LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi Talks Defense, Goaltending

(Photo by Juan Ocampo/Getty Images)

“With Quick here, [Bernier has] made progress down in the minors. Now they have to keep going and we’ll see where they are when they come in for development camp and then where we go from there.”

And as Lombardi said, what a difference it is to have legitimate goaltending prospects who are on the verge of making it at the NHL level.

“At least you have hope,” Lombardi noted. “Not taking anything away from those other prospects, but Bernier and Quick are a lot different on your reserve list than Fukufuji, a ninth round pick versus two guys who are bona fide prospects. It’s not taking anything away from Fukufuji, but let’s face it, that’s a long shot. These guys are bona fide, but there’s a still a way to go.”

Looking ahead and re-focusing on the blue line corps, all the improvements on the back end will be wasted if they do not continue next season.

“[The improved defensive play] has to become a staple now,” Lombardi stressed. “You can’t say ‘OK, we’ve got this balanced, move to the next thing, move to the offense.’ That has to be drilled home again and again and again. It’s not going to become part of our culture over one year. Murph’s got to drill that into them again. Just because we need to score goals, and we do, does not mean we forget to do what we did well this past year. Otherwise, we’re just spinning our wheels.”

“What we accomplished was very good but it has to be drilled home again on day one and has to become a staple so that it’s reactionary instead of [having to] think about it.”

This article was originally published on Gann Matsuda’s Frozen Royalty, where you can find more in-depth coverage of the Los Angeles Kings and the NHL.

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