Contract and Cap question.

[CaptHowdy00]

Can the Kings really afford to keep both Lucic and Kopitar after this season? If I am not mistaken, Kopitar's contract is up at the end of this season. I don't think that they can keep both and stay under the Cap.

 

[davnlaguna]

It depends on the cap, but I don't think so. If they dump Brown maybe. Of course I have been wrong so many times before

 

[Fox4Kings]

I don't see why not. Kopitar's cap hit will probably jump up 1-2 million, probably same for Lucic. That's not such a huge increase that you couldn't keep them both. It just means you skimp a little here. Who knows if Lucic would even want to stay..

 

[heLL paso]

Kopitar's contract is only gonna jump $1 or $2 mil? His cap # is $6.8 mil, while Toews and Kane signed for $10.5 mil per year last year. He's definitely gonna be looking for that type of money and if the Kings don't give it to him someone else will.

 

[davnlaguna]

Yeah but they have Pearson, toffilli and others due raises as well.
Also Voyvov is still screwing with what the Kings can do. Does he play, get traded or deported?
Not buying out Richards last year was a mistake. Brown is now over paid right now. Brown should have made Lucic redundant.

 

[Fox4Kings]

Richards contract will be off the books, and I just don't see Kopitar getting Toews/Kane money. If I'm not mistaken I believe they are the only two players in the entire NHL with a cap hit over 10 million. Kopitar doesn't get near the exposure that these guys do. He'll have a few years where he makes over 10 I'm sure, but I am picturing his cap hit to be right around $8.5.

 

[pete6835]

Richards contract will be off the books, and I just don't see Kopitar getting Toews/Kane money. If I'm not mistaken I believe they are the only two players in the entire NHL with a cap hit over 10 million. Kopitar doesn't get near the exposure that these guys do. He'll have a few years where he makes over 10 I'm sure, but I am picturing his cap hit to be right around $8.5.

I think the Tarasenko signing is a benchmark for Kopitar, just not as long a contract.

 

[heLL paso]

Richards contract will be off the books, and I just don't see Kopitar getting Toews/Kane money. If I'm not mistaken I believe they are the only two players in the entire NHL with a cap hit over 10 million. Kopitar doesn't get near the exposure that these guys do. He'll have a few years where he makes over 10 I'm sure, but I am picturing his cap hit to be right around $8.5.

Who cares if he doesn't get the exposure that some other guys do? It didn't seem to hurt him when he signed his first big contract on a team that never made the playoffs in years. NHL GM's know what Kopi is. He's been the Kings leading scorer something like seven seasons in a row, has been nominated for the Selke the past two, has won two cups as the leading scorer of the playoffs (tied in one case), is known as the best player in the world not to play in the Olympics, is good on faceoffs, signed for nearly $7 mil/year seven years ago when the cap was way lower (and when his defense/faceoffs wasn't nearly as good) and plays the premium position in the NHL. Teams are willing to give way more money for a center than a winger and Toews easily took less money then he could have got in the open market. Kane has no business making as much money as Toews (even if he is a more dynamic playmaker) but that's the type of guy Toews is. You make it sound as if the Blackhawks are doing something out of the ordinary by paying their two best players more than $10 mil a year. They have won 3 cups in 6 years? Guess what team is the next closest during the time? Ryan Kesler just signed for $7 mil a year (a guy who's played, at best, third fiddle on his teams throughout his entire career, hasn't topped 50 points in 5 years, and is three years old than Kopi), yet you believe Kopi is only get $8-8.5, which would mean he's closer to a Ryan Kesler than a Johnny Toews? That's insanity. Playing in Cali, doesn't help the Kings case, with its ridiculous tax rates. Unless Kopi is willing to leave millions and millions of dollars on the table, the Kings will be lucky to get him for anything less than $10 mil per. The Kovalchuk contract has pretty much ended the 12 year contracts (with 3 or 4 dummy years added on) to drive down the cap number to a manageable figure.