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LOS ANGELES — "As painful as it is to go through the valley, we will not look back. The days of making excuses are over. I hate losing but I understand that's what we have to do for two years. We were trying to cover gaps and mistakes with our chequebook, and those days are over."
No, Toronto Maple Leafs fans, those words did not come from Larry Tanenbaum or Richard Peddie or any of the other bosses at the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment who may have suddenly seen the light and taken a vow of rebuilding through the NHL draft.
The speaker was Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG, the company that owns the Los Angeles Kings, a team with several parallels with the Leafs, including residence at the bottom of the NHL standing.
As with the Leafs, the Kings have a raft of highly paid and underperforming veterans, some talented young players who regressed this season, a goaltending situation that is even worse than the Leafs', a coach (Marc Crawford) who cannot get his team moving and a general manager (Dean Lombardi) who steps on a land mine with every decision.
The Kings also play in a major media market and are owned by a corporation that is known more for its success on the balance sheet than the playing arena.
AEG cannot boast of the same income from ticket sales and broadcasting as the Leafs, but its ability to squeeze money from the fans is such that MLSE president Richard Peddie and a few of his fellow executives joined the Leafs' California trip to inspect the company's efforts first-hand.
Especially interesting to the MLSE suits is L.A. Live, AEG's four-million-square-foot retail and entertainment complex going up across the street from the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. It will house a theatre, hotel, bars, restaurants, offices and condominiums. MLSE plans to attach a similar project to the Air Canada Centre in 2009.
However, at this point the big news is that Peddie and the MLSE honchos got to see first-hand just how bad their hockey team is. The only consolation is that the Kings are worse, thanks perhaps to their choice of developing through youth.
The low point for the Kings came on Tuesday when they lost 7-0 at home to the Nashville Predators. That left them last overall in the NHL with a 15-27-2 record and 32 points, eight behind the 28th-place Leafs before the teams played last night. It also prompted Leiweke to tell the Los Angeles Times that ownership was growing restless.
"Ownership will be patient with the development philosophy but when they do what they did [against the Predators], it's terrible," Leiweke said. "Up until [Tuesday] I've loved these guys because they tried every night, but last night was inexcusable. It's not acceptable."
Lombardi was hired on the basis of developing the Kings through the NHL entry draft, some judicious free-agent signings and trades. But this is proving to be a slow process and the youngsters are regressing, something Leafs fans should note.
Mike Cammalleri, 25, had a breakthrough season in 2006-07 with 34 goals but had only 15 by yesterday. Ditto for Alexander Frolov, who had 35 goals last season but only seven so far in 2007-08. Anze Kopitar, 20, is having a good sophomore season with 17 goals and 40 points in 44 games but there are complaints the team is relying on the youngster too much.
Highly paid veterans Lubomir Visnovsky, Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing have the defence in bad shape. Rob Blake was brought back to stabilize the unit but is wobbling through overuse.
But the worst situation is in goal. Dan Cloutier was so bad last season, he and his big contract were sent to the minors. When Mathieu Garon did not solve the problem right away, he was allowed to flee to the Edmonton Oilers as a free agent.
Crawford, who aired out his players the day after the embarrassing loss and then skated them hard, has come under fire, along with Lombardi. They, like Leafs GM John Ferguson and head coach Paul Maurice, are hearing calls to give up on the season, dump the veterans and play the kids.
But, as in Toronto or anywhere else in the NHL's salary cap world, those calls are easier to make than they are to carry out.
