Comments on: LA Kings should not worry about luring big-time free agents

By: marty

marty — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:02:39 +0000

Patience is a virtue, a virtue the Kings have never exhibited in their team’s history until now. The franchise has now developed not only a young core of rising star players through the draft, but they have managed to a load their farm system with high end prospects. That depth has allowed those players to develop rather than being rushed to the big club out of desperation. Schenn is going to be a top flight player and so will Bernier in goal to go with Quick. They now enjoy many trade chips that can be packaged for someone like Ryan on the Ducks, a young player who would fit in nicely, both on the ice and in the locker room. As this team continues to win and go deeper into the playoffs, players will suddenly want to play for them because everyone loves a winner. The Kings have been a loser franchise throughout their history, so it will take time for them to shake that stigma, but they will with patience. Remember, this is similar to the what happened to the Edmonton Oilers when they drafted a who’s who of hall of famers. Keep the kids together, keep adding each year, let them mature, and they will win over fans and games. Along the way they will pick up FA pieces that will put them ovver the hump.

By: King for Life

King for Life — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:45:33 +0000

I too appreciate the addressing of this Kovalchuk issue as I am a King for life. However, we did have a 30 goal scorer only 2 seasons ago…Michael Cammalleri. He was a sharp, exciting forward who was a top scorer and tried to get his value, but things went to arbitration cause AEG and/or Lombardi didn’t want to give him his worth. So, he was traded to Calgary next year where he scored 39 goals and then to Montreal, where he scored 26 goals, but scored a league leading 13 goals in the postseason. I would have been nice having his scoring touch as the Kings finally made the playoffs this year. I wonder if that arbitration and the reputation that the Kings/AEG are not willing to pay their players is what might have created doubt in high profile players like Kovalchuk. Anyway, $10 million was too much to pay for Kovalchuk…only continued success in the playoffs and willingness to spend the money will attract top players to the LA market.

By: kq949

kq949 — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:21:20 +0000

Thank you for stating this on a national blog. Dean is no dummy. He will not sacrafice what he has built, and bail on his young team to sign a 40 goal scorer who played in the word division in the NHL and has not proven he can cut the mustard come play-off time.
He definitely is not worth more than Crosby or Ovechkin. Some smart, young 30 goal scorer will jump at the chance to play in LA…no doubt.

By: Quisp

Quisp — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:15:33 +0000

Yes, but when Elliot says that, it’s code for “it’s because Lombardi won’t spend, so you have to fire him if you want to be ‘attractive.’”
The “you” in that sentence is AEG.