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

[jgs]

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.

trading DD for Marner is abad deal for the Kings. Marner is playoff choke artist.

 

[Cook24]

Doughty is our #1 defenseman and we already don’t have a #2 and you guys are talking about trading Doughty? SMH...

We also have no one in the system who has the potential to be a #1 or #2. Which brings me to pointing out that we need to trade up to draft Luke Hughes when we don’t win the lottery tomorrow...

 

[KINGS17]

Toews and Kane won the cup on there second contracts that took up 11.09% of the cap each when they signed them. Today their contracts take up 12.9% each.

11.09% is absolutely considered a big deal.

Kopitar's 2nd contract (6.8M) was 12% of the cap when he signed it BTW.

Chicago and the Kings got away with it, because the cap was still increasing dramatically every season. Revenue was increasing, and the players were invoking the escalator clause every off season.

 

[johnjm22]

Chicago and the Kings got away with it, because the cap was still increasing dramatically every season. Revenue was increasing, and the players were invoking the escalator clause every off season.

But there's other teams that have won with big contracts on the books. Kings and Hawks aren't the only examples.

There's no one way to do it. There's top heavy teams that win, and there's teams with more depth that win.

 

[Rusty Batch]

I wonder who the next flavor of the month we are going to get It's all fun but sad. Every player that becomes available... we need, isn't that a sign this team is years away from competing?

I don't think so. But I know many on here share your opinion.

Kings have had so much dead cap space whether from buyouts of bad contracts, retaining from trades etc. We have had very little impact from prospects the last couple years. (Sure some low impact depth players here and there). But mostly we have decided to take a conservative approach with our top prospects. And then this year we just flat out left 10 mil in cap space unspent in addition to all the dead cap space.

Bottom line is that we wanted to be bad, but now we have the cap space and assets to potentially put a very good team forward. Provided we actually want to spend the money and SOME of our assets to do so.

I'm of the opinion that we can win trades because of the bad spot lots of teams are in.

I'm also of the opinion that betting on winning future lotteries is a long shot low percentage play as I feel this team is probably not going to be slotted in the bottom 2 or 3 in the league even if we continue to play it conservatively. Which means if we want to continue to add high impact prospects to this organization through the draft as our long term strategy then it's probably going to have to come with making good picks outside of the top handful of prospects in each draft class anyways.

 

[Peter James Bond III]

I just hate giving up top tier / 2nd tier prospects. I recall being gone on a remote rafting trip without internet and came back off the river and saw the Kings acquired Mike Richards...I was anxious to see who the Kings traded and saw "Braden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds were dealt" and my heart sank. I was pissed for a few days.

You have to deal to get and I'm hoping the Kings get some of an edge, in that they tilt any deals by taking some cap from a cap strapped team and giving up a little less, in terms of talent. Watch a few like Kupari and Fagemo get dealt and then any of them turn into a very good NHL player. Then watch Thomas not make it, Kaliyev struggle some, Turcotte not able to be a top 6 forward....and then the boards will be like "should have traded Thomas and did what we could, to keep Kupari...can't believe he's scoring 60 points" 'Yeah, and Fagemo is putting up 15 goals and love his game...why did they include him in that deal?" The funny part, some will be ones that said "I don't see Kupari being
a top 6 here"

So hard to gauge the floors and ceilings of all of these prospects: Byfield, Turcotte, Kupari, Kaliyev, Madden, Thomas, Fagemo, Faber. My darkhorse to be perennial 50 pt forward is Kupari and have a feeling the Kings will keep Byfield and Turcotte..and possibly lose Kupari and even Kaliyev. I would prefer to give up #1 and #2 picks, than most of these guys. You know GMs are going to demand Kupari or Kaliyev + Bjornfot or Faber + a #1 or #2 for a top player...oh and throw in Lias Andersson too"

I swear, I would do all I could to avert that and overpay for Landeskog and give up nothing!
Does Kempe know him? lol

 

[kingsfan28]

Maybe. Marner is 7 years younger with 2 less years left on his contract though.

For all that people complain about the Doughty and Kopitar contracts. It's really Doughtys contract that is scary for us long term.

It's not to hard to fast forward three more years when Byfield and some of our other core prospects are up for big raises and looking at Doughty at 34 years old with an 11mil contract with still three more years left and trying to figure out how we can possibly get rid of that.

Dude, you make it sound like Doughty is going to end up like Randy Jones in 4 years. In 4 years , the cap will be pushing close to 90 mil and he'll be the least of our worries, while everyone complains about our 4th line center making 2.5 mil.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Unpopular opinion - Doughty doesn't get you Marner straight up.

Not interested in Landeskog either. Watch that guy's body be done by the time the Kings are actually ready to contend. Let someone else overpay. And there is zero chance he wants to sign on a rebuilding team in tax hell, I wouldn't.

 

[KINGS17]

Unpopular opinion - Doughty doesn't get you Marner straight up.

Not interested in Landeskog either. Watch that guy's body be done by the time the Kings are actually ready to contend. Let someone else overpay. And there is zero chance he wants to sign on a rebuilding team in tax hell, I wouldn't.

I am interested in why you think Doughty would not get Marner straight up, because I think Blake should hang up the phone if the Leafs didn't offer Matthews.

 

[KINGS17]

I just hate giving up top tier / 2nd tier prospects. I recall being gone on a remote rafting trip without internet and came back off the river and saw the Kings acquired Mike Richards...I was anxious to see who the Kings traded and saw "Braden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds were dealt" and my heart sank. I was pissed for a few days.

You have to deal to get and I'm hoping the Kings get some of an edge, in that they tilt any deals by taking some cap from a cap strapped team and giving up a little less, in terms of talent. Watch a few like Kupari and Fagemo get dealt and then any of them turn into a very good NHL player. Then watch Thomas not make it, Kaliyev struggle some, Turcotte not able to be a top 6 forward....and then the boards will be like "should have traded Thomas and did what we could, to keep Kupari...can't believe he's scoring 60 points" 'Yeah, and Fagemo is putting up 15 goals and love his game...why did they include him in that deal?" The funny part, some will be ones that said "I don't see Kupari being
a top 6 here"

So hard to gauge the floors and ceilings of all of these prospects: Byfield, Turcotte, Kupari, Kaliyev, Madden, Thomas, Fagemo, Faber. My darkhorse to be perennial 50 pt forward is Kupari and have a feeling the Kings will keep Byfield and Turcotte..and possibly lose Kupari and even Kaliyev. I would prefer to give up #1 and #2 picks, than most of these guys. You know GMs are going to demand Kupari or Kaliyev + Bjornfot or Faber + a #1 or #2 for a top player...oh and throw in Lias Andersson too"

I swear, I would do all I could to avert that and overpay for Landeskog and give up nothing!
Does Kempe know him? lol

Landeskog is 28 years old. He probably has four or five more productive seasons left in him.

 

[Reclamation Project]

I am interested in why you think Doughty would not get Marner straight up, because I think Blake should hang up the phone if the Leafs didn't offer Matthews.

If the Kings were on the verge of contending would you trade your superstar winger for a 31 year old defenseman? I wouldn't.

He's going to put up 90-110 points next season. Defense isn't Toronto's problem. They gave up up 2 goals a game.

As for Matthews, totally untouchable. He's going to score 500-600 goals in the next 10-12 years and will probably go down as one of the greatest Leafs ever.

 

[Rusty Batch]

Dude, you make it sound like Doughty is going to end up like Randy Jones in 4 years. In 4 years , the cap will be pushing close to 90 mil and he'll be the least of our worries, while everyone complains about our 4th line center making 2.5 mil.

I'm not intending to make it sound that way. I could easily see Doughty still being very good. But that is a long time from now and Doughty plays a very agressive physical game. I'm just saying it's possible that we look on that contract as a rough one in a few years when we want to start resigning a bunch of guys coming off ELC's.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

If the Kings were on the verge of contending would you trade your superstar winger for a 31 year old defenseman? I wouldn't.

He's going to put up 90-110 points next season. Defense isn't Toronto's problem. They gave up up 2 goals a game.

As for Matthews, totally untouchable. He's going to score 500-600 goals in the next 10-12 years and will probably go down as one of the greatest Leafs ever.

Leafs aren’t on the verge of contending. They don’t have the “it” factor. They folded like a cheap tent when the going got tough. Doughty would certainly change the dynamics of Toronto and bring some moxie. If the leafs just return next season with the same roster, it will be the same result, maybe worse since the pressure will be even greater on the players in that unforgiving fishbowl of a hockey city.

 

[Rusty Batch]

I just hate giving up top tier / 2nd tier prospects. I recall being gone on a remote rafting trip without internet and came back off the river and saw the Kings acquired Mike Richards...I was anxious to see who the Kings traded and saw "Braden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds were dealt" and my heart sank. I was pissed for a few days.

You have to deal to get and I'm hoping the Kings get some of an edge, in that they tilt any deals by taking some cap from a cap strapped team and giving up a little less, in terms of talent. Watch a few like Kupari and Fagemo get dealt and then any of them turn into a very good NHL player. Then watch Thomas not make it, Kaliyev struggle some, Turcotte not able to be a top 6 forward....and then the boards will be like "should have traded Thomas and did what we could, to keep Kupari...can't believe he's scoring 60 points" 'Yeah, and Fagemo is putting up 15 goals and love his game...why did they include him in that deal?" The funny part, some will be ones that said "I don't see Kupari being
a top 6 here"

So hard to gauge the floors and ceilings of all of these prospects: Byfield, Turcotte, Kupari, Kaliyev, Madden, Thomas, Fagemo, Faber. My darkhorse to be perennial 50 pt forward is Kupari and have a feeling the Kings will keep Byfield and Turcotte..and possibly lose Kupari and even Kaliyev. I would prefer to give up #1 and #2 picks, than most of these guys. You know GMs are going to demand Kupari or Kaliyev + Bjornfot or Faber + a #1 or #2 for a top player...oh and throw in Lias Andersson too"

I swear, I would do all I could to avert that and overpay for Landeskog and give up nothing!
Does Kempe know him? lol

Isn't identifying which prospects to hold and which to trade on the organization though? I mean they have had years to look at some of our current prospects, shouldn't our organization be expected to have a much better understanding of our current prospects then the teams we are trading with?

From a fans perspective I get it. I see all these prospects and just kind of hope they pan out and have my personal thoughts on which ones will and won't. But I know enough to know that I don't know much. Kings on the other hand get to see some of them every day in practice, know their personalities and work ethic, understand their games far more in depth then we do, etc...

We should expect our organization to properly identify which ones are somewhat expendable and which ones we can't afford to trade.

 

[Lt Dan]

Leafs aren’t on the verge of contending. They don’t have the “it” factor. They folded like a cheap tent when the going got tough. Doughty would certainly change the dynamics of Toronto and bring some moxie. If the leafs just return next season with the same roster, it will be the same result, maybe worse since the pressure will be even greater on the players in that unforgiving fishbowl of a hockey city.

Plus Matthews will still have that horrible moustache

 

[Fishhead]

Dude, you make it sound like Doughty is going to end up like Randy Jones in 4 years. In 4 years , the cap will be pushing close to 90 mil and he'll be the least of our worries, while everyone complains about our 4th line center making 2.5 mil.

I'm not so sure about that cap number. Remember it's all tied to revenue, and the players have been making money while the league has made next to nothing. As a result, all of those overpayments to the players by teams will have to be recouped before revenue gets back in the black. Unless something is amended in the CBA, I can't see the cap moving for at least 2 years, more likely 3. With half of revenue coming from gate, it's not going to be a short process.

All the more reason that it's imperative that the Kings take advantage this year and probably next. There are a crapload of teams right up against it that are going to have zero cap flexibility for a while. Dallas has a lot of big dollars locked up, and Radulov (6.25) and Bishop (4.9) will be coming back. Heiskanen is a RFA. And what's Washington going to do? Everyone is old, makes a ton of money, and Ovie is an UFA. The other 3 UFA's make less than ELC players. What team with cap space is going to take their old expensive players? I don't think there are many buyouts that even make sense and everyone of consequence is signed for at least 2 more seasons. I wouldn't touch any of their guys in a trade unless McMichael was stapled to them.

 

[deaderhead28]

Ok the liquor cabinet is officially locked until after the draft...

 

[Steve Zissou]

Plus Matthews will still have that horrible moustache

Uh, correction.

 

[Mats26]

I feel like you're using an arbitrary cut off to ignore Tampa's 2X 9.5 contracts, that recently made it past the 1st round. Also the large contacts will be offset by a large number of skilled ELC's in the near future.

Trading Kopi & Doughty. Don't see it. If Blake was going to move them, they'd already be traded. Trading them now would send the team into the dark ages. Would be great for the next 2 drafts, but we'd turn into the Oilers or Buffalo.

Besides, this team isn't that far off from the playoffs.

Tampa is 20 million over the cap with their 2 x 9.5 players and cap loopholes moves they pulled off this year.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I wonder who the next flavor of the month we are going to get It's all fun but sad. Every player that becomes available... we need, isn't that a sign this team is years away from competing?

Just because fans want every new toy out there, doesn't mean the Kings do.

 

[KingTech]

Dude, you make it sound like Doughty is going to end up like Randy Jones in 4 years. In 4 years , the cap will be pushing close to 90 mil and he'll be the least of our worries, while everyone complains about our 4th line center making 2.5 mil.

Correct me if i am wrong but didn't Friedman say he doesn't think the cap will go up for 5 years?

 

[KingsFan7824]

Doughty leaves if Doughty wants to leave. They're not willingly trading him. If they don't improve the team to his liking, maybe he starts asking out. On the other hand, Doughty spouting off about improving the team could also just be him talking, the way he likes to. The same way he was praising Maatta in camp. He just says whatever in the moment, and nobody ends up caring, because it's LA, and it doesn't really matter.

 

[BringTheReign]

Spent part of Sunday asking around the NHL about the anticipated level of interest in Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones, who has reportedly informed the club that he has no intention of re-signing with Columbus and is likely to be traded this summer. Most clubs will let the dust settle for a day or so after big news breaks, but two clubs reached out to Kekalainen on Sunday. A flood of calls is expected beginning Monday or Tuesday after the holiday weekend. If you’re the betting sort — and isn’t everybody these days? — the early favorite appears to the Los Angeles Kings, given their stable of prospects and their pile of draft picks. Chicago and Montreal are expected to be major players, too.

Blue Jackets Monday Gathering: Brad Larsen getting long look, Jackets are overdue in the lottery, and growing interest in Seth Jones

I tend to think Jones is a bit overrated, and he had a down year. I'd prefer Werenski, but even if our right side is stronger than our left, he's a good add at the right price (and cap hit).

 

[YP44]

Unpopular opinion - Doughty doesn't get you Marner straight up.

Not interested in Landeskog either. Watch that guy's body be done by the time the Kings are actually ready to contend. Let someone else overpay. And there is zero chance he wants to sign on a rebuilding team in tax hell, I wouldn't.

My offer for Landeskog (which is a pipe dream) would be $10M for 3 years. His body would be ok for 3 years, and no one else would be able to offer him $10M. $10M is a gross overpayment, but LA has the space.

 

[YP44]

Correct me if i am wrong but didn't Friedman say he doesn't think the cap will go up for 5 years?

I think so, but some say the ESPN deal may reduce it to a 3 year time frame.