2019-20 Off Season Thread

[pasul82]

From Instagram. There are so many layers to this one I can't stop laughing. The page is called "Hardnosedhockey" and the caption is "With the 12th pick".

That looks like Turcotte's pops. Welcome to LA!

Alfie Turcotte digging for nasal gold was priceless. But seriously, when asked, he passed on the Marchand comparative and went straight to Patrice Bergeron. Hell, I'll take it...

If you didn't catch Day 2 picks, Kings got tabbed a "Winner" by The Athletic. Me likes the kid from Sweden:

Los Angeles Kings

Arthur Kaliyev at No. 33 could be remembered as one of the better picks on the weekend in a few years. He has some warts but the upside is huge and he’s got the second best release in the draft class. He was my best player available to kick off Day 2 and ranked at No. 13 on my final list.

To follow the Kaliyev pick up with Samuel Fagemo is an excellent haul, too. Fagemo probably slipped further than he should have because he’s an overager but he was excellent in the SHL last season and can really score.

Jordan Spence is a kid I recently highlighted as a potential sleeper, so I’m a huge fan of the value the Kings may get at No. 95. Last year was his first year in the QMJHL and he wowed me in a number of viewings with his pace and effectiveness. He’s on the smaller side but he’s going to dominate the Q next year and could become a really nice defenceman in time.

Those three picks alone are enough to make Day 2 a success for L.A.

 

[LoCal Kings]

Carolina got a 1st rounder in 2020 for the Marleau contract. Good deal for nothing but cash and of course, cap space.

Still think the Kings could use their extra cap space to take on a short term contract problem from another team (EDM, Vegas, etc). Maybe that 1st rounder CAR got sets a high precedent.

Though Tampa seems to have conveniently gotten out some cap trouble with the Callahan diagnosis. Sucks for him.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Interesting draft, way too soon to tell obviously but pundits are giving the Kings an A for their choices. The Bjornfot pick is a bit puzzling but apparently his projection is a stay at home defender with leadership skills (Matt Greene). Kings management said they went into this draft looking for character and compete over skill because of the entitlement and drop off in culture.

Subban traded again is alarming, while I'm sure it's a cap clearing move for Nashville one has to wonder about his persona. He isn't known to be quiet and I can see that guy rubbing teammates the wrong way. Montreal, Nashville and now NJ, curious to see what happens there with NJ having a lot of impressionable youth. Here comes the dog and pony show Shero, hope you can manage that.

Marleau was a heavy price paid for by Toronto, excellent seeing Dubas with egg on his face regarding his comments about how easy it would be to get everyone under contract. If Marner doesn't get an offer here soon I can see him listening to other teams during the RFA period. These young kids coming off ELCs these days want to get paid, seems the days of the bridge deal are going away.

Callahan and the back is unfortunate but it sure reeks like the Hossa situation in Chicago. How convenient.

Lastly, should be interesting to see what teammates nickname Fagemo.

=)~~

 

[Kings4OT]

I found it amusing that with the muffin pick they got a dman thats supposed to be hockey smart

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

I think Kings crushed the draft, BUT they need to develop these dudes. As we've talked about in the past, with "Oh man, Kempe is crushing in the worlds with 5 goals in 7 games" followed by "How has Kempe not scored for 38 games?" when he comes back to the NHL. The culture needs to change. I remember Robitaille saying when they first brought up Pearson, he was doing well, but they sent him back down anyway because he stopped skating for one shift. They wanted the culture to be set at never taking a shift off.

Now you hear whole practices getting taken off. So I love what they did, and it sounds by all means that this Turcotte guy is a motivated character guy, as well as the Swede defenseman, but here's to hoping we actually develop these guys.

We've done a great job of developing goaltenders the past decade, but I'd love to see some more success in the other positions.

What I find interesting in the amount of credit Sutter gets (And he should get credit for being what that team needed at that time), is that this team would not have had the same success had Sutter come in the early years of Kopitar/Doughty/Brown when they were developing. I think Terry Murray is still cited by Kopitar as being instrumental in making him an accountable two-way player. But Murray was the worst come that first Playoff series against Vancouver in 2010. So "a great coach" in my opinion is so much the personality as well as timing. Not to be sentimental, but "it takes a village" to raise a cup (I might have to coin that. haha).

I guess my point is Mclellan is now tasked with developing young dudes, and simultaneously motivating old dudes. That is a tall task.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Pavelski supposed to sign 3 years/$21 million with Dallas tomorrow, Duchene 7 years/$56 million in Nashville tomorrow.

Pretty much what I expected with Pavelski, lower than I thought with Duchene.

LA signs Paco Valenzuela to 8 year/$500 deal to be the Tijuana Dog vendor in front of Staples.

 

[davnlaguna]

Pavelski supposed to sign 3 years/$21 million with Dallas tomorrow, Duchene 7 years/$56 million in Nashville tomorrow.

Pretty much what I expected with Pavelski, lower than I thought with Duchene.

LA signs Paco Valenzuela to 8 year/$500 deal to be the Tijuana Dog vendor in front of Staples.

Paco is the man. His cousin Marcos is selling off brand Tums after the game from the same cart.

Today is the day everyone hopes their team does something big and then complains about the stupidity of the contract in February

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Paco is the man. His cousin Marcos is selling off brand Tums after the game from the same cart.

Today is the day everyone hopes their team does something big and then complains about the stupidity of the contract in February

Sad part is Paco gave me more enjoyment last season than Kings hockey did. He also gave me the shits for 3 days after but I digress.

Most of deals will end up like Perry, Phaneuf and Sekera (Oilers bought him out last night - crazy, he was a legit T4 defender just 4 years ago).

I haven't seen any outrageous contracts yet but supposedly Panarin is getting $12 or $12.5 million on close to a $100 million deal from the Islanders. He's a great player but I'm not sure he is $100 million great.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Former Kings news:

Gravel goes to Toronto 1 year/$700,000 which is the league minimum for 2019-20. I thought he would have turned into a solid 5-7 defender but didn't, when the Oilers don't have room for you even after buying out Sekera you take what you can. Still, I'd take $700,000 a year to play pro. Maybe he and Muzzin can have a contest to see who makes the least turnovers leading to goals.

Simmonds a Devil, 1 year/$5 million. Grossly underpaid on his last deal and diminishing skills due to the life span of power forwards so nice to see him get a nice raise. Good guy and will always be loved in LA.

 

[Kings4OT]

You forgot to mention the frk signing

Or maybe you didnt forget

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Which one is that, Myers to Vancouver 5 years/$30 million? Apart from his rookie season that dude is Brayden McNabb II. Good luck with that contract, massive overpay for a guy who's defense is suspect.

Or do you mean somehow Nick Shore finding employment in the NHL again with the Leafs? They're loading up on ex Kings, now with Muzzin, Shore and Gravel. The issue is all 3 were pretty shitty players in LA.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

You literally meant Martin Frk, I assumed you were talking about freaks which sums up both Myers and Shore but for different reasons. Myers because he's like 6'7" and Shore because it's freaky how he found himself an NHL job.

Depth signing for the B6, my guess is he ends up.in Ontario.

Kings also signed Joakim Ryan from SJ on defense, also probably Ontario bound or will compete for the Modry slot.

 

[Kings4OT]

I think frk makes the team....exciting

 

[Kings4OT]

Leipsic signs with caps for minimum...wish we kept him for that

 

[LoCal Kings]

Still wondering if Quick goes to Columbus??? Calgary , Edmonton, Carolina, and a couple others also looking pretty precarious in net. I know all the previous chatter was its suppose to be easier to trade a goalie in the off-season. But maybe we gotta get to the halfway point of the season before one of these playoff hopeful teams realize their goalie situation really stinks.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Leipsic signs with caps for minimum...wish we kept him for that

I don't think money was the issue with Leipsic, it was playing time. Blake is on record saying there will be 8-10 young players on the roster this season which means they will get some solid playing time.

I liked him too but at this juncture the Kings need to play their young kids over players like Leipsic trying to establish themselves at the NHL level. Also Lizotte may be a similar player to him and is already under contract, I expect him to get some playing time this season at some point.

In Washington he will have to battle a crowded B6 as well so I wouldn't be surprised to see him hit Waivers before camp and who knows, depending on how the Kings' roster shapes up they will have second crack at him after Ottawa so he may be here again.

Still wondering if Quick goes to Columbus??? Calgary , Edmonton, Carolina, and a couple others also looking pretty precarious in net. I know all the previous chatter was its suppose to be easier to trade a goalie in the off-season. But maybe we gotta get to the halfway point of the season before one of these playoff hopeful teams realize their goalie situation really stinks.

Quick has no value around the league at this time from everything I have read citing anonymous GMs and execs. If Quick is truly going to be moved, the deadline would be the best bet especially if he has a strong first half.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Canes match the 5 year/$42.27 million Offer Sheet from Montreal. You have to wonder what Bergevin was thinking even offering that, it was pretty low for a player of Aho's skill and age. Could be a publicity stunt on his part to Montreal fans saying hey we took a kick at the can, sorry he didn't come here but I tried.

I did not think the Canes would not match, but you have to wonder about the relationship between the Canes and Aho if he signed an Offer Sheet with the intent to leave Carolina. He was an RFA and had no arbitration rights, so most likely the Canes offered him something he didn't think was fair since they held most of the leverage. This contract will put Aho at UFA status at age 26, so Montreal did screw them that way although they'll be able to extend him the summer before thee deal expires but could also possibly hit FA as well.

I think it's ironic it happened to the Hurricanes, they offered Fedorov a 6 year/$38 million Offer Sheet ($6.33 million AAV - there are some M9 forwards making more than that now who are nowhere near as good as he was. Crazy how salaries escalated since then) in February 1998 after being a hold out for the first 5 months with Detroit. The Hurricanes tried to put the screws financially to Detroit too, the same tactic Bergevin just used is what the Hurricanes used on Detroit with a total of $26 million in bonuses that could possibly be paid out by July 1, 1998.

His salary was $2 million per season, but $14 million needed to be paid immediately upon commencement of the contract - either with Carolina or Detroit - with the remaining $12 million paid out either over years 3-6 at $3 million per year but if the Wings made the WCFs in the first year all $12 million would have to be paid out in a lump sum. That's exactly what happened with the Wings winning the Cup in 1997-98 so Ilitch had to pay Fedorov roughly $28 million ($14 million signing bonus + $12 million performance bonus + prorated $2 million 1997-98 salary) for about 4-5 months worth of work.

The old owner Karmanos and Ilitch were pretty nasty with each other, Ilitch once kicked Karmonos out of JLA when a major junior team was playing there that Karmanos owned, their feud went back years so this is how he tried to stick it to him.

Sakic signed a 3 year/$21 million Offer Sheet with the Rangers the year before which Colorado matched, these two contracts were part of the shift we started to see with really high salaries starting to escalate out of control leading to the 2004 lockout.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

List of all signing so far.

Signings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Andy Andreoff to Philly.

Colorado loading up. They had that trade with Toronto to bring in Kadri. They also signed Donskoi, and Bellamare

Dallas got Pavelski and Perry. Perry taking $1.5mil/year.

Man, Bobrovski to Florida for $10mil/year, which I can at least understand, but not for 7 years. Dude will be be 37 years old with that cap hit.

Sucks for Columbus, but they knew the deal and went all in on getting that first playoff series win. Actually really sucks Tampa Bay had to play them out the gate when you see: Duchene ($8mil/year), Panarin ($11.642/year), and Bobrovski ($10mil/year) all sign for big money. I keep wondering what Columbus' vibe is. Carter couldn't wait to leave. Gaborik struggled there. I feel like Rick Nash was the only big name to be in Ohio for any length of time.

 

[Stunner_At_Staples_Kings]

Los Angeles Kings - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Kings current cap. Thoughts on what Iafallo and Kempe get paid?

You look at next year and see how much money is coming off the book, it could legit be a 60%+ roster turnover in just two years.

 

[PuckinUgly57]

Sutter joins Ducks as coaching advisor. Crazy.