Kopitar's contract

That's around his value giving up 3 UFA years.
Another confirmation by management in their view that he is only maybe one notch behind Crosby and Malkin, both getting 8.7 million/year, respectively!!
GO KOPI!!

If I were POS, Id be pissssssssssssed at DL.

This job is going to make an old man out of you! Thank`s again for all you do for us fans!

Wow.

That'll be money well spent when he's averaging over 100 pts a season for the next 8 years!!

Whoa. That's an average of 6.8 million a year. Nice move, got him and Brown locked down good now :)

Exactly what Kopitar should be paid.

Wow! Unbelievable! Way to start the season!!! Great job by Kopitar and Lombardi to put a huge exclamation point on the teams stated commitment to becoming a contender.

I guess JMFJ will sign his extension before the home opener tomorrow.

that is spectacular news. we have Kopitar until 2015-2016! it's great to see that we're finally serious about locking up this core, and i think Lombardi has finally put most Kings fans on his side with this one.

So many great things about KOPI's contract.

The only forward that MIGHT be able to get more when their deal is Frolov. This contract gives DL a great "comp" to use for a long time.

Wow...I'm so freakin' excited right now...As soon as JMFJ gets signed to a contract we have a core that will contend every year!

Man, I don't know about the rest of you, but it feels so weird (but good) to have things done right around here for a change.

ALL HAIL DEAN LOMBARDI!!!

YES!!!

Awesome news...I didn't think I could get more psyched for the opener, but this did it!
Way to go DL...I knew you would keep the core together and build us a winning organization..FINALLY!!!!!!!!
This shows the commitment that the players and the organization have made to building us fans a winner.

Anyone wish to bash DL?
I thought not!

Way to go Deanno. For all the Deanno haters, all I want to hear know is, Deanno, you are the best. Great start to locking up all our core.

Bet ya O'Sul fells better knowing Brown and Kop. are here to stay also.

Great morning for all King fans, let's keep it going by putting a beat-down on Blake and the Sharks tonight!!!

The last couple of weeks Lombardi seems to have really started putting it all together. No wasted money on risky free agents, signing the young guns that are just not expendable, and his no. 2 overall pick is being reviewed very well. Now this is what a rebuild should look like. He seems to have stripped down the philosophy of managing to basics: K I S S - keep it simple stupid (not an insult). Even if the team struggles this season, the moves are starting to make sense. Good job. Now, we just need to stick with the program. After all, there's no turning back, is there?

cheers

I love the contract locking up Kopitar for a long time. It may even turn out to be a bargain at under 7 per season. There is definitely a part of me waiting for something bad to happen after all this good news lately. I hope not. Let's pray for an injury free opener and positivity for the club however the game goes.

Anthony, why would O'Sullivan be ****ed? Kopitar is the best player on this team, without a doubt, and should be the highest paid player on the team. O'Sullivan has no reason to be ****ed in the real world. In your "Lombardi hatred" world, then yes he has a reason to be ****ed. Seriously, do you not somebody, who you have probably never met, not much? If you do, I feel sorry for you. If not, than I feel very sorry for you to have to go through life being such a negative person.
Sorry Rich, I know you said we should keep our personal attacks to ourselves, but Anthony makes it very, VERY hard to sit here and say nothing. I bit my lip for as long as I could.

There's the cap for the forwards. Nobody is going to get paid more than Kopitar. Jack is next. Once he sets the bar jj, no one will get paid more than him. Maybe Doughty.

Good job DL.

Anthony - Saying O'Sullivan should be pissed is like saying Willsie should have been pissed Ovechkin got such a great contract while he was in Washington scoring goals. Kopitar being around should be making O'Sullivan smile like the Cheshire cat. With Kopi feeding him, he should eventually get to 50 goals a season. If that happens, O'Sullivan be up for a hefty raise in 3 years, not that for non-left wingers and non-lawyers 3 million a year is chump-change.

NOt to rain on the parade, but Gleason has begun the season well, with almost 20 minutes of ice time and 3 assists and plus - 3 for Carolina. Johnson's numbers in the preseason don't show him taking his game to the next level, though I didn't see any of the games. He needs to show us something real this season and be a leader even if he doesn't have a letter on the jersey. We'll soon see, but in order to get a great contract like Kopitar he needs to leave us with zero doubts. That isn't the case, so far.

Cristobal - I think you're jumping the gun on JMFJ, pre-season doesn't count for anything and Gleason is peaking while JMFJ is a sophmore...I think we'll see something special from him this year as it is a contract year, Crawford is gone, and he's in a position to be a leader.

cristaobal, lets just enjoy the good news we've gotten in the last week or so. We have plenty of time to worry about JJ. Lets just smile today, and be happy with whats happened so far.

This signing is indeed great news, but it really was a no-brainer from a GM's perspective. Take your best player and lock him up long term at the going rate.

If you want to judge Dean's recent performance, a better place to start is the hiring of Terry Murray. I think many Kings fans were a bit underwhelmed by the choice at first (myself included), but it's quickly becoming clear that he is exactly the right person to coach this team.

Four hours until game time!!!

Do like the fact that Kopi stays a king for 8 more years.

Della and Duckhunter - I wasn't trying to sound pessimistic about Johnson, I just don't think he's done anything yet to prove he's worth a hefty contract. Gleason is only 25, just a bit older than Dustin Brown, and may be coming into his game, not that he had a poor season last year.

cheers

JonG - No brainer's are where the battle's lost and won. Countrywide and Fannie Mae would be solvent today if they'd gotten the no-brainers correct: don't lend money to people who can't pay it back. Its great to see Lombardi pouring riches on the guys who've played their part for the team instead of wasting it on guys who had a decent season for other clubs. It really was a no brainer last summer to reward Cammalleri for his growth and achievments rather than wasting millions on Calder, Handzus, Nagy, and Preissing. It will be interesting to see the team this year, now that the no-brainers are being handled well, but it would also be very interesting to still have Cammalleri's goal scoring ability available. Cammo probably does a lot to isolate himself and I'd heard he was arrogant years ago, but he can score goals, there's no doubt. But, I'm not going to dwell on that issue anymore, just glad to see the no-brainers getting done right.

PS - In the middle of the summer, many said that Kopitar wasn't eligible for a reworked contract when I pointed out that he was severely underpaid. How is it that the Rookie Salary cap is gotten around in this case? Or, is his contract for this season still 8 hundred thousand, and after this year he gets the windfall?

cheers

Given the current financial climate, I am truly blown-away that AEG gave their approval for this contract at this time. Everyone knows Anze's worth a boat-load and to have him sign the second longest contract in Kings history, completely out-of-the-blue, is just amazing. I haven't been this happy since we beat Deader crushed Detroit...and we haven't even dropped a puck yet!!! And just for doing this AEG, I will buy more tickets this year then I planned on.

Good news indeed!! Hey, anthony...... What 3 letters do you think of when you hear Alzner's name?? AHL

waves - it makes much more sense to pay the best player on the team 7 million a year, than paying 4 or 5 free-agent underachievers a combined 15 million a year, doesn't it? Your comment about buying tickets should show these people, after 13 years, what this project is all about. I still think the philosophy came too late for Cammalleri, but at least its on track now. Plus, Cammalleri is, perhaps, his own worst enemy. I'd like to know what Brown, O'Sullivan, Kopi, and Frolov think about Cammalleri being gone. Do they miss his skill, or are they content to move forward and let someone else try to become the scoring option Cammo was.

The days of being laughed at for being a Kings fan are just about over. We will be peaking just when the Ducks, Sharks and Stars are fading and trying to reload. We will be at the top of the division for years. Who knows, we may actually win the cup in my lifetime.

Cristobal- contracts can't be reworked per se, and this isn't a reworking of his contract. It is an extension and won't kick in until his current contract expires, eg. at the end of this year. As i understand it, extensions like this can't be signed more than 1 season prior to the expiration of the current contract, so this is about as early as it could be done. Since this is his second contract, it is not subject to the rookie cap and also cannot contain incentives. Hope that answers your ?

Great contract IMO. Future is looking good, but there is still a bit of work that must be done to make this team a perennial competitor.

Great info, J. Thank you.