Speculation: 2021-21 LA Kings News/Rumors/Roster discussion

[Rusty Batch]

The Habs are the first team in the cap era to win a playoff round with a double digit AAV player on the roster (Price).

Wow. These huge contracts really are poison.

Of course the actual AAV is not really what matters though it's the percentage of the cap that matters.

And the Penguins did win two cups with two players representing essentially 10 mil aav contracts once you factor this in.

 

[redcard]

To be fair, Pittsburgh had Malkin at $9.5MM and were able to get Crosby under what looks like one of the last cap-circumventing deals. Dude was making $12MM and $11MM when they won their Cups.

Ovechkin at a $9.5MM cap hit but $10MM actual salary when they won the Cup.

Kucherov at $9.5MM but $12MM actual dollars last year. Stamkos at $8.5MM. Both of these are Florida tax sweetheart deals.

Mark Stone at $9.5MM on another no state tax discount.

I'm not saying that these big time contracts are poison but, yeah, you have to give them to the right players. The ones listed above are the right players or they take less because of the tax environment.

You do have to take in to account that nobody has had a double-digit AAV until the 2016 season with Kane/Toews, unless I am mistaken. So that is only five full postseasons + the current first round. There are only 13 double digit AAVs in the league so that also means that there are only a few teams eligible to even be a team that wins a playoff round with a double digit AAV player. Chicago was the only team in 2016 that qualified to do it. The 13 contracts are only spread across nine teams (Toronto has three of them). There are only eight teams each season that can win a playoff round.

To add on:

The salary cap in 2007 when the Ducks won was $44 Million. Niedermayer made $6.75 mil which was 15.34% of the cap, 15.34% of the current cap is $12.5 mil. Pronger made $6.25 mil which would be the equivalent of $11.5 Mil with today's cap.

Lidstrom in 2008 made $7.6 mil ($12.3 mil equivalent)

Crosby in 2009 made $8.7 mil ($12.5 mil equivalent)

Chara in 2011 made $7.5 mil ($10.3 mil equivalent)

And those are just cup winners. Of the above, Crosby's was the only newly signed deal, all those teams won playoff rounds previous years on even lower caps.


Cap goes up, contracts go up, star players get paid. Big contracts now aren't any more debilitating than the big contracts were 10, 20, 30 years ago.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Seems like the key here is to pay somewhere around 9.5~9.9m AAV.
Seguin, Ovechkin, Vasilevskiy, Malkin, Benn, Kucherov, Stone are the 7 guys in this range.
All on recent Cup teams or Cup finalist teams (Stone not on the the VGK Cup finalist team, but I'm trying to make a point)

Pay the guys before they win. Pay them after, and you're going to be rewarding them for the winning. Pay the guys before they explode offensively, like in Boston. Pay them after, and you're paying for the goals and points already put up. Gotta get the timing right, because you can't trust players once they get paid.

 

[Piston]

You are all over the place here.

First off, yes, as I said there are all kinds of ways to score goals. You seem desperate to add skill at any cost without ever once acknowledging the real problem here: the Kings have lacked a spine since 2014. They can't close out leads when they get them. They can't win battles to increase zone possession. They can't force turnovers to turn into quick strike attacks. They can't get shots thru from the point and can't battle their way into the slot to create screens and capitalize on rebounds.

You aren't going to improve any of that with.a Marner or a Gaudreau or even an Eichel.

This team badly needs an injection of competitive will. The skill IS on the way and it is not difficult to acquire if the current assets aren't sufficient.

You want this team to get better fast? You add ballast and grit. Players who can hold leads and address the weaknesses. Then as the youth breaks in its on a team that can compete. Right now the Kings are composed to be a front runner, only winning if they outscore their opponent. Just like Edmonton and Toronto. You have to able to see that. Marner only adds to that problem.

Great post! The Toronto loss with a far more talented squad is another reminder that competitive will can overpower skill. The Leafs looked like a beaten team last night after the second goal. They had no one to step up and take ownership of leading a comeback. The good news is Blake can watch the playoffs and see which players want it badly and who won't step up. The problem is that with the exception of Doughty, who do we currently have on the roster who fits the bill and is still in his prime.

 

[lexlavender]

I don't even think it's a super good idea, but Doughty for Marner seems written in the stars. Leafs fans are FREAKING OUT right now and want to dump Marner, want to be competitive. Bringing in Doughty for another run next year would be a nice headline, and would actually give them the defensive depth and cojones to win a series.

For the Kings, Doughty doesn't want to rebuild and can't be traded almost anywhere with his huge salary. Dump him in the the place he's always wanted to be, in Canada where he can be on primetime every night.

 

[YP44]

I don't even think it's a super good idea, but Doughty for Marner seems written in the stars. Leafs fans are FREAKING OUT right now and want to dump Marner, want to be competitive. Bringing in Doughty for another run next year would be a nice headline, and would actually give them the defensive depth and cojones to win a series.

For the Kings, Doughty doesn't want to rebuild and can't be traded almost anywhere with his huge salary. Dump him in the the place he's always wanted to be, in Canada where he can be on primetime every night.

Only way I do that is if Hamilton is brought in first.

So basically I wouldn't

 

[KINGS17]

Makes you think it's not all that easy to not do it in reality. The Covid cap might help GMs and owners not hand out the dumbest contracts possible, but it's bound to happen again at some point.

Skill is too rare. Owners hold the cards in CBA negotiations, but players have the leverage in individual contract negotiations. Management is just too desperate for talent, and there are only so many players available at any given time.

Makes me think no GM has really tried it.

 

[KINGS17]

I don't even think it's a super good idea, but Doughty for Marner seems written in the stars. Leafs fans are FREAKING OUT right now and want to dump Marner, want to be competitive. Bringing in Doughty for another run next year would be a nice headline, and would actually give them the defensive depth and cojones to win a series.

For the Kings, Doughty doesn't want to rebuild and can't be traded almost anywhere with his huge salary. Dump him in the the place he's always wanted to be, in Canada where he can be on primetime every night.

Do we really want Marner on the Kings roster? Seems like a great regular season addition, but I am not too sure about him in the playoffs.

 

[HookKing]

I don't even think it's a super good idea, but Doughty for Marner seems written in the stars. Leafs fans are FREAKING OUT right now and want to dump Marner, want to be competitive. Bringing in Doughty for another run next year would be a nice headline, and would actually give them the defensive depth and cojones to win a series.

For the Kings, Doughty doesn't want to rebuild and can't be traded almost anywhere with his huge salary. Dump him in the the place he's always wanted to be, in Canada where he can be on primetime every night.

I'm pretty sure that hypothetical was proposed a couple of years ago and the laff fans well -- just laffed.

 

[KINGS17]

Great post! The Toronto loss with a far more talented squad is another reminder that competitive will can overpower skill. The Leafs looked like a beaten team last night after the second goal. They had no one to step up and take ownership of leading a comeback. The good news is Blake can watch the playoffs and see which players want it badly and who won't step up. The problem is that with the exception of Doughty, who do we currently have on the roster who fits the bill and is still in his prime.

Montreal was winning almost every board battle. I was impressed by the Evans kid. He was everywhere in Game 7. That's a player Blake should try to get somehow for the Kings third line.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Do we really want Marner on the Kings roster? Seems like a great regular season addition, but I am not too sure about him in the playoffs.

Do not need any more smallish players that cannot battle and avoid getting hit. (and especially at 10.9 million!!) With another 5'10" 170 lb Tkachyov coming aboard, the (hopeful) 2 new forward additions should
have decent size, be able to play physical and put up 50+ points. Oh, and ideally 22-27 yrs old. Just hard to come by.

 

[lumbergh]

I don't even think it's a super good idea, but Doughty for Marner seems written in the stars. Leafs fans are FREAKING OUT right now and want to dump Marner, want to be competitive. Bringing in Doughty for another run next year would be a nice headline, and would actually give them the defensive depth and cojones to win a series.

For the Kings, Doughty doesn't want to rebuild and can't be traded almost anywhere with his huge salary. Dump him in the the place he's always wanted to be, in Canada where he can be on primetime every night.

 

[kingsboy11]

guys like Marner and Eichel I think are just a step too far for where we're at right now, quality players who can produce regardless of the system, but it'll be too much capital to give up at this stage

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Do we really want Marner on the Kings roster? Seems like a great regular season addition, but I am not too sure about him in the playoffs.

I don’t know about a Marner/Doughty swap. Though Marner is younger the Leafs would have to incentivize Blake to take on Marner, while that would fill a top 6 need, it would leave a gaping hole at #1 D.

Kings do have some young guys that may be top4 material but it’s too soon to tell. That would be quite a gamble from Blake. Essentially putting the Kings in the same spot as the Leafs. Very top heavy just like the leafs currently, could be a potent 3-4 lines if the kids pan out.

 

[Rusty Batch]

You guys are too harsh on Marner he's a elite player in this league. He also contributes on the defensive side of the ice.

 

[Piston]

You guys are too harsh on Marner he's a elite player in this league. He also contributes on the defensive side of the ice.

In five playoff series, Marner has done zilch with the exception of 2018. This is no longer a small sample size When Tavares went down, the Leafs needed Matthews and Marner to step up and fill the void. They did not. This is a talented team that can't get out of the first round, can't finish opponents and whose best players don't show up. Is this what we want to bring into our organization?

 

[Rusty Batch]

Also for those that want to focus on the high prices cap hits of the maple leafs star players that played in those games. How about the fact that they had over 24 mil in aav sitting on the sidelines in Muzzin, Tavares, Fredrick Andersson, Nash.

Gonna be tough to overcome that...

 

[DryIslandBartender]

I'll never forget this day.


Had a Sunday league game at the same time as this game was happening, so our team just kept up with updates, and we found out the game was tied late in the third when our game ended. So we rushed to a sports bar, and within five minutes, it was all over.

I may have been in a state of shock that the puck went in, similar to the reaction we saw from Eric Belanger when he looked confused after scoring the game-winning goal against the Red Wings in Game 4. The puck also seemed to sail into the net in slow motion, akin to Mike Krushelnyski's OT goal against the Flames in 1990.

That was probably the greatest Kings win in its history given the opposition being defending champs and beat the Kings the year before in the WCF. Both teams were just trading blows and neither would give up.

The other greatest game was game 7 in Toronto, again also given the opponent and the way that series went. It’s interesting that the Kings won both games in a very hostile environment like Toronto/Chicago. Both series were tremendous hockey and ton of storylines.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

One of the best intros to a game 7.

 

[YP44]

You guys are too harsh on Marner he's a elite player in this league. He also contributes on the defensive side of the ice.

I just don't think he is worth the assets to acquire. Would have said the same before the playoffs

 

[YP44]

One of the best intros to a game 7.

almost too much to take in there

 

[Docgonzo]

Some names I wouldn’t mind Blake looking at due to cap strapped teams and then being free agents or RFAs.

Coleman
Palmeri
Schwartz
Pelech
Nick Ritchie
Cizikas

Lower end on maybe try a 1 year on Tatar or Armia.

 

[fivehole32]

Some names I wouldn’t mind Blake looking at due to cap strapped teams and then being free agents or RFAs.

Coleman
Palmeri
Schwartz
Pelech
Nick Ritchie
Cizikas

Lower end on maybe try a 1 year on Tatar or Armia.

Pelech would be a good add. Schwartz would be good too however his last couple of years with injuries make me a bit nervous for anything long term.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Do we really want Marner on the Kings roster? Seems like a great regular season addition, but I am not too sure about him in the playoffs.

Playoffs?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Cizikas forever

Pelech would be amazing but that's a redundancy with Anderson, Roy, Bjornfot imo, need someone who can put up points