Now there's no excuse

You tell 'em, Rich!

It's pretty comical, actually. Thanks for keeping on it.

But hey, the good news - more hits for the blog, which is a good thing for everyone!

I figure Cammy is traded. DL knows the award, or at least he knows enough to know that it's considerably higher than what he wants to spend on Cammy, and he's working out a deal to send Cammy East. I bet a goaltender is coming to the Kings. Hopefully Cloutier is the piece that makes Cammy accessible too!!! That'd be great!!!

Do you think a trade is in the works? Would that postpone the announcement?

I'm not sure if it's the reason for the delay, but up here in Canada it's a long weekend as today is a National civic holiday.

This is now bordering on the absurd. Can I blame Gary Bettman for this? Please?

Here comes a trade! New Goalie anyone?

I'd be all for a Cammi trade if Cloutier was part of the deal.

Should we really expect anything before tomorrow based on Article 31.3 of the CBA?

I concur that this is ludicrous, but it is within their stated parameters...

It had better be a good goal tender if you trade away your leading scorer for him. And I don't see a #1 available out there...

tsn.ca says that all arbitration $$$ must be made by august 6 (today)

This is really stupid. If they count weekends, they should only schedule them Mon-Wed, especially when it's the team's top scorer. It's not like they won't be working on Thur and Fri anyway.

Well, no wonder we haven't heard anything - it's bloody Elvis Day in Canada: the holiday for the sake of having a holiday.

Are two-year awards tougher to rule on than one-year awards, or is Mike in that interesting of a salary spot that it makes it more difficult to make a decision?

If TSN is correct, Mike's only the second person this year who went to arbitration and will be getting a multi-year contract. They still don't have Exelby's award posted, but the NHLPA shows he's making 1.05 million this year.

Maybe there's something about the two-year award?

I'm sure its just delayed because its a canadian holiday. You wouldn't expect to get a ruling if today was presidents day, would you? My guess is the Ryan Craig arbiter isn't canadian.

Is it possible that Cammalleri and the Kings are working toward a longer term contract? Once the arbritation ruling is announced, both sides are precluded from reworking the deal.

Just because a decision was announced today, doesn't mean it HAD to be announced today.

Last season, Briere's decision came down on a Sunday. It obviously didn't have to.

As far as the last day as listed on TSN, that may not be right since today is a holiday, as far as I know.

Exelby as signed before the arbitration hearing. TSN has not updated it yet.

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/thrashers/stories/2007/07/17/0718exelby.html

You cant say it is delayed by the holiday because the other award was announced. Hopefuly it will be done soon!

I think Bob has it nailed... they can ask for an extension if they want to work out a deal before the award.

Hmmm... So, Mike's the first multi-year award decision this year...

I hope it's just that they're taking as much time as they can with the ruling. More years, maybe different salary each year, more to write up explaining the decision.

Hopefully there's nothing to see here. We just have to wait a little longer.

I could be naive but everytime in my life that I couldn't get an aswer or returned phone call, it was because something ELSE was going on...

something wierd is happening

I still don't know what the hold up is. I would like Cammy to stay with the Kings long term but I get the feeling that a trade is about to go down that includes him. Today is the deadline that ALL awards must be made so I hope we know soon.

The following NHL players, all restricted free agents, will go to salary arbitration. Hearings will be held starting July 20. Arbitrators can only hand out one or two-year awards. Arbitrator decisions must be made within 48 hours of the hearing, and teams then have 48 hours (or 48 hours after the team's last hearing is concluded if they have more than one) to accept the contract or walk away, immediately making the player an unrestricted free agent. Note that a team that requests arbitration does not have walk-away rights.

NOTE THAT THE TEAM HAS AN ADDITIONAL 48 HOURS TO ACCEPT OR WALK AWAY. THIS COULD EXPLAIN WHY CAMMY NEWS HASNT BEEN RELEASED YET.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. quitcher whining rich. You are starting to sound like a BBS fan and not a reporter. like a crybaby

The Kings requested a two year deal so they cannot walk away from it (not the first year at least) per the CBA.

Trade! Now. Trade him...

We could use a "star".

What are you people pushing the trade rumors smoking? It goes completely against all the data you've seen, yet that's the conclusion you come to?

Unless they come back with an award that is completely ridiculously high, the Kings will likely want to keep Cammi through this year and deal him before the dealine next year at a bare minimum. And that assuming they want to deal him at all which they don't.

Hey, that's probably the last ditch plan even if the decision comes back ridiculously high. It's not like we're scraping for extra cap room right now.

And if the award is ridiculous, that will make him that much more likely to be difficult to deal and get a favorable return for. And please, tell me what team would take Cloutier off our hands? And what goalie out there is available that represents a clear upgrade? We've already heard DL go down a list of guys he says he wouldn't deal for which specifically included the primary guys I keep hearing in the Cammi trade deals.

Also, the Kings did ask for two years, right? So that tells me they can't think they were so far apart with Cammi that if they did get bit with a ridiculous award they would want to limit how long it was for.

Nothing here is screaming "trade in the works" except a complete fraud of a hockey blogger who has proven he has less than zero journalistic credibility and with a record for getting trade rumors from his "reliable sources on the inside" correct about as often as a broken clock shows the correct time (and for pretty much the same reasons).

I tell ya, the content on this blog is wonderful, but the comments here are just as wacky and detatched from reality as anywhere else.

And I know we're all anxious for an answer on the decision itself, but it's a three day weekend in Canada. Someone posted in one of the previous threads something like, "if it was just a day or two, that would be okay, but this is ridiculous". That was posted like Friday.

Counting the weekend as off time, it has been just two days so far.

I kind of feel like an a-hole waving a finger at people, but I kind of feel someone needs to throw out a line to help everyone in from the deep end.

And Rich, I love the work you're doing, but even you have to be getting sick of ever other post being, "damn Rich, you are one sexy blogger".

There is zero chance that the Kings would "walk away" - So, we'll get the news tomorrow... no biggie.

Thanks for the great insight Kelly. I attempted to take people through the process of reporting the story and why there is a lack of information. My apologies that it wasn't good enough for you.

I was buying the ``holiday'' excuse until the Craig decision was announced today. Unless the Kings are flat-out lying -- and I DO NOT believe they are -- they haven't heard anything. I guess I'm the only one who finds this a bit ridiculous.

Damn Rich, you are one sexy blogger! ;)

I agree with you Rich, it is ridiculous.

Thanks for all the hard work, we really do appreciate it. Well 99% of us anyway. ;)

Forget him Rich! It does stink! Get the arbitration thing done already so we can move on.

Damn Rich, you are one sexy blogger!

Montador just got signed today by the Panthers. His hearing was 8/3.

Looks like Mike is the last one.

Thanks for the reporting, Rich. Don't worry about meaningless jabs. We appreciate you wanting to get the story and deliver it to readers.

On another note:

When does training camp start?
Kings 1st PreSeason Game is 9/13. That's only a little over 5 weeks away.

Sorry to see Summer pass so suddenly...but hello Hockey.

This trade speculation is silly. DL has pretty much done everything he's said he's going to do, and keeping his "core" group of kids together is one of them. Cammy is staying put, regardless of the $ amount awarded.

Thanks again Rich for putting in the footwork to give us any sort of update possible with Cammalleri. Like others, I can only specualte that with the long weekend in Canada and the fact that the Kings wanted a two-year deal, that those reasons would make an arbitrator take a little longer with a decision.

My Season Ticket Rep just told me that the front office told them that they'd hear the news today. He said they're expecting 9 million over 2 years.

Nothing new here...

In the words of Willie Wonka,

"The suspense is terrible... I hope it lasts"

This is a sign that something really positive is on the way. As the idiom goes..."All good things come to those who wait"
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Unlike Kelly, Rich, Kings fans appreciate your genuine and hobbyist approach to journalism.

The thousands of Kings fans who frequent this blog and LGK.com ALL thank you.