^^^This. All reports were Kempe was asking for 10-11 million (https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nhl-insider-drops-big-adrian-180407522.html). Holland should have done the deal. But he missed his chance and the market is getting away from him. He's got a decent chance of Gavrikov'ing the deal. On the bright side, we could use Juice's salary space to sign a trio of 4th liners at 4 million x 3-4 years.
Yes to both. Because the reality is, given all the top would-be UFAs resigning with their clubs, there’s not even a replacement for Kempe coming to market this offseason. It really is resign their best forward or patch it up with some random mid 6 player, emphasis on mid, at best. Who he’d really have to overpay of course.
Kempe isn’t worth any more than 10…and that might be pushing it. Just look at Kyle Connor’s new contract…12/mil year for 100-point player. Kempe hovers around a 70 point player.
Kempe is a much better all around player. Connor is often lazy on D, Jets fans complain about that all the time. Conner had a good +/- year last year, but is still a career minus player. It is not all about points.
Edmonton, Toronto, Tampa or Florida would snap him up in a heartbeat if he goes to free agency.
I was talking future success, not past frustration. I think that was pretty clear in my post.
Bite your tongue, cur, lest I cast a hex upon thee..
Tankin-a for McKenna!
That’s catchy.Tankin-a for McKenna!
Whether they admit it or not, this was always Plan B if we didn’t make the playoffs.
I agree. The Kings could have made Juice the real poster boy, the symbol of this generation of players. But they remained stuck on Kopi and Drew. Never seemed like management wanted to make a full commitment to Juice. He is probably better off signing elsewhere.
‘Very typical of the Kings to try screwing their best player’?? wtf are you even talking about?
The only person who ever said $10M was Pagnotta and he's not at all reliable. No one like LeBrun or Friedman reported any such thing. In fact, no one else at all had any such report. I think it was BS. I expect that whenever he does sign, and wherever that is, it's going to be close to Eichel numbers.
Are you high? Eichel is getting 13.5! Kyle Connor just signed for 12-mil and he scores 30% more points than Kempe. There's a VERY good argument that Kempe isn't worth much more than 10-mil.
This is my concern with the discussion, that we are accepting the info coming from people who are not in the room. Yeah, I know involved parties do leak to favored reporters/bloggers, but we don’t have much true info.
