Kings agree to new contract with Darryl Sutter
The Los Angeles Kings have taken care of one major offseason task - per the Los Angeles Times, they've re-signed head coach Darryl Sutter. The two-time Stanley Cup winner will be back behind the bench for two more seasons, with the option for a third. Sutter's current three-year deal was set to expire on July 1.
Kings general manager Dean Lombardi had expressed to reporters on a conference call last week that he was unsure if Sutter would accept the new contract offer. The Kings have six major unrestricted free agents, including forward Milan Lucic, and Lombardi said Sutter wanted to know first which direction the team was planning to take.
“It’s the same questions as when I first brought him here,” Lombardi said on the call. “Here’s what we’ve got. Here’s what the owner’s like. Here’s what the game plan is. Here’s our strength. Here’s our weakness. Boom, he takes it. ... I think it’s a little tougher and the difference for both of us at this time is it’s safe to say we’re in uncharted waters. I think it’s safe to say when I brought him here that we had a great experience building. We knew what we wanted and knew what to do.”
Sutter came to the Kings midway through the 2011-12 season. L.A. was struggling under Terry Murray and Lombardi thought Sutter could be the spark the team needed to reach its potential. He rallied the Kings to a third-place finish in the Pacific Division and a playoff berth; they went on to become the first eighth seed to win the Stanley Cup. The Kings followed it up with another Cup win in 2014.
Throughout his tenure as an NHL coach - with the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames - Sutter has preached pace and puck movement and using physicality to your advantage. He is as succinct and brutally honest a coach as any in the league. After the Kings' disappointing first-round playoff exit in five games to the Sharks, there were rumblings that maybe L.A.'s players were tiring of Sutter's style of coaching.
Lombardi is as dedicated to winning as any GM, and his determination to bring Sutter back shows that Sutter is still the right man for the job.