You spoke too soon.

Sarich just signed with Calgary - Say goodbye to Lubo - If Sarich is worth 3.5 and Timmonen is getting paid 8 this year, Lubo is worth 6-7. That's Rob Blake money.

Dean is not happy today.

TSN has Rafalski to Detroit, 6 years 30 million.

What a wild day for prices out there. We have to keep lubo, I think operating in the NHL just got a little more expensive to say the least.

I for one couldn't be happier if we miss out on any of the big 3 centers.

I don't have a problem missing out on one of the big three centers, especially at these prices/terms, but it sure would be nice to land one of Hannan, Stuart or even Preisling.

Would rather see Drury than Briere anyway. My hope is still high. The Kings need a leader!

It sure sounds like the Briere contact starts out at $10 Million and decreases by $1 Million per year for 8 years. So in his final year of the contract he is scheduled to make $3 Million, but still having a cap hit of $6.5 Million.

Couldn't agree with you more PuckHead. Just because we've been unsuccesful finding a goalie doesn't mean we should abandon a proven build from the back strategy. I don't think we're ready to throw 7 million at a center right now, our offense isn't that bad.

I may be losing patience here but I've been reading all morning about players going to other teams...

If this is going to be another quiet year for the Kings I'm going to pull my hair out.

I hear a lot of people saying we need to save our cap spending for the future. What these people don't realize is that the cap is going to increase leaving plenty of money to sign our future stars as well as leader like Chris Drury. We should be aggressive and sign him to a five year deal.

Chazz, while I understand what you're saying I don't imagine the kings are going to get anywhere near the cap for a long time to come. We've never had that kind of spending. And IMO Drury is going to get an 8 - 10 year deal somewhere.

THANK YOU CHAZZ!

EXACTLY!!

You think San Jose would be a contender today if they still had the "build for the future philosphy"?

I'm telling you people we're getting told just enough information to keep us spending our money. Tim Leiweke and AEG are PERFECTLY happy with the Kings being a MEDIOCRE team at best.

I personally spent 4 grand at select a seat this year and today I'm watching the Kings do NOTHING to keep up with the Ducks / Sharks / Et All

The cap is tied in with league revenue so there is no guarantee that it will go up. You never know where it will be from one year to the next.

"You think San Jose would be a contender today if they still had the "build for the future philosphy"?"

without the build for the future philosophy being employed in the first place, they wouldn't be where they are now. it also helps to get a top 3 center in the game for peanuts because the team you're trading with isn't very intelligent.

Someone please tell me how signing someone like Drury or Briere who are 29 and 30 years old respectively is throwing away our future? You give up nothing for them.

The Kings have a lot of young talent and prospects. It's time to start positioning the team to win!

Your right about that...

It's just that tomorrow never gets here.

I think DL is out there trying to get a deal done with a player like Drury and/or Gomez. They fit under his "builder" category. There is no question you'd want those type of guys on your team, but it goes back to "the right player at the RIGHT PRICE." I don't think locking someone up for eight years with a cap hit of $6.5 Million PLUS a "NO MOVEMENT" clause is the way to go. Would I be happy to have the player? Sure, but damn those terms hurt your cap structure. You know you've got to figure in re-signing your own RFA's down the line. It's in no way as simple as people make it out to be.

Has anyone heard anything about the meeting between The Kings and Chris Drury? A few people mentioned that TSN reported that they were meeting, but I haven't heard anything else.

And everything sounds like Lombardi is trying to get a deal done really badly. It's been reported by eklund (so that probably means it isn't true, so whatever) that we've been after Gomez and Drury pretty hard. the issue is that it's not like a draft where you can just pick a guy and he's on your team. getting upset at Lombardi for not getting one of the top 3 free agents is ridiculous, especially when 10-15 teams are all after the same 3 guys.

I still think that by the end of today or tomorrow we'll have one of the 3, and I'll probably be slightly upset if we don't get one of them, but I don't think you can really pin the blame on Lombardi if we don't get one of the two remaining.

If we don't land a big name player this FA period I don't think is is for lack of trying. DL said he is going to try and make a splash this year. Just like last year, DL tried to bring players to LA, but they did not want to play here. That being said DL, IMO can not be blamed for players not wanting to play here. I trust that DL is trying to make it happen so lets give him so time, FA just started. I would rather have Drury, over the other two myself, so lets hope DL gets it done.

Hec

I was wondering the same thing. That was about 4 hours ago. I don't know what to make of it (if it was true in the first place).

Briere was the guy I was WORRIED about getting. He needs top players around him to do well and we're not completely there yet. Besides, I think Danny would get POUNDED in the west. I'll bet you that factored into his decision to stay in the east as he said himself that money was not the only factor. It's obvious the Habs and kings offered 7+/year but he still took an avg 6.5 with Philly. Glad we didn't get him.

Drury and Hannan (or) Stuart and we're good. We need a leader and we need to shore up d. I got a good feeling about Drury.

im a bit dissappointed that DL hasnt done anything yet. LA needs a big name player a leader to help all these young players we have. i still have hope that dean will make the DEAL before the season starts and brings some great players to LA before the season starts. and damn it we need to have labarbera in net this season, i was never a fan of cloutier.**GO KINGS GO**
from edmonton