Dean Lombardi

Dean Lombardi (born March 5, 1958) is an American ice hockey executive with the Philadelphia Flyers.

He most recently served as the president, general manager and alternate governor of the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Only Hall of Fame general manager Bill Torrey accomplished more consecutive seasons of increased point totals, seven (1972–1979), in his overseeing the dynasty of the New York Islanders into the early 1980s.

During the 1974–75 season, as a junior at Ludlow High School, he was an All-Western Massachusetts forward.

He is the son-in-law of Hockey Hall of Fame winger Bob Pulford, also a longtime NHL general manager and Coach of the Year in 1974–75 (for one of teams Lombardi was general manager of, the Los Angeles Kings).

Upon taking over the San Jose Sharks, Lombardi was widely criticized for signing veterans.

However, this move proved to be beneficial while stockpiling the team's prospect pool with homegrown talent.

During his tenure as Sharks GM, he drafted Patrick Marleau, Brad Stuart, Scott Hannan, Marco Sturm and Marcel Goc in the first round along with Jonathan Cheechoo, Mark Smith, Ryane Clowe and Christian Ehrhoff in the later rounds.

Lombardi also traded for established veterans, including Owen Nolan, Teemu Selänne, Adam Graves, Vincent Damphousse, Mike Ricci, Kyle McLaren, Mike Vernon, Todd Harvey, Bryan Marchment and Scott Thornton, while developing their prospects slowly.

All would become vital in the Sharks success during his tenure.

The team would increase their point total for six straight seasons during his guidance, becoming only the second general manager in NHL history to accomplish the feat.

The next season (1975–76), as a senior, Lombardi was a member of the Wallace Cup champion Springfield Olympics of the New England Junior Hockey League, where he played for top talent developer Gary Dineen.

Lombardi then played two more seasons for Dineen and was selected to the All-America Junior hockey team.

During his college freshman year, he played hockey at Division 2 power Elmira College before transferring to the University of New Haven, where he was selected the scholar/athlete his senior year, and served as captain his junior and senior years.

Lombardi graduated third in his class.

Lombardi later attended law school at Tulane University, graduating with honors and specializing in labor law.

He initially became a player's agent under the tutelage of famed agent Art Kaminsky, building a stable of players, including some members of the 1988 United States men's Olympic hockey team.

Eventually, Lombardi crossed over into management as assistant general manager to Jack Ferreira with the Minnesota North Stars from 1988 to 1990, then moved with Ferreira to the expansion San Jose Sharks.

He previously served as general manager of the San Jose Sharks, a position he held for seven seasons (1996–2003).

Lombardi was appointed general manager of the Sharks in 1996.

Lombardi's employment was terminated late in the 2002–03 NHL season, a season in which many felt the Sharks would go deep in the playoffs, but struggled with a slow start and never recovered.

This could be mainly attributed to the lengthy contract hold-out of star goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

Lombardi was dismissed from his position on March 18, 2003; he would be replaced by Doug Wilson that May.

Shortly after his firing, he was hired by the Philadelphia Flyers as a Western Conference scout, a position he held until April 2006, when he was appointed president and general manager of the Los Angeles Kings.

He brought along Ferreira as a special advisor.

As with the Sharks, Lombardi was a shrewd drafter and developer of talent, drafting the likes of Jonathan Bernier, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, Slava Voynov and his most notable draft pick, Drew Doughty, the number two overall pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Lombardi also complemented the draft picks with solid veteran signings and trades for Dustin Penner, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, among others.

As he did with the Sharks, Lombardi's Kings saw gradual improvement yearly, culminating with a 101-point season in 2009–10.

However, the Kings were eliminated in the first round of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Vancouver Canucks.

The following season, the Kings won the same number of games (46) and had 98 points, but were again defeated in the first-round, this time by his former team, the San Jose Sharks.

The Kings started the 2011–12 NHL season slowly, going 13–12–4, a record that resulted in Lombardi's firing of head coach Terry Murray.

It was a tough move by Lombardi because of his respect for Murray, but a move that he felt had to be made to salvage the season.

Lombardi opened himself up to criticism by tapping his former head coach in San Jose, Darryl Sutter.

Many believed this was simply a case of recycling a friend and former coach, but Sutter was exactly what the Kings needed to jump-start their season.

Murray was retained as a scout.

Still, it was battle for the rest of the year for the Kings to qualify for the playoffs, which they did by five points (95–90) over the Calgary Flames for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

That qualification would be the beginning of arguably the greatest and most improbable run in playoff history.

In 2012, his sixth year as GM for the Kings, the team won its first Stanley Cup.

In 2014, he won his second Stanley Cup with the Kings.

Lombardi grew up in Ludlow, Massachusetts.