Forum answers I

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Question: The names that were talked about during those meeting, were they names you were familiar with or kids you've never heard of before? Does your gut tell you that they make a move or 2 on draft day?

Answer: They were not names I was familiar with, at all. They were most certainly later-round prospects. And yes, at this point I would actually be surprised if the Kings *didn't* make some type of move on draft day. Lombardi has been dropping enough hints about being a draft-day player that I fully expect him to be aggressive in those terms.

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Question: Doughty or Bogossian?

Answer: If I'm picking? Bogosian. Hard to see how they go wrong either way though.

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Question: Have you heard anything you can share with us concerning re-signing Patrick O'Sullivan?

Answer: No, nothing specific, but I fully expect that to get done. I know there's some concern over a possible Dustin Penner repeat, but I don't see that happening. For one, there was a such a huge backlash about it last summer and two, I just don't think O'Sullivan is *that* high on the radar just yet. He had a very strong season but there's still a little ``prove it'' there for him. If we were talking about Kopitar in this situation, it would be a much, much different story.

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Question: 1) Do you think prior high Kings draft picks (Aki Berg and Jamie Storr) would have flourished more under Dean's development philosophy ?

2) Based on who you think will be available who are the realistic free agent signings the Kings will make ?

3) Do you think the sense of respect amongst each other that the co-directors of scouting talked about really existed ? Or are they just putting on a good face for PR purposes ?

4) Reaching into the past, do you think Dave Taylor was as hamstrung by ownership as a lot of people think ? If ownership wanted to micro-manage Dave, why did they decide to hand over the reins to Dean ?

Answer(s):

1) It's a good question. My personal opinion is, not necessarily. Storr completed four years of juniors and didn't play more than five NHL games in a season until he turned 22 years old. Jamie is a great guy, but maturity was probably a much bigger issue there. You could probably make a better argument in Berg's case, since he got pushed to the NHL a little quicker. As we've learned, Lombardi's strategy is to go very s-l-o-w with these kids and err on the side of caution.

2) I know it's fun to try to predict these things, but it's almost impossible. There are so many factors involved. Do the Kings want Player X? Does Player X want to play for the Kings? Who else is bidding for Player X? There are a handful of defensemen who fit the bill, but we'll see. Remember, at this time last year it seemed almost certain that at least one of the Briere-Drury-Gomez trio would be headed to the Kings.

3) That was the first time I'd sat down and talked to those guys. If they're faking it, they're doing a really good job. They seem to play off each other well, in the ``war room'' as well. I think it helps that they have different backgrounds. Futa's specialty has been in junior hockey while Yannetti had previously been focused mostly on pros. So it probably makes it easier for them to play off each other's strengths and weaknesses.

4) Yes. To what extent, we'll never know. But I'll never forget the day, during the 2005-06 season, when I learned that Taylor would have to get approval from ownership if he wanted to spend more money leading up to the trade deadline. That was a real eye-opener, and after that I realized that things weren't going to turn out well for Taylor in L.A. Why did it change? Why no more micro-managing? That presumes there isn't any micro-managing now. I'm not 100 percent sure of that. But in general, I think AEG finally came to the conclusion that it needed to let hockey people make hockey decisions. Imagine that.

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Question: Given the fact that I believe we can challenge for a playoff spot next year and we still don't have that toughness on D, have the names Bryce Salvador and/or Jason Smith ever popped up as possible free agents to pursue?

Answer: I'm sure they have. There is a definite need for some ``defensive defenseman,'' which always strikes me as an odd term, but I digress. Again, you can bet that every free-agent defenseman is being discussed at some point.

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Question: Any news on a Cloutier buyout?

Answer: Nothing concrete. They have until July 1 to figure that out. A buyout is still the most-likely scenario, but a long-term-injury situation could come into play as well.

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Question: Is there any truth to the idea that Brad Stuart had a handshake agreement with DL to resign with the Kings next year? What are the chances we can get Matty Norstrom back (another UFA)? It's great to be drafting solid defenseman, but we need some decent blueliners while the kids develop. Along with Sybil227's Sully question, Ersberg, Moulson and Harrold are RFA's that I'm curious to hear about contract situations.

Answer: I don't think there's any such thing as ``handshake agreements.'' There certainly could be a strong mutual desire to get something done, but that doesn't mean a whole lot when July 1 comes around. I think there would be interest in bringing Norstrom back, but that's almost entirely dependent upon what he decides to do beyond this season. I would expect Harrold and Moulson back and Ersberg also, as long as he wants to stay with the Kings and in the NHL.

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Question: What are the chances of our #2 Draft Pick (Doughty or Bogosian most likely) actually playing for the Kings next season either right away or at all? Recent history suggests that newly drafted defenseman rarely make that jump as they take longer to develop, except for Jay Boumeister maybe.

Answer: I agree with what you're saying, and plus Lombardi is probably more conservative than most GMs in terms of bringing along defense and goalie prospects. That's not to say the draft pick couldn't be lights-out in training camp and make the team, but you certainly shouldn't count on it.

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Question: UFA D-men are NOT going to want to play here unless they are given 4 year deals. Do you think Dean is willing to do this AGAIN (Preissing) and which players would be attractive (Orpik? Commodore? - Redden already stated he wont play here)???

Answer: I'll be interested to see how this plays out. The list of free-agent defensemen this summer is far from impressive, and Lombardi has a distinct unwillingness to get caught up in bidding wars, so it will be interesting to see how things play out. I tend to think it's much more likely that the Kings will land a defenseman via trade.

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Question: What have you heard, if anything, on the rumors of the kings trading for Emery/Spezza AND trading up for stamkos?

Answer: Zero. Nor do I expect to hear anything of the sort.