(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Indeed, all one has to do look at teams like the Red Wings and New Jersey Devils. These teams have the best scouting and development staffs in the league. It is no coincidence that both teams built their core through the draft and then filled holes here and there via trades and free agency—exactly what Lombardi is trying to do and should continue to do.

Further, Lombardi said in a recent interview that he has a plan and is going to stick with it and only go after players via free agency or trade if they are the right players.

Good. No problem there. After all, that fits right in with his rebuilding plan. However, it sure looks like Gaborik and to a lesser degree, Havlat, were the right players and were available if Lombardi was willing to be bold and take a chance.

Many who follow the Kings are totally outraged by Lombardi’s failure to sign either Gaborik or Havlat, especially when it is evident that money and salary cap issues were apparently not the concerns Lombardi led us to believe they were going into July 1.

But a good portion of those critical of Lombardi have been calling for him to sign top unrestricted free agents since his arrival in Los Angeles back in April, 2006. Their contention is that the Kings should be competitive—a playoff team—and rebuild at the same time.

If that sounds familiar, it should. It is what the Kings have done whenever they talked about rebuilding prior to Lombardi joining the Kings...it is the “hybrid rebuild” that Lombardi has talked about in the past—a half-hearted attempt to try to develop young prospects while keeping the fans happy at the big club level.

To be sure, while that sometimes results in a team that makes the playoffs, the Kings were usually eliminated after the first round. That is not what you call a consistent, perennial winner, let alone a Stanley Cup contender, which is what Lombardi is trying to build.

Indeed, the hybrid rebuild has never worked for the Kings and by the time Lombardi came on board, it was time for a change—the Kings have never, in their nearly 42-year history, rebuilt (or built) their team from the ground up via the draft and the time was long overdue for them to give that a try and stick to it, something that Lombardi has done admirably and should continue to do.

But signing Gaborik or Havlat would not have meant that Lombardi had to deviate from that plan or toss it out with the proverbial bath water. Far from it. Rather, it would have fit into Lombardi’s plan in that he has a young core built and now, all he has to do is fill a couple of holes. He did that by signing Scuderi but he still has a huge, gaping hole on left wing.

Entering the fourth year of that rebuilding process, wasn’t it time to help push the rebuilding process along by adding that skilled winger?

Although Lombardi could still acquire that skilled winger via trade, he might have been able to acquire such a player without having to give up any valuable assets if he had only pushed hard for Gaborik or Havlat.

2009-10 will be a crucial year for the Kings and for Lombardi as his team must show significant improvement and make the playoffs, regardless of the player personnel moves he may or may not make this off-season. Indeed, qualifying for the post-season is the next benchmark that the Kings must reach next season (barring a plethora of serious injuries)—they must attain that level of progress or Lombardi could find himself on shaky ground.

No doubt, signing Gaborik or Havlat would have been a bold and risky move. But the time has come for Lombardi to be bold and take a risk—Gaborik or Havlat were well worth 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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