He was with the Seibu Bears, and his goalie was Dusty Imoo. The two won a championship together. Little did they know that they would play important roles with the Kings, decades later.
Imoo became a goalie development coach for the Kings, and his work with Jack Campbell, Cal Petersen and others has been integral to an injury-ridden season for the team’s goalies. As interim Kings coach, Desjardins has an appreciation for what might be the best goalie development staff around with Imoo and Bill Ranford.
“That’s a strong point of this organization,” Desjardins said. “Jack’s a much better goaltender then when I had him before [with the Texas Stars], and you have to give those guys lots of credit.