Freidman reported in 2018 that Lombardi was courted by the Canucks when they hired Linden but he had 3 years left in a no out clause from his Flyers contract.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...e-job-canucks/
It is entirely possible that he only now has an option to work for another team. I have no idea why someone like that would accept such a bad contract. Perhaps he was led to believe that he would be an eventual hire after Hextal or there was a path to POHO. Obviously, that didn't happen. In fact, he is no longer listed on the Flyers page as an executive. It would seem like he did not survive the regime change, but still may have been living with that terrible contract.
This doesn't scream "deemed irrelevant by the hockey world" but more like "made a power play and lost and is only now allowed to work for another team."
Anyhow, he built 2 programs from the ground up to be successful and in the Kings case elite. That's 2/2. His drafting and trades were good. Coach hires met the moment. He would come in and be in lock step with Sutter. Build a team that he can use to jam down the other team's throat, please. Big, fast, physical, defensive... Sign me up.