The NHL’s 10 worst contracts, 2021 edition: Drew Doughty retains his title

[jt]

What's he supposed to say? "yeah, so and so sucks and we need to upgrade." To me, his comments read more along the lines of being a good teammate and attempting to be a leader by not throwing anyone under the bus directly, because he also said the team isn't good enough and that management needed to bring in outside talent and not wait for prospects to develop. The message was pretty clear... management needs to use cap space to improve the team. We'll see if he puts his money where his mouth is, but i think if you read between the lines you can see he wasn't happy with how the team was constructed overall.

I dunno. He did say that about the forwards, so I think if he really felt that way about the D, he would have said it...he's known for being vocal about that kind of stuff. I believe that he thinks the D was ok and didn't need any specific upgrades. Maybe that says he thinks that next season Bjornfot can be the next Muzzin and Walker can be the next Martinez. He thought Maatta could be a great partner for him...........

[Helvetica]

I dunno. He did say that about the forwards, so I think if he really felt that way about the D, he would have said it...he's known for being vocal about that kind of stuff. I believe that he thinks the D was ok and didn't need any specific upgrades. Maybe that says he thinks that next season Bjornfot can be the next Muzzin and Walker can be the next Martinez. He thought Maatta could be a great partner for him...........

well, we all know how D likes to blame the forwards for not getting back fast enough in transition. At least that's how it's always been in my rec leagues...


In all seriousness, im not sure i've seen the quote specifically about the forward group. I've seen him talk about the team as a whole, and not waiting for the prospects to develop. The quotes i read looked like a blanket statement about spending the cap space to upgrade the team where he said something along the lines of, "it's Blake's responsibility to figure out how to upgrade the team". I did see him mention that he likes playing with Anderson and that he thought they were a solid pairing.

[DryKing]

What's he supposed to say? "yeah, so and so sucks and we need to upgrade." To me, his comments read more along the lines of being a good teammate and attempting to be a leader by not throwing anyone under the bus directly, because he also said the team isn't good enough and that management needed to bring in outside talent and not wait for prospects to develop. The message was pretty clear... management needs to use cap space to improve the team. We'll see if he puts his money where his mouth is, but i think if you read between the lines you can see he wasn't happy with how the team was constructed overall.

Just so that I understand, Doughty goes on record stating that he's sick of losing and the Kings need to use the cap space and bring in new players but...oh btw the Defense is fine so leave it alone? I don't see that as leadership, if you are going to call for change be honest as to where the change needs to be (team-wide). Also he called out teammates who were not the veterans during the year for lack of effort - so basically he is willing to call out any teammate (without naming names) who belongs to a group he does not.

"With all this cap room, we've got to bring guys in. That's it," Doughty said. "There's no point waiting for these prospects to develop when you've got guys in their prime that are hungry to win and sick of losing."

https://abc7.com/sports/drew-doughty...-run/10640711/

[Statue4Deano]

Cut it however you want it but Ray Bourque, Nick Lidstrom would never have a question about being worth their contract. Drew, as much as his confidence needs it, simply can't compare to their level of dominance over the entirety of their careers.

First off, Bourque won the Norris 5 times. Lidstrom won it 7 times. Doughty has 1 win. Not sure it makes any amount of sense to compare him to those two even if he's the best defenseman in franchise history by a wide margin.

Also Bourque's teams made the Playoffs 20 out his 21 pro seasons. Lidstrom's 20 of 20. Yes it was easier to make the playoffs in both their eras but consider the fact that the worst single season team record either of those two played on in a combined 41 NHL seasons was the 1996-97 Bruins 29-47-9 the one season Bourque didn't qualify for the postseason. Doughty's teams have missed the playoffs five out of the last seven seasons. Hockey is not an individual sport. Even for two of the greatest defensemen in the history of the league. If your team sucks it's going to affect your stats and overall game. Especially if you're playing 28 minutes a night. Fact of the matter is the Kings have sucked for quite some time.

[Helvetica]

Just so that I understand, Doughty goes on record stating that he's sick of losing and the Kings need to use the cap space and bring in new players but...oh btw the Defense is fine so leave it alone? I don't see that as leadership, if you are going to call for change be honest as to where the change needs to be (team-wide). Also he called out teammates who were not the veterans during the year for lack of effort - so basically he is willing to call out any teammate (without naming names) who belongs to a group he does not.

"With all this cap room, we've got to bring guys in. That's it," Doughty said. "There's no point waiting for these prospects to develop when you've got guys in their prime that are hungry to win and sick of losing."

https://abc7.com/sports/drew-doughty...-run/10640711/

with respect to my leadership comment, im attributing that to him trying to keep the criticism more broad, rather than personal. As the leader on the backend, i think he's trying to show support for "his" group of guys. If you want to argue that isnt leadership, i'm fine with that. It's just sort of the general sentiment i took away from his comments. As it pertains to the quote you linked, again, i think his comment was actually more directed at management than the players themselves. What he seemed to be getting at was that, rather than wait for the young guys to really evolve into start players, we have all this cap space available and we aren't using it. Essentially, management isn't as committed to winning, as they are to development. And for the older guys, they want to see management use all the resources available towards putting the best product on the ice. So to me, that was Drew calling out management, not the guys on the team. I didn't see his comments as having to do with the players, so much as having to do with Blake not utilizing every resource available... i.e. cap space.

Obviously I see where you're coming from, but my interpretation of his comments are a little different.

[DryKing]

with respect to my leadership comment, im attributing that to him trying to keep the criticism more broad, rather than personal. As the leader on the backend, i think he's trying to show support for "his" group of guys. If you want to argue that isnt leadership, i'm fine with that. It's just sort of the general sentiment i took away from his comments. As it pertains to the quote you linked, again, i think his comment was actually more directed at management than the players themselves. What he seemed to be getting at was that, rather than wait for the young guys to really evolve into start players, we have all this cap space available and we aren't using it. Essentially, management isn't as committed to winning, as they are to development. And for the older guys, they want to see management use all the resources available towards putting the best product on the ice. So to me, that was Drew calling out management, not the guys on the team. I didn't see his comments as having to do with the players, so much as having to do with Blake not utilizing every resource available... i.e. cap space.

Obviously I see where you're coming from, but my interpretation of his comments are a little different.

I agree with you, I do like that he called out management in regards to their commitment to winning (similar to what Pettersson did recently with Vancouver). His comment is perfectly valid in that if the team leaves ~$20m in cap space it's hard to fathom they are truly focused on winning.

The thing that irks me a bit about Doughty is that I rarely, if ever, see him call himself out as to what he could have done better in a game or where he needs to improve. Perhaps I'm just missing the interviews where he does though, and to his credit he does talk about working hard to prove himself (such as to Team Canada). All the same I think that is a needed step in his maturity that needs to happen in order to emerge as a true leader within the team and within the sport.

[Bollocks]

with respect to my leadership comment, im attributing that to him trying to keep the criticism more broad, rather than personal. As the leader on the backend, i think he's trying to show support for "his" group of guys. If you want to argue that isnt leadership, i'm fine with that. It's just sort of the general sentiment i took away from his comments. As it pertains to the quote you linked, again, i think his comment was actually more directed at management than the players themselves. What he seemed to be getting at was that, rather than wait for the young guys to really evolve into start players, we have all this cap space available and we aren't using it. Essentially, management isn't as committed to winning, as they are to development. And for the older guys, they want to see management use all the resources available towards putting the best product on the ice. So to me, that was Drew calling out management, not the guys on the team. I didn't see his comments as having to do with the players, so much as having to do with Blake not utilizing every resource available... i.e. cap space.

Obviously I see where you're coming from, but my interpretation of his comments are a little different.

IMO it absolutely was about calling out management.

That's also the reason why I firmly believe Blake didn't have his options open to start rebuilding this team immediately after taking charge. There was an obvious and very powerful intent to try and compete, both from the core guys and from the upper management/owners.

Blake had a very limited time window to restock this team and he did that job wonderfully. Whether or not he can now build a winner with these pieces is, however, a different story. This season will be very interesting.

[Helvetica]

I agree with you, I do like that he called out management in regards to their commitment to winning (similar to what Pettersson did recently with Vancouver). His comment is perfectly valid in that if the team leaves ~$20m in cap space it's hard to fathom they are truly focused on winning.

The thing that irks me a bit about Doughty is that I rarely, if ever, see him call himself out as to what he could have done better in a game or where he needs to improve. Perhaps I'm just missing the interviews where he does though, and to his credit he does talk about working hard to prove himself (such as to Team Canada). All the same I think that is a needed step in his maturity that needs to happen in order to emerge as a true leader within the team and within the sport.

I love Doughty the player. Doughty the leader has a ways to go. I think he took a big step in that area this past year, but the way he handles that part of his game has always been deficient. He's always been an emotional player and I think there are good and bad aspects to playing that way. He can seemingly get overly upset about things and it comes across as whiney maybe. But it also allows him to raise his game to the moment, and we've seen him play some incredible games because of it. It's why i think he's struggled the last few seasons. He's finding it hard to stay invested on a daily basis when the team has been as bad as it has. And it's why i think, as the team improves, so will his game.

But i agree with you. I mentioned his "leadership", but I didnt mean to imply that he was a great leader, although again, i think that area of his game is improving.

[santiclaws]

I just can't get over you saying that real live actual NHL hockey players and staff don't know what fans and analytics nerds know. That they are completely oblivious to this "obvious" thing. If you're going to insist that NHL players and staff don't know that he's bad, there's not much to argue about.

If you are going to claim that Doughty was terrific during the 2019-20 season, I agree with you, there's nothing to argue about.

[jammer06]

First off, Bourque won the Norris 5 times. Lidstrom won it 7 times. Doughty has 1 win. Not sure it makes any amount of sense to compare him to those two even if he's the best defenseman in franchise history by a wide margin.

Also Bourque's teams made the Playoffs 20 out his 21 pro seasons. Lidstrom's 20 of 20. Yes it was easier to make the playoffs in both their eras but consider the fact that the worst single season team record either of those two played on in a combined 41 NHL seasons was the 1996-97 Bruins 29-47-9 the one season Bourque didn't qualify for the postseason. Doughty's teams have missed the playoffs five out of the last seven seasons. Hockey is not an individual sport. Even for two of the greatest defensemen in the history of the league. If your team sucks it's going to affect your stats and overall game. Especially if you're playing 28 minutes a night. Fact of the matter is the Kings have sucked for quite some time.

As far as I can tell neither of those guys ever signed what at the time was the biggest contract ever for a defenseman.