Confirmed with Link: Kings announce signing kovalchuk to 3 year contract.

[KINGS17]

Well, the idea was to add a former 40+ goal scorer who had an impressive showing at the Olympics to play LW alongside Kopitar and Brown, who had career years playing with Iafallo. Clearly, that grand plan didn’t work out, and it ultimately played out as a two-year contract. His cap hit next season is inconsequential.

What would have been worse is trading first rounders and prospects for quick fixes.

Yeah, that definitely would have been worse. What would have been better in the first place would have been taking the correct fork in the road.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Blake tried to do this with Patcioretty, which along with his surfing career are two big reasons I don’t trust him. Imagine if that would have actually happened. What a nightmare. Our Franchise was saved because a player refused to come here.

That Pacioretty deal was contingent on him signing a long term contract, so he would’ve been more than a quick fix, and he also has 15 goals and 34 points this season in 36 games. Though had he joined the Kings, he’d probably have 15 points.

 

[KINGS17]

Let's not pretend he's a self-made man either.

Let's also not pretend that Uncle Phil didn't greatly increase his net worth over the course of his working career.

Also, he wasn't too lazy or stupid to lose it all, which can happen to the heirs of a great fortune.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yeah, that definitely would have been worse. What would have been better in the first place would have been taking the correct fork in the road.

At least they did recognize that and did so by trading Muzzin. Of course we’d all like to see them do more to cut their losses, and there’s still two months to go to see them collect more assets before the trade deadline.

 

[KINGS17]

That Pacioretty deal was contingent on him signing a long term contract, so he would’ve been more than a quick fix, and he also has 15 goals and 34 points this season in 36 games. Though had he joined the Kings, he’d probably have 15 points.

Playing alongside Kopitar?

 

[KINGS17]

At least they did recognize that and did so by trading Muzzin. Of course we’d all like to see them do more to cut their losses, and there’s still two months to go to see them collect more assets before the trade deadline.

Yeah, let's hope they are drafting well. I don't see much in the way of assets that can be moved at this season's deadline that will garner much more than a second round pick. Hope I am wrong and some fool GM thinks someone like Toffoli is the missing piece.

 

[Bandit]

That Pacioretty deal was contingent on him signing a long term contract, so he would’ve been more than a quick fix, and he also has 15 goals and 34 points this season in 36 games. Though had he joined the Kings, he’d probably have 15 points.

Even worse. We would have traded our future and be stuck with some bozo for 7 years whole would help us win nothing. “Quick fix” or not, point is it was awful yet Blake was willing to dive head first unit 2 inches of water.

Anyway, glad we moved on from Kovalchuck, wish him luck but it was never gonna work.

 

[King'sPawn]

A mistake, is a mistake. It was a desperate move, but the real problem is it's a symptom of the biggest problem before the 2018-19 season. Robitaille and Blake thought the Kings were a Kovalchuk away from being a contender, which was a joke.

They overpaid for a top 6 forward via free agency.

Isn't this what you are advocating the Kings do after trading away all the vets?

So now it's a mistake?

 

[DoktorJeep]

So Bluc cleans up their second self inflected mess and now have both Phaneuf and Kovy off the roster, if not the payroll.

I think more comes out after some time about Kovy’s treatment by management and coaches. Given his benching started quickly after management threw in the towel last year, every move appeared towards pushing this player to agreeing to walk away from his contract.

In isolation, I think there aren’t any real repercussions to the treatment of Kovy, but it does smack of bush league incompetence as to how they went about it. It’s not like Carter or Quick have been better than Kovy the past two seasons, but they never got the Willie D special treatment applied to them.

 

[KINGS17]

They overpaid for a top 6 forward via free agency.

Isn't this what you are advocating the Kings do after trading away all the vets?

So now it's a mistake?

Thanks for the question. Yes, I am fine with signing slightly overpaid veteran leaders to short term contracts, but only after you do the first phase. The first phase is selecting some, not all (which you constantly post to misrepresent my position), veteran players who would have garnered the best returns. I know you understand what I am posting, but you seem to be interested in arguing a point where my assessment of the situation at the time has already been proven to be correct.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

So Bluc cleans up their second self inflected mess and now have both Phaneuf and Kovy off the roster, if not the payroll.

As much as I'm anti-Blake, I won't put Phaneuf on him...he had to move Gaborik and was stuck with acquiring Phaneuf in doing so.

 

[crassbonanza]

I'm really sad that it didn't work out with Kovalchuk, but I still don't mind the move. It was a perfect low risk, high reward move for where the franchise was at the time and there are no serious consequences from the signing.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Pretty disingenuous to make it sound like 2014 was the year everyone wanted changes made, when the only change people were advocating was using the compliance buy out on Mike Richards. I get it though it's a favorite tactic of anyone who wasn't willing to consider trading a single piece of the current core which won't win jack over the remainder of their contracts.

You're (deliberately) missing the point. So you can covertly bitch about Kopitar some more. I get it.

Signing Kovalchuk doesn't harm any of that. If anything, he was the absolutely perfect middle ground in that he didn't cost assets, didn't take spots from a kid, didn't hurt the tank, and was pretty entertaining.

This is honestly the dumbest move for anyone to complain about since 2014. Bar none. Bland is complaining about the symbolism, but if the name is Ladislav Nagy instead of Ilya Kovalchuk, no one blinks an eye.

 

[DoktorJeep]

As much as I'm anti-Blake, I won't put Phaneuf on him...he had to move Gaborik and was stuck with acquiring Phaneuf in doing so.

He couldn’t go live in Vienna and have been placed on LTIR with cap relief in LA?

 

[Bandit]

He couldn’t go live in Vienna and have been placed on LTIR with cap relief in LA?

Vienna or Venice? Neither would surprise me with Gaborik.

 

[KINGS17]

You're (deliberately) missing the point. So you can covertly ***** about Kopitar some more. I get it.

Signing Kovalchuk doesn't harm any of that. If anything, he was the absolutely perfect middle ground in that he didn't cost assets, didn't take spots from a kid, didn't hurt the tank, and was pretty entertaining.

This is honestly the dumbest move for anyone to complain about since 2014. Bar none. Bland is complaining about the symbolism, but if the name is Ladislav Nagy instead of Ilya Kovalchuk, no one blinks an eye.

If you read more carefully what bland posted, and what I posted you would understand we both said Kovalchuk wasn't a problem. Kovalchuk is merely a symptom of the problem.

Yeah, I will continue to **** on the Kopitar contract, especially the 8-year term.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

You're (deliberately) missing the point. So you can covertly ***** about Kopitar some more. I get it.

Signing Kovalchuk doesn't harm any of that. If anything, he was the absolutely perfect middle ground in that he didn't cost assets, didn't take spots from a kid, didn't hurt the tank, and was pretty entertaining.

This is honestly the dumbest move for anyone to complain about since 2014. Bar none. Bland is complaining about the symbolism, but if the name is Ladislav Nagy instead of Ilya Kovalchuk, no one blinks an eye.

Kovalchuk move didn't cost the Kings anything? Really how about 6M cap hit for 3 years...how about not being able to sign Kubalik because the Kings had too many bad contracts and no room for youngsters...Grundstrom...anyone...

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

If you read more carefully what bland posted, and what I posted you would understand we both said Kovalchuk wasn't a problem. Kovalchuk is merely a symptom of the problem.

Yeah, I will continue to **** on the Kopitar contract, especially the 8-year term.

I understand and that was my response. I get that you're annoyed that Blake thought we were competitive and went after it. But again, Kovalchuk is the worst flashpoint to use for that symbolism, because he's literally the point at which we changed course, didn't cost us any assets, didn't hurt the tank, isn't hurting us going forward.

And you can disagree about the state of the team after the previous year, but it's 100% understandable why they would have taken a swing at Kovalchuk. Be mad about the philosophy if you want, but it's exactly the having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too stuff I was talking about earlier, taking a swing at Blake for making a mistake, then taking further swings at him for correcting the mistake. I can't believe Blake signed Kovalchuk! Oh my god I can't believe Blake cut Kovalchuk!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kovalchuk move didn't cost the Kings anything? Really how about 6M cap hit for 3 years...how about not being able to sign Kubalik because the Kings had too many bad contracts and no room for youngsters...Grundstrom...anyone...

We have more cap space than just about any team in the league aaaaand not going to indulge you making anything else about Kubalik and the spots are there for the youth to win if they're good enough which Grundstrom hasn't been (the Reign are a good example of why you cant just make an NHL roster a bunch of 20 year olds if you haven't been paying attention to the entire decade of Oilers/Sabres/et. al. hockey).

Any more softies you want to put on the tee?

 

[KINGS17]

I understand and that was my response. I get that you're annoyed that Blake thought we were competitive and went after it. But again, Kovalchuk is the worst flashpoint to use for that symbolism, because he's literally the point at which we changed course, didn't cost us any assets, didn't hurt the tank, isn't hurting us going forward.

And you can disagree about the state of the team after the previous year, but it's 100% understandable why they would have taken a swing at Kovalchuk. Be mad about the philosophy if you want, but it's exactly the having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too stuff I was talking about earlier, taking a swing at Blake for making a mistake, then taking further swings at him for correcting the mistake. I can't believe Blake signed Kovalchuk! Oh my god I can't believe Blake cut Kovalchuk!

In my opinion there was only one UFA worth going after that off season if you are a Kings GM who truly believes your team is only one forward away from contention, and that guy was Tavares.

I don't like the philosophy in this case, because it was going to make more than a half measure to contend. Turned out Kovalchuk was less than a half measure.

The odds of signing Tavares were very slim indeed, but once Blake realized there was no chance, I think he should have moved on to the full rebuild.

 

[The Butcher]

It still amazes me that Kovy was allowed back in the NHL after what was pulled in New Jersey.

Oh well. Didn't work out as was pretty easily predicted by most. I was trying to stay positive and optimistic but I'm glad to say that era is over.

 

[Zine]

It still amazes me that Kovy was allowed back in the NHL after what was pulled in New Jersey.

Oh well. Didn't work out as was pretty easily predicted by most. I was trying to stay positive and optimistic but I'm glad to say that era is over.

What did Kovalchuk do wrong in NJ? His actions were 100% legal; essentially the LAK situation in reverse.

I find it interesting that players are held to entirely different ethical standards than teams are as it pertains to money and/or financial interests.
Teams make smart business decisions; players are selfish money chasers to be ridiculed.

 

[The Butcher]

Legal in what sense exactly?

 

[Zine]

Legal insofar that all NHL rules and regulations were abided by.

 

[YP44]

As much as I'm anti-Blake, I won't put Phaneuf on him...he had to move Gaborik and was stuck with acquiring Phaneuf in doing so.

Agree with this.

Gaborik was a healthy scratch and blake was able to turn that into a 15 minute d-man. Not bad.

I am not a fan of Blake but I have no ill will over the Gaborik/Dion deal