The Los Angeles Kings on Monday fired coach Darryl Sutter and General Manager Dean Lombardi, the duo that led the franchise to its only two Stanley Cup championships.
The Kings promoted former defenseman Rob Blake to vice president and GM. Longtime executive Luc Robitaille was promoted to team president in charge of all hockey and business operations.
The moves bring an emphatic end to the best era in the mostly ordinary history of the Kings, a Second Six expansion franchise. Los Angeles won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014 but hasn't won a playoff round since.
"This was an extremely difficult decision and was made with an enormous amount of consideration for what we have accomplished in our past," said Dan Beckerman, president of AEG, the sports conglomerate that owns the Kings. "But the present and future of our organization is the highest priority."
The Kings (39-35-8) missed the playoffs this spring for the second time in three years with their worst record since 2009. They finished 10th in the 14-team Western Conference, fading down the stretch with a veteran-laden team that struggled to keep up with faster, younger opponents.
Sutter is the winningest coach in Kings history. He went 225-147-53 after taking over in December 2011 and reteaming with Lombardi, his friend and former boss in San Jose.
Canucks fire coach
The Canucks fired coach Willie Desjardins after missing the postseason for the second consecutive season. In three seasons with Vancouver, Desjardins went 109-110-27. The 60-year-old led the club to the playoffs as a rookie NHL head coach in 2014-15, but the rebuilding Canucks took a big step backward last season and then finished 29th out of 30 teams in the NHL standings this season.
Tallon is Panthers GM
The Panthers reinstated Dale Tallon as GM, removing Tom Rowe from both that position and his role as interim coach one day after a Florida season that began with Stanley Cup-contention expectations ended well short of a postseason berth.
