Around the League Thread Part III: Free Agent Frenzy Hangover

[Johnny Utah]

Getting toughness, hard-nose and dirty guys isn't that difficult, I would expect that to be addressed down the road. Greene, Stoll, Richards, Fraser, Regher, etc. Clifford and Nolan were really the two nasty guys that the Kings brought through their system. These type of guys who are capable do cost decent assets, but they certainly are more available than higher skill guys.

Lets not forget about Willie Mitchell. He was known as and especially earlier on in his career as a tough stay at home D.

Also, Voynov was no pushover - I remember that AHL fight where he destroyed one player. Don’t insert the wife or gf joke here lol.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'm much less enamored with an enforcer (someone mentioned gabriel today and...just no) and much more enamored with a guy like Lemieux who will drop them in the course of play with anyone and has a small screw loose. But even that isn't enough, it has to be a whole team effort where you don't feel comfortable running even Lizotte because Kempe and Kupari will both go bonkers (obviously they're not scary, just the concept of everyone in).

To his credit MacD was a nuke who kept people pretty honest for his part, obviously Fiala isn't going to have to fight him for hitting Roy, but would have been nice to see MacD absolutely destroy someone with some borderline hits and making every scrum miserable. That's the kind of thing that sticks with you--when you know you're going to have a long night, not deal with one random tongue lashing and that's it.

 

[ru4reals]

I'm much less enamored with an enforcer (someone mentioned gabriel today and...just no) and much more enamored with a guy like Lemieux who will drop them in the course of play with anyone and has a small screw loose. But even that isn't enough, it has to be a whole team effort where you don't feel comfortable running even Lizotte because Kempe and Kupari will both go bonkers (obviously they're not scary, just the concept of everyone in).

To his credit MacD was a nuke who kept people pretty honest for his part, obviously Fiala isn't going to have to fight him for hitting Roy, but would have been nice to see MacD absolutely destroy someone with some borderline hits and making every scrum miserable. That's the kind of thing that sticks with you--when you know you're going to have a long night, not deal with one random tongue lashing and that's it.

Yup pretty much exactly what I'm thinking just can't say it as well as you do. Teams know Kings are soft and will take liberties and no one's going to do a damn thing about it. It is what it is.

 

[Maynard]

I'm much less enamored with an enforcer (someone mentioned gabriel today and...just no) and much more enamored with a guy like Lemieux who will drop them in the course of play with anyone and has a small screw loose. But even that isn't enough, it has to be a whole team effort where you don't feel comfortable running even Lizotte because Kempe and Kupari will both go bonkers (obviously they're not scary, just the concept of everyone in).

To his credit MacD was a nuke who kept people pretty honest for his part, obviously Fiala isn't going to have to fight him for hitting Roy, but would have been nice to see MacD absolutely destroy someone with some borderline hits and making every scrum miserable. That's the kind of thing that sticks with you--when you know you're going to have a long night, not deal with one random tongue lashing and that's it.

Yep, and if your captain is Mrs. Byng, it doesn’t help.

 

[kilowatt]

I'm much less enamored with an enforcer (someone mentioned gabriel today and...just no) and much more enamored with a guy like Lemieux who will drop them in the course of play with anyone and has a small screw loose. But even that isn't enough, it has to be a whole team effort where you don't feel comfortable running even Lizotte because Kempe and Kupari will both go bonkers (obviously they're not scary, just the concept of everyone in).

To his credit MacD was a nuke who kept people pretty honest for his part, obviously Fiala isn't going to have to fight him for hitting Roy, but would have been nice to see MacD absolutely destroy someone with some borderline hits and making every scrum miserable. That's the kind of thing that sticks with you--when you know you're going to have a long night, not deal with one random tongue lashing and that's it.

It's certainly an issue, and this preseason I've only really seen three Kings players try to buck that trend: Lemieux, who is a bit of a loose cannon, Quick, who has done it his whole career, and perhaps most surprisingly, Mikey Anderson, who was making life for the Ducks just a little bit more miserable last game. Didn't watch much of tonight's first period, but if Anderson develops into a wee bit of a dick, I'll be really, really pleased.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Big Z re-ups in the Big Apple...

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

lmao, Eichel.

 

[KingsFan7824]

lmao, Eichel.

It's not like he isn't get paid through this whole thing. I'm sure he'd rather play than not, but the only party involved, Eichel, the Sabres, the other 31 teams, that is actually being negatively affected by all this, is the Sabres.

 

[Statto]

I see both sides of this even if the real motives aren’t talked about, it’s money from both sides. I get Eichel wants the surgery he wants because he’s thinking long term. However Buffalo want him to have the surgery thats they know he can play out his contract because they are picking up the bill. If they let Eichel get the surgery he wants and then the artificial disc pops out they will be on the hook. So they want confidence in what is being done, which is not unreasonable. It’s also possible that quite simply the team medical people thinks it’s a bad choice as there aren’t load of Dr’s coming out and saying they are wrong, I think I’ve seen one.

So I wonder if Eichel would offer to terminate his contract should the untested surgery not succeed, if a hit from someone small like Blake Lizotte screwed the artificial disk. Probably not, he’d probably want to get paid. In fairness I have no idea if the CBA would allow it, but perhaps it is a reasonable middle ground they could figure out. The team ultimately have control though because that’s what the contracts says, that he signed and you’d have to assume his legal team read the fine print.

 

[Stimpythecat]

I can understand each side. It's a rough situation. Relieved it's not the Kings problem.

I'm not sure with ADR (?) that insurance will pick up the tab if the surgery goes bad or if the artificial disk pops out at some point down the road. That's a lot of money to be on the hook for in that situation.

I hope in the next CBA that this will be addressed. There is no clear cut bad guy here. The next CBA can't solely leave the decision making to one party. One side could go bonkers like think essential oils would cure cancer type loony.

 

[Fishhead]

I can understand each side. It's a rough situation. Relieved it's not the Kings problem.

I'm not sure with ADR (?) that insurance will pick up the tab if the surgery goes bad or if the artificial disk pops out at some point down the road. That's a lot of money to be on the hook for in that situation.

I hope in the next CBA that this will be addressed. There is no clear cut bad guy here. The next CBA can't solely leave the decision making to one party. One side could go bonkers like think essential oils would cure cancer type loony.

They could definitely change the CBA, the question is what risk do the players take on and what are they willing to give up for it? It's not a minor issue and the insurer would have to work with both sides, which could get messy with arbitrations, etc. We are talking large amounts of money here.

Potential career-altering (and team altering) situations like this don't occur often, but if the players want some control over these decisions you are getting into the realm where owners aren't going to want to guarantee contracts as a safety net so they don't get hamstrung. Either that, or the PA starts paying a chunk of insurance premiums. Both of these options would be unappetizing to them.

 

[kingsfan28]

It's certainly an issue, and this preseason I've only really seen three Kings players try to buck that trend: Lemieux, who is a bit of a loose cannon, Quick, who has done it his whole career, and perhaps most surprisingly, Mikey Anderson, who was making life for the Ducks just a little bit more miserable last game. Didn't watch much of tonight's first period, but if Anderson develops into a wee bit of a dick, I'll be really, really pleased.

Doughty went right after Karlsson after he low bridge-hipcheck Kopi in the preseason game. A good crosschecks and said wait til the season starts A-hole!

 

[Matt13]

Doughty went right after Karlsson after he low bridge-hipcheck Kopi in the preseason game. A good crosschecks and said wait til the season starts A-hole!

It's funny, but its an empty promise. Doughty has 1 fight in NHL career and Jumbo Joe put a hurting on him. He has made a few awesome hipchecks in his career but is all talk. If you want to send a message, send it immediately, during preseason is even better, when hardly anyone ever gets in trouble on the ice.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's funny, but its an empty promise. Doughty has 1 fight in NHL career and Jumbo Joe put a hurting on him. He has made a few awesome hipchecks in his career but is all talk. If you want to send a message, send it immediately, during preseason is even better, when hardly anyone ever gets in trouble on the ice.

To be fair Jumbo is a legit heavyweight AND a lefty and I'm not sure he's ever lost a fight. Of all the fights Drew could have taken over the years, that was likely the worst choice

But I agree Drew is all talk otherwise. Maybe he'll be a little ballsier since he sees Mikey showing him up on all fronts right now. Anderson was a legit ASSHOLE the other night, I would have been mad to play against him, just Willie Mitchell 2.0.

 

[DoktorJeep]

It's funny, but its an empty promise. Doughty has 1 fight in NHL career and Jumbo Joe put a hurting on him. He has made a few awesome hipchecks in his career but is all talk. If you want to send a message, send it immediately, during preseason is even better, when hardly anyone ever gets in trouble on the ice.

Yup, Doughty is trying to act like Chelios, when he should try to emulate Borque. I think the core problem is that guys like 23 year old Kyle Clifford are the best for that role and have become a rare item. Lemieux isn’t a true threat out there so you almost have to draft for that, and the Kings have gone towards skill. Maybe a guy like Helenius or Andre Lee can develop that, because they’ve got the size to be heavyweights but are capable of offense at the lower levels,

 

[Steve Zissou]

LeBrun: Tomas Hertl not likely to sign extension with the Sharks

Evander Kane bout to make a bet on if he signs or not.

 

[kingsfan]

LeBrun: Tomas Hertl not likely to sign extension with the Sharks

Honestly, if he's hoping to win a cup this is a smart move. That teams rebuild is going to be long and painful.

 

[deeshamrock]

Suzuki done

 

[KingsFan7824]

Honestly, if he's hoping to win a cup this is a smart move. That teams rebuild is going to be long and painful.

An extension wouldn't work for the player or the team. The last thing the Sharks need is another forever contract, and Hertl isn't some young punk trying to stay in the league. He's 28 this year. He's got to get out while he has a chance.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Suzuki done

Suzuki has been a 40 point player, that’s a pretty high number. It’s about $1M more than Nylander, a 60 point guy, and is 3 years longer. If Vilardi pops for 40+ points, we may be looking at a big hit. He could absorb all of Brown’s cap, plus another $2M if he goes HAM.