Comments expected soon

We are now WAY under the salary floor. DL will need to do something to get there and I am not talking about paying $6MM/yr for Blake again either.

Rich,

Off-topic here but any updates on Cloutier's medical condition for buy-out ? What about re-signing Patrick O'Sullivan ?

It is amazing how quickly our defense disappeared, at least in terms of who on the team can step up next year as a top pairing defenseman.

Tom Preissing 6’0” 198 lbs 29 y.o.
Jack Johnson 6’1” 201 lbs 21 y.o.
Matt Greene 6’3” 223 lbs 25 y.o.
Peter Harrold 5’11” 195 lbs 25 y.o.
Drew Doughty 6’0” 205 lbs 18 y.o.
Vyatcheslav Voinov 6’0” 190lbs 18 y.o.
Alec Martinez 6’0” 190 lbs 20 y.o.
Colten Teubert 6’3” 193lbs 18 y.o

Blake will likely be back and supposedly Stuart as well but yikes are we young and inexperienced on the back end all of a sudden. A number of those kids will likely not play up here next year( Voinov, Teubert). I wonder if Modry is coming back now....

hey Rich, not a big deal, but technically Peter Harrold is not under contract. He's an RFA. The Kings won't lose him, but only 3 NHL ready defensemen are under contract to the Kings at this point. Here's the list I posted on HF.

Players ------------------- Cap Hit
HANDZUS, MICHAL ----- C - 4,000,000
BROWN, DUSTIN ------- L - 3,175,000
FROLOV, ALEXANDER --- L - 2,900,000
CALDER, KYLE -------- L - 2,700,000
ARMSTRONG, DEREK ---- C - 1,500,000
PURCELL, EDWARD ----- R - 1,350,000
KOPITAR, ANZE ------- C --- 955,867
BOYLE, BRIAN -------- C --- 835,000
ZEILER, JOHN -------- R --- 543,750
IVANANS, RAITIS ----- L --- 475,000
ELLIS, MATT --------- L --- 475,000
PREISSING, TOM ------ D - 2,750,000
JOHNSON, JACK ------- D - 2,150,000
GREENE, MATT -------- D - 1,150,000
LABARBERA, JASON ---- G --- 825,000

Buyouts ------------------- Cap Hit
CLOUTIER, DAN ------- G - 1,030,000
MCCAULEY, ALAN ------ L --- 667,000

Current Est. Total ----- 27,481,617

RFA’s ---------------- Last Cap Hit
STOLL, JARRET ------- C - 2,200,000
O'SULLIVAN, PATRICK - C --- 850,800
GAUTHIER, GABE ------ L --- 650,000
RICHARDSON, BRAD ---- R --- 558,333
MOULSON, MATT ------- L --- 477,500
PISKULA, JOE -------- D - 1,125,000
HARROLD, PETER ------ D --- 500,000
ERSBERG, ERIK ------- G --- 750,000

Just wanted to point out that Stoll totaled 14 goals and 22 assists while Visnovsky totaled eight goals and 33 assists. Thing is that these are the numbers of a forward, who should be providing offense, and a defenseman who still put up decent offensive numbers despite the weakness of the overall defense. Despite this people are happy with this trade. I don't get it.

Re "it's amazing how quickly our defense has disappeared..."

Those who have disappeared are Modry, Stuart and Lubo. Blake is also on the list only because he's unsigned. I think several things ought to be kept in mind, however, when worrying about the Kings' D:

1) It's not really possible for the Kings to be WORSE on D than they were last season, with those four guys.
2) Of those four, the best was the oft-maligned Modry. Then Stuart and Blake, who had half a good season each.
3) Blake, Stuart and Modry are ALL available to be signed by us as UFAs starting tomorrow, so it only makes sense to reserve the "defense has disappeared" comments until the UFAs have settled.
4) Johnson and Doughty are top-four D. Hickey will be one, not this year but in the future. None of the four you mentioned -- well, maybe Stuart... maybe -- is a top-four defenseman now, except Visnovsky, but he's the same type as Doughty ... speedy and not the biggest guy, with not much edge. How many of those guys do you want? What you want for your top four are Johnson and Doughty and Hickey and some big friggin Redwood tree that will crush your opponents, i.e. Teubert in the future but someone who can fill those shoes for the time being, e.g. Orpik, maybe Stuart, maybe-maybe Greene.
5) since it seems likely the Kings will sign a couple of UFA D, and it seems like a lock that at least ONE of them will be someone from last year (Blake, Stuart, Modry), and maybe BOTH will be, I don't think you'll feel the same way by the end of the week.

But I hope Martinez and Teubert are ready ahead of expectations.

question. what is the penalty if we are under the minimum? is it really that big of a deal?

i would love to stay low this year and wait to spend money when players are available who will actually make a difference. i'm fine with re-signing blake and stuart, but i laugh at people who freak out about our current salary situation. the rest of the league is blowing 7mil on the ryan malone's of the world. in 2-3 years some of these teams will be hitting the cap and losing good players, which is right about the time bernier and the core will be ready!

24diving:

Why are people happy with this trade? Here's why:

1) Stoll was great for EDM in the playoffs in 06. He's young and he's a leader. He's a third line center. He's an upgrade from Derek Armstrong.
2) Greene is big and mean and young. Not small and old.
3) Lubo is offensively talented, but the Kings have an excess of defensive prospects who are frankly more talented than Lubo, specifically, Johnson, Doughty and Hickey. There is simply no room for Lubo on this team given the direction the team is going. He is redundant.
4) Lubo had a terrible year last year. Maybe it was an aberration and he bounces back, but maybe the year BEFORE was the aberration and he doesn't ever get back to that level again. It's a crap-shoot. Given #3 above, why take the chance, when you know there is no room for him the year after next? It just doesn't make sense to keep him under those conditions.

Or, put it this way: either Lubo recovers and has a great year, or he doesn't. If he doesn't, then he's baggage. If he does, then he's still too old compared to Doughty, Hickey and Johnson, all of whom are expected to put up big numbers. Either way, he's expendable, but even more so given the season he had.

Or would you rather keep his contract and then have to trade one of Doughty Hickey Johnson in order to afford to keep the other two plus Lubo?? No f***ing way anyone would be happy two years from now dealing Hickey or Johnson to KEEP Lubo through 2012.

I heard on XM 204 that it's not just penalties if you are over/under on the cap. You are not allowed to play if either of these conditions exist.

On the trade....I don't think so many people would be bitching if the return was better. You don't trade an all-star defenseman for two average players.

I would be pretty happy to see Modry back for a year. He's an excellent third pairing, and a pretty good second pairing. I think the guy that we can see move, is Preissing... I'm sure there's a team who would move a defensive guy for Preissing. A bigger cap, plus Preissing is making 2.75, and is classified as a "puck-moving defenseman". He's 29 I believe, so I can't see him as more then a place holder. I'm just curious to see who are #1 pairing is going to be, because I think a Blake/Modry tandum would be a great second pairing. Unless Blake has fully recovered and proves that he can play in the first pairing.

This stinks of the Mathieu Schnieder trade to Detroit years ago, they got quite a bit of mileage out of him and talent is definitely hard to replace. The overlooked question is why was Lubo given such a big contract with a semi no-trade clause anyway?? Seems like DL got spooked and off'd him while he could... Lubo would have been great here for say another 2 years at 4-5 mil.

Two words come to mind.....John Tavares!!

If Lubo is old, as some of you suggest, then Blake is the President of AARP!

I think it's hysterical that the AEG Kings are struggling to make the salary cap minimum. It must be due to the small market that L.A. has to offer. Maybe Beckham can strap on some ice skates when his soccer season is over.

This is how the defense will look like this season:
Blake
JJ
Harrold
Hickey
Doughty
Preissing
and UFA/trade
stuart
campbell
schneider
modry- I hope DL will sign Modry and make him captain in manchester.because we need him to teach the young ones.
the kings will carry 7 defense men and rotate hickey and doughty and play them into the nhl.

The salary minimum is interesting. Maybe players will be willing to accept a short-term contract with a NTC if DL overpays them. I can't see to many players wanting to play here in the immidiate future.

I agree. I'm bummed to see Lubo go...but I can see what the return offers the Kings. But I think it was an under-payment from Edmonton.

Where's the major currency of any Lombardi trade--another future draft pick?

Don't forget about the faceoff ability of Stoll. Up in the mid-50% in 3 consecutive seasons. That's been a HUGE problem for the Kings for just about as many seasons as the inability to clear their own zone has been. I have no idea if they'll be any better at that, but at least the faceoff wins should be improved.

anybody know when the conference call or press conference will be held? Trying to plan my day around this as best I can. pathetic huh?

24diving - stoll put up those numbers in a 56 game injury ridden season, lubo was healthy and played all 82 games.

so true about the faceoff %. I totally forgot about that.

Regarding the comments that DL over-paid for Lubo with the big contract and then panicked and dumped him...(1) he didn't "over" pay, he paid what he had to at the time in order to lock him in. He paid what the market dictated. (2) Doughty changes the landscape completely. Completely. (3) if we had picked Stamkos, probably Lubo stays. Maybe not, maybe he gets traded for someone big and mean. But we probably wouldn't be looking at Stall. (4) if Lubo hadn't gotten the big contract before last season, the chances that he would have been dealt at the deadline last year would have gone through the roof (since he would have been a pending UFA).

Reminds me of a thing in investing called, I believe, the "sunk sum fallacy." People fail to act wisely in the present with their investments because they can't stop thinking about how much they paid for the investments in the first place, as opposed to simply reacting in the present tense to the actual value of the investment. They, for instance, refuse to sell their homes or stocks for less than they paid for them, because to do so makes them feel bad, even when their situation will certainly be made worse by standing pat.

The reality is, Lubo's contract was untenable once the Kings picked Doughty. Period. DL could either face that fact or bury his head in the sand.

Another thought occurs to me: Lubo can only bounce back and have that great season if he's given the ice time, power play, etc.. Doughty's getting that time. Really, the more I think about it, the more it's obvious Lubo doomed himself with his crappy season. But hey, if he had sucked a little more...Stamkos. If he had sucked a little less...Bogosian. And then he probably would still be a King.

King have prospects on defense. It is foolish to think
that Johnson, Hickey, Doughty, ect. will ever put up
offensive numbers like Visnosky has already proven that
he can at the NHL level. Johnson had all of 11 points
last season. It is possible that they will but it is just as possible that they will not.Anybody that thinks
that all these prospects will pan out is a myopic fool.
prospects=suspects until they prove themselves