gaborik deal

[sjrules99]

What a bargain. He is worth 7M right now arguably and the kings got him for under 5 on the cap. These are the deals that allow teams to win cups. Carter, richards, Brown,Gaborik, and quick signed for a loooong time averaging roughly 5M per year, when the open market would give them 7M average easy. These crazy long deals are the perfect cap circumvention and continue to be proven to be superb.

Chicago pulled this off with Hossa and keith as well as both are signed for roughly 5.5M each.

even detroit with franzen and zetterberg...

The sharks avoid these kind of moves, and I understand the reason why, but I really wish they had. It takes a risk, but it's worth it.

 

[Slimpikins]

The only reason his cap hit is under 5M is because it is for SEVEN years. You'll change your tune in a couple of years. With his injury history do you really think he is going to be worth even 5M by the end of this contract? That said the deal will benefit the Kings over the next couple of seasons. After that I expect they will look to dump him onto a team looking to hit the cap floor.

Would you really want the Thornton and Marleau deals that are going to kick in this summer to be for 7 years instead of 3 if it meant they were both signed to a better cap hit?

 

[Cbrower91]

He's 32 on a 7 year deal, once he retires in 3 years the kings are stuck with a 5 mill cap hit, not worth it

 

[PuckinUgly57]

He's 32 on a 7 year deal, once he retires in 3 years the kings are stuck with a 5 mill cap hit, not worth it

He can retire and the Kings won't be penalized at all - those are 35+ deals, he's 32. That didn't change under the new CBA. The contract has to take effect on/after the players' 35th birthday, not the case here since it'll have been in effect for 3 years already at that time.

I actually think he will be only valuable for the next 3-4 years, and either he will retire - Kings owe nothing more on the balance of his contract AND it doesn't hit the cap register at all or as someone said, he gets dumped to a team looking to reach/maintain the cap floor. They can also buy him out if neither of those options happen, and if it's after the fourth year the cap hit would be about $1.525 million for 6 years. Not great, but better than $5 million.

Dumbo doesn't hand out 7+ year deals on whims, I fully believe there is a gentleman's agreement in place and it was done with that understanding. Not a fan of circumventing the cap but it looks to me that's exactly what they did. I was shocked when I saw he was signed for 7 years but kind of figured what was up.

The Kings are going to win this deal any way you look at it whether he fulfills the contract (highly unlikely), gets traded (second best scenario - there could be cap recapture and salary sharing not to mention the salary of any incoming players), bought out (worst case scenario) or retires (best case scenario - no money owed on the balance of the contract, no cap hit, player gone, opens up a roster spot).

 

[PuckinUgly57]

What a bargain. He is worth 7M right now arguably and the kings got him for under 5 on the cap. These are the deals that allow teams to win cups.

That's true, but keep in mind this franchise went through an extremely painful rebuild from 2006-2010/2011 or so. The franchise, its players, fans, management all endured this.

These are the rewards we all get for being patient and having it done the right way. There was a cost associated with this, let's not forget that - no playoffs for 5-6 years, crappy players cycling through the roster (Shea Stephenson? Do any of you even know who he is?), over payments on UFAs to hit the cap floor (Handzus, Stuart, Nagy, Preissing, etc) because developing players (Kopitar, Quick, Brown) were on ELCs or low dollar second contracts, major growing pains. Premier UFAs snubbed LA time and time again - Hossa, Richards, Kovalchuk - all 3 guys were given massive offers, especially Kovalchuk at $100 million - because the winning culture was not in place and the Kings were not a realistic contender.

The franchise from ownership to the trash guy needs to buy in that a full overhaul is about to happen, it's going to suck ass for quite some time but if everything is done right it'll pay off. That's where we are as Kings fans and honestly I could not be happier. I know 29 other franchises who would love to be where they are but the difference is most aren't willing to pay the price. This is where SJ is.

I posted this earlier in a thread, but you guys need to lose Doug Wilson. He was left a core of decent players by Dumbo and year after year it seems the improper moves were made. I know ownership has something to say about that as well, but a full rebuild with quality players who are drafted and developed is the way to go to give a team the best chance to be successful long term and with that come these types of Gaborik rewards.

 

[caliraftdude]

If I am Gaborik I sign that deal in a heartbeat... look at some of the other teams he would go to if he wanted that extra couple mil/year. The Kings have a legitimate chance to get 1 maybe even 2 more cups in the next couple of years - its worth the 2 mil haircut instead of playing on someone like the Jets or PHX.