how many picks total do we have now for this years draft? If Lombardi doesn’t give the young ones time play a full year in the nhl, what good are the picks then? Or does this mean they’ll get a chance next year and we’ll have a team of young guns?

Absolute garbage. Screw Rob Blake. I’ve always supported Lombardi but come on. Horrible.

Truth be told … I’m not shocked.

What’s the market for a 38 yr. old soon to be UFA defenseman who has repeatedly said he didn’t want to leave. What’s the market for an aging 4th liner? What’s the market for an injured winger err… slacker who last saw a glimpse of his potential … never?

Stuart was the one King I wanted the team to hang on to but oh well. I’m curious to see if Lombardi is going to pick 25 players in this next draft or try and move some of these assets and come away with fewer but better prospects.

Quality over quantity, Dean!

What is this GM’s fascination with draft picks.
Tading away one of our best defenseman for something that may or may not amount to anything. And if it does, it won’t be ready for at least 3-5 years.
What’s wrong with acquiring players to fill some of these holes we have. Especially goaltending and blue line.
Why not package a deal which includes other players (i.e. Cammalleri) for players who can help next season.
We have so many picks, than to know what to do with. And I know, some of you are going to defend DL by stating that we can use these picks to trade in the future. Well my friends we have enough picks thus far, from other teams to do that now(Philly, Dallas, Calgary, Vancouver, etc..)
With players like Campbell, Brad Richards, Hossa, Propal, Huet, out there. We do nothing. No team takes Dumbardi seriously.

And to add insult to injury, we still coudn’t trade blake (even though he waived his NTC). And we still have Armstrong and Thornton.
Oh Brother.

What a joke! The reality is that not one team wanted Blake, Thornton or any of our 4th line players! I expected a lot more to go down today!

There musn’t have been much available after San Jose and Colorado each got defenders. Hopefully Stuart will resign here over summer and Blake will continue on at a fair market rate..
I don’t think the value of Blake and Thornton should be limited to what they contribute (or don’t contribute!) on the ice, they’re obviously helping with the development of younger players too which seems to be coming along nicely. Only management really knows about that, as fans we’re simply not privy to it..

if the 36 year old adam foote can garner a first rounder,dont you think Blake could have?

well i vented my frustation on the other post but … to belate the point:

yet another gut punch from the guys in the office

what good are all these picks if we’re going to pick them and then send them down to the farm system…

oh yeah right… “10 year rebuilding”

and as far as i’m concerned brad stuart earned a spot on the boo train…when that nutjob gets back in town with detroit its gonna take every bit of restraint i have not to throw my beer right over the ice and in his face

and i swear to GOD there better not be a jersey ceremony for blake … i don’t care what he contributed in the past, he has been slowly wiping away any cred with utter paltry play this past year… and now we have to watch him coast on the ice and collect his retirement…. watever

Well, all in all we got a 2nd round pick, a third round pick, a fourth round pick, and a seventh round pick for players that were not going to continue with the trade anyway… So, in the end, its hard to complain; although, we do have what? 25 picks now for 2008? and a decent amount in 2009…

Can’t really blame Dean for not being able to move Thornton, Armstrong, Willsie etc… Not very many of our players we were shopping had much value, even though you would think they would at least fetch a 7th. I do wish we were in the Hunt for Huet but he was UFA so I guess DL had his reasons.

Rob Blake really didn’t give DL a chance when it came to trading him. Just told him Colorado or nothing and they found a better offer in dealing a first and a conditional for Adam Foote… Obviously if Cammy is not signed by next season he is out so that will be something to look forward to.

Keep your heads up, it wasn’t a complete disaster… LoL, you have to give Dean some points for getting a pick out of Burke and pawning Aubin off on the Ducks =P

I don’t understand this one. Why trade one of the few brights spots so far this season on this garbage ass roster.

I think Stuart was offered an extension and declined… At that point you might as well get something for him..

Nice one Petey. I’ve been trying to impress upon Anthony the importance of a few deep breaths before fronting up to the keyboard but alas, no change.
Bit disappointed that Colorado gave quite a bit for Foote, thought that maybe Blake could have bought the Kings a similar return, but oh well. We don’t know all that went on behind the scenes. I’m certainly not about to add to the venting about things I have no real knowledge of.

Attendance is going to get worse unless DL brings some players from Manchester. Bring back Boyle, Tukone and Moulson. Start Ersberg. Give Petiot a chance to play. I can’t wait for breakfast with the GM next month.

Stuart will be a UFA and DL was unable to get him to agree on an extension. Therefore he traded him because he was looking at losing him for no return.

I think it really remains to be seen. You don’t do a deadline deal on a guy like Cammy. Instead you trade him around draft time. I would like to see the Kings keep their pick and combine a package to get another top 5. If that is the case they could pick Stamkos plus a solid young D or if have the #2 pick trade up and take 2 young D. Last possiblity is trading for some of Nashville’s extra young D-men. I would wait until the draft to judge this one.

Matt:

Can you ask Rob Blake if he was asked to waive his no trade clause? No softball ask him that question verbatim.

Also, ask Lombardi what the offers were for Blake and if he ever asked Blake to waive his no trade clause? If he didn’t, why? And if he did, what was the offer?

One final question to ask Lombardi, will he try to re-sign Blake in the offseason?

We just opened another hole to fill next season. And still have a 38 year old guy who would rather play on the last place team than play for a contender. That’s some great drive Mr. Blake has. He is committed to this team.. which is losing.

“Tading away one of our best defenseman for something that may or may not amount to anything. And if it does, it won’t be ready for at least 3-5 years.”- anthony

“I don’t understand this one. Why trade one of the few brights spots so far this season on this garbage ass roster.”- anonymous

Let’s see- how about because he’s an UFA at the end of the year and is highly unlikely to sign with the kings at the end of the season. How can can any of you be disappointed that stuart is not going to be here for the next 15-20 games?

Too bad DL couldn’t trade some of the fools that call themselves kings fans.

btw, Foote was conditional 1st rounder. he has to actually sign, I presume

I’ve been reading this blog everyday and to this point I’ve pretty much kept to myself…But! Anthony I know you post on every subject but this time you just showed how ignorant you are; Example:

With players like Campbell, Brad Richards, Hossa, Propal, Huet, out there. We do nothing. No team takes Dumbardi seriously.

These are rental players that have no contract for next year, who says DL wont go after one of them, why give up any of our assets for players that wont factor into our making the playoffs caus we wont. So what do we do? we stock pile assets and make a big splash in the off season. Did anybody seriously think we were trading for players? DL & MC have been very open about the rebuilding and with what we have in assets and possible trade bate (cammy) this could be the time we’ve all been waiting for.

I suggest you all sit back, we’ll finish last, get a first or top pick this year, Were losing tons of salary, well bring in some of the kids on entry level contracts. We’ll have a ton of cash left on our cap to bring in players we need. This is the greatest ride ever boy’s. Keep bickering, I’m excited and I have a clear vision of our future, and from here it sure seems bright.

I will miss Stuart.. and petey have you ever seen the Kings sign any of there free agents back after there traded for draft picks.. it never happens. we should have signed Stuart.. he earned it. do you think he wants to come back here after being a Wing….NOT

OK, deep breath…

Rob Blake… the Avs got Foote, and Salei… they didn’t need nor want a guy who has spent the last two seasons cashing large checks and not delivering many. And, Rob Blake probably likes the fact that his season will end in 5 weeks and he can devote his summer to bilking AEG out of a few more million dollars.

Blake is a bad fit for a team that wants to win. Giguere was no dummy.

Scott Thornton… were you kidding Matt? You REALLY thought he was going somewhere? I never did. Not for a second. If Nagy had been healthy, he would have been an asset but he became the liability that he had been through much of his career. If his neck remarkably heals by the end of the week, I hope he plays down to the level of the underachievers and the Kings lose enough to secure the most balls in the lottery. They need all the balls they can get!

why in the world would you give up a 2nd & 3rd rounder plus the likes of someone as talented as cammalleri, for joke-inen. Do you remember how he played when he was actually a member of the kings?

No, Adam Foote was traded for a first rounder and another conditional pick that goes into the books if he doesn’t sign. The Jackets get a 1st rounder no matter what.

I could be a little off but it looks like…

2 first rounders
3 second rounders
3 third rounders
2 fourth rounders
1 fifth rounders
1 sixth rounders
2 seventh rounders

Almost 10% of the picks in the first three rounds.

Alright.

I’ve calmed down.

Thanks to Petey, Ian and tantrum4 for their posts and providing a little perspective (especially liked the PS3 comment). You guys are right, but man, I really expected better than 4 picks even though I know DL prefers picks over other clubs prospects. The Kings are loaded for the upcoming draft, have a fantastic group of scouts and are developing the pups the right way with patience. I just need to remember to be patient myself. This club will be dominate soon enough.

james teubner said:
you know blake has been playing great this whole year, so why are all of you @$$ holes bagging on him? AND I DO HOPE THEY RETIRE THE #4 OF ROB BLAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!
———————————————————————————-
Playing great all year? Whoa, lets put down the hallucinogenics there buddy. Are you considering being a defensive liability and having the uncanny inability to get your shot to the net traits of a good defensman. Not to mention the fact that time and again Blake’s loyalty isn’t with the Kings’ organization, but to his wallet.

Guys think of how good the Kings have been on occasion this year, 3 amazing comebacks (sure, the last one was only a tie, not a win) and at times some pretty high quality play, particularly this year. They lack consistency and a few pieces but really aren’t that far off. They will have some cap flexibility this summer and obviously have the potential to get an NHL ready player or 2 from this years draft as well as stock up for following years. I like where this is going, there really is only one direction left after all!

I’ll use this post to say how much I hate Rob Blake. . DL should of never put a NTC in his contract. . . F*** YOU ROB BLAKE I WILL BOO YOUR A** EVERY TIME YOU STEP ON THE ICE YOU OLD PIECE OF S***

dear petey

Im sorry .. i think you misspelled our development plan… right now that plan is spelled

L-A-S-T P-L-A-C-E

maybe the Kings can get a special rate from Southwest or JetBlue for all the players we’re going to be shuttling back and forth in the next month. let’s just hope most of them get to play more than 8 minutes each.

Let DL do his thing, we have plenty of assets in this deep draft pool of players. Picks can also be traded for other players and combined for higher picks. If teams do want to sign or trade for any of our players, you cant force them to. Patience, it takes time to build a winner and id rather take our time, then try to just bandaid the team like previous years and get overpaid FA and build from within instead. Let our team get healthy and lets see what the draft and the offseason gest us.

sorry mav, I read “Conditional 1st Rounder” on another hockey site. obviously this source needs to learn punctuation.

as for this comment “Blake would fetch more and do you really think the Avs would give up a first rounder plus someone like Svatos for a UFA who said he wants to finish his career in LA?? ”

uhhh, what… whoever said the Avs were getting anything close to Stamkos? if they did, they wouldn’t have dealt it for Foote or any other rental, that’s for damn sure.

Oh and all you guys who say you’re not going to criticize something you don’t know about.. fair enough

I personally wasn’t looking to make a splash today..all those really expensive players would do us no good at this point… the only thing i was looking forward to is blake disappearing from the roster…

i know he has a history and all but MINUS 13!!!

let him mentor “the kids” OFF THE ICE … its painful to watch that guy

and just one final note to all you ten year rebuilders… the ducks have gone to the stanley cup TWICE IN FOUR YEARS … and both stanley cup teams shared exactly FOUR players..

THAT is what I call “rebuilding”

My Dream Draft would be for DL to condense our picks by trading quantity for quality and trading UP (Tukonen could also be thrown-in to help), and acuiring another top 5 pick to go along with our regular pick (which will likely be #1, 2 or 3).

This might enable us to draft BOTH STAMKOS and DOUGHTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel this is actually doable.

GO FOR IT, DEANO!!

Where did you guys get the info that Stuart didn’t want to sign an extension? If it is true then I can somewhat understand the move. Although I wish DL would have really talked Stuart into re-signing, i.e. money.

sigh… disappointed, and just a little bit tired of being patient, but i realize there wasn’t much of a market for thornton or nagy and blake wasn’t exactly making himself open to a trade.

oh, and i’m a pretty big fan of D-E-V-E-L-O-P-M-E-N-T. all i can say now is… i can’t wait to see what goes down on draft day.

Matt George
You get it dude
Sympathies to King fans but
Ducks rebuilt again for yet
another playoff run
Burke took Aubin so DL would send Stuart -13 to
Wings
Rebuilt from within by
circumventing salary cap
By the way our core is as
good as your core so maybe
we will see you in playoffs
sometime in the next decade
if you ever find a goalie
HA HA HA
You could have had Bryz but
now you just get to lose to them every freakin time
you play Phoenix
I wonder why Lombardi got
his nickname in San Jose
DUMBARDI
Take a look at some of the high round draft picks he
wasted while GM and the fact that he never got out of 2nd round of playoffs.
He actually wasted #3 pick
on Stuart. He had some hits
but alot more misses.
So far in 2 years he has
brought you Sully,JJ and a
bunch of shitty FA’s and some draft picks

I was just emailing a buddy of mine and thought i needed to clarify on thing…

i really believe next year is gonna rock…cammy/brown/anze and maybe even fro are gonna be sweet to watch

it was GREAT to be there for the chicago game! and the guys really have stepped up as of late….the calgary game was fun to watch as well

i just was looking for a blake exit today, thats all

Dumbardi strikes again. 40 years of futility. Hope you all are looking forward to 5 more years of rebuilding just in time for Kopitar and O’Sullivan to leave as free agents.

Good Job Dumbardi

and i didn’t see that last post… i totally agree on blake. too bad it was clorado or nothing… according to espn, at least.

Pathetic, just pathetic. I feel embarrassed to be a kings fan right now.

Man, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know as much about the Hockey business as most of the people posting here but I do know one thing, most of the people posting here don’t know as much as they think they do.

I do belive that DL said Stuart, Naggy and Calder were short term signings. If they worked out, we’d try and keep them, if not they were gone and we get more room under the cap. Seems like theyre gone, No?

And why do we want any expensive “name” talent now? Why don’t we want to wait until after the season when more teams will be dealing a wider variety of possibilities?

Why would we not draft some top offensive prospects (which we don’t need as much as a tender or a Defender) and then trade them for a top tier D man or D men?

And Blake?? First everyone boos him becasuse he shows no loyalty and goes to the Avs, then when he want’s to stay he’s pillaried for being loyal. No he’s not the player he was but he is still a good Dman on a team where we need some. Why does everyone hate this guy?

you guys miss the point on the Stuart contract extension thing. He refused because he looked at the team and he knew that we are going to suck for another 3 years. That is why he said no

Also, for all you dreamers talking about frolov, cammy, o’sully Kopitar.

he has to resign them. good luck.

Also what is Dumbardi going to do about goaltending.

why can Burke get Pronger and Neidermeyer and Dumbardi has given you blake and priessing.

wow nick

last place doesnt make you embarrassed?

it takes a couple of negative posts for that?

oookaaaayy

I dont know what all the complaining is about. We didnt have much to move of value, and i think holding Cammy till next season is best thing to do if he going to be traded at all he needs his value raised up.

I never had much faith in Lombardi and certainly Crawford has given us much. For all those that complained about Andy Murray, he dont a lot more with a lot less on this team and St. Louis.

Im all for letting the kids play, but at this level we shouldn’t be playing like an expansion team. With all this “Potential” and “Young Talent” when will this team gel. This is year two of the new regime and we are “Number 1…..at Last Place!

Ive said before that this team will never go anywhere with Modry and Cloutier on it, well 1/2 the jinx is gone, and when we be rid of the other half!

The only kind of player i want to see the kings over pay for is a top flight proven goaltender that plays well against western conference teams.

At least there are plenty of intelligent Kings fans that don’t see the trading deadline as doomsday for the Kings. Kudos to you guys.
For the rest of the crowd that hates Lombardi and Blake and anyone else who is trying to make this franchise better…at least you give us intelligent fans something to laugh at. Also, why the hell is that ass quackattack back? Go to a Ducks site dude. Nobody here cares about your opinion on the Kings.

I had also read the Kings were trying to re-sign Stuart. Its possible he just wanted too much money.
How do you know, Steve, that he didn’t want to re-sign here? You don’t. It may have come down to dollars. We’re not privy to that info. Don’t pretend that you are.
Blake wants to remain a King so people hate him for that. Just like they were hating him when the asshole Chelios said Blake wanted to be a Dead Wing. I guess Chelios was wrong ha? I’ll take a player that wants to play here any day over a guy who doesn’t.
I thought their would be a market for Thornton. The problem is we as fans sometimes over-value what we have. We are a last place team and a guy who’s scratched 50% of the time on a last place team apparently doesn’t have much value.
Obviously there was no market for Willsie or Nagy. Neither will be back next year anyway. Good riddence!

We are heading into whats considered one of the deepest drafts in memory armed with a ton of picks. Lets play this out and see how it turns out. DL has a plan. Let him complete his plan and then judge him. Don’t judge him now…that’s so ridiculous it’s not even funny. People talk about the fact that Kopitar/Brown/Fro were not DL players..you’re right they weren’t, but under past regimes they would have been traded for some over the hill stiffs. DL hasn’t done that. Good for him!

heyNYKING
I come here for a laugh.
Dumbardi does not trade for over the hill mediocre
players he just signs them
as free agents and gives them no trade clauses.
Enjoy the ride he is going to take you on. I have buds
in SJ who can attest to that

Good post, thanks