Turns out Kings GM was wrong; NHL says clock gaffe was human error

Remember that clock malfunction that allowed Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty just enough time to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this season? It was the Jackets' season in a nutshell: Even when they deserved a point they got none.

The Blue Jackets lodged a protest with the NHL over the matter even if it didn't really impact the standings in a great way when the season finished. It was about the principle of the matter. And what came of that protest? Thanks to Sean Fitz-Gerald of the National Post we now know.

In an email Thursday, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said that investigation has laid the blame for the game clock delay on “human error.”

Wait, human error? Does that mean Kings GM Dean Lombardi, one of the most brilliant men in hockey, was wrong? Oh I hope not, he offered one of the absolute best explanations for a clock malfunction in the history of ... well, the history of clocks.

In case you somehow forgot Lombardi's hypothesis, here's your refersher. It's still just as awesome now as it was then.

"Those clocks are sophisticated instruments that calculate time by measuring electrical charges called coulombs -- given the rapidity and volume of electrons that move through the measuring device the calibrator must adjust at certain points which was the delay you see -- the delay is just recalibrating for the clock moving too quickly during the 10 -- 10ths of a second before the delay -- this insures that the actual playing time during a period is exactly 20 minutes That is not an opinion -- that is science -- amazing device quite frankly."

It might be an amazing device and an equally amazing explanation but in the end the NHL concludes it wasn't science, just people being people.

Again, it didn't really impact anything when the season was all said and done. The Kings finished five points clear of the ninth-place team in the West and the Jackets, well, they finished a lot worse than the Edmonton Oilers for the worst record in the league. It's just the conclusion to one of last season's greatest mysteries.

Sadly, at least in the NHL's conclusion, Lombardi was wrong. Now somebody owes Columbus GM Scott Howson and his team an apology.

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