Thread: Hradek-Lombardi's intense questioning turned off Kovalchuk

Originally Posted by nki

That's just not very practical and exactly what I'm trying to portray. You do your homework and then decide whether you want the guy or not based on what you know. Kovalchuk is a premier forward in his prime, you're supposed to sell the team to him not ask him to justify why should you sign him, to me that's a bit insulting, especially If the player in question has no history of being a problem, you're just shooting yourself in the foot with this kind of thing. That's what I mean when I say ultra conservative, not the money.

Or to make this short, I don't fully agree with Lombardi's beach theory. Compiling enough information about the guy to make an educated guess whether he is gonna come here for the right or wrong reasons before the actual negotiation starts can't be THAT hard.

Does Lombardi looks or act like a guy that doesn't do his homework? really?

And just because your friend told you he is a good guy you shouldn't ask hard questions? really? when you are about to fork out $80M?

And when you are on the receiving end you find it a "bit" of a turn off and walk away?

I guarantee you if the Devils had offered the exact same numbers to IK he would be a King.

It is not about Lombardi and his questions, you think Lombardi was gonna be here for the whole 15 years? silly way to look at things. You think Grossman was gonna let IK walk away from the Kings if no other team was offering anything close to $80M just because IK didn't like Lombardi
s questions or questioning style?

$20M is the reason and maybe Lombardi could smell that a mile away. I don't fully blame IK for choosing the Devils but coming up with that nonsense after the fact is just flat out silly

The Cap era is indeed a new era, most are still trying to figure how to win and doing it year after year. Chicago just won and they had to let go of an interesting amount of players. Will see how they manage next season, but would you consider them favorites as of right now to repeat or even make the playoffs?

Maybe Lombardi is onto something and realizes that core and smart money management is the way to go with winning consistently, don't know but certainly I am much happier being a Kings fan than a Rangers fan

The future looks bright and we are indeed a "smart" move or 2 to becoming a true contender.