Big news out of Hollywood, as the Los Angeles Kings are turning the club over to a couple of franchise greats.
The club announced the firing of general manager and president Dean Lombardi and head coach Darryl Sutter on Monday, after another disappointing season that sees the Kings miss the playoffs for the second time in three years
Former Kings defenseman Rob Blake has been named the team's new GM and vice president, while former L.A. winger Luc Robitaille has been promoted to team president.
Blake will take over the day-to-day operations of the hockey club, while Robitaille will oversee all hockey and business operations.
Dan Beckerman, the president and CEO of AEG, the parent company of the Kings, announced the moves, calling the shuffling "an extremely difficult decision."
Lombardi was the fourth-longest tenured GM in the NHL, and leaves as the architect of two Stanley Cup-winning teams, in 2012 and 2014. Sutter was behind the bench for both.
Only 58, Sutter took over partway through the 2011-12 season, leading the Kings to their first Stanley Cup. He departs with a 225-147-53 record in six seasons, and is one of only 15 coaches to win over 600 regular-season games in his career.
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