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What to do with Marian Gaborik?

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Herby said:
Ofcourse people have different opinions of DL's worst moves since 2014, there are so many to choose from.

I think keeping Richards was a step above everything. It showed poor player evaluation, poor roster management (Kopi and Carter at C), and a head in the sand attitude with the drug use. Hmm a player who has a long history of rumored substance issues suddenly goes from an all-star caliber player to Brad Chartrand, should have raised red flags.

Lucic is the second worst, and those two are a step above everything else. Just imagine if Lucic had accepted the 7 year offer that Dean threw at him, yikes.

Gaborik was strictly a product of the poor decision to keep Richards, if the Kings cut ties with Richards they can sign Gaborik to a 3/18 or 4/22 type deal and his contract is a non-issue.
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Herby-

No surprise that Richards is at the top for me as well, seeing as we were banging the drum that he was done. Even if he could play at the level of a good 4th liner, there was just too much term and dollars not to take the mulligan.

I was going to say Lucic was the 2nd worst in my last post but wasn't going to start ranking them. Tough to double down on 1st rounders after Sekera. I wasn't as down on it at the time since I still had faith in the roster and I love players like Lucic, but I knew the risk was high. In hindsight, it was a disaster.
 
Voynov turned into nothing. Simmonds and Schenn turned into Richards who turned into nothing. Brown signed his big deal, stopped scoring, resulting in the need for Gaborik, then Gaborik went and had a great playoff, making it difficult to let him go. What happened to the trio of Brown, Richards, and Voynov is the crux of what's happened to the Kings. Each one has had a connection to at least one move since June 2014. Really the 2014 deadline. Even Richards no longer being a 2nd center moved Carter to the middle, taking away another winger that scored, in addition to Brown, making Gaborik that much more important, especially after he did himself score. Cascading events.

14-15 will always be the biggest what if season. 15-16 was the last year before Kopitar needed a big deal. Those were the important years for Lombardi. Those were the years he was looking to win in, because Kopitar was coming up, and Doughty not too long after that.
 
Watching Mitchell, Scuderi, and Regehr fade into oblivion after being impact veteran defenders hurt the team like hell, too.

Its always reminded me of a quote I read, no idea where anymore, about how the death of somebody's father shaking him as if the last of a mythical race of giants was gone forever. Kind of over the top, but compared to what we have now, and even league wide, that's what those guys reminded me of.
 
Butch 19 said:
Drafting Hickey at #4 is right up (down??) there.
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With Hickey, he never played a game for the Kings and was waived. Your first official draft with your guys in place and you end up with nothing from the 1st round. It could've been worse, he could've taken Angelo Esposito which would've been a total Taylor/Al Murray pick if they were still in place.
Alzner should've been the choice and has played almost 10 years for the Caps.
 
kingsfan28 said:
With Hickey, he never played a game for the Kings and was waived. Your first official draft with your guys in place and you end up with nothing from the 1st round. It could've been worse, he could've taken Angelo Esposito which would've been a total Taylor/Al Murray pick if they were still in place.
Alzner should've been the choice and has played almost 10 years for the Caps.
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take your pick/poison

all in the 1st round that followed Hickey
Alzner, S Gagner, J Voracek, L Couture, R McDonaugh, K Shattenkirk, M Pacioretty ..... how the hell do you take Hickey over these guys?

now granted you won't hit on all of them, or think all will be as successful as they have been. to miss on 7 guys though that are all top talent and over evaluate on Hickey was just silly. imagine if Alzner, McDonaugh and Shattenkirk were sitting back there in the #2 pairing, suddenly the Voynov departure doesn't hurt so bad (that is if they even take VV). imagine Gagner, Voracek, Couture or MaxPack in our top 6

i still recall when he was chosen and the 'experts' and LA also noting he was a project and a bit undersized. so why the hell spend your #1 on a kid with questions that directly contradict what a #1 pick should be?

frankly i never understood DL's early round draft strategy, 2007 in hindsight it appears gave us the first warning sign he would make some strange decisions.

all revisionist history i know, but it definitely makes you scratch your head
 
Whiskeypete said:
take your pick/poison

all in the 1st round that followed Hickey
Alzner, S Gagner, J Voracek, L Couture, R McDonaugh, K Shattenkirk, M Pacioretty ..... how the hell do you take Hickey over these guys?

now granted you won't hit on all of them, or think all will be as successful as they have been. to miss on 7 guys though that are all top talent and over evaluate on Hickey was just silly. imagine if Alzner, McDonaugh and Shattenkirk were sitting back there in the #2 pairing, suddenly the Voynov departure doesn't hurt so bad (that is if they even take VV). imagine Gagner, Voracek, Couture or MaxPack in our top 6

i still recall when he was chosen and the 'experts' and LA also noting he was a project and a bit undersized. so why the hell spend your #1 on a kid with questions that directly contradict what a #1 pick should be?

frankly i never understood DL's early round draft strategy, 2007 in hindsight it appears gave us the first warning sign he would make some strange decisions.

all revisionist history i know, but it definitely makes you scratch your head
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Thomas Hickey was all over the 1st round before the draft but the kid was very talented...
he suffered a major ankle injury that require surgery then injured his shoulder the following season which again stagnated his development, then he re injured his ankle his first season with the Monarchs..

lets not forget some said he outplayed Drew Doughty during camp but was view as needing more physical maturation/development, after that they went in different direction on the development curve...

Hickey, Moeller, Simmonds... could have easily been Voracek/McDonagh/Couture, Subban, Simmonds
 
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Had a "procedure" and won't be ready for training camp. Blake says he won't be bought out and was playing injured last season.

I think it was alluded to earlier in the thread that he had knee surgery.

I had him pegged for a rebound year but he's the type of guy that needs to come in to camp healthy and ready to go. Worried about him having to get up to game speed during the regular season.

Flip side? A possible excuse for his poor play last season if he was injured all year.
 
If Gaborik is not bought out, as Blake indicated, then the only way to open up cap space to get a top 6 forward is to trade any bottom 6 player making more than a million (Lewis and Clifford for example), substitute them with young players making a million or less, and to trade one of Muzzin or Martinez to open up an additional $4 million.

Otherwise, we will have nearly the exact same roster as last season, which doesn't make me very optimistic.
 
Can't buy him out if he's hurt, but that dead cap space would've hurt down the line anyway, so it didn't really make sense to do it to begin with.
 
Greene to me is a definite LTIR. He gets paid, the Kings get relief, and he gets to get healthy during the last year of his deal. Win/win/win.
 
If it had been 2-4 years for basically any amount within reason it's not an issue, but Dean had to get that AAV down to to keep you know who.

7 friggin years, yup DMac got to agree his worst signing and right up there with Tuebert/Richards in worst moves. Just looking at Capfriendly, his extension will still be in play two years after we have to sign Doughty, that is just brutal brutal brutal. Poor Blake, this team is in such bad shape with contracts, he has holes to fill and his hands are so tied because of what he was left.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Seriously, 6 months? Is he getting a bionic leg?
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Best description I've found yet: "In-depth medical procedure for a chronic issue related to his left knee."
https://www.nhl.com/kings/news/la-kings-medical-updates-toffoli-martinez-gaborik-forbort/c-289085372


2008 - surgery for a "deficiency" in his right hip causing chronic groin pain.
2009 - surgery for a similar "deficiency in his left hip.
2012 - rotator cuff surgery (torn labrum)

He might end up being bionic when it's all said and done.
 
mouser said:
Best description I've found yet: "In-depth medical procedure for a chronic issue related to his left knee."
https://www.nhl.com/kings/news/la-kings-medical-updates-toffoli-martinez-gaborik-forbort/c-289085372


2008 - surgery for a "deficiency" in his right hip causing chronic groin pain.
2009 - surgery for a similar "deficiency in his left hip.
2012 - rotator cuff surgery (torn labrum)

He might end up being bionic when it's all said and done.
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He's not going to have a fun retirement, that's for sure. His body is gonna be a wreck.
 
BigKing said:
Would be pretty amazing to get him and Greene on LTIR starting next season.

Blake is a real son of a *****. Maybe that trait will be awesome in his role as GM...make a bunch of weasely moves like LTIR'ing these guys.
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Why not it's worked for the Flyers and the Rangers, just to name two.
 
BigKing said:
I'm all in if they can make it work. Not sure what evidence is needed to be able to put a guy on LTIR.
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I'm guessing it can be done with almost any injured player. Not a guy with the flu or anything, but an actual injury. It won't help this summer, because LTIR doesn't apply when nobody is being paid.
 
Pretty sure the Leafs did something similar this past season with Lupul. If the Kings can do similar with Gaborik, then why the hell not? Blake is a weasle, he'll find a way.

That could eliminate one albatross.
 
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