Confirmed with Link Kings name Holland their 10th GM in History
- Thread starter Dexter
- Start date
Statue4Deano
Super Star
Byfield’s further development will be LA’s #1 recruiting tool in a post-Kopi reality. Kopitar (and Doughty) represent the Cup wins of the past and once he(they) are gone what does the Kings organization have to attract players? Cap space and a 24 year old QB. Next season he can’t take the first 3 months of the season to warm up.
DryKing
Power Forward
Interestingly, other sources are claiming he only wants to play in Toronto as he grew up idolizing Gilmour (who he styled his game after).
I attribute the first 3 months last season as working on the fundamentals and learning to be Center in the NHL, but I totally agree. The Kings currently have a top wing in Kempe (who could help attract Centers and LWs) and a strong potential future #1 center in Byfield. If the Kings sign a player like Marner, that fixes a lot and makes them far more attractive to FA's. If not, though, it really is going to come down to Byfield (as you mention).
The Kings have pretty much depleted their prospect pool, but there are a few solid prospects who could also help, in time, provided the Kings don't trade them before they reach the NHL.
Besides that, however, LA (as a city) doesn't have the luster it once did and living in LA is likely more of a detriment than boon.
If Marner signs with the Kings and a determining factor is his relationship with Hiller, then it would be hard to argue that keeping Hiller as HC was anything but the right move.
King of Pentacle5
3rd Line Winger
Does your list include players that were traded for, and then decided to extend their contract when they were R/UFAs? Because at that point they were in fact FAs that decided to sign with a team in the west.
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Statue4Deano
Super Star
Winning/contending every season papers over a lot of issues. Look to the Dodgers as an example.
If you pay players their market value and you create a winning environment the players will flock to your organization and want to stay even if the location isn’t their favorite.
I mentioned it before, nobody that starts on the west coast, or ends up here without their free will, would count in this exercise. Admittedly the amount of top flight UFA's that actually change teams is small, its still 0'fer out west.
JC6388LAKings
Super Star
As much as I want to agree with you on this, the NHL is not MLB, where a luxury tax ordinance is a substitute to the salary cap. If the NHL operated like MLB, then teams with high payroll like the Kings, Rangers, Canadiens, and Maple Leafs would be a lot more successful in achieving Cup wins. But then again, what do I know?
Statue4Deano
Super Star
I think you just have to scale it down for the NHL vs. MLB. The Dodgers can afford to pay over a dozen guys market value while the Kings can afford to do that for 4 or 5 guys. But it’s the same principle.
Compete, win then offer fair market contracts and the players will love playing in LA again. Lombardi was able to lock his guys into long term fair market contracts and was able to get complimentary free agents to sign because he built a winner.
QB, Fiala and Mikey are already signed long term. Next up is Kempe. If you can sign Marner then you’ve got five key roles filled for 4+ seasons with plenty of cap space to re-sign Clarke and fill additional roles.
Holland has lots of roster flexibility and cap space to take this team to the next level.
What party?
Taxi Squad
Leadership?
Oh, btw I just hate him because he captained a team that enabled a rapist then he and the entire team under his "leadership" bullied the victim. That 2010 karma cannot be outrun.
A real leader would have taken Bald Aldrich for ahem..."drive"., the second he heard the story.
salami
Top Forward
Clif
Super Star
Federov, Mikko Koivu, Radko Gudas. Somehow the Ducks have actually pulled in some big fish.
salami
Top Forward
It's the OC beaches.
What party?
Taxi Squad
Oof. If you're reaching for a 2003 pull of Neidermayer to prove the FA point, that might be the exception that proves the rule. A stroll through Hockeydb also tells me he got better after he turned 30 with the Ducks? More proof he's the exception. Or it could be that they picked-up Pronger too? It's an either/or at this point.
And he came at the end to be able to play with his brother. So unless the plan is to trade for one of the Tkachuks and hope for the other one...
salami
Top Forward
Federov of 85 games and 66 points before a very astute trade to Cbus for a young Beauchemiin
Mikko Koivu? really? He went minny to Cbus or hockey ref lying to me. I think you're remembering Saku who came as a 35yo because Montreal couldn't stomach the idea of a Finn serving as the longest tenured captain over Jean Beliveau.
Gudas while funny actually started out with a camp invite to the Kings before parlaying that into a third round draft pick by the lightning From Development Camp to Tampa Bay - LA Kings Insider
Clif
Super Star
That trade for Beauchamin was brilliant. Scary scary slapshot. But regardless of how long Sergei signed with ANH he still did. Doesn’t change that was a big name.
Yeah I meant Saku. Yes he was older, but he was effective there. I also know he came because he was friends with Selanne. What buddies have Kopi or Drew brought over?
Gudas was probably overpaid but still a big signing. Culture changer.
We can place caveats on any of these names all we want but they still signed.
Statue4Deano
Super Star
Past does not dictate the future. At some point a team on the West Coast will sign an A tier UFA in his prime. It will happen. I think there’s a good chance it happens this summer. 51% chance Marner signs in LA, imo.
Age matters, and its a little unfair considering how long players used to have to wait for UFA rights. The fact that you can have a 25/26yo UFA Connor McDavid where 20 years ago UFA minimum ages were just under 30 iirc shortens the list a ton (by current rules, not current contract). In the cap era Marner represents one of the biggest fish to go to market, certainly in the Tavares, Kovalchuk, Richards, Panarin, Hossa level of hype (yeah that richards one didn't age well). Below that is where I'd put the Ryan O'Reilly level signings.
Saku at 34 cant seriously be considered a superstar signing. I mean Gretzky signing with the Rangers at 36 I'll give you. Saku was simply a grizzled vet by that point. His production and Ice time fell as they commensurately should have. The one parallel to Marner is that it sure seems like both are being pushed out the door so maybe if Marner has a buddy there's hope it can be as real as Saku was.
Clif
Super Star
Sure does, and I definitely don’t see old man Koivu as a superstar. I was just looking at what could be considered sizable UFA
signings.
Talking prime superstars is a different conversation so apologies if I was misinterpreting your main point. But to that end, there’s just not that many superstar UFAs that become available. So the sample size is small enough that it’s not such a red flag that none of signed for these teams yet. It’s a rare thing. When was the last prime superstar who went to UFA? Gaudreau (RIP)? Before that?
I am more interested in do the Ryan O tier guys sign here, because it’s just much more common.
