Kings News: Byfield signs 5 year, $6.25M per extension

[Statto]

Lmaoooooo ok....

The way people on these boards claim things like this with such certainty never ceases to baffle me

I know. I couple of days ago they were not going to be able to sign him at all….

 

[bouncesonly]

How did he not have leverage? Byfield was not eligible for salary arbitration.

No way a player like Byfield sits out and not plays cause he rejected the qualifying offer.....someone will offer sheet him, unless there's some time frame I'm not aware for offer sheets?

 

[Statto]

If his agent required a deal that ended as soon as he could he unrestricted, it would be incredibly naive to believe that he wasn't planning on using it to its fullest as leverage - even if the plan is to stay here all along.

This is yet another indication of just how poorly the franchise is being run. The one guy - and while I like Clarke I do feel that he is being a little overrated here - the one guy that MUST hit in order for any of this to amount to anything now has the ability to leave early in his prime.

So he leaves at 26 or 28. I’m not sure that impacts the franchise future that badly. If they can’t extend him a couple of weeks into that contract year they’d be able to get a great haul from a contender as the cap hit will be easily moved.

If the extend its to age 34 which is better than 36 for the 3rd contract, it’ll age better.

Hey don’t get me wrong, I prefer he signed for the full 8 but it isn’t a huge disaster. I think views are being twisted by the (perfectly reasonable) dislike for BLuc.

Edit: to quote QB….

“I want to be an LA King for the rest of my life” (LAKI)​

Second Edit: I wasn’t aware that he knows Foegele and they train together in the off season.

 

[Steve Zissou]

" you HFBoards!"

Probably, QB

 

[King'sPawn]

If his agent required a deal that ended as soon as he could he unrestricted, it would be incredibly naive to believe that he wasn't planning on using it to its fullest as leverage - even if the plan is to stay here all along.

But isn't that true of whatever the deal is? If the contract was only 4 years, wouldn't he be using comps of additional players his age and production so he could demand a bigger contract? If it was 6 years, he'd still be a free agent trying to get the fullest leverage possible. He'd have arbitration.

The "He will use the leverage to the fullest extent" is what every free agent does. As they should.

This is yet another indication of just how poorly the franchise is being run. The one guy - and while I like Clarke I do feel that he is being a little overrated here - the one guy that MUST hit in order for any of this to amount to anything now has the ability to leave early in his prime.

I'm not the biggest fan of the deal. Like most here, I would have preferred a longer deal for reassurance that he would be here. But the threat of him leaving will always be there.

Of the options, it's the least ideal from a fan standpoint, but I also don't think coming to an agreement to this contract is some indication of a major organizational failure or inability to run a franchise. That's just me though.

 

[FrozenKing18]

 

[Sol]

Kings pretty much cratered since winning the last cup. If people are pessimistic you can’t blame them with how long the team has been bad for. Especially when you’re seeing the same players still that should have been gone a while ago.

 

[Mats26]

Amazing deal for the Kings. We'll know if he is a top tier superstar by year 4 when he can start negotiating his big extension and be the face of the franchise.

 

[Basilisk]

It *should* have been 3 years @ $4.95 ........THEN the large stuff comes after he proves himself.....

 

[bouncesonly]

It *should* have been 3 years @ $4.95 ........THEN the large stuff comes after he proves himself.....

Kings probably would have a first and a third if that was the offer.

 

[Trash Panda]

Kings probably would have a first and a third if that was the offer.

…or they could have matched any prospective offer sheet within reason.

There is quite an expansive difference between matching an offer sheet that’s less than ideal, and willingly walking your franchise cornerstone to UFA as quick as possible.

 

[Kingfan1967]

RFA compensation

QB new contract

$4,290,126 - $6,435,186

1 1st-round pick, 1 3rd-round pick

If he got offer sheeted - LA would match

$6,435,187 - $8,580,250

1 1st-round pick, 1 2nd-round pick, 1 3rd-round pick

any other offer sheet they would think hard about taking the compensation

$8,580,251 - $10,725,314	2 1st-round picks, 1 2nd-round pick, 1 3rd-round pick
$10,725,315 or more	4 1st-round picks

 

[Sol]

Kings probably would have a first and a third if that was the offer.

Honestly… if the Kings were cleaning house with management the draft picks for a Byfield offer sheet would be worth it. Trade Kopitar and Doughty. Everyone with value gets firsts, load up and go balls deep on picks. That’s what I would do if there was a chance of byfield getting offersheeted

 

[MonkeysUncle]

I think it's a good deal for parties, I think if he keeps progressing deal will look even better and cant complain that he'll be here 6 years. Then if team stagnates at end of contract he can leave. I think it puts pressure on ownership, hopefully by then they have come to their senses and have jettisoned Luc and Blake and new group is here.

 

[BigKing]

Why wouldn't he want to be here his entire career? He sees how 8 and 11 are treated. He can call the shots once he is the guy here in LA and then go Cup hunting at the end of his career.

I'm sure he wants to win a Cup, but this isn't exactly a dude that came in and looked like he had that dawg in him, or whatever the kids say.

If you can afford it, and easily, living that beach life is a hard thing to leave.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Why wouldn't he want to be here his entire career? He sees how 8 and 11 are treated. He can call the shots once he is the guy here in LA and then go Cup hunting at the end of his career.

I'm sure he wants to win a Cup, but this isn't exactly a dude that came in and looked like he had that dawg in him, or whatever the kids say.

If you can afford it, and easily, living that beach life is a hard thing to leave.

I guess the good news is he's young enough and well connected enough that he's likely to be a better GM than Drew!

 

[Sol]

Why wouldn't he want to be here his entire career? He sees how 8 and 11 are treated. He can call the shots once he is the guy here in LA and then go Cup hunting at the end of his career.

I'm sure he wants to win a Cup, but this isn't exactly a dude that came in and looked like he had that dawg in him, or whatever the kids say.

If you can afford it, and easily, living that beach life is a hard thing to leave.

I think this is the biggest pro to all of this is that the Kings didn’t max out for Byfield. Despite the hype, he’s no where near Kopitars level when Kopitar was his age. I’d be shocked if he becomes a franchise center because I see him topping out as a Jeff Carter type player which isn’t what you want for a new young core. The Kings need a franchise center via draft and if Byfield was that I think we would have seen a lot more from him than we have seen now.

I do think it also gives the Kings the option to trade him once the Kings come to terms with the fact they have no choice but to rebuild. Hes definitely moveable with his contract.

 

[VILARGOD]

Yeah I was going to say, some of the reactions around here felt like Byfields comparables were Jack Hughes, Macklin Celebrini, or Conor Bedard. A guy where anything BUT a long term deal is an absolute failure

Idk exactly where Byfield tops out at but it's probably much closer to a Getzlaf lite than it is a true 1C. If he reaches that.

Good value, flexible contract and if he ends up being instrumental to this franchise, I'm sure we will find a way to keep him.

Guys throw out cliches all the time about "wanting to stay here forever, be a ____ for life" but I think I'm pretty inclined to believe Byfield when he says it. He's going to make a life here, that's forsure.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Kopitar’s first big money deal was in 2009 for 7y x $6.8M, $47.6M total. Three summers later the franchise had its first cup parade. Pretty sure Kopitar was the top scorer for the team in the playoffs as well.

It’s 15 years later and Byfield’s deal is worth less than Kopitar’s, so why is it relevant whether he isn’t at Kopitar’s historical level? And why shouldn’t he be a franchise center?

If Kopitar was blocked by 2-3 guys who were cemented ahead of him his first camp would he have had the opportunity to beat Pronger wide early in his rookie year? I doubt it.

Look, I have zero hopes for a legit team as long as Luc and Rob are in charge. I have no confidence that these humps can build a winner in LA. They never did it as players. And they road the coat tails of Dean Lombardi when cups were won. Outside of Quinton Byfield, there tenure as management is a massive waste of time for fans and a bigger waste of money for ownership.

But of the never ending myriad of mistakes by the Starbucks and Sandals crew in charge, once in a rare while they figure out how to not step on the collective dicks and make a good decision.

Drafting QB was the last good decision and this contract 4 years later is the latest one.

 

[Statto]

Byfield TSN interview talking about new contract and amongst other things talking about improving his game and working on his shot. Plus working out with McDavid.

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www.tsn.ca

 

[Master Yoda]

This contract is fine.
There are pros and cons of a bridge deal or a max term deal too.
With a bridge deal, the next contract is probably a max term at around $10M+ AAV.
Max term deal would have come with a higher AAV (maybe around $8M+) and they always come with some risk.

 

[Sol]

If Byfield showed any signs of being close to Getzlaf they would have given him max term. Byfield hasn’t proven himself to be a number 1 center or even a number 2 center. I don’t know where this max contract desire is coming from. If he actually had that high level talent we’d know by now for sure because he would have been playing that position.

 

[Schmooley]

If Byfield showed any signs of being close to Getzlaf they would have given him max term. Byfield hasn’t proven himself to be a number 1 center or even a number 2 center. I don’t know where this max contract desire is coming from. If he actually had that high level talent we’d know by now for sure because he would have been playing that position.

You are out to lunch. He had better numbers and played better than Slafkovsky who signed for longer and for more. I think he had more points than Cozens who signed for more money and more years.
There is still a lot more potential for Byfield and he can be the 1c.
Last year Byfield showed enough to make you stop with these kind of takes why are you doing this now

 

[Sol]

You are out to lunch. He had better numbers and played better than Slafkovsky who signed for longer and for more. I think he had more points than Cozens who signed for more money and more years.
There is still a lot more potential for Byfield and he can be the 1c.
Last year Byfield showed enough to make you stop with these kind of takes why are you doing this now

is it really that hard to comprehend why someone wouldn’t want to give max term for Byfield when you consider he has not played the position the Kings are going to need him to play? Is it really that hard to realize how risky it is for him to not be able to play center well and you now have him on your hands for 8 years?

Byfield has played well this year and has taken a big step forward but if you think that Byfield checks all the marks for being a star studded center then you are the one who’s seriously out to lunch. He hasn’t played center for a long time and the last time he played center regularly he played it bad. And yeah Byfield is a far cry from Kopitar at their age. There’s zero reason to take a stupid risk like that.

 

[Schmooley]

is it really that hard to comprehend why someone wouldn’t want to give max term for Byfield when you consider he has not played the position the Kings are going to need him to play? Is it really that hard to realize how risky it is for him to not be able to play center well and you now have him on your hands for 8 years?

Byfield has played well this year and has taken a big step forward but if you think that Byfield checks all the marks for being a star studded center then you are the one who’s seriously out to lunch. He hasn’t played center for a long time and the last time he played center regularly he played it bad. And yeah Byfield is a far cry from Kopitar at their age. There’s zero reason to take a stupid risk like that.

Byfield centering Vilardi and Iafallo was the Kings best line. Injuries happened to all of them and then when he came back Byfield was moved to the Kopitar line and they were too good to split up.
He will be fine as a center.
I dont know if he will be the next Kopitar. Those are not easy shoes to fill and may not happen at all for a couple generations even.
But Byfield can just be a good player on his own merit and have a huge impact for his team. None of these guys are as good as Kopitar was and still a 1c - Dylan Larkin, Suzuki, Zibanejad, Aho, Couturier, Oshie, Hischier, Schiefele, Ek, Lindholm etc…
If you arent sold him yet and didnt wanna sign him long term for max dollars then you go short and revisit while hes still an rfa. This deal walks him to ufa in what seems like a structure to maximize capspace while Doughty is still on the team.