GM confirms Kings players locked out Sutter, calls it 'scuffle'
A day after the reigning Stanley Cup champions ended their playoff-less season — and a day after a report surfaced saying players locked head coach Darryl Sutter out of the dressing room in Vancouver last week, Los Angeles Kings general manager and alternate governor Dean Lombardi sat down with reporters at the team's El Segundo, Calif., headquarters on Sunday to confirm the report.
And to deny it.
The original report, by the New York Post's Larry Brooks, stated "the Kings locked the door to their locker room following a defeat on the road within the last two weeks so that Sutter could not get in and deliver what the players apparently expected to be another in a series of lectures/tirades."
The report said the team even went to the extent of barricading the door with trash cans and Sutter was forced to contact arena operations to get them to unlock the door.
In response, Lombardi said the report was "factually inaccurate" — but admitted it did happen.
"It’s factually inaccurate," Lombardi said. "The timing is wrong. It happened in Tampa (in February), not last week," Lombardi said Sunday. If that timing is true, it should be noted that the Kings had lost seven of eight before taking the ice in Tampa on Feb. 7; they won that game, and then the next seven, as well.
What's more, Lombardi said he was not certain things escalated to the point that trash cans were used as barricades, but did call it a "scuffle" between coach and players.
"I don’t know if it got that far. It happened in Tampa. This was just brought to my attention yesterday, in terms of that part [the garbage cans]. So I guess it’s fair to say there was a little scuffle in Tampa."
Perhaps most importantly, Lombardi said he had no real problem with the players' actions.
"'No, and here’s why. I could look at it and say, 'That’s when we won eight in a row, so let’s do this more often.' In terms of what actually happened, maybe (players) don’t have to go to that extreme, but theoretically I don’t have a problem with it."
"Obviously, one of the problems this year was just that, that for whatever reason, we weren't where we needed to be mentally," Lombardi continued. "Maybe the way to do it was, 'We don't need to hear from you now. We got it,' and go out and get it done. Maybe you don't have to go to that extreme. But the point is, what happened there, that's what needs to happen. The players need to take over the room emotionally, and if they want to go in there and say, 'Coach, stay out, I've got this one. We know how to win,' I've got no problem with that."
Lombardi also refuted any notion that Sutter might on the hot seat — for this particular incident or any other.
— FOX Sports West's Abbey Mastracco contributed to this report
