Eat it Elkund, Hammond dominates you.

I love this Blog!!

Any reaction from Cammy, Rich?

good to know. Keep up the good work Rich.

Rich,

You ROCK... all around the NHL community!

wow, Cammy was way out of line. I think going so ridiculously high may have helped the arbitrator decide what he did as well.

CAMMI ASKED FOR SIX MILLION!?!? HAHAHA... time to fire your agent Mike.

As always, thank you for getting us the info so fast! You are the best.

Now, what do we have to do to make sure we don't lose you to the Lakers??

6 million??? For having done what exactly?

I think the Kings are happy with the ruling..Dont know about Cammy however. Maybe he will play with a chip on his shoulder and in result score a 90-100 pts next season

Holy Crap!!!!! That's what Cammy was looking for!?!?!?!? Now I'm sure he's pissed. Oh well, He can be pissed all he wants...we got him for the next two years!

He scored 80 points last year. Gomez, Briere, and Drury got more money for providing less. He's at least on the same level as Vanek and he's much better than Penner. It's high, but it's not absurdly ridiculously high.

Greedy Cammy got owned! :)

Eklund drools

Hammond rules

Rich,
Once again thanks for your highly informative and prompt reporting - a truly exception blog you have here.

Doesn't this smell of the ol' "When asking your boss for a raise, always shoot high."??????

I would hope Cammy is not too, too pissed at what he's getting. Nice try, Squid. Better luck in July 2009.....

Thanks Rich, your diligent work on this one is above and beyond, that's why us King Fans love your blog.

Can't believe that's what Squid-man was looking for. Zach Parise on NJ signed a 4 year deal worth $12.5 mil. I think Mike is very similiar to Zach and his arbitration award is more than fair. Hammond you rule!!!

Vanek = 82 games, 43 goals 41 assists 84 points +47 40 pim and has size, is younger and has no concussion history

Cammi = 81 games, 34 goals 46 assists, 80 points +5 48 pim ,is 5'9, a couple years older than Vanek and has had a major concussion.

Oh and everyone knows they overpaid Vanek because they had to match the offer sheet or risk a total fan meltdown given what happened in UFA

Cammo's agent did what he was supposed to do--aim high. with idiots like lowe offering the penners of the world 4 million a year, lombardi was right to sell the lower numbers as simple economic sense. Look for Dean to cool everything down (if anything needs to be cooled) by locking up mike and more of the future cornerstones in the next year, year and a half, and if he continues to produce, cammo will be well paid and on a solid winning team.

It doesn't matter if they had to overpay or not. That's what he got and it's going to be a comparable offer. Like I said, it's high, but it's not as ridiculous as some are making it out to be.

Rich,
I really hopes the Daily News realizes how popular your blog is and increase your Kings coverage in the paper as well. I subscribe & I want more coverage!

I would imagine Cammalleri really didn't think he was going to get the $6 million figure, but he probably feels he's worth a lot more than a $3.35 million cap hit. I highly doubt this will affect his play negatively, though. He's a professional; this will most likely drive him to be even better.

3.1 and 3.6 million?! Rich, I think you are playing with my emotions haha. I'd say this is just about right for the timeline in Cammalleri's career, but in light of the other ludicrous offers that have recently been signed and sealed, I'm shocked that some of you posters were surprised by the request for 6 million. All I can say is that I hope Mike doesn't feel cheated or hold any spite towards the organization, or his obligation to the Kings for the upcoming two seasons.

Thanks again Rich for great coverage. Please don't go to the Lakers, your all we got!

A lot of you need to stop hopping on the first bandwagon you see, IE the "Cammi is greedy" bandwagon. The Arbitration went just like every deal in history has gone. One high, One low, settle in the middle. Just stop already

Thanks rich!

I don't know what I'm going to do now that all the Kings Salary questions have been answered.

Brad: settle in the middle would have been 4.5 not 3.1 ;)

I think Cammy was trying for that "settle in the middle" thing, so he could have asked for 6 mil so that his chances of getting around 4.5 were better then if he had asked for 4.5

Had the Vanek and Penner offers not happened, then I don't think it would be as big of an issue. However, we have to remember that Cammy is on the Board of the Players Union, so for future contract negotiations, expect a big pain in the OO

RE:so I think the trade talk can calm down.

Yeah because I'm certain that Lombardi would tell you if he was looking to trade him.

Nice... great price for two years, and looking forward to reading that conference call.

thanks rich... again...

Yes, this is a different era in the NHL, but let's all remember that Wayne Gretzky was paid an equal amount at the top of his game, and Cammi is no Gretzky.

However, you stooges that are throwing riducule at Cammi due to the actual award should stop. He's plays hard and has a great shot. He's also the team's NHLPA rep, and is probably raising his dollar amount to push salaries as high as possible. It's called a strategy, in this case being employed by the players union.

Overall, a good day for the Kings.

I think the figures were fair, and just. Im glad they came down with figures right around the middle. If you look at last years arbitrations the figures were insane huge in the players favor.

I really enjoyed this article, and would like to see more in the details of the LA Kings Salary Cap and learn more about the strategy the team is taking.
To this end I would like to see the Salary Cap and Years remaining of the entire Kings Roster.
I believe this would have been a great time to sign Cammo for 5 years at around 4 million a year. What has to go away is the injury clause in the cap. Teams should be allowed to take out insurance policies on players health and have that insurance cost be applied to the cap, but if the player gets injured the salary cap figure or prorated amount be assessed for only games played. Being a season ticket holder it has gotten hard to justify the time and cost, but I am optimist that one day I will be able to talk about how great it was to see the Kings win multiple championships.