from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

So fatigue was certainly one of the issues the Kings could not overcome in becoming the first defending Cup champion to fail to qualify for the playoffs since the 2006-07 Hurricanes. But there was a fatigue of a different kind at work as well in L.A., for the fact is the players had become tired of Coach Daryl Sutter.

Slap Shots has been told by two sources that the Kings locked the door to their locker room following a defeat on the road within the last two weeks so that Sutter could not get in and deliver what the players apparently expected to be another in a series of lectures/tirades.

As the tale was told, after Sutter finally tracked down an arena operative to unlock the door, he was greeted by three heavy waste receptacles lined up as barricade to what had become an empty room.

Thus, it would be no stretch to suggest tension between the team and the coach, who led the Kings to those two Cups, was a significant issue as L.A. went down the stretch before their elimination Thursday night in Calgary following a shocking defeat two nights earlier in Edmonton, of all places.

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