The NHL Kings yesterday announced a series of new off-ice Conduct Awareness Training Initiatives that will take effect prior to the upcoming season. The effort includes a new partnership with L.A.-based Peace Over Violence, and the two entities will create a promotional campaign entitled "Kings Over Violence" in an effort to create a platform to significantly increase awareness against sexual and domestic violence (Kings). ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun wrote the team's new measures are the "culmination of a year's worth of research by a Kings organization determined not to ignore three player arrests that tarnished the image of what was a model organization in the NHL." Kings President & GM Dean Lombardi was "determined to get to the source" of why off-ice incidents can happen and "educate himself all the while." He said, "So I spent time with local police, I've talked to federal investigators, I've talked to people that were addicted to certain drugs, how they got on them, how they got off of them. I talked to federal agents about what is out there, how did they get it, even trying with local police to know how it's distributed." LeBrun wrote after having "won the hearts of their fan base with two Stanley Cups," the Kings "now have to win back the fans' trust." Kings C Jeff Carter said, "We've become a big part of the community. There's some cracks in that now. It's on us to really buckle down. On the ice, we'll do our thing, we're a confident group. But off the ice, we need to build it back to where it was." Two offseason drug arrests of then-Kings D Jarret Stoll and C Mike Richards, and Lombardi's subsequent research, "led the Kings GM to hire former NHL tough guy Brantt Myhres" as the Kings' Player Assistance Dir. Lombardi: "He's been through it all, nobody is going to fool him" (ESPN.com, 9/21).
THE SOONER THE BETTER: In L.A., Lisa Dillman notes Kings coach Darryl Sutter thought that it was "crucial to unveil the initiatives during training camp." Sutter: "It's probably something that got overlooked. It's obviously been made more relevant, but it's important. To have any sort of session or meeting or video pertaining to any of those situations -- and instead of just 25 guys here, it's while everybody is still here, is good. To get it in place and start some sort of format is good." Kings D Drew Doughty said, "Our team is making everyone aware of these kind of situations. Obviously all this stuff just kind of happened out of nowhere and a lot of the guys don't know anything about these things. It's good to have that and to have Brantt around" (L.A. TIMES, 9/22).
