I thought people might be as shocked as I am at this allegation; it really was almost surreal for me to see Strachan break into this conspiracy theory about Luc Robitaille making a play for control of the front office when all that he was asked for were the details of Kopitar's contract. I think pretty much all of what the guy says is BS, but this is some really odd BS to be spreading.
I don't disagree...I'm exposed to him several times per week, unfortunately; I was commenting on your "DL wouldn't call him" point with my last post. Anyway, the main reason I brought this up is not because I think it's particularly likely, but because it's just so out of left field that I thought people might be as shocked as I am at this allegation; it really was almost surreal for me to see Strachan break into this conspiracy theory about Luc Robitaille making a play for control of the front office when all that he was asked for were the details of Kopitar's contract. I think pretty much all of what the guy says is BS, but this is some really odd BS to be spreading.
Strachan was mumbling, but Milbury wouldn't shut up. He shut him down and I was interested in hearing what the hell he was saying. He made some comment about AEG and something about what they do is buy up arenas, etc. It was strange.
I'm a huge fan of Luc's, but I have to say in all honesty I don't think he's GM material. It would be a drastic, drastic error to ditch Lombardi in favor of Luc Robitaille.
Not sure where Al Strachan gets off, spreading this kind of fertilizer. Such a notion comes like a complete bolt out of the blue.
I'm a huge fan of Luc's, but I have to say in all honesty I don't think he's GM material. It would be a drastic, drastic error to ditch Lombardi in favor of Luc Robitaille.
I've got it! Aren't Luc & Gretzky friends?
We could somehow fanagle(sp) a scenario which sees Luc assuming the role of GM in Phoenix!
Because he has ZERO business sense, we then proceed to steal all their best players!!!
Calder for Hanzal
Army for Mueller
Labs for Turris
...........etc.....
Leiweke and Luc (to a degree) have control of the budget. When Lombardi talks about going to the owners with his plans, folks here realize that Luc is one of the guys Lombardi has to "sell" his proposed plans and budgets to right?
As I said a while back, I don't think there's any love lost between Lombardi and Luc. Competing egos and all. Too many "Presidents" for one gig with the Kings. Hell, the Kings have more Presidents than they do Stanley Cup Final appearances...
Leiweke and Luc (to a degree) have control of the budget. When Lombardi talks about going to the owners with his plans, folks here realize that Luc is one of the guys Lombardi has to "sell" his proposed plans and budgets to right?
As I said a while back, I don't think there's any love lost between Lombardi and Luc. Competing egos and all. Too many "Presidents" for one gig with the Kings. Hell, the Kings have more Presidents than they do Stanley Cup Final appearances...
Not surprised in the least to hear this stuff...
Yup. When you lose a lot and attendance drops off you can bet there are people who are willing to say they can do a better job than the current guy.
Yup. When you lose a lot and attendance drops off you can bet there are people who are willing to say they can do a better job than the current guy.
That's not the case here. I don't think Luc has any desire to be the GM of the Kings and I don't think Lombardi has any desire to be held accountable by Luc. That's the heart of the issue. Lombardi taking a "you're not the boss of me" stance with Luc even though Luc's role comes down on the side of ownership...
That's not the case here. I don't think Luc has any desire to be the GM of the Kings and I don't think Lombardi has any desire to be held accountable by Luc. That's the heart of the issue. Lombardi taking a "you're not the boss of me" stance with Luc even though Luc's role comes down on the side of ownership...
Behind the scenes you don't think Luc would want to be the GM? You think if AEG came to him tomorrow and said we're firing Dean and we want you to replace him-he would say no? You're crazy.
Behind the scenes you don't think Luc would want to be the GM? You think if AEG came to him tomorrow and said we're firing Dean and we want you to replace him-he would say no? You're crazy.
Why the hell would Luc want to be the GM when he's already in line to be the GMs boss? The "power struggle" isn't about Luc being the GM, it's about Lombardi and his "you're not the boss of me" attitude with Luc. Luc is aligned with OWNERSHIP. Lombardi answers to ownership when he feels like returning their phone calls...
Yup. When you lose a lot and attendance drops off you can bet there are people who are willing to say they can do a better job than the current guy.
AEG is 100% behind "the current guy". There's no way what we're witnessing happening this year would be happening if they weren't.
There isn't anything (and I do mean anything) that publicly points to Luc being anything more than a positive figurehead for the Kings organization. Just look at his title - it's purely for PR purposes. He's not President of anything and he's certainly not calling any actual shots for business operations for the Kings.
Luc can always be perceived as "the good guy" in his current role. AEG has no interest in putting Luc into a position where his image will be sullied (and nothing will do that faster than making Luc the GM of the Kings).
If I am ownership and I look on to what I saw on the ice last night, more young talent than the franchise has EVER had, I stick with DL. Are the kids raw? Do they make rookie mistakes? Do they lack experience? Of course, but anyone that thinks this franchise is not headed in the right direction has a difficult case to make.
If I am ownership and I look on to what I saw on the ice last night, more young talent than the franchise has EVER had, I stick with DL. Are the kids raw? Do they make rookie mistakes? Do they lack experience? Of course, but anyone that thinks this franchise is not headed in the right direction has a difficult case to make.
I don't think it has much if anything to do with ownership not getting what's going on.
I'm pretty sure you were aware that there has been a bit of positioning by both Luc and Lombardi going on for quite some time now.
Lombardi pulling the stunt with regards to the Kings players and Luc's poker tournament in Vegas this year is just one more thing that has some folks in the organization asking why's he got to be that way? Blaming it on the new coach was pretty sack-less on Lombardi's part...
All I actually heard about this conflict from Hotstove was that Lombardi and Hextall were shutting Luc out, whatever that means. It certainly doesn't say anything about Luc not being happy with the direction in respect to the players. I would imagine if anything, given Luc was a player he would be a big advocate for them.
It would be interesting to understand what exactly is being suggested as the reason behind the tensions, but this doesn't seem to be new.
AEG is 100% behind "the current guy". There's no way what we're witnessing happening this year would be happening if they weren't.
wha? like how DL is icing the cheapest team in the league? Yeah no way, right...
Quote:
There isn't anything (and I do mean anything) that publicly points to Luc being anything more than a positive figurehead for the Kings organization. Just look at his title - it's purely for PR purposes. He's not President of anything and he's certainly not calling any actual shots for business operations for the Kings.
Luc can always be perceived as "the good guy" in his current role. AEG has no interest in putting Luc into a position where his image will be sullied (and nothing will do that faster than making Luc the GM of the Kings).
- T
they certainly had no problem smearing Dave Taylor to the wall. are you trying to convince me that AEG has a heart? LOL
It would be interesting to understand what exactly is being suggested as the reason behind the tensions, but this doesn't seem to be new.
Well, from what I understand, it sort of goes back to Lombardi being told by ownership to keep the team competitive while he re-built and how the first few years of that really didn't work out. Some folks might be questioning if Lombardi really tried all that hard to be competitive. For a few years there Lombardi was looking like the unluckiest man in the world when it came to his signings. Odd how that worked out...
Then there's the MILLIONS of AEG's dollars that Lombardi pissed away on his FA acquisitions while failing to keep the team competitive...
Then there's Lombardi's "you're not the boss of me" attitude towards Luc...
Add in Lombardi's propensity to think of himself as the smartest man in the room...
Leiweke finally having to concede that ownership had to buy into the team needing to suck for years to get better...
It's a bunch of things but it really comes down to Lombardi pissing away 10s of MILLIONS of dollars in a short period of time and not returning Lucs phone calls...
