Confirmed with Link: Changes Incoming

[BigKing]

Only way Lucic was going to stay was if they won the Cup with him and he felt there were more Cups to win so he would take a discount.

Getting steamrolled in the first round doesn't really lead to taking discounts for more of the same.

 

[King'sPawn]

I don't see how Ranford can take any kind of blame here. If anything, he's the one that helped out most in the goalie situation this season.

Apparently any goalie coach can do that

 

[Quattro]

saw on NHL Network ticker that Ranford is being retained

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

saw on NHL Network ticker that Ranford is being retained

That's very good news for the organization. Glad to see some of the great hires made under Lombardi are still sticking around and solidly behind this transition period.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Is LaDue is a healthy scratch tonight? Welp, can't have Stothers as the coach. He obviously doesn't know what he's doing with young guys.

 

[kingsfan28]

He got an extra year and the full NMC from the Oliers, he's in full control of where he plays for 7 years, new stadium, younger team with a peaking McDavid, seems like a no brainer for anybody.

Pretty hard to pass that up.

 

[kingsfan28]

Ill add Campbell since i think he might be our Back up next season.... and should improve tremendously under Ranford if he's still here... also i assume you meant Budaj and not Berube???

From what i've read, he's help turn his career around and got Campbells confidence back. He's playing like the goalie everyone expected when he was drafted.

 

[CTKingsFan]

On a some what interesting note. Darryl Sutter was at the Reign game, tonight. Of course, his son Brett still plays for Ontario.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

He got an extra year and the full NMC from the Oliers, he's in full control of where he plays for 7 years, new stadium, younger team with a peaking McDavid, seems like a no brainer for anybody.

Yeah, never mind the McJesus effect, an extra year and an NMC for a player with a family at his age makes too much sense to pass up. All the other factors are pretty perfect for him and it was STILL allegedly a hard choice but can't blame him for making that decision.

I think even folks that disagree on moves will agree that Lombardi has done a nearly perfect job with NMC/NTCs.

 

[KINGS17]

Yeah, never mind the McJesus effect, an extra year and an NMC for a player with a family at his age makes too much sense to pass up. All the other factors are pretty perfect for him and it was STILL allegedly a hard choice but can't blame him for making that decision.

I think even folks that disagree on moves will agree that Lombardi has done a nearly perfect job with NMC/NTCs.

He did for a while, then he overpays Brown and Kopitar, and gives them NMCs on top of it.

 

[Herby]

NMC's are just a part of the business, especially when signing someone to long term deals.

You can't fault Kopi or Brown for wanting NMC's from Lombardi, both players were here when Dean traded Visnovsky and Johnson to Edmonton and Columbus shortly after signing extensions.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

He did for a while, then he overpays Brown and Kopitar, and gives them NMCs on top of it.

Maybe look at this for comparison.

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/no_trade_list.html

We have Brown with a limited no trade, Quick limited no trade, ONLY Kopitar--franchise C--with a full NMC.

Compare that to Chicago who has their expansion draft protected list completely planned for them with NINE NMCs. Detroit has 7(6 NTCS). Dallas has 7, including both goalies on NTCs.

Literally no team has less than us. Nashville at season's end does, I think. But for teams who were super competitive for the last 5 years? Boston has 7, including Beleskey and Backes; Ducks have 6, including lolBieksa; Rangers have 5, including Girardi, Staal, Nash on NMCs; Sharks have 8.

There are plenty of reasons to poo on DL, but this is something he's done incredibly well--better than any other NHL GM, top-3 at absolute worst. He gave other tradeoffs for sure (term on Gaborik, for example, to get the cap down and no NMC/NTC), but outside the actual player performance, he hasn't cockblocked Blake with a few lines worth of NTC/NMCs.

 

[head eyes]

Could be way off base, but does anyone else find it telling that Stevens hasn't been hired yet? I would think that if he hasn't been hired by now (considering he was supposed the only one they were looking at and considering finding a new coach is one of the top priorities right now), maybe they're looking elsewhere?

 

[KINGS17]

Maybe look at this for comparison.

http://www.thefourthperiod.com/no_trade_list.html

We have Brown with a limited no trade, Quick limited no trade, ONLY Kopitar--franchise C--with a full NMC.

Compare that to Chicago who has their expansion draft protected list completely planned for them with NINE NMCs. Detroit has 7(6 NTCS). Dallas has 7, including both goalies on NTCs.

Literally no team has less than us. Nashville at season's end does, I think. But for teams who were super competitive for the last 5 years? Boston has 7, including Beleskey and Backes; Ducks have 6, including lolBieksa; Rangers have 5, including Girardi, Staal, Nash on NMCs; Sharks have 8.

There are plenty of reasons to poo on DL, but this is something he's done incredibly well--better than any other NHL GM, top-3 at absolute worst. He gave other tradeoffs for sure (term on Gaborik, for example, to get the cap down and no NMC/NTC), but outside the actual player performance, he hasn't cockblocked Blake with a few lines worth of NTC/NMCs.

I'll agree he did better than most GMs in this area. Just should have stuck to his policy of not handing them out.

 

[KingsFan7824]

NMC's are just a part of the business, especially when signing someone to long term deals.

You can't fault Kopi or Brown for wanting NMC's from Lombardi, both players were here when Dean traded Visnovsky and Johnson to Edmonton and Columbus shortly after signing extensions.

You didn't say you're not faulting Lombardi for trading Visnovsky and Johnson shortly after signing extensions. You don't mean to make it sound like you're blaming Lombardi for not having loyalty and making non-emotional roster moves right?

I remember that whole thing after Richards, and how people(mostly non-Kings fans) were saying how players were now going to have a hard time playing for him, seeing as how he just dropped Richards after a, somewhat less than huge international incident at the border. Like, if Richards could still play, nobody probably bats an eye, but Lombardi used any little excuse to get out of that contract for less than the worst possible buy out implications.

All that ends up mattering is whether you win or lose. If you win, anything you do is at least ok. If you lose, then everything you do is wrong.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1471401&highlight=brown+signs

For fun. We were all pretty ecstatic. We'd all make bad GM's if we had a winning team. Much easier to make tough choices when dealing with a loser.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Could be way off base, but does anyone else find it telling that Stevens hasn't been hired yet? I would think that if he hasn't been hired by now (considering he was supposed the only one they were looking at and considering finding a new coach is one of the top priorities right now), maybe they're looking elsewhere?

Telling might be a strong word. It's a holiday weekend, and Vegas and Dallas have already hired guys. Is Vancouver the only other team without a coach right now? Where's the rush?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'll agree he did better than most GMs in this area. Just should have stuck to his policy of not handing them out.

I mean, I can't disagree with that, but he ALSO should have signed Kopitar for 3 million a year, and had the foresight to trade Richards for a first-round pick after 2014, and....

NTCs/NMCs are a bargaining chip. DL gave in other ways, but was literally better than any other NHL GM in THIS regard. 10 years, THREE signed NTCs/NMCs. Though of course one of them had to be on your favorite contract, haha.

 

[KINGS17]

I mean, I can't disagree with that, but he ALSO should have signed Kopitar for 3 million a year, and had the foresight to trade Richards for a first-round pick after 2014, and....

NTCs/NMCs are a bargaining chip. DL gave in other ways, but was literally better than any other NHL GM in THIS regard. 10 years, THREE signed NTCs/NMCs. Though of course one of them had to be on your favorite contract, haha.

Only made the Kopitar deal much worse. The franchise is handcuffed now to Kopitar. It's not going to go well.

Dean's biggest mistake was not recognizing where the franchise was is the summer of 2015. The heart and soul guys like Williams, Stoll, Greene, etc. were in decline, or wanted too much to stay. That was the time to assess who the real leaders were and which guys were talented, but not leaders.

Now I see Luc and AEG going back to the old ways of telling the fan base the Kings have a great core (they don't) and all it takes is making the playoffs and anything can happen.

Blake has what are likely some insurmountable challenges with this roster and the current contracts. Best thing he could do is recognize the Kings are not contenders at this time.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Only made the Kopitar deal much worse. The franchise is handcuffed now to Kopitar. It's not going to go well.

Nothing else other than what happened was going to happen with Kopitar, regardless of who the GM was at the time. The number of franchise players that have either been allowed to walk away or traded as UFA's or soon to be UFA's, at least in the cap era, can probably be counted on one hand, with room to spare. The value coming back, from the other team knowing they would have to sign him to a massive contract, probably not as much as one would hope for. They would need those same young and cheap assets around the new big contract too.

As soon as they won the Cup, Kopitar's contract situation was done. What they should've done I guess, was sign Kopitar to a $9m deal or whatever for 10 years back in 2009. Then the question is who don't they have during those subsequent years, because Kopitar is more expensive. What they should've done was sign Brown to a bigger and longer contract back in 2008, and have the same roster related questions as Kopitar.

 

[KINGS17]

Nothing else other than what happened was going to happen with Kopitar, regardless of who the GM was at the time. The number of franchise players that have either been allowed to walk away or traded as UFA's or soon to be UFA's, at least in the cap era, can probably be counted on one hand, with room to spare. The value coming back, from the other team knowing they would have to sign him to a massive contract, probably not as much as one would hope for. They would need those same young and cheap assets around the new big contract too.

As soon as they won the Cup, Kopitar's contract situation was done. What they should've done I guess, was sign Kopitar to a $9m deal or whatever for 10 years back in 2009. Then the question is who don't they have during those subsequent years, because Kopitar is more expensive. What they should've done was sign Brown to a bigger and longer contract back in 2008, and have the same roster related questions as Kopitar.

I would argue the value coming back would have exceeded what Kopitar is going to produce in terms of winning over the next 7 years.

You can't give guys 8 year deals on their third contract. It's a recipe for failure.

Now the right thing to do is sell off the assets still having value and let Kopitar, Brown, and Gaborik's deals expire. This won't happen though, because Luc isn't smart enough to recognized their predicament.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I would argue the value coming back would have exceeded what Kopitar is going to produce in terms of winning over the next 7 years.

I guess that would depend on what team he would've been traded to. What team needed a not young #1 center that's going to command $10m? A team that's already a contender? A young team that will need to pay their own young prospects soon?

I hate saying it, because you wouldn't jump off a bridge just because someone else does it, but nobody makes moves like that. If every GM did it, and Lombardi was the only stubborn guy giving these big contracts, then put the blame for it on him, but nobody makes the kind of foresight moves we talk about here.

Now the right thing to do is sell off the assets still having value and let Kopitar, Brown, and Gaborik's deals expire. This won't happen though, because Luc isn't smart enough to recognized their predicament.

Lombardi is a college educated lawyer, former agent, scout, and had previous GM experience, and wasn't smart enough to recognize his own predicament for years.

It's too difficult to be competitive for teams to say, eh, we'll find another guy, it shouldn't be a problem. Teams usually hold on as long as they can, until they just can't anymore. Look at Calgary with Iginla and Vancouver with the twins, as two recent examples. When teams do rebuild, you have to hope you pick high in the right draft because every #1 pick isn't equal in talent.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

http://mayorsmanor.com/2017/04/the-...d-why-of-being-of-fired-plus-what-lies-ahead/

Mayor got the first interview with Sutter since his release. Seems to be handling things well.

“You have to remember, in our business,†Sutter began, when we asked about the existence of such an agreement between him and Lombardi. “That really has nothing to do with it. Dean didn’t fire me. They brought in a new General Manager. If I was the new General Manager, I would hire a new coach. I was a General Manager [in Calgary] too. Los Angeles is a great organization and hopefully they get the opportunity to win another championship sometime.â€

 

[KINGS17]

http://mayorsmanor.com/2017/04/the-...d-why-of-being-of-fired-plus-what-lies-ahead/

Mayor got the first interview with Sutter since his release. Seems to be handling things well.

Yeah, I don't think Sutter gets rattled under almost any circumstance.

He said many times in interviews during the playoffs, "It's just a game, not life or death."

Liked this quote the best:

“I wasn’t really looking for…” Sutter remarked, likely referring to when Lombardi called him up in 2011. “I’m not going out soliciting. I have one of the best records in the history of the National Hockey League. If somebody is getting ready to win, that’s what they do; you hire really good coaches when you’re getting ready to win. Until you’re doing that, you don’t.”

 

[Reclamation Project]

Sutter is one of the greatest coaches in NHL history. Love that quote. I've been saying for a while he's in no rush to return and will only return under his terms, as he should. He's won everything and deserves to be in the driver's seat.

 

[deeshamrock]

Telling might be a strong word. It's a holiday weekend, and Vegas and Dallas have already hired guys. Is Vancouver the only other team without a coach right now? Where's the rush?

Panthers haven't hired one yet but thankfully Tallon's back where he belongs. What a circus this year was for that front office.