Rob Laird interview

hey rich,

I was wondering if Heidi Androl will be back with the LA Kings in the 09-10 season?

The Kings may still hold the NHL rights to Marek even though he isn't under contract.

re: jan marek

so, you think he will be under a la kings contract?

I believe the Kings have his rights until he's 31 since he was drafted under the old CBA rules, but I don't know if that was affected by the Kings getting a third rounder from NY when they couldn't sign Marek a few years back. As I recall, he wanted a guarantee that he'd be playing in the NHL, not AHl, and that seemed to be a major sticking point. Since he was 2nd in goals and in overall scoring in the KHL last year and the KHL contracts can be competitive (no idea what his is and how much longer he has on it), I doubt the Kings would offer him a contract that pays him what he thinks he's worth when he hasn't even played a game in the NHL. Who knows, though, maybe he'll decide to come over to camp for once to see how he stacks up against NA competition.

I don't know what Rob Laird is talking about. Kings don't have the rights to Marek. Marek wanted a guaranteed roster spot with the Kings, which DL was not willing to promise. DL took the pick (2008 NYR 3rd round) as compensation for not being able to sign him (see Rich's interview with DL), which DL then packaged along with a 4th to Buffalo to get Buffalo's 3rd rounder (thus, moving up to 74th overall), with which DL picked Andrew Campbell.

Marek is a free agent.

(disclaimer: I suppose there's a chance I just don't understand the way these deals work and there is some technical reason that Marek might still be Kings property, but I really don't think so, given this quote from Lombardi, from the '07 interview: "The second week [of the Europe trip] was to go down and see that Marek kid, because we have to make a decision there, whether to take him or the draft pick. [The Kings would get a third-round pick in 2008] [...] It's either (Marek) or a pick, so we went to see him play and we met with his agent to get a feel. The hard part is that they can get so much money in Russia, so there's the question of whether he even wants to try it and then there's the question of where he fits. He's a '79 born, so he's not old but we're still working through that process. He played OK. He's a talented guy, but the thing you run into is that he's small, so you have to look at that. So, we'll see how that works out.'')

Which just leaves me with the question of why Kings scouts don't know who is their property and who isn't.

Quisp,

It seems to me that there is more than just a chance that you don't understand what's going on with Marek. Laird is, after all, an LA kings scout. Just a wild guess, but perhaps he knows more about it that you do.

BTW, here's a link to the prospect roster currently posted at the Kings website. Guess who's name is on it? Yep. Marek. Doh!

http://kings.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=TeamPlayers&type=prospect

Quisp- under the old CBA, teams held the rights of european players like Marek until they turned 31 and I believe this was grandfathered for players drafted prior to the new CBA being enacted. My assumption is that in the contractual text of the trade, the Kings aquired his rights and a conditional pick that would be activated should they not be able to sign him by a certain date.

In your scenario (which you're right to glean from DL's comment) if it was an either or, he still would not be a free agent, his rights would have reverted to the Rangers until he is 31. I could see the NHL having a problem with this type of situation and I've never seen a trade like that where a player/prospect is essential loaned to another team for a period to attempt to sign (unless that player is scheduled to be a free agent).

However, if the new terms were applied to old draftees, the team holding Marek's rights at that time (rangers) would likely have 2 years (the new time limit) to sign him or lose his rights. That would have made him a free agent at the end of the 07 season, which would make the latter trade scenario above the most likely case.

I'm certainly not a CBA expert, and i don't know for sure whether the old terms were carried over for players drafted prior to the new CBA, but things like that usually do get grandfathered. I do imagine that Rob Laird would know better than us whether or not Marek is Kings' property, but I see where you're coming from.

I can confirm that the Kings do still hold the rights to Marek, who is considered a defected (unsigned) player along with Niclas Anderson (06 draft), Constantin Braun (06), Johan Fransson (04), Mikhail Lyubushin (02), Igor Melyakov (95), Andrei Shefer (99) and Valtteri Tenkanen (04). All those players are included on the Kings' reserve list.

DANIEL TOLENSKY...

thanks for the confirmation and the list of the other players...i was about to post a list, too...

there's still no binding transfer agreement between the IIHF and the NHL and all the previous guidelines and contracts with these type of players have been grandfathered, as described by -J...

Constantin Braun is an interesting player...he's a big d-man with good offensive upside...maybe Fransson, another player who was considered the "wild card" in the matty norstrom trade...

good to know we have some, albeit, remote possibilities...but this players are often traded between teams as part of bigger-name deals over time...

i wouldn't count on any of these guys doing anything with the team....