Gaborik and Kovalchuk are different situations, IMO. I highly doubt DL will be outbid for Kovy if it is his aim to get him.
Term length will not be an issue with Kovy like it was with Gaborik. The reason DL wasn't going to match that many years was Gaborik's injury history - Kovalchuk has rarely missed games throughout his career. In fact, if multiple teams made offers I would be shocked if the Kings weren't the ones offering a very long term contract.
Seriously, I'd take Kovalchuk (if he takes around 7 million, I could live with 7.5 ).
So you think he's going to sign for less money than he made on his last contract? Come on man, be realistic with your expectations at least. I'm ok to at least $9 million. Actually I don't give a crap what it costs us, just sign him already!!!
It also takes two to tango. Dean could throw the league max at Kovy and that doesn't mean he signs on the dotted line. If Kovy isn't here July 1, it may not be because we were outbid or didn't offer enough. Everyone says that Kovy wants to play here, but I've never seen a direct quote out of the horse's mouth.
I was about to post that exact same thing!! Right now, in his mind, he may just be thinking "No way in hell am I signing in LA", and that would be the end of that. Hopefully he wants to play here, if he does, I think he'll be ours..
Kings offered Gaborik a short term deal and then the Rangers stepped in and offered long term and then Gaborik's people turned around and faxed that to Lombardi and wanted us to match and we didn't.
That could happen again.
Would you sign an injury prone player to a long term deal? Dean was prepared to sign him for 4 or 5 years but he wanted longer so Dean said no, and I don't really blame him. He was however prepared to offer Hossa a 10-12 year deal but Hossa wanted to go to a 100 point team and we weren't there yet. No way Dean balks at a long term Deal with Kovi. I actually think it's the ONLY way a deal gets done between these two...
Would you sign an injury prone player to a long term deal? Dean was prepared to sign him for 4 or 5 years but he wanted longer so Dean said no, and I don't really blame him. He was however prepared to offer Hossa a 10-12 year deal but Hossa wanted to go to a 100 point team and we weren't there yet. No way Dean balks at a long term Deal with Kovi. I actually think it's the ONLY way a deal gets done between these two...
Dean didn't go further than 3 years, even THAT was a risk he couldn't take.
Am I reading my TV guide correctly? The NHL Network isn't going to air any of Free Agent Frenzy Thursday?
Ive heard people saying that too. I looked up this article:http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=432211 its last years announcement about NHL network airing it and the date is June 30th. So maybe they are announcing it the day before again, if not there's always online streams.
So you think he's going to sign for less money than he made on his last contract? Come on man, be realistic with your expectations at least. I'm ok to at least $9 million. Actually I don't give a crap what it costs us, just sign him already!!!
Everyone is talking about the cap hit, not his salary. If given a "retirement" contract, like Detroit does, the cap hit will be lower than his salary for the first part of his contact.
The feeling is Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi is lukewarm about going after unrestricted free agent Ilya Kovalchuk but team president Tim Leiweke is a marketing guy and thinks Kovalchuk would be good for business. He's about putting jazzing up the club, and they do play in the same building as the NBA champion Lakers led by Kobe Bryant.
Even if it's just speculation, we've heard this before from at least another source. I guess we will never know, but it wouldn't surprise me if Leiweke is pressuring Lombardi into doing it.
Answer: Contract with limited number of years. Proven leader that can show the kids how to be a pro's pro. Actual dollars paid were less than cap hit.
Leiweke needs to stay far, very far, away from personnel decisions.
Limited contract, yes you are correct. But it was also 3 years for a guy in his mid 30's who is a 2nd liner on a championship team.
Gaborik and Kovalchuk are superstar wingers in the primes of their careers. I don't see how commiting 7-10 years to 27 year old Ilya Kovalchuk is any more risky than 3 years to 34 year old Ryan Smyth.
The Kings are in desperate need of players like this, we have an amazingly gifted 23 year old #1 center who doesn't have the kind of wingers a player of his skill should have. Kopitar is already point per game with Smyth and Williams, imagine if he had a truly elite goal-scoring winger like Kovalchuk or Gaborik.
Either way if Tim Leiweke is the reason why Kovalchuk ends up as a King I'm going to be really disappointed.
We'll never know the real answer to this. NONE of us on this board honestly, truthfully know what's going on behind the scenes, as much as we love to pretend we do. Too many of us are still too butt-hurt from the Taylor era where ownership's hands were on everything, and we're not willing to move past it.
If Lombardi signs him, people on here will be calling it a "Lieweke signing". If we don't sign him, people will call Lombardi too conservative. It's a double-edged sword.
don't reach. a statement like that could very well have been made in passing, and isn't really indicative one way or the other about his "pushing" for anything...
"hey what do you think about the idea of Ilya kovalchuk in L.A.?"
We'll never know the real answer to this. NONE of us on this board honestly, truthfully know what's going on behind the scenes, as much as we love to pretend we do. Too many of us are still too butt-hurt from the Taylor era where ownership's hands were on everything, and we're not willing to move past it.
If Lombardi signs him, people on here will be calling it a "Lieweke signing". If we don't sign him, people will call Lombardi too conservative. It's a double-edged sword.
again, that statement in and of itself is an absolute truth and no-brainer.
The concern over the cap issues if we sign Kovi are overrated, cap is going up and we have plenty of contracts coming off the books the next couple of years
Zues - 1 yr - 4 mil
Williams - 1 yr - 3.25 mil
Smyth - 2 yrs - 6.25 mil
Stoll - 2 yrs - 3.6 mil
That is 17.1 mil coming of the books, if we replace mainly from within we will be fine - since DL likes looking ahead and projecting:
2012-2013 LA Kings
Kovi - Kopi - Loktionov
Moller - Schenn - Simmonds
Richardson - Lewis - Brown
Clifford - Zues - Cliche
DD - Scuderi
JJ - Hickey
Voynov - Tuebert
Bernier - guy who sits on bench a lot
The reason a team develops it prospects is to continually replace players being let go or traded, they keep filling from within and these players would be young with affordable contracts.
If DL feels Kovi is the guy, then he shouldn't have any excuses not to sign him...if he doesn't think Kovi is the guy, then that's a different matter.
The concern over the cap issues if we sign Kovi are overrated, cap is going up and we have plenty of contracts coming off the books the next couple of years
Zues - 1 yr - 4 mil
Williams - 1 yr - 3.25 mil
Smyth - 2 yrs - 6.25 mil
Stoll - 2 yrs - 3.6 mil
That is 17.1 mil coming of the books, if we replace mainly from within we will be fine - since DL likes looking ahead and projecting:
2012-2013 LA Kings
Kovi - Kopi - Loktionov
Moller - Schenn - Simmonds
Richardson - Lewis - Brown
Clifford - Zues - Cliche
DD - Scuderi
JJ - Hickey
Voynov - Tuebert
Bernier - guy who sits on bench a lot
The reason a team develops it prospects is to continually replace players being let go or traded, they keep filling from within and these players would be young with affordable contracts.
If DL feels Kovi is the guy, then he shouldn't have any excuses not to sign him...if he doesn't think Kovi is the guy, then that's a different matter.
It amazes me how underrated Muzzin is around here. I bet he makes the team this coming season.
