Kopitar is a better player than Stamkos. There is also no state income tax in Florida.
Dean's seat will be hot at this time next year if the team has another disappointing season. Even then, he would get another year before they would consider moving on.
That being said, Dean's last two seasons have arguably been as bad as any GM in the NHL. He can't afford to make another disastrous trade or signing.
It all started with bringing back Richards and Greene, then they gave Gaborik way to long a term and it spiraled out of control with giving away the picks and prospects for rentals.
The bleeding has to be stopped here soon.
Still don't think the Gaborik signing was bad, not even that much in hindsight.
27 goals in 2015 when this team should have been challenging for another title. Just started to get going last year until the unfortunate knee injury which was not due to Gaborik being fragile as it wasn't a soft tissue deal like he usually had in the past.
The term had to be long to get the AAV down and the Kings got exactly what they wanted in his first year after signing the deal. He probably gets to 20 last season if not for the injury. Always knew it could be a problem down the road but, really, it probably isn't that much of a problem right now if (IF) he is healthy next season.
The problem is Brown's contract which I also can't give Lombardi a hard time for. His decline, the Richards dead cap and Voynov make the Gaborik contract look bad because now they look like they aren't a contender so why pay an old guy that much?
I'm not so upset about his contract decisions as I am the amount of assets wasted for one playoff win in two seasons. No issue with going for it with Sekera but the double down with Lucic really hurts. I fully agree with it being great that DL is a GM who will go all-in, but to make the Lucic deal based on getting Voynov back--which was far from certain--is pretty asinine.
He's talking like a guy who knows he kind of got his ass handed to him lately as well as someone who understands he did things he usually wouldn't do. He will definitely get a pass if they have a poor season this year and, while they are setting out to be competitive, I'm pretty sure he knows that is the case so they can have more of a "developmental" year this season and stop hiring outside guns to fill holes created by the loss of homegrown talent or the diminished skills of said talent.
Let's not forget that the best UFA signings this guy has ever made are the ones that he lost out on, save for Scuderi and Mitchell. Will he pull a similar move off where he maybe overpays for someone not considered to be that good/damaged goods or does he toss money at a LW? My money is on the former, although more so on not doing much of anything at all.
He knows he has problems in the Top 6 and on the blue line. Better to see what you have on the farm before selling the farm again due to the limited space. If he goes for a good-sized UFA contract and it doesn't work out well, we are all ****ed. With who is available, I don't think it is worth the risk.
