Forum answers VI

"Anyway, it's not a bad idea in general, but I just don't really get the impression that it would make a major difference in terms of the Kings' prospects of signing Gaborik..."

Solution? Offer Hossa $8.5m/per(I'm not kidding).

Put up or shutup. Right?

I probably would have asked "Why do the Kings coaches favor that stupid take a dump and chase style when 75% of the time it WON'T WORK in the favor of the team that threw away the puck???"...but...that's something I noticed in all the years of watching the NHL...and perhaps that average is a bit low on the recovery rate...but I put it there to be generous...

Not sure I agree with the DL is horrible with trades comment.

Belanger/Gleason for JMFJ. I think we'd all make that trade again.

A first round pick for Cammalleri, who was as good as gone after this season and will probably leave Calgary as well.

Stoll/Greene for Visnovsky who is oft injured, small, and overpaid.

Demitra for a first (Trevor Lewis) and O'Sullivan. Obviously we'll have to wait and see how flipping O'Sullivan for Williams works out.

Just my humble opinion.

Aren't you people tired of the Kings being the rehab team for injured players? True, some players heal but to me its not worth the risk. We are still paying for Mc Cauley and Cloutier. What's the point of getting Gaborik if he spends more time injured than playing? We just took a risk at trade deadline. Hopefully Williams will stay healthy next year but its a risk all the same. I do not believe we can afford 2 offense players on the injured list next year. Our offense needs all the help it can get.

hazen -

agreed.

hazen - What about the O'Donnell trade? Not a superstar, but definitely a good fit, and definitely a good price.

hazen,

I disagree about a bit of that.
I loved Belanger and Gleason, but would make that trade again for sure.
It was a good 'un.
But Visnovsky, Cammy, and Demitra are 3 players that put up points, and the Kings cannot find a way to do that.
Since Demitra and Visnovsky are vets in their 30's, it can always be argued that they are better moves for the future, but what about mortgaging the Now?
Those moves may reap rewards, but the damage to the image of this franchise and the signals it sends to free-agents is not good.
The Hossa's of the world aren't ever going to take less to come here.
Not now, anyway.
I also humbly disagree with Jet's contention that the O'donnel trade was in any way a "good" move.
Sure, O'donnel is a great guy and a good defenseman, but he's not what this team needed at all.
Perhaps if the defensive needs had been filled by others I could agree more with that contention, but I think it was just a "filler" trade to take up time.
In addition, the Ducks had to get rid of salary and it was mostly about them clearing cap space.
I still love the guy though.

I also don't think Cammy is a gun for hire. He worked his tail off to get in the position to join a contender.
The fact he was willing to sign in LA at all shows that they guy was willing to stick around, but if it's not going to be for Rings, it had damn well be for a realistic and comensurate salary.
I think he's earned a pay day as much as anyone.
You can't score in this league motivated by greed. You have to be a damn good hockey player.

cristobal,

I can understand not being happy with the Cammy trade, but my opinion he was never going to stay here, atleast not after arbitration hearing. But I can see being unhappy with the value we got for him.

Cammy being a 'gun for hire', which I agree with, doesn't mean he isn't a damn good hockey player. I don't think anyone has ever denied that he can put the puck in the net. That's not the issue. All that means is that many of us feel like Cammy will never really settle into a team. It will be very interesting to see what length contract he signs this summer. My guess is he won't take more than a 3 year deal, but I could be wrong there. There are those hockey players though who just bounce around the league, it doesn't mean they are bad players, sometimes they can be very good players, just not ones teams can seem to either want to keep around for too long or build around. This can be for a variety of reasons, be it attitude, work ethic, performance, money, etc, etc.

In Cammy's situation I think it's a combination of attitude and to a lesser extent, money. I'll never question his work ethic or his overall career performance.

Now I'm not saying that he has a negative attitude, just one that is more ego-centric than team-centric. That attitude, for some, is in fact what allowed them to become and makes them good or great hockey players, but not necessarily a face of a franchise or a guy you want mentoring along your younger players, hence, signing mostly short term contracts and/or being traded frequently. How his career pans out will be very interesting and I intent to follow it closely, because I always enjoyed watching him play, though its been hard this year because I instictively have a certain level of disdain for anything in a Flames jersey.

Aslo, when did it seem like Cammy was 'willing' to sign in LA. It certainly didn't seem like he was last season. That much was clear from the cheap seats. The contract he is on now he HAD to sign as he was an RFA lucky enough to have arbitration rights at the time. Again, after that arbitration hearing I don't think many could argue he would have signed here, short or long term for anything short of an overpayment. Too much bad blood. Unfortunate yes, but also dust in the wind, wind we can only now look forward to Tuebert kicking up frequently!

The Vis trade I just love, as I did Vis himself. But I don't think you can say we didn't get a good return for him. Stoll is exactly the kind of DEPTH a contending team needs (in a perfect world he's playing 3rd line and major PK minutes), as is Greene, who provides so many intangibles along with all the blocked shots and broken up plays.

I don't think Stoll and Greene are guys you can find anywhere, way too much character in each of these guys not to love having them. I think offense talent is easier to come by than character like theirs. The fact that they excel at two extremely important parts of the game doesn't hurt either.

Demitra - I dunno, to me it never seemed like he should have been here in the first place. Just another panic move by DT. Demitra is a fine hockey player, but what puzzles me here is you have been a big O'Sullivan supporter and poo-pooed trading him away. Well, you don't trade Demitra in the first place, you don't have Sully to want to keep around sooooo.......

And last but FAR from least, OD wasn't the right guy?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????

I can't understand this at all. You do realize that he wasn't brought here to be our best defenseman but almost solely for the purpose of teaching and helping Doughty along... right? He's done a fantastic job in that regard, and that's not something any filler guy can do.

I think its safe to say that had Johnson had OD or a guy like him mentoring him last year instead of careless and carefree Blake he may not be constantly blowing coverage left and right this year. Obviously Doughty is a better talent than Johnson, but OD's impression on Doughty is remarkable and UNDENIABLE. Johnson meanwhile, not having had the kind of tutelage that OD provides has looked so lost out there on the defensive side of the puck. Contrast that with the few games Johnson played with OD where he looked much more confident and stable on D.

Since this also all stemmed from how good DL is at trading, lets not forget OD was free, salary dump or not.

As for him being just a 'filler', I can't disagree more. A filler would have been another Gauthier character. THAT'S a filler. Just a body really, who could be replaced with any number of guys. While there are definately a plethora of defenseman on OD's talent level, there aren't that many with 1000 games under their belt, and even less with the character, leadership and mentoring skills of OD.

I apologize if my internet 'tone' isn't the most pleasant, but it is a product of the fact that I'm really shocked by that OD statement. I know you have what tend to be considered 'radical' opinions, and that doesn't bother me in the slightest, but to say that OD was brought here just "to take up time" seems really off-base as a matter of fact, not opinion. If anything, you should be making this argument for the pickup of Quincey. The fact that we didn't have a top 4 guy in his age group/talent level was more initially disturbing. So unless you want to argue that having Doughty here was a bad idea then you can't deny that a player like OD was absolutely necessary this season. I have to assume you are only looking at OD's on ice performance when you say sucha thing, which granted has been stinky at times, but even then overall I think OD has been sufficiently solid on defense.

Besides, look what else was out there on D last offseason... personally I'm very glad Finger and Redden aren't weighing this team down.

OD won't be here much longer, so in that sense I guess you can say he was a 'bridge', but I think it was so more than that. It was a role that HAD to be filled by a very specific kind of player, not just some guy to eat up minutes. Of all the options DL had to fill that roster spot, weighing in the cost of big contracts for UFA's or big assets in big trades, the OD trade was about as good a move as he could have made. I'd do that 'trade' over and over and over and over and over again.

Now, if you are unhappy that going into the offseason we didn't have a more stablilized defense, that's a vastly different argument than condemning the OD trade itself.

Again, I apologize for ranting and raving.

Maybe our microscopic perspective on individual players is clouding our view of "big picture". I constantly hear on XM Home Ice that the "Kings are doing it right" and that the have a "great young core" of players and they will be "in contention in a couple of years", yet we criticize individuals for a bad play, or a horrible game. Of course, that doesn't take the sting away from missing the playoffs AGAIN, but I have real hope for a future that started a few years back.

Nobody knows how DL's "plan" will pan out. If we miss the playoffs next year, DL, TM, and a bunch of high priced players will out, and we'll start out again with another "plan" with the new GM, Head Coach, etc. and continue to be the laughing stock of the NHL. I don't think this will happen (at least I hope it won't).

As far as the players go...Simmonds is a one-man show as far as skaters go...changed the game last night in the first 4 minutes! With some bulking up during the summer, he will be a beast, I hope not at the expense of his speed. The Oilers broadcast team said that JJ reminds them of Scott Stevens, but not with his offensive skills--yet! Wow! I don't think you give up someone with upside potential like that! Fro, just needs some consistency...I know we've been saying it for years, and coaches have tried...but we have a home grown proven 30-goal scorer.

I hate watching the playoffs again "from the outside", but I will be the first to buy my playoff series ticket for our run next year!