The same could have been said of Chicago before they went and picked up Hossa.
Chicago was already loaded with a ton of scoring. Kane, Toews, Sharp, Buff, Versteeg, Keith etc. all guys that fit well in their position as top 5 scoring options.
While the Kings have Kopitar, Doughty, Smyth, Brown, Handzus, Williams. All these guys(except Kopi & Drew) are 4th scoring options at best. DL really needs to find a legit 3rd scoring threat. That doesn't have to be Kovalchuk, but it is so obvious that another 30+ Goal guy is sorely needed.
One difference is Chicago had advanced to the conference finals before adding Hossa while the Kings would be adding Kovalchuk before even winning a playoff series.
Chicago was already loaded with a ton of scoring. Kane, Toews, Sharp, Buff, Versteeg, Keith etc. all guys that fit well in their position as top 5 scoring options.
While the Kings have Kopitar, Doughty, Smyth, Brown, Handzus, Williams. All these guys(except Kopi & Drew) are 4th scoring options at best. DL really needs to find a legit 3rd scoring threat. That doesn't have to be Kovalchuk, but it is so obvious that another 30+ Goal guy is sorely needed.
Buff was a dman when they picked up Hossa. He burst onto the scene in this years playoffs. Sharp was coming off a decent year and Versteeg is aight, but hardly top 5 scoring threats at the time of the signing.
Sometimes confidence and signing that big name goes a long way.
Plekanec will get scorched in the western conference. Small guys need to stay in the east. The centers are way too big out here, especially in our division.
Instead of a huge cap hit on Kovalchuk, DL could trade for Hossa with a cap hit of less than $6 million. Williams-Kopitar-Hossa, anyone?
Some have said Hossa's contract is too big/long to move. If he Hawks were looking to move hossa, which I doubt, so long as the asking price wasn't too high (1st rounder and prospects), I see no reason why Dean wouldn't be interested considering he was willing to match the contract last summer.
Honest question.. so you would be ok with Kovalchuk on a Hossa-esque deal? Like 12 years ~$6m.
Yeah sure, as long as any NMC attached to it was limited to the first 4 or 5 years of the deal. I don't think the guy is a cancer or a lousy player, or would never play a lick of defense. I just don't believe it is a good idea to have any player that isn't a #1 star center, #1 star defenseman, or #1 star goalie eating up much more than $6M in cap space.
I think depth is the key to winning the whole thing. Secondary scoring is everything when it comes to the playoffs and you better have enough cap space to pay guys like that $2M - $3.5M a season if you want to hang onto them.
So we agree. We get Kovy for $6mil and the NHL adds $2 mil (cap raise) because that is an $8 mil deal under the new cap rules.
I'm not for bringing in any winger on a long term deal that would be getting paid better than Kopitar. Just the way it is. You have to maintain some type of internal salary structure. Just like Detroit refused to pay anyone more than what Lidstrom was making. A player doesn't want to win here for Kopitar-money or slightly less, then they can lose somewhere else.
What's wrong with 8M for Kovy? You do realize that that's ONLY about 1M more than Kopi don't ya?
How much do you think Marleau will sign for?
I think we can sign Marleau to a hossa like deal because he is a little older and that will keep the cap hit down, where IK has that standing offer of big tax free bucks and will want top dollar now to stay, and i can't blame him ........would sure look good on Kopi's wing though
I think we can sign Marleau to a hossa like deal because he is a little older and that will keep the cap hit down, where IK has that standing offer of big tax free bucks and will want top dollar now to stay, and i can't blame him ........would sure look good on Kopi's wing though
Exactly, then you still have bucks to pick up a guy like Sharp in a trade.
To answer RH63's question. I think the Kings could get Marleau for like $7M a season for the remaining 5 years of real productive hockey he has left, but sign him to a long term deal that keeps the cap hit under $6M. It's a win/win for both sides if Lombardi can convince him that he can win a cup with the Kings in the next 5 seasons. Shouldn't be too hard a sell with Kopitar, Doughty, Simmonds, and Bernier in the fold. Plus if Lombardi made a splash at the draft and packaged our 1st round pick with something else for Sharp, looking good. Heck as I said before we could even do Chicago a favor by taking Sopel off their hands. He would be a nice fit here as Hickey continues to develop.
Look at it this way. You replace Frolov with Sharp who is a better player for less money than Frolov will be getting paid and you add Marleau.
I think we can sign Marleau to a hossa like deal because he is a little older and that will keep the cap hit down, where IK has that standing offer of big tax free bucks and will want top dollar now to stay, and i can't blame him ........would sure look good on Kopi's wing though
Well, even if we can sign Marleau to a Hossa like deal, I still prefer Kovy. Kovy's on another tier from a guy like Marleau. Marleau is a good player, but not the exceptional player that Kovy is. Marleau isn't going to instill fear in anyone like Kovy is. Kovy is a superstar!!! Marleau, he can be an all-star, big difference!!!
Didn't we peg Marleau to be a slightly better player than Frolov just last year?
Like I keep saying if we get Marleau, he won't have Thornton and Heatley as his linemates, so, don't expect the kind of numbers he produced this past season.
Well, even if we can sign Marleau to a Hossa like deal, I still prefer Kovy. Kovy's on another tier from a guy like Marleau. Marleau is a good player, but not the exceptional player that Kovy is. Marleau isn't going to instill fear in anyone like Kovy is. Kovy is a superstar!!! Marleau, he can be an all-star, big difference!!!
Didn't we peg Marleau to be a slightly better player than Frolov just last year?
Like I keep saying if we get Marleau, he won't have Thornton and Heatley as his linemates, so, don't expect the kind of numbers he produced this past season.
Marleau is more than slightly better than Frolov IMO. You put Marleau on the Kings in the high slot on the #1 PP unit with Kopitar on the half boards and Smyth parked in front, and I'm pretty sure Marleau will score 35 goals.
I don't really want Kovalchuk but I'd be ok with him at a 6 mill cap hit, lol.
But the only way you get the CAP hit that low (more than likely) is with the term like Hossa has. Are you ok with that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KINGS17
I'm not for bringing in any winger on a long term deal that would be getting paid better than Kopitar. Just the way it is. You have to maintain some type of internal salary structure. Just like Detroit refused to pay anyone more than what Lidstrom was making. A player doesn't want to win here for Kopitar-money or slightly less, then they can lose somewhere else.
I agree but 2 things:
1) What a players get paid inflates every year with the salary cap. So what one player signed a contract for 2 years ago isn't necessarily a fair comparison. I do agree that there has to be some continuity though between players' salaries. But I think we are comparing apples and oranges and here is why...
2)We all know what Kopitar's position is on the team (#1 center) and he has kinda grown into that and will continue to do so. That being said, Kopitar signed his deal while on an ELC. Maybe I'm wrong here but haven't most of the players that have signed long term deals at a young age and forgone the "second contract" taken a bit less than what a similar players received on the open market because they are still a RFA?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that had Kopitar signed his new contract next summer, he'd probably be looking at upwards of $7m (maybe even closer to $8m) depending on what kind of numbers he puts up next season due to the inflation of the CAP and his value has gone up (and more than likely will continue to do so). If you are going to use Kopitar's contract as a benchmark, the problem then becomes how do they sign UFA's if they are always going to be outbid?
