Lombardi talks Trevor Lewis
by Quisp on Jun 8, 2011 9:55 PM PDT
in Prospects
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Lombardi [on Trevor Lewis]: He's a statement for the organization as a whole. First of all, as an individual, he's always been a very focused kid. He'll do anything that's asked. He's always been one of our best students in the development program. And he's not done getting better. I'm convinced that there's still upside [and] a big part of his upside is [...] his will. [...] This is your minor league system now starting to bear fruit. This is the way [...] players should come up. Finish your junior career. [Learn] to be a top player in the minors, to be one of the leaders down there ([now] he's a much more vocal guy) learn to play the right way (we play a very similar system down there as we do up top) and then break your way in on the fourth line here with a limited role, [...] show you can play, [...] get more ice time. That's the way for a young professional to come up. [...] He's a great example of the way I think the organization should work, from top to bottom.
Remember that the next time you read that prospect x is down to his last strike, has one more chance to stick with the team, is over, is a bust, or whatever other knee-jerk comment people make when they personally are tired of the same old prospect not turning into a star after three years, or four, or five. It's always a good idea to assume Lombardi is more patient than most of us. And people are always looking for home runs when they should just be looking to get on base.
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I agree totally with the “on-base” mentality. Not everyone drafted in the first round is a top line forward or a top pairing defenseman. They can’t be. Hell, Schenn could very well be a 3rd line center for a while to come.
Not limiting Lewis to a career fourth liner because he isn’t, but given the lack we’ve had at 4th line for so long I have no problem with a first round pick developing into a solid, contributing fourth line player. Because bottom line is it doesn’t matter where someone is drafted, it’s the need filled.
by Uni on Jun 8, 2011 10:52 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
I think Lewis tops out as a third-line center
A very good third line center with that speed…
"Parte il tiro, RETE! RETE! RETE!"
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Yes, I still think Lewie’s upside is as an Eric Belanger-comparable, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.
"Prepare your bladder for imminent release!" — Invader Zim
I don’t think Kings fans have ever quite acknowledged how much of a loss Belanger was for us. I mean, I like Handzus on the third line, but EBel was quite possibly the perfect third line center. I’m really glad that Lewis has come along like he has. He just needs to be able to focus on offense and score a little more.
"After months of reading other people’s catchy sigs (like yours), I decided I needed one, too." -- DougX
by VoluminousTuna on Jun 10, 2011 10:33 AM PDT up reply actions
What I take away from Lombardi’s remarks about Lewis here is reinforcement of my standing impression that he gets a great deal of personal satisfaction from the player development process, and that he feels a sort of fatherly solicitude toward the young players whom he has chosen.
This is why I really don’t buy the argument that Moller has no future with the Kings because Murray (supposedly) doesn’t like him. Moller’s time with the Kings will be up when Lombardi loses faith in him, or at least decides that he has a better use for Oscar’s place on the reserve list. And if it comes to a showdown between TM and players in whom DL has invested, and in whom he still believes, I don’t see the coach winning out.
"Prepare your bladder for imminent release!" — Invader Zim
I agree, and would even say that I think Murray likes Moller. Everybody likes Moller. It's the commenters who think he's soft and too small and "Euro" who don't like Moller and project their feelings onto Murray and Lombardi
The Moller issue is the same as the Purcell issue and the Moulson issue, which is: Brown, Williams, Penner, Smyth, Frolov, Kopitar, Stoll. Where exactly are these guys supposed to play?
Sometimes I think Murray is so pragmatic that it’s actually annoying (I am sort of admiring it even as I am irritated). Take the Stoll suspension thing. Murray puts Moller in for game two and he plays great and we win. Now Stoll is available again, so Murray quite reasonably puts him in and takes Moller out. Because obviously Stoll does a lot of things the Kings need. And in retrospect the Kings could not have done worse by dressing Moller and scratching Penner (for example) or maybe Richardson (I know that’s debatable — but I thought Richie was not good about half the time). And it also made pragmatic sense to play Williams, even though he was never really “on” after the first game. I would have kept Moller in, but I am possibly more swayed by non-rational impulses than Murray is.
Anyway, I don’t think Moller is “done” at all.
Wait till this year.
I like having a guy on the roster that can line up on all three forward positions effectively. He has a ways to go in the faceoff circle though. If he can learn to play with a little more confidence offensively, he may even provide some depth on the top lines for short stints, if there’s an injury.
Who knows, he may even develope into a real offensive threat, If we could ever open the game up.
Like most of us, I really started to like Lewis’ game, especially in the playoffs. The burden of expectations completely changes the perspective on this kid, because if you’re looking at him through the lens of, oh he was a 1st round pick, he’s taken so long to come around, he isn’t going to be a scoring center, then of course you’re going to be disappointed with him. But I’m pretty sure he was never projected to turn out that way.
He comes in and plays a game similar to Brad Richardson, and while these guys aren’t elite scorers, it’s invaluable to have these guys that can step up and play big minutes and contribute, or go down to the bottom six and still be as effective. Guys like Lewis who give the effort that Lewis gives are the reason the Kings made the 1st round so difficult to the Sharks. You can have all the talent in the world but if the effort level isn’t there, you’re going to get beat.
It also makes those players who are talented yet don’t display this kind of effort all the more frustrating.
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by Great Ice-Pectations on Jun 9, 2011 10:00 AM PDT reply actions
First, let me say that I think Lewis had a great rookie year, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else the kid has. If he can up his offensive game a little (which would be easier if Westgarth wasn’t on his line), he can certainly help to relieve some of the pressure for the top guys.
But I couldn’t help but think of two other players when reading Lombardi’s remarks. For Moller, I think this really doesn’t bode well for him. Lombardi talks about learning to play your game in the minors and becoming a leader down there – not in Sweden, where it will be pretty much impossible for Lombardi or anyone else to track Moller’s progress other than looking at the stat sheets. Doesn’t look good for him, which upsets me, because I think the kid has real skill.
Also couldn’t help but thinking of Brayden Schenn, and whether he’s essentially going to be given the same speech about growing in the minors and becoming a leader down there when the Kings send him down early in the season. Because if Lombardi truly believes that Lewis is the model of what a player’s progress should be, than that is where Schenn will be next year. Perhaps it will be the best for him, but I’m really starting to think that it will be Lotki, and not Schenn, who gets the better chance to fill the void at center vacated by Handzus.
Lombardi talks about learning to play your game in the minors and becoming a leader down there – not in Sweden, where it will be pretty much impossible for Lombardi or anyone else to track Moller’s progress other than looking at the stat sheets.
Don’t be surprised if the Kings hire a European scout this summer, even if it’s just on a part-time basis and with the main duty of keeping an eye on Oscar.
Matty Norstrom is living in Sweden these days, isn’t he? :-)
"I think you just outed yourself as Dean Lombardi. I knew it all along." — Rudy Kelly
Lewis earned his changes and made the most of them. He helped earn a playoff position and became a player the Sharks could not ignore.
Development and recognition is slow in an LA system where it is difficult for a player to step up and stand out. Perhaps if Loktionov was afforded more ice time the Kings might have gained a 1/2 season jump on the 11-12 line up..on way or the other.
On the other hand Lombardi is not alone in his development process and I have to agree with Hoolie regarding Schenn.
Boston GM make a Lombardi like decision with Seguin last night. Seguin took Tampa apart yet the Bruins chose not to play him in place of Horton…a move that can hardly be disputed having produced a 4-0 game.
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