Report: Kings locked dressing room door to avoid Darryl Sutter
The defending Stanley Cup champions won’t have the opportunity to defend their crown. Despite racking up 95 points, the Los Angeles Kings were outside of the playoff picture when the league wrapped up its regular season schedule.
Aside from the usual disappointment tied to missing the playoffs, there was reportedly plenty of tension inside the Kings’ dressing room which may lead to questions surrounding the future of coach Darryl Sutter in LA.
Via the New York Post:
Slap Shots has been told by two sources that 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.
As the tale was told, after Sutter finally tracked down an arena operative to unlock the door, he was greeted by three heavy waste receptacles lined up as barricade to what had become an empty room.
As always, take the source for what it’s worth. But if this story proves to be true … wow.
Dressing room tension isn’t unheard of in the NHL, but rarely do details such as the ones above leak out.
Sutter and the Kings’ nucleus has remained mostly intact during the team’s four-year stretch which featured two Cups. Despite all of the success, it sounds like all of the personalities are clashing. Sutter’s message, which proved effective enough to result in two Cups, may be wearing thin on players who have heard the same talk time and time again.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of the Kings’ disappointing finish.
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