Thread: Kovulchuk, not about the money, it's about competing

Originally Posted by Bojanglz

Detroit doesn't have room? They lost Hossa and a few other guys. They have the room and will have the room if it came down to it and he likely will go to Detroit or NYR.

They cant afford to sign hudler to a modest contract.

How in the hell are they going to free up 7+ million in cap space?

Originally Posted by Bojanglz

Detroit doesn't have room? They lost Hossa and a few other guys. They have the room and will have the room if it came down to it and he likely will go to Detroit or NYR.

If the cap goes down next year, detroit will not have room, and have enough wiggle room to make deals as they see fit at the trade deadline.

You've got remember the whole purpose of the cap was to break up the parody, to keep the Wings, the Rangers, and other teams that like to give money, from spending limitless amounts of money star players. If all of these UFA's keep going to the same set of 3 or 4 teams, how does that grow the game? What you're seeing is that parody finally starting to drift off. UFA's now want to go to Chicago, Minnesota, and other teams that before the lockout, did just freely spend money...i garuntee if this was pre lockout, Hossa would have stayed in Detroit, or there would have been a bidding war for players like Hossa, Gaborik, and Havlat, between the likes of the Rangers, Wings, and Flyers.

Im not going to sit here and say that a team being competitive isn't going to play into where Kovi signs if he indeed becomes a UFA, but i'm sure if the Kings can offer 3 million more a year to him than other teams, and Dean can show him the plan and he buys into the plan, LA will look more attractive than anywhere else.

Originally Posted by Bojanglz

Anyone who still thinks we would have a shot at Kovi needs to wake up and come back to reality.

HE WILL NOT leave Atlanta and come to the Kings where we might not even make the playoffs again. Our team isn't solid enough yet and still too many question marks.

If he's a UFA next summer, there will be very few teams, especially good teams, which will be able to afford him. The Kings by next summer should be coming off a season in which they made it into the playoffs. Maybe they even would have gotten lucky and gotten into the second round. A young team on the rise with loads of young talent. In LA. There are worse things in life.

So, I would not say that Kovulchuk in LA is NOT a possibility. I'd put the possibility at maybe 10%. Not real likely, but not a lottery ticket, either.

Originally Posted by eyesk8r

If the cap goes down next year, detroit will not have room, and have enough wiggle room to make deals as they see fit at the trade deadline.

You've got remember the whole purpose of the cap was to break up the parody, to keep the Wings, the Rangers, and other teams that like to give money, from spending limitless amounts of money star players. If all of these UFA's keep going to the same set of 3 or 4 teams, how does that grow the game? What you're seeing is that parody finally starting to drift off. UFA's now want to go to Chicago, Minnesota, and other teams that before the lockout, did just freely spend money...i garuntee if this was pre lockout, Hossa would have stayed in Detroit, or there would have been a bidding war for players like Hossa, Gaborik, and Havlat, between the likes of the Rangers, Wings, and Flyers.

Im not going to sit here and say that a team being competitive isn't going to play into where Kovi signs if he indeed becomes a UFA, but i'm sure if the Kings can offer 3 million more a year to him than other teams, and Dean can show him the plan and he buys into the plan, LA will look more attractive than anywhere else.

Did you mean "parity"? Because if you did, that's what the cap was supposed to create, not break up.

Originally Posted by Anonymous028

They cant afford to sign hudler to a modest contract.

How in the hell are they going to free up 7+ million in cap space?

Wait I am confused then. How can Detroit not sign Hudler with Hossa leaving along with 2 others. I thought they were all factored in already and Hossa they were trying to get for 6 mil I think?

Well to me that sounds like they have the room since Hossa said no and another 2 left. I could be mistaken though but I don't see how if they were offering Hossa $6 mil?

But either way I would say his chances of staying are 80% and 19% will sign with another team if it came down to it and a 1% chance the Kings would get him. Like I said, DL can't land the star UFA's.

Originally Posted by Bojanglz

Wait I am confused then. How can Detroit not sign Hudler with Hossa leaving along with 2 others. I thought they were all factored in already and Hossa they were trying to get for 6 mil I think?

Well to me that sounds like they have the room since Hossa said no and another 2 left. I could be mistaken though but I don't see how if they were offering Hossa $6 mil?

But either way I would say his chances of staying are 80% and 19% will sign with another team if it came down to it and a 1% chance the Kings would get him. Like I said, DL can't land the star UFA's.

First off yes i meant PARITY not parody.

Now that, that is out of the way....you have to remember that Wings signed Zetterberg, and Franzen to large contract extensions that go into effect this coming season, not to mention that some of their young talent will be RFA's after this season, and to that the fact the Osgood is only getting older, and that the Wings aren't 100% sure if Jimmy Howard can be a #1 goalie in the NHL. If they have all that talent and now money to get a proven guy in net in the next year or 2, they will go no where fast...

Originally Posted by eyesk8r

First off yes i meant PARITY not parody.

Now that, that is out of the way....you have to remember that Wings signed Zetterberg, and Franzen to large contract extensions that go into effect this coming season, not to mention that some of their young talent will be RFA's after this season, and to that the fact the Osgood is only getting older, and that the Wings aren't 100% sure if Jimmy Howard can be a #1 goalie in the NHL. If they have all that talent and now money to get a proven guy in net in the next year or 2, they will go no where fast...

Ahhh I see thanks for clearing that up. I thought Zetterberg was already set and I know they got Franzen re-signed but I had thought they had still the $6 mil to re-sign Hossa also.

Thanks!

Detroit, the NYR, Philly, the Caps...none have a chance to sign Kovalchuk unless they choose to gut their teams and start over from scratch. NY I could see doing this, but none of the others.

St. Louis, LA, Toronto (with some manuervering, although I doubt Burke wants Kovalchuck as he doesn't fit his mold), Buffalo...teams like that...all teams with the cap space to take on the money, but that doesn't mean that they will.

Atlanta is of course, his most likely destination, but much of this guessing is really foolish until we see what happens 1 year from now.

Imagine if we DID sign K-chuk. Awesome.

Anyhow, it sounds like if the Kings have ANY chance of signing Kovalchuk we'll need to show we're on our way to winning. The further we make it into the playoffs (if at all) the greater the chance of landing Kovalchuk. Thankfully cap space is not an issue.