Lombardi apologizes for Oilers jab

EDMONTON -- Back in July, Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi said he "would have rather invested my money with Bernie Madoff than invest in Edmonton's word."

On Thursday he apologized to the Edmonton Oilers and general manager Steve Tambellini for his reaction to what had perceived as getting damaged goods in the Ryan Smyth trade.

"That's something I have to apologize for," Lombardi told sportsnet.ca Thursday. "I was certainly frustrated, having to lose a player like Ryan Smyth, then getting into a bind with trying to replace him, and the there was a little grey area with what we got back."

Originally, Lombardi had agreed to take Gilbert Brule and a fourth-round draft pick for Smyth, after L.A.'s veteran left-winger had asked for a trade back to Edmonton for family reasons. But Brule could not be medically cleared after having suffered a late season concussion with Edmonton.

So the deal was re-worked, with Edmonton sending depth player Colin Fraser and a seventh-round draft choice to the Kings. Lombardi said he knew Fraser had suffered a fractured foot last season but was told Fraser was days away from being cleared.

Upon further examination however, Kings' doctors found not only an unhealed fracture but also a cyst in Fraser's foot and a blood disorder.

"To be told he's going to be cleared … and now we get him and he's clearly not cleared and … he's going to need surgery. On the heels of Brule? Holy smoke," Lombardi marveled in the Los Angeles Times in July.

"In my 20 years I've never had this happen once, let alone twice in one week. And people used to think maybe I was crazy, but when I was scouting for Philly, Edmonton was my favourite city because of the history of the building. The crowds seemed like honest, working-class people. You still had a blue-collar feel at times. And I don't think this conduct is emblematic of that city at all."

With the smoke having cleared, and Fraser having dressed for 28 Kings games this season, Lombardi chose Thursday to take back his words. It is not known of the apology was either ordered or even suggested by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Oilers GM Steve Tambellini chose not to comment on the apology Thursday.

"The bottom line is, I should have never said what I said publicly," Lombardi said, with his Kings set to visit the Oilers and Rexall Place Sunday evening. "It was the wrong thing to do, and I apologize to Edmonton as well as the National Hockey League.

"It was a tough situation losing a good player like Ryan Smyth," he said. "I was wrong in the way that I handled that."

It was suggested by many that the origin of Lombardi's distaste for Edmonton goes back to the 2011 trade deadline, when Tambellini shipped an ineffective Dustin Penner to L.A. in return for young defenceman Colten Teubert, a first-round pick (who would become World Junior All-Star Oscar Klefbom), and either a second- or third-round in 2012, to be determined by the Kings' success in 2011.

Now that the fence is mended, does that open the door for the two GMs to do business regarding UFA-to-be Ales Hemsky?

Stay tuned.

Mark Spector is the senior columnist on sportsnet.ca