Melrose was never GM in LA.
I never said that he was and I'm not trying to make excuses for Nick Beverly or Bruce McNall (the guy probably most responsible for the longterm downfall of the Kings), but after the 1993 Stanley Cup, Melrose convinced management that the reason they were beaten by Montreal in the finals was because they played West-sytle hockey which wasn't tough enough to compete with the East and went about bringing in a bunch of tough guys that didn't gel well with the skill players, of which the Kings had a lot. Management listened to him, the Kings missed the playoffs the next two years, McNall sold the team which ended up in Bankruptcy because of mismanagement and have been the butt of many jokes since, especially with the success of cross town rivals and 2007 Stanley Cup Champions Anaheim Ducks.
After making the playoffs 9 out of 10 years leading up to being a curved stick away from a 2-0 lead with 3 in a row at home in the Stanley Cup finals, Melrose's influence/demands dismanteld that team and they've made the playoffs 4 times in the nearly 20 years since.
