Once again, the Kings have managed to put themselves in the middle of one of hockey’s messiest offseason stories. Last year, they dipped their toe into the Ilya Kovalchuk situation and ended up getting stuck in free-agent quicksand for a month. Now it’s Drew Doughty’s contract, a situation they hoped to have resolved more than two months ago. Remember, at one point, the Kings hoped to have Doughty signed prior to the start of the free-agency period, so they knew how much money they could offer Brad Richards in their low-profile attempt to sign Richards. Now, no Richards, no Doughty.
Perhaps that was part of the problem. From their perspective, the Kings went big early, deciding in July that they would be willing to give Doughty a contract equal to — or actually, in total, greater than — the one they gave Anze Kopitar in 2008. They thought that would be enough. By all accounts, it isn’t. Thus the problem. The Kings showed, in July, what they claimed (and still claim) was their best hand, and for two months they have remained adamant that they won’t budge. Other offers have been exchanged, at different levels, but nothing has significantly changed. So here we are, as one talented league pundit put it, waiting for one side to blink, and with Doughty’s side — if reports are accurate — potentially seeking $7 million a year for a 21-year-old defenseman with 239 NHL games but with a Norris Trophy nomination under his belt.
Don’t discount the past here. Dean Lombardi has publicly talked about the situation he faced in San Jose in 2002, when goalie Evgeni Nabokov and defenseman Brad Stuart held out. Both players eventually signed during training camp, but the well-regarded Sharks finished last in the Pacific Division and Lombardi was fired late in the season. Lombardi has publicly said that he believes the two holdout situations contributed to him losing his job. Who represented Nabokov then? Don Meehan. Who represents Doughty now? Meehan. Lombardi told me recently that he doesn’t think Meehan is holding the ghost of 2002 over his head, but Meehan didn’t achieve his high level of success in this industry by having a short memory. There’s no question that, generally speaking, past situations or personality conflicts can sometimes come into play.
So, on-ice sessions start Saturday. The Kings aren’t nearly the same team without Drew Doughty. In the short term, his absence would most benefit rookie Viatcheslav Voynov, who would see increased reps, but Doughty’s absence would loom over the locker room. In a season in which expectations and hopes are high for the Kings, how much of an impact would this make? Should the Kings bite the bullet, and give Doughty what he wants, or hold their line and continue the staring contest?
Bottom line is get it done. Kings fans have been waiting for a team like we have for years. Doughty is a HUGE part of this team. GET IT DONE!
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Ben Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
@Smiley, Doughty, if signed, is only one part of the team. Remember, this is a true TEAM sport. It’s not about one guy.
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Bama Kings Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
@Ben, There has been a HUGE opportunity to build our team through a trade. I’ve said it for MONTHS – trade Doughty. And I got mocked and treated like the village idiot.
We could have gotten a 40 goal scorer, great draft position or a few solid role players.
Now, we get Doughty, if we’re lucky. His trade value is so low its not worth it.
We should have traded his potential for a known talent, like we did for Richards.
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Scott Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
@Bama Kings, Is there a between the top two options. It’s hard to call someone in their early 20s a franchise player. However, who is the franchise player: Kopitar, Doughty, Quick or Brown? I think that’s the order of the top players.
petemagoop Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:00 am
@Bama Kings, what 40 goal scorer?
tmp32 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
@Bama Kings, I agree whole heartedly with Bama. The Kings have preached and preached prudence in going after top tier talent because they have had young talent they wanted to tie up long term (Johnson/Doughty), and have missed out on deals that could have fortified us in the last two years playoffs. What do you say now to your fan base when your plan to not extend for a UFA results in you not being able, or unwilling, to sign the players you stood pat for? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Doughty is worth what he is asking for, but that being said, send him to Toronto where they just signed Schenn’s brother, and get some of the draft picks that DL loves so much in addition. Either way, not signing Doughty will be the cancer or excuse DL will use next year when we don’t eclipse last years performance. I’m so tired of “it’s not our fault…”
Chad smith Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:58 am
@Ben, So true.. DD is only one player in this cog. Unless he shows up to camp after a macDonalds binge, then he would be just like two guys.DD has not earned 7 mil a year , with so many people out of jobs and an economy in the toilet .. TAKE THE 6.8 Million !!! I think I will boo DD anyway .
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Lexigirl Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
@Smiley, I would love to see Drew on the team, but one person doesn’t make a team, and at this point, he may be more a distraction than a team mate. Would he leave a huge hole, absolutely. But we haven’t won the Stanley Cup with him, and maybe others will step up to prove that if he leaves, although he will be missed, he’s not irreplaceable.
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Kevin Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Stamkos got 7.5 but he scored 50 goals as a 20/21 year old which is insane. doughty is good but 6.8 million is a ton of money.
i say have some team give him an offer sheet for $5 million and then we sign him and get him cheap for a year and see how he does this season
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pimpinhockey Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
@Kevin, he would actually have to sign the offer sheet and hence agree to the $5 mil deal, which he would not sign an offer sheet that low, some team would have to offer him his $7 mil a year offer sheet and force Kings to match that
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Cathy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:02 am
@Kevin, Stankos has 119 goals in his first three seasons. He has shown his worth. I read that he started working out with a new trainer to get in shape. He is working hard to get ready for the season. What is Doughty doing?
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broncokings Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
@Kevin, i have a feeling another team would pay doughty the 7 mil.
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Doc.B Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
@Smiley, Get it done is right!!! Just sign him already. 7 mil is fine. I don’t see what the problem is..We offered Ilya more than that. Look what he did last year…
One person doesn’t make a team but Drew will make it a hell more exciting!!!
GKG
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TMagz Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
@Smiley, Yup, all those 11 goals last year really make him worth Kopi money. Let’s not forget that this kid had one good year, one…….UNO! Then other teams picked up on him and learned how to limit his effectivness, and he has a mediocre season at best last year. Does he make the team better…….of course, but he could also cripple the team with this ridiculous contract! Let him bounce and see how much he enjoys making that extra $200k while he’s ice fishing in Winnipeg and getting boo’d in the City of Angels. Hey Drew, go home and get your f@&$-ing shine box!!
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StillneedDewey fka PakiFro Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
@TMagz,
Mediocre? Look up how many dmen had 40 points each of the last two seasons.its hardly a mediocre class of about 4 players.
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TMagz Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
@StillneedDewey fka PakiFro, Weber…$7.5 mill, Chara…..$6.9 mill, Lindstrom $6.2 mil DD…. $7 + milll. DD DOES NOT even belong in the same breath as these players!! Does that mean that he never will develop into one of them? Of course not. DD does not have the X Factor that these Hall of Fame bound players do. Not yet. In this NHL, players get paid for results, not potential. Please guys, don’t think that I’m saying he will not develop into a very special player, but one good year and a career total of less than 100 pts DOES NOT warrant Stamkos $$$
Fireplug Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:33 pm
@TMagz, I agree. You want a big contract show us something. Come to camp in shape. Put together a couple of really good seasons. Want extra money, then do it through incentives. TMagz, is DD worth more then Kopi? Think about it, don’t just react from the gut.
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TMagz Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:16 pm
@Fireplug, So……I whacked back a shot, had a smoke and thought long and hard. My conclusion…… I’m not sure. I think our 1 – 2 punch down the middle is something to fear. Teams will spend more time watching video of those 2 and how to limit their chances than watching video on how to expose DD’s weaknesses. We can get A LOT for DD and I do believe he is more expendable than our top center. Especially for a team that struggles scoring. Thanks for making me think though, I am pretty fired up about this whole thing
mike Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
@TMagz, LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL!!!!! Goodfellas. Love it.
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lvkingaholic Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
@TMagz, hey bud, that is classic…… made me laugh really hard. love that movie………
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Cathy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:55 pm
@Smiley, Bottom line, hold your ground. If the Kings give this petulant child what he wants it will set them up for other players to make similar demands. This is a TEAM sport and he is one player. We had the GREAT ONE and it wasn’t enough to bring the cup to LA so what makes so many think we need Doughty to win the cup. I agree he can become more of a distraction than a help at this point. I think if he is not there Martinez will have the opportunity to step up and will. He has a great shot from the point and has a lot of potential. We don’t need a spoiled prima donna on this team. We have too much going in our favor. Some of you seem to think that if Doughty signs that guarantees success and it doesn’t. Let’s say the Kings give him the money and he folds under the pressure his contract won’t be worth the paper it is written on. Hold your ground Lombardi. If he doesn’t sign get rid of him.
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Donald_S Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:13 pm
@Cathy,
I don’t understand this. This isn’t like with Cammalleri, who was seeking $6 million a season when the Kings offered $2.6 million (I know it went to arbitration but the concept is the same). Those are really big difference numbers. If it’s Doughty wants $7.2 mill. versus the Kings offer of $6.8 mill, it’s a 5% difference, 1/2 of which goes to the government. That’s just dumb. It’s already cost Doughty a ton of fan goodwill as witnessed by the comments here. He’s not getting that money back, no matter what he does. He’ll lose that much in endorsements.
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Cathy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:08 am
@Donald_S, I don’t completely agree. Doughty wants to be the highest player on the team whether he has earned that or not. It is more principle than the money at this point. If the Kings give him the money then they will set a precedent for the future that they will cave in the end. I think they have to stand their ground on this one. This is only his second contract and it is not like they only offered him 2.6mil. He needs to decide if he really wants to play hockey in LA. He is not worth anything to this team if he is not here 100%
KingsFanMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:45 am
@Donald_S, I tend to think that it is not DD doing all the talking. I think his agent is more of a schister(?), and only trying to get what he wants, not what DD wants. Luke Schenn just signed a deal worh 3.6M per season for 5 years, granted he has only 53 points compared to DD’s 126 in 3 seasons, but 6.8M for 9 years is really good. I bet if you asked DD what he wants he would have already taken this deal. He like playing in LA, which was or still is favorite team. I think that DD knows that he can’t be paid more than what Kopi makes. I think that DD’s agent is doing too much talking for what he wants or what he thinks DD should make.
King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:28 am
@Cathy, Cathy is 100% right!
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Deke'r Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:07 am
@Cathy, I agree, DD’s quickly becoming a clubhouse cancer. You can’t tell me DD has no clue as to what his allstar agent is up to…..is Drew sitting at home saying “why am I not at camp?” Seems Drew believed all the media hype about himself. If the organization is as deep at the D position as we’re led to believe this should not be a problem.
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Steevogt Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:33 pm
@Smiley,
You have to be careful what you offer Doughty, he is young and this will not be his last contract. If you offer him too much, then he is going to want to sign for even MORE money on the next contract. It doesn’t seem that Doughty wants to sign a long term deal, he is looking for a short term deal so he can sign an even bigger contract when he makes free agency. You have to be mindful that there is a salary cap. Yes, the Kings are well under the cap now, but what about a few years down the road? You don’t want an Albatross contract handcuffing the franchise in a few years. Looked what happened to Tampa Bay a few years back with the huge contracts to Richards, Lacavalier and St. Louis. I would think that Lombardi want plenty of wiggle room come Trade Deadline time so if this team is indeed close to a Stanley Cup, he could afford to add a couple of high priced pieces to put them over the top. Yes, you and I would be thinking “just sign him to whatever it takes”. But, you must realize that there are other forces at play here. That is why Deano is a real G.M. and everyone else on these forums is not.
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saxmanbob Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
@Steevogt, I’m concerned about doughty’s play after he returned from a concussion. IMHO he surely lost some of his defensive abilities under pressure and had trouble finding a free shooting lane to the net. I hope the summer off gave him time to recover fully. So I’m still unsure of his value to the Kings.
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HockeyOnly Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
@saxmanbob, The way he’s allowing all of this to continue, he could still be being affected by the concussion because no 3rd year player is going to turn down $6.8 Mil. Sorry, there is just one.
Steevogt Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:26 pm
@saxmanbob, I have to agree with you. It is a concern, is the 2010-2011 Doughty the real Doughty? I’m sure DL is thinking about this as well. This could be the sticking point on the contract. Doughty’s agent may be basing his asking price on the Doughty of 2 years ago and Lombardi is basing his offer on the most recent Doughty.
Cathy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:12 am
@Steevogt, I hadn’t thought of it that way. You are right. Where do you go if you give him the big bucks now. He will only want more. It seems he wants to go to free agency. How loyal is he to this team if he is already thinking about free agency. It also seems from what has been said that even if the Kings give him a shorter term contract he still wants the same on the money. I agree about the cap, who knows what the teams needs will be as the season wears on and we get to the trade deadline. If we spend all of our money on one guy where do we go. It will be interesting to see what will happen with CBA and what changes will occur there as well. I think the Kings are doing the right thing by saying no on the money. I guess we will see what happens.
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CTD Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:32 am
@Smiley,
Drew’s first season was very good, I am sure we all can agree on that. He was hungry, confident, moved the puck well, played relatively smart in our end and put up a fair share of points. all that would be true and accurate things to say about his first season….. and if that was the season he was coming off of and into negotiations with then by all means “rob the bank Drew”
Here’s my problem with the current state of his development…. Last season (this is not opinion here, cold hard facts are following…) I saw him on more than 5 occasions, take severely dumb penalties, ones that break some hard core rudiments of hockey, 3 seconds Drew, thats how long you have to make contact with a player after the puck leaves his possession. it was a reoccurring event last season and this isnt really up for debate, sorry, it happened in key situations and more than once. That dove tails nicely into my next problem with him, arguing with refs and being a whiner. a player with his embryonic tenure in this league should not be arguing with ref’s, bottom line. if a call was made or missed, Drew needs to shut up and go to the bench or the box. My other problem with him last season was his indecisiveness with the puck in the attack zone and and at the blue line, and how that resulted in many out numbered attacks for the other team. Another area that fell off was his ability to bring the puck up the ice effectively. SO if this is all fact and….
NONE OF THIS IS OPINION !!! then he really had a terrible season and no, I don’t think his “flutter-puck” shots that hit stanchions and near by players and go in are enough to redeem such dreadful performances. I am sure by now there is even a compilation video on youtube called “doughty blunders” or something.
HE is not Paul Coffey, he is not Ray Borque, could he be? sure, someday, years from now with many consecutive seasons under his belt that over shadow last seasons debacle, but Right now he has, in my eyes, a better chance of being another Ryan Leaf (the crying quaterback).
The way he has handled the off season says loud and clear, “I am not a team guy” and it seems to me that everyone else is in fact a “team guy”. I really say our best option is to not cave in, handle the stand off, let him hold out, bring up Voynov ( who actually wants to play) and if the stand off lasts to long, trade him, and let some other team baby sit him, my gut feeling is that he will be a “me first” type player wherever he goes and a cancer in any locker room. We could garner a pretty nice player in a trade with him because so many teams think the sun rises and sets in his B-hole, so I say we let him continue to be out of shape and not with the team until it eats at him enough to be humble or see’s Voynov ripping his spot right out of his hands, maybe that will compel him to get off his arse…
he has tremendous upside, I get why everyone is blinded by his potential, but don’t let that fool you, he has major character issues. He is still a gamble in this league, one that many are willing to take but we shouldn’t ignore his lack of work ethic, his anti-team display this off season and more importantly the evident lack of character that has been brewing since last season.
Never let a ME first athlete have his way…. never. we will be fine without him, have another 50 Cheeseburgers and watch from the sidelines this season Drew !!!!
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Seems A Good Fellow Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
@Smiley, How a 4th year player can turn down a long term contract worth 6.8mil a year is beyond m? Let alone a guy who was concussed, albeit not a very serious one last year? You read about how much DD has accomplished…a Norris Trophy nomination and a Gold Medal in the Olympics…BIG DEAL! Duncan Keith won a Norris Trophy and is his teams best D-Man and signed a deal that pays him 5.5mil a year! Stand pat and let him hold out if he truly believes that he should be the 2nd highest paid defenseman in the league.
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Thanks Rich..This should be good.
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This is beyond absurdity. Reminds me of our government.
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DL…do whats right for the team…if DD doesnt want to be here at the price you offer pass on him…we are D rich and have a roster that is sick with talent. Voynov, Vey, Forbert to mention a few may not be as talented but certainly can fill a defensive spot. Looks like DD will be booed no matter what happens opening night…
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thelexsters Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@kingfan004, agreed trade him give some of the kids a chance do what’s best for the team and not one single greedy person that let Hollywood get to his head
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BobsYourUncle Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
@kingfan004, If he does end up signing then he IS part of the Team and should not get booed. Stupid to boo a signed player…
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King Doughnuts Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:29 pm
@BobsYourUncle, I’m going to boo, and boo loud
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pimpinhockey Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
@kingfan004, Vey is a forward, but he would probably make a sick offensive defenseman
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Greed. It’s helluva drug. Doughty can go pound sand. Get rid of the greedy little kid.
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DaveinSD Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:22 am
@Winsomemore, pound sand, absolutely he should. Looks like I will be burning my Doughty jersey at my next bonfire on the beach. Let’s see if he pulls his head out of his(you know what)and signs.
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KingsGuy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am
@Winsomemore, If he ends up signing you best believe that I will probly not be the only one BOOING him when hes got the puck or steps on that ice.
Does anyone remember watching the video of him last year? – Ever since I was a kid, my dream was to play for the Kings. So in words, “put your MONEY where you mouth is”
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In a way i like the patience in deano. But the effect it has on the rest of the team im sure is not helping as of right now. This deal needs to get done within a week MAX starting today in order for it not to boil over to the rest of the guys.
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Marshy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@Icecrown, It’s not DL’s fault it pudgy little dewy’s greed. Use the cap space to find a replacement.
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DL should get on a plane and have a face to face with DD. Get the agent out of it for awhile.
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22Sargent Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
@BluLiner, Unfortunately, DD may not be open to that idea, which could do even more harm if he just showed up on DD’s doorstep.
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Cathy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
@BluLiner, Doughty is hiding behind his agent. Lombardi said he would like to speak with Drew directly but that is up to him. If Drew really wanted to sign he could have talked to Dean at any point in time. It is Doughty not Lombardi on this one.
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HockeyOnly Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
@BluLiner, NO, DD should get on the plane and have a face to face with DL.
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Kopitar money is more than generous to Doughty. He is a great talent, but he’s only 21, he digressed last year and the Kings are loaded with blue chip prospects on the blue line.
Let him hold out and see if one of the kids step up. If they do that will give DL more bargaining power. If Meehan still won’t budge then DL should explore trade options. You have to think he should be able to get a great return for Doughty.
$6.5+ for 7-9 years is very, very generous given Doughty’s season last year. And I must say, if he holds out for more than a couple of days I think the Kings fans will turn on him (as they should). This is not a team-first mentality. The Kings management have shown that they want to win now and have put together a roster that should be among the league’s elite. If Doughty doesn’t want to be here then treat his as any other asset and get as much as you can for him.
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OnTheFly Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 6:59 pm
@Dave,
Very well said Dave
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Zeley Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:10 pm
@Dave,
Based on what I’ve read over the past 2 weeks, the fans on this site have already started to turn. At the beginning of September there were those who thought Drew was showing greedy tendencies, but I don’t think you would have seen 75% voting for the Kings to stand pat with the offer on the table.
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Cathy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
@Dave, Couldn’t have said it better.
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InTheCrease Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
@Dave, Sums up how I feel about the whole affair. If DD really wants to be a King, he’ll tell his agent to get it done. Don’t blink, DL.
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justin Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
@InTheCrease, I agree with these opinions on drew, but I also dont understand the difference between 6.8 and 7 mill from the kings standpoint. 7 mill for a long term contract is reasonable, and will look great in 2016 for the league’s best dman. cmon guys, I love our youth too, but DD, greedy as he(or his agent) may be, is still poised to take the torch from Lidstrom. He is special, and comes along once ever 10-15 years.
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Cathy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:17 am
@justin, It doesn’t seem like much in terms of dollars. If they just give him the money he wants he will only want more down the line. Also, he doesn’t seem to want to sign a long term contract, but seems to want the same money for a shorter contract. If he doesn’t get in shape and do a lot better than last season he won’t be worth the paper his contract is written. He wants to test the free agency market when the time comes. Why should the Kings give him the money and length that he wants if he is already thinking about possibly going elsewhere.
justin Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
@justin, if doughty wants to be locked up for even 7.2 over 7-9 years, I do believe thats a good contract. 5 yrs, no way. But the salary cap increases every year, and while the new CBA looms, lets not kid ourselves, the state of the game is strong(Forbes Magazine). U dont win Stanley Cups without that go to dman(Niedermayer Pronger Chara Lidstrom Gonchar). As strong as our d is, Doughty is that go to guy. He had a slow start last season, but a strong finish, and the consensus out there is that he is one of those special dmen that are few and far apart. How many dmen have put up close to 90pts over a two year period?? forwards come and go, and the elite forward pool is significantly deeper than the dmen pool. Vancouver with all the offense in the world couldnt get passed a bunch of middle of the pack forwards with solid dmen patrolling and of course tim thomas. And why does everyone say that you cant pay a player based on potential, but in the same breath you want him to sign long term with a team that has huge potential. LA KINGS zero cups, awful winning percentage, and no real dedication to winning, until now-hopefully. Suddenly we act as if we are the Red Wings and players should know that. Maybe we should win before we boast such a chip on our shoulders. You really think Mike Richards would have signed a 10 yr 5.5 Mill per year deal with LA? Youre dreaming. While Im super frustrated about this, I am frustrated with both parties. As team mgmnt its your job to lock up the franchise dman. Take a lesson from Stevie Y…You get it done. The future is now in Los Angeles, we have waited too long, we have the best team we’ve had in years, maybe even ever. Sign DD, win a cup, maybe two, and see then if he wants to dedicate his career to the crown. You dont trade DD, and you dont let him sit at home. People say he is becoming a cancer, we are terminal without him.
King4Life Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
@Dave, Couldn”t agree more. Tell Meehan, this is our best offer. Doughty can either sign it or sit out the season. He will still be a restricted free agent next year.
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lowegirl Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
@Dave, Really… well said. He IS a superstar (we *think*). That’s what makes this whole thing a crapshoot. Holding out makes a huge statement to the team and to the fans. I’m pretty unimpressed with his character frankly, after this contract situation. I don’t blame the agent either. He might be young, but he’s got parents who are SURELY advising him, and as others have said, this stinks of the greed doo doo. There’s lots of D-men itching for a chance. He can Bledsoe this thing all the way to another freezing-weather east coast team, and we’ll wait for a Brady to step in. It’s happened many times.
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Cathy Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:19 am
@lowegirl, He is hiding behind his agent. He can make the decision anytime he wants. He does seem immature compared to some of the other players his age. I would like see Martinez get more ice time. I think he is going to develop into a great D. He has a great point shot which he scored on a couple of times. I think Doughty is believing his own hype too much and in the end can shoot himself in the foot.
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Fireplug Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
@Dave, Totally agree. Well said.
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Unimailer Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:57 pm
@justin, Justin, that was the best comment on this thread, period. I wish I was Jim Rome right now, because I would be saying “Rack Him!”.
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I posted this in the last thread in response to a post by @Cynic:
@Cynic, would it be right for the C of our team to make a phone call right about now? Just to see what’s the mindset? Would Richards have made that call last year in Philly? Interesting.
But what’s more interesting and something we shouldn’t lose sight of is that even if/when DD holds out, his teammates wont be hurt or angry and will be accepting the moment he walks through the locker room door…
Also, I don’t see that DL is “risking the season” over DD and his contractual situation. The show WILL go on and there will be people to fill the void. Granted, as postured by NYKingfan, there wont be anybody that steps into DD’s minutes/production, but a coolaboration will take place and his minutes will be absorbed and though his points might not be matched, they won’t be missed because of our added point scorers that have been acquired this offseason! I’m stil looking forward to the season, maybe even more so without DD because I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised to see that the sky still hangs above our heads even without #8 toeing the line during the national anthem!
In DL we trust!!!
[Reply]
Zeley Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
@Stuart,
I truly appreciate the reasoning behind this post. It reflects so many of my own thoughts.
[Reply]
Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
@Stuart, Good post and I did respond in the previous thread.
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
@Cynic, solid, saw it. I want to wake up tomorrow and hear sportscenter announcing a deal has been reached… is that too much to ask?
[Reply]
CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
@Stuart, Hockey on Sports Center, that’ll be the day that I die.
Cathy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
@Stuart, I believe people will step up. However, you don’t know how the players feel about this and could cause some animosity and that isn’t good for the team.
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
@Cathy, you’re right I don’t know, but from what they said about the situation, they know they’re players and that bond allows them to realize it for what it is – none of their business. I feel confident that to a man, they would feel just as positive of the team’s chances this year with or without him. But you are right in saying that I do not know for certain.
[Reply]
nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 5:46 am
@Stuart, I hope you’re right, but I saw what a difference DD made to the Kings team a few years ago. What a diffeence it made having a guy like DD who could take the puck up the ice the whole way and still get back on D…He’s a special player will special talents.
I’m not sure how many other 21 yr old D’men are asked to go head to head against the best players in the NHL on a nightly basis.
Collectively each guy can step up and try and fill the void, but that’s asking a lot.
[Reply]
I believe in my own opinion is
Doughty Agent might being doing this all over again to DL.So Dl got to adapt to this situation fast to change his thoughts.
Agent all he caring if Doughty i understand..Maybe give Doughty a 5 year contract with less contract and see what happens.
If the agent wants to enjoy the unfree player then let them as long as he going to be part of the team for another 5 years am okay with that deal….But what if they want 2 or 3 then am sorry that not worth it at all.
So i have alot of mix thoughts about this..Its not a easy job and i feel sorry for DL
Maybe Doughty wants to be a Kings for along time but thinks he not getting the right respect or has something that we Fans dont see
[Reply]
KingsFanFTW Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:00 pm
@KingsFanFTW, i mean money $$ and Doughty’s Agent caring for Doughty i understand that…
[Reply]
Bluecoconuts Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
@KingsFanFTW, I think his agent recognizes that a 26 year old UFA that is coming off of a contract that was 7mil+ will probably be looking at 8.5+ for a long term deal, and he knows that all his exploitation’s in the CBA will result in a probable lockout (unless they’re able to avoid it by closing loopholes, because you know the owners will fight to end these contracts), so he wants to get his money now while he can. And if everything goes in the best case scenario in 5 years he’ll be entering the bidding war for Stamkos, Doughty, and probably Schenn (and Parise if he’s really lucky) who will all be getting record breaking contracts. He doesn’t really care about any of his clients, he just cares about the cash. It’s a shame that none of these guys are smart enough to see through the fancy agent talk. Lombardi, being a lawyer who specializes in this stuff, probably sees the writing on the wall, which is why he wants a long term contract, to keep Doughty for a long time.
If Doughty gets 5 years or less, or 7million+ he wont be a King by the time UFA rolls around…. 9 years at 6.8 is what he deserves, and what he should take. At this point Lombardi should stand at that offer, and if Drew holds out, he can have fun watching the Kings win on TV, and never come back. I love Drew, but the Kings don’t need him. We won without him in the lineup, and I expect Johnson to step up (he did last time Doughty was gone) and Martinez to take a leap. Are the Kings as good without Doughty? Of course they’re not. But can they win? They have the depth to do so. Nobody is above the team in my eyes.
[Reply]
KingsFanFTW Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
@Bluecoconuts, yea true that..Kings can win games without him ,but be easy to have him witht he Kings..All this for something soo dumb come on doughty now u just lost all ur respect
[Reply]
Cathy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
@Bluecoconuts, One of things that has been said that Doughty wants at least 7mil the Kings won’t go over 6.8 also, if the Kings give him the shorter contract it would be at less money and of course he won’t go for that. I think it is time to sign or move on and let this team get down to the business at hand and that is bringing the cup to LA
[Reply]
I hate seeing all us Kings fans feeling like this.
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Rory Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:44 am
@Subby, I know, we’re all anxious but it’s disheartening to see everyone turn so negative like this.
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Duckbasher Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:42 am
@Subby – after watching DD the past couple of seasons, I was already feeling “like this”. Is DD worth SIX MILLION more than Martinez? I’d rather have Martinez and the $6 mil available.
Doughty cost us some really critical games with his immature play out on the ice the last couple of seasons. Games that cost us a lot in the big picture. When I heard that we got Mike Richards, I was hoping it was DD that we traded for him. But instead, DL let Schenn slip away. And that one will haunt him for the rest of his GM life.
[Reply]
Early in June, I thought Doughty would be a life long King and DL should pay him whatever he wants to make this happen.
Then I read this blog from Quisp.
http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2011/7/11/2265534/part-one-why-drew-doughty-should-be-given-everything-he-wants#storyjump
Doughty could be another Dave Babych, who was drafted #2 overall in the 1980 NHL entry draft.
[Reply]
Almost sounds like the McCourt’s divorce trial. Jaime (Doughty/Meehan) needs a little more money to makes ends meat. Frank (Lombardi/Kings) doesn’t want to budge and give the other party more than they offered. Who wins? Nobody. Who loses? All the Kings fans!!
Send this contract dispute to court. Let’s see who wins?
[Reply]
It’s time to put the focus on the TEAM and upcoming season. If the reported offer of $6.8 million is not enough for Drew…then let’s move on. Let him hold out or listen to trade offers. Let’s Go Kings!
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We have only had one side of the story. Don could just want to get drew and huge signing bonus next season in case of a lockout.
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He had one good year and one bad…which one was the fluke? I think he is too much of a distraction. He was all fat and out of shape last year. Took too many bad penalties and cost the team more games than he helped win. It wouldn’t bother me to see him playing for another team.
[Reply]
Stang Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
@Stickboy, With all (do) respect, you don’t seem to know what you are talking about. DD wasn’t all fat and he didn’t loose more games than he won. If that were the case, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. The Kings wouldn’t even be looking at DD for those prices. He didn’t have a good year and a bad one. He had a great year and year not as good as the first. All that said, we have much more fire power this year over last. Give Don Meehan a Monday dead line (make sure DD knows) if he is a no show he WILL be traded. Use Davis Drewiske and one of our defensive minded defensemen to take his place or see what D we can get for him. I don’t think other teams are going to like his attitude enough to give him the bucks and terms he is asking and DD knows that.
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I hope Doughty realizes that the only reason the Kings can offer “Kopitar” money is because his teammates took less money to help build a championship caliber lineup. Brown, Johnson, Williams and Quick took less money to play in LA. If they all held out for more money, there wouldn’t be enough to sign Doughty to a $6.8 million contract.
Even people like Martinez and Lewis took a little less than expected to give Lombardi more room to improve the club.
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Dwreck Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
@Sydor25, Well said
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Token Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
@Sydor25, Bingo!
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Stang Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
@Sydor25, Good insight.
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Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
@Sydor25, Yep. Correctamundo
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DesertKing Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
@Sydor25,
Very deep!
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tornado12 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
@Sydor25, does anyone know if Meehan represents any other king players?
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cricket Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
@tornado12,
Stoll and lewis that I know of.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:38 am
@tornado12, Was with Kopi until Kopi got wise and fired his greedy ass!!
[Reply]
Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
@Sydor25, Good post.
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tacomakingsfan Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
@Sydor25,
You are very correct…Sometimes you have to sacrifice for the greater good. Hopefully DD realizes that or if not, trade him.
[Reply]
Fireplug Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
@Sydor25, I agree also. That is how the Kings were able to put together the kind of team that we have this year, a big step above last year’s team which was a big step above the year before that.
[Reply]
King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:42 am
@Sydor25, What a concept……
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I Love doughty but I’m getting tired of this… Why does doughty think he should be the highest paid?! I wouldn’t mind trading him now!
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don’t be held hostage Dean
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Maybe if he made that hip check on Couture I could agree paying him 7 million a year. But as Couture blew by him last year in the playoffs so did his dream contract!
[Reply]
Token Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
@sean, Haha!
And Jamie Benn owned his doughnuts every game last season.
Yeah, delusions of grandeur.
Legend in his own mind.
Have fun playing NHL 12 all season long.
[Reply]
OC Hip Check Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:33 pm
@sean, YES!!!! Hahahahaha this made my night!!
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:46 am
@sean, LOL, yes that series kind of summed up Doughty, One great game 2 or 3 games with him hurting more than helping and he is not good with 6.8 friggin million friggin dollars!!!
GET REAL DUDE, NO WAY you are getting more than Kopi. It will be a crime if you get the same as him.
[Reply]
Doughty should not be paid more than Kopitar. He has the potential to be worth more than Kopitar, but he doesn’t deserve it at this point.
[Reply]
Stang Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
@Jonathan, Don’t forget, Kopi is growing too. Look how his defense has shined.
[Reply]
ziggyfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:39 am
@Stang, how true!! We have seen Kopitar improving every year and we will see more coming season. Doughty regressed last year from the year before. Explain that to me. He is not worth Kopitar’s money.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:49 am
@Jonathan, Kopi is the man. He let’s his play on the ice do the talking and not some d bag agent…..
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Damn you, Don Meehan! Why you gotta rain on our parade?
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There is some kind of brinksmanship going on here and I think DD is getting bad advice. Im sure DD is not the kind of guy that wants to come off looking greedy. He’s a team guy and I am sure is well aware of the damage he is doing and has already done to his rep with teammates fans and management. He should instruct his agent to sign the deal on the table.. the contracts offered is more than enough given his performance and potential.
[Reply]
Stang Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
@NoCloutier, How could he be a “team guy” when he (your quote)”is well aware of the damage he is doing and has already done to his rep with teammates fans and management”.
[Reply]
NoCloutier Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
@Stang, Maybe I should have said he was a team guy. He wanted to play for the Kings, and he did get in shape when challenged by DL. I myself am rapidly losing respect for him. I guess what I feel is that he is getting bad advice. He’s only 21 and I have a feeling his agent has brainwashed him. Its still his fault. I would hope his parents and those close to him would try explain the fine line he is walk between hero and goat.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:51 am
@NoCloutier, “Im sure DD is not the kind of guy that wants to come off looking greedy”, little late for this brother, that ship has sailed..
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Drew enough, you’re 21 kid…prove you’re a team guy rather than a money guy
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Drew, you’re barely 21 for pete’s sake. Sign the 7 year deal, play every game like the all star you think you are, then get your BIG pay day when you become a UFA. That’s the way its done, like everyone before you. If your lucky you can be another Scott Niedermayer but you’re no where close to that yet.
Dean,
If he doesn’t sign midway through camp, deal him to the Isles or another cellar dweller for a couple young scorers and a few draft picks. He can go count his millions while the OUR LA Kings are lifting The Cup.
[Reply]
Give me a full year of training (365,8 hours a day) $500,000 and ill be doughtys replacement
[Reply]
Exospeed Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
@virgil, I was thinking the same thing. I played hockey for longer than drew’s been alive. I’ll take his spot for $500K.
[Reply]
I said it months ago. Trade him while he had more value. Now he still has value, but not as much as before this fiasco. Who has been brain washing this Doughnut loving kid just out of diapers to think he’s worth that type of money. Lets trade him for Shea Weber and add a prospect. We know that Nashville won’t be signing Weber next year after the arbitration and Weber wasn’t to happy about Predators management letting it go that far, so it might be a good fit. Do it Deano!!
[Reply]
garry Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
@IntheSinBin, I agree.
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Doughty has run the gauntlet.
It’s time for him to make a decision, not the kings.
The Kings trading rights could bring in a top dman if necessary.
I love having him on the Kings, but he is not worth 7 mil at this time.
[Reply]
Doughty is a franchise player and should be paid as such. But the Kings shouldn’t increase their offer. $6.8M per year on a long term deal is a franchise player contract. Don, time to stop trying to squeeze every penny you can out of this, time to stop trying to get Doughty to unrestricted free agency as soon as possible, it’s time to sign that huge contract that Lombardi has offered you that would see Doughty be paid very well and play for his childhood team for many more years, time for Doughty to play some hockey, and time for this sideshow to end.
[Reply]
Dean where do I sign? I can do the basics and I’m in shape!
[Reply]
Note that as of yet, Doughty has not signed an offer sheet. Obviously there aren’t any other teams out there willing to pay him $7M per season either.
[Reply]
OJ Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 5:40 am
@JDBiGC, It’s likely not the $$ that’s holding back other teams, but the 4 first round picks that would come LA’s way if the sheet was not matched by LA.
[Reply]
JDBiGC Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:45 am
@OJ,
Good point. But if it was Ovechkin or Crosby would teams be willing to give up the picks? I think they would. Granted they’re forwards so it’s something of an apples to oranges situation but still. If he was that highly valued some team would give up the picks.
[Reply]
This post is going to set off fireworks!
For the record, it needed to be posted. It’s the elephant in the (blog) room
[Reply]
MiniKing Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
@kevin from toronto, Do you have a reef tank?
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Ok I have enough Drew Doughty right now. I think we need to start paying attention to the ‘team” we already have. If the contract goes through great! If not I am not sweatng it. Time to boycott Doughty contract discussions and rumours and start focusing on our team. Let the rookies play and then let’s see how team goes. I really want to hear more about Kopi, Penner, Richards, Brown and Clifford and the rest of our boys. I have been following the Doughty discussions all summer and to be honest I sick of it!!! Go Kings!!!
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
@renorick, agreed wholeheartedly, but once saturday morning gets here. Until then it’s time to vent! but come saturday, it’s all about the boys IN the jerseys!!! If/when DD is officially a holdout, I hope he is out of sight out of mind for a lot of us fans!
I truly appreciate what we have in the holster as we stand at this moment! Still one of the best kings teams on paper than we’ve had in DECADES! sure it would be even better with DD, but we are good to go as is. I feel sad for DD, he’s missing out on the comraderie-building with his new teammates!
[Reply]
renorick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
@Stuart, Good points. I guess I just want the drop of the puck to take place instead of this contract drama!
[Reply]
likegangbusters Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
@Stuart, no kidding about the roster. Stacked! Have you played nhl12 as the kings yet…the lineup’s nuts!
[Reply]
IceGuy Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:12 pm
@Stuart,
Very good point. I agree with you. Up until Saturday, I’ll welcome Drew back to the team – no questions asked. Starting Saturday, the LA Kings begin training camp. I am a long time Kings fan, and will remain so. I support my team, not any one player on it. There’s a long bench at NHL venues. Why? Because a team sits there.
Mr. Doughty, the choice should be yours. Do you want to play on one of the most exciting Kings teams I can remember, or do you want to gamble the rest of your career as Meehan’s Meal Ticket? You think Meehan’s going to put his face in front of a slap shot to prevent an opponent’s goal? You think Meehan’s going to pound the living daylights out of some SOB player that takes a cheap shot at you? Do you honestly believe Meehan cares about anything but dipping into your wallet for his percentage of your blood, sweat and pain earned paycheck? You better take a quiet moment very soon and figure out on which side of the famous Herb Brooks quote you stand on: “I’m not looking for the best players … I’m lookin’ for the right ones.”
As things stand right now, Drew Doughty has chosen not to be an LA King. Fine. My team starts their long march toward the Cup on Saturday. If he does, sometime in the future, choose to be a part f this team, he better understand that he’s going to have to earn his spot. Good luck with that.
Saturday morning – I really would appreciate no more mention of Drew Doughty here. From then on, it’s all about the men who have cast their fates with each other. With apologies to William Shakespeare and Henry V …
“That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;
We would not die in that man’s company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call’d the feast of Lord Stanley.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Lord Stanley.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is the Cup.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on the Lord Stanley’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words-
Kopi the King, Richards and Quick,
Scuds and Brown, Johnson and Clifford –
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And the Stanley Cup shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in LA now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Lord Stanley’s Cup.”
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 5:27 am
@IceGuy, nice dialogue!! That should be played as the Kings advance through the gate and into the tunnel!
BSCTTB!!
let him sit. let his agent pay him. they will win without him. once they do, he’ll sign for less and fire his agent.
[Reply]
IntheSinBin Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
@henry, I like it!! Let him sit then trade him to Winnipeg for Bogosian. He’ll love those Winnipeg winters and dread the day he didn’t sign with the Kings.
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@empire, He wants 7 give him 7 for this season. Lets move on already. Montreal or Toronto would love to have Doughty, and he would love to play for them just because they are all Canadian.
I’m totally over it. Drama is for girls and girls t.v. shows, not hockey.
[Reply]
This is a big season for the Kings (and us fans) I hope a deal get’s done soon
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I never look at the results of a poll before I vote. I was shocked to see the huge percentage favoring the Kings. As a few have pointed out, we certainly do not know the whole story, but if he does not sign, his rights will probably be traded to a team with lots of cap space (i.e. not a real contender). Something needs to happen quickly. If DL feels he has made his best offer, he needs to look at alternatives. Winters are good in Miami as well, but Stanley Cups are a bit further away.
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AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
@edwood2,
I think the poll is a bit misleading. A lot of people are siding with the Kings because I don’t think anyone (except for 50 or so people) think DD should get paid more than Kopi. However, out of all those votes for the Kings how many people think DD should be traded vs. how many think DL should just leave Doughty on the sidelines until something gets worked out. I’d be interested to see the results of that poll.
[Reply]
xeropoint Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
@AZ King, Seeing as they own his rights for what, 4 more years? It’s a no brainer. He sits, making zero million less for a year.
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:19 pm
@xeropoint,
Okay, but who are you really hurting. What good does it do to let Drew sit if you can get a great return fir him. Don’t get me wrong, I want him to stay, just playing devil’s advocate.
tgia78 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:06 pm
@AZ King, Let him sit,don’t give him a trade. As I tell my children…you don’t get rewarded for bad behavior
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
@tgia78,
You’r assuming he wants a trade. I don’t think that’s the case.
DD step up bro! Whats more important,hoisting a championship salary that you have not quite earned all by yourself OR a Championship Cup with your bros and team mates. 6.8 Million is is plenty for a nomination,( you didn’t win that NORRIS trophy ). Tell Meehan to pack sand and jump back on the BLACK AND WHITE BULLET CAUSE WERE SHOOTIN @ THE CUP WITH OR WITHOUT YOU. ps. WOULD STILL LOVE TO HAVE YOU.
GKG
[Reply]
I think its DD’s agent’s pride and history with DL that is getting in the way.
Look at it this way – and I’m generalizing with the numbers If DL offered 6.8 per year for 9 years (61.2 Mil) and DD wants 7.5 per year that is a difference of 700k per year. If DD holds out this year he will be losing 6.8 million. That means that even if he gets 7.5 for the next reaming 8 years, at the end of these 9 years he would only get (60.0 Mil) he loses money by holding out. They have to realize this.
This is why I think it has to do with more than money.
[Reply]
Stagger Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
@The Realtor,
I don’t agree. The agent works for him. If Drew wanted to be here, he would be. The agent advises, he doesn’t decide.
[Reply]
Redlights Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:26 am
@Stagger, Well if you are right then dd is dumber than a puck.
[Reply]
This from ESPN
Tavares signs, 6 years, $5.5MM
I’m committed to Long Island and the Islanders. They’ve been great to me,” he said during an NHL media tour. “We have a great bunch of guys and I’d love to be part of turning this around from where it was and bringing us back to credibility, respectability and being a team that’s constantly in the playoffs and competing for the Stanley Cup.”
Snow said he wasn’t surprised to hear such comments from the young center. “That just reaffirms the fact he loves being part of the organization,” Snow said. “We love having him here, wearing our jersey.”
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I traded doughty in nhl12 for bughlyn (yeah I destroyed the name) and he’s doing good so far.
Let’s deal him for his own good, us fans will be relentless.
I for one will never forgive DL if we can’t afford Quick cuz we blinked on DDs contract.
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
@Mikey,
I’m sorry, I’m going to rant here. This isn’t directed at you, but your comment was closest to the bottom.
Who cares if the fans will be relentless? What kind of power do you think you really have as a fan? Buy tickets or don’t, boo Doughty or don’t, buy or don’t buy his jersey, sorry but none of that really matters. Are you going to boycott the Kings until Doughty goes away? No, than who cares?
[Reply]
Mikey Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:56 am
@AZ King,
…Thats directed right between my eyes since my comment was the inspiration for your rant. I don’t mind. I’ve always felt insignificant to the players. I’ll always be a fan. My kids can be born in south africa and they will grow up as kings fans. I will boo doughty, many will. and doughty will hear it. it wont change anything. But at least something you can do. I will pay to watch the kings. not doughty.
I care. It’s my team. its our team. Greed, selfishness and stubbornness doesn’t win championships. team work does. Williams, Quick, Brown, Johnson, and many other players have taken less so we can afford our guys. Doughty is eating the crust of everyones pizza. The crust that was saved for the hungry kid.
I have nothing against him personally. i’m sure hes a great guy. I just want team first amongst teammates.
[Reply]
AZ King Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:51 am
@Mikey,
Your response was a lot nicer than I probably deserved. You’re post wasn’t the inspiration, more the latest in a series. I really wasn’t directing anything at you personally.
This is a pretty awesome lynch mob
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:53 pm
@408kingsfan, totally!! LOL the tar is bubbling and the feathers are plucked! Maybe it’s better that DD is in Ontario!!
[Reply]
I actually believe that DL has the bargaining power here.
First, the Kings probably don’t really need DD until playoffs or near then. The current roster without DD should get the team into the playoff, albeit maybe not at the desired spot. So this is a strike against DD. Think about it, DD loses 6.5-7M if he holds out all year. The Kings maybe lose home ice advantage in the playoff (they have done better on the road anyway).
Second, the Kings have a great deal of depth on D. We have Voynov, Muzzin or Hickey all fairly ready to step in. You could throw DD2 in there too. Obviously these guys are not a DD replacement, but should hold their own.
Third, if DL gives in and pays DD more money or give him less years, he hurts his chances to retain or sign good players in the future. So DL has a lot to lose by overpaying, and not too much by maintaining his position.
Fourth, public opinion favors DL too. He has already leaked (has he made the offer pubic?) a substantial offer. DD, on the other hand, loses fan support and respect from teamates and other players by holding out. I think that will really weigh on him. It’s very difficult to not be playing the game you love because you want $50M instead of $45M. Fans who make $50K per year and spend $200 to take the family to a game won’t feel DD’s plight.
Perhaps, the biggest determiner of who “wins” or who balks first is how the Kings start the year. If the Kings start well, then DL position is seriously strengthened. If not, then DD gains the upper hand because there will b serious pressure on DL. I hate to think of a situation where DD roots against the Kings so he gets paid more. Even if the Kings struggle and then DD signs on his terms, he may lose respect from his teammates because they feel he is benefitted by them doing poorly.
Overall, I think from a bargaiing standpoint DL has the upper hand and shouldn’t move. DD seems to have seriously overestimated his bargaining power. We will see what happens, but I predict DD will move first.
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Harrison Merkin Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:30 pm
@jdm1977, Hehe “has he made the offer pubic”
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Let Voynov and Hickey have their shot
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DBking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 2:14 am
@kfan, Yes. Perfect opportunity.
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here’s the chant for double D
TRAAADE BAIT! TRAAADE BAIT!
gimme a break. the kid’s barely drinking age. too big for his britches… PLUS he regressed last year!
let him go before his value plummets further on news of his ridiculous intransigence and pig-headedness during these negotiations.
i mean, i like the way he plays MOST of the time… other times, he bites off more than he can chew offensively, gets caught and can’t get back to his defensive position.
not worth $7MIL
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He’s not going to any other team… As much as we all (some of us) love him on the Kings, he isn’t worth 4 years of 1st round picks. Based on how much money he is asking, that’s what the Kings would receive if someone else signed him.
I want this done as much as anyone. There is nothing we can do about it in the mean time.
Great win for the Rookies tonight! KOZUN!
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By his very actions, Doughty has shown that he is not a TEAM player. He is all ego.If he does sign, his lack of maturity will prevail and I can see him playing lackadaisically (like Blake and Roenick) did while collecting his Humongous salary. This is not a kid to be revered and respected. He might be very talented but we sure did not see it last year. His success in the Olympics and being a Norris finalist did NOT translate into a star performer last year. In many games he seemed to in never never land and so out of positiopn and not even trying. For those of you who believe he should be given everything he asks for,do you buy season tickets, or just now and then? Or, in the alternative, do you just watch the games on TV? If the price of tickets goes up because of a selfish 21 year old, I’m afraid this will be my last year as a season ticket holder. Hockey is a team sport and no player should get paid an exhorbitant amount based on potential. Past performance must be considered. At this point of time, I no longer care if I ever see Doughty on the ice at Staples
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Just when we get a great team this year . . This happens. I know his teammates are saying
there not mad or worried about it, but if i was a teamate i’d be pissed off. kings have a great
chance at the cup this season and theyre already off to a bad start cause of this contract issue. imo
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Doughty is a special player and talent, but let’s not kid ourselves, the Kings are still going to be a solid team without him! Time to come to the realization that the Kings need to plan ahead without him.
LET’S GO KINGS!!!!
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Lets trade Doughty to the Predators for Shea Weber and lock up Weber instead.
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AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
@Todd,
If you’re going to pay Weber $7.5 million why not just give that to Doughty?
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Cry Baby Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
@AZ King, Because Weber is that much better than DD! I would take Weber over DD any day of the week!
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JMFJ#3 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
@AZ King, why not give doughty that…because Weber is actually better at his position. Defense!
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DBking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 2:17 am
@Todd, Kings get Weber and a sniper….. Were at the front of the pack
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Zeley Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:33 am
@Todd,
A trade takes 2 willing teams. What makes you think Nashville would want Doughty over Weber?
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Turn him loose. To even consider that Doughty has more value to the team than Kopi is ludicrous. I watched about 85 games last season and I can honestly say the flashes of brilliance in his play are overshadowed by so many of the bonehead mistakes he makes on the ice. Although…his hit on Taylor Hall last season was one of the greatest moments I have ever seen at Staples. If Doughty is worth 8 million a year based on what I saw last year then perhaps Alec Martinez should be worth 10 million?
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for a guy who supposedly loved the Kings growing up, Doughty needs to take a page out of Dustin Brown’s book and learn what a hometown discount is. Not to mention what the Kings have offered him so far doesn’t exactly qualify as that, but either way… quit being a fat greedy bastard and sign the damn contract Doughnuts!
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:02 am
@KingSurfer, Agree, Did you get any of that killer south swell a few weeks back?
Women, Waves and the Kings, that is what life is all about!!!
Peace
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KingSurfer Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:44 pm
@King Cobra, Amen brother!! and funny you ask man, I literally stepped off a plane on the 2nd at LAX after being in Australia & Bali for a month, and headed straight to Malibu! Let’s put it this way… the waves were the exact opposite of this Doughty situation: EPIC and all time!
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If Doughty had a good year last year it wouldnt be hard to give him what he wanted but he had a major decrease in his numbers and wasnt the norris nominee that we saw his first 2 seasons…. He should be grateful for what he is being offered. His dream was to play for this team and now its like he wants nothing to do with us…. I hope the fame hasnt gotten to his head
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6.8 mill, or 7 mill? Something still stinks if 200K is the only difference between the 2 sides. Seriously, 1.8 mill over 9 years, or 1.4 mill over 7?
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rick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:58 pm
@Dominick, Agreed. Seems ridiculous. Why not give Kopitar an extension putting him at $7 million, maintain the position that Doughty does not get more than Kopitar, and move on???
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Dominick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
@rick,
That would be truely pathetic if DL went through the whole summer building this great team, then make your best defenseman sit out over 200K a season.
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rick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
@Dominick, Totally agree. DL has made some good/great trades, and clearly has done a great job putting this organization on the right path. Regardless, I just cannot get over the feeling that his “my way or the highway” negotiating style has gotten in the way of making this team even better. I will be one mighty PO’d season ticket holder if this does not get resolved.
Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:15 pm
@Dominick, Won’t happen. Dean will come down in years and DD’s camp will drop the 200k.
Dean gave in the years to Nabokov and will give the years to DD. DD has the upper hand. Dean tried to sign Nabokov to a 5-6 year contract but ended up inking him to a 2 year deal. Same thins will happen. Drew will sign 6.8 for 6 or even maybe 5 years.
CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
@Osaka, The difference between the Nabakov situation and DD is that Dean couldn’t offer Nabakov a serious offer because of ownership problems, he has made a very serious offer to Drew. I don’t have the quote, but Dean said he couldn’t even look Nabakov in the eyes because he knew his offers weren’t serious, thats not the case here.
CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 7:59 pm
@Dominick, I’d like you to find one quote from Dean or Drew’s camp where they say Money is the hold-up. It’s the length of the contract that’s the problem, Drew wants 5 years, Dean wants at least 7. Didn’t you know that?
LOL
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Dominick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
@CB14, Mock if you want. It still doesn’t make you right.
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
@Dominick, I meant it more as a joke than a mock, just so you know.
Dominick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
@CB14, I was joking back. I appreciate it even if you don’t agree.
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
I just want to point out something Quisp said on his site about the length of Drew’s contract. Not really meant at you, just thought you’d like to read it because it’s really good stuff. Also it’s something that Drew should definately read.
To sum it up he said that Drew wants a 5 year deal so that he can get paid more money sooner because the cap would go up. But he also said that if Drew’s assuming the cap will increase significantly in the next 5 years, it should also be assumed that the cap will increase that much more in the next 2 years, if it’s a 5 year deal. He goes into much more detail on his site, but basically the difference between what Drew could earn with a 5 year deal, then a 7 year deal would be very miniscule compared to what he could earn with a 7 year deal then a 5 year deal.
Here’s the link: http://www.jewelsfromthecrown.com/2011/9/15/2428463/how-to-ruin-yourself-over-116000-a-year
Good stuff Quisp!
AZ King Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
@Dominick,
It sounds like the term length is as much, if not more, of a problem than the money.
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rick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:15 pm
@AZ King, Even more ridiculous for DL to hold it up over that. DD is 21 years old. He has years and years in front of him. He simply may want to take the chance that he can earn more money down the road, and wants that opportunity sooner rather than later. If he is willing to take that gamble, I cannot blame him.
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Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:20 pm
@rick, I agree, you can’t force a guy to sign long term. If they own his rights for X amount of years you can’t force him to sign for more than X. This is the exact issue Dean went through in SJ with Nabokov. If it didn’t work then Dean knows it won’t work now.
A deal will be signed within 48 hours.
Dominick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
@Osaka,
I hope so, because they already screwed up me winning a free t-shirt from the mayors website on who can guess when DD will sign. My guess was 2 days before camp.
Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
@Dominick, Although logic never wins in contract negotiations, I still believe.
Dominick Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:24 pm
@AZ King,
That’s why I said it still stinks. 200 thousand is too trivial and petty for both sides to draw a line in the sand over. I like Osaka’s train of thought though, and do hope that it ultimately that ends up being the case.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:07 am
@Dominick, Let’s get real, the guy is not even worth 6.8 million. They are just willing to give him that much in the hopes that he hopefully lives up to the hype MAYBE some day.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:57 am
@King Cobra, Let’s get real! If he’s not worth that much than the Kings wouldn’t offer that and let him walk. DL is not that stupid, and if DL is willing to pay that, than I gaurentee you he’s worth more than that. Any GM in the league would pay that for DD who could afford it. Set your personal feelings aside and look at it from that stand point.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 18th, 2011 at 7:49 am
@Dominick, Dominick, There is nothing personal about my comment. I like Drew Doughty a lot and check the news twice a day hoping he has signed.
I do not feel it is logical to pay him 7 million dollars or 6.8 million dollars a year for what he has done overall the last 3 years on and off the ice. He should be paid around the same as D. Keith who is a better d man, has actually won a Norris and a cup and is signed long term around 5.5 million.
What we pay now effects our payroll in the future. If he does decide to take his head out of his arse and does sign the more than generous 6.8 million dollar contract that will be fine with me, but paying him any more than that is just simply not reasonable to me and about 80% of core Kings fans.
Nothing personal, just keeping it near the realm of reality…..
My official take (whup-de-doo):
Trade DD to BUF for:
Tyler Myers (7 yrs/5.5M/yr cap hit) + 2nd (2012) & 5th (2013)
LAK get: Decent replacement (That should have been ours during his draft year in the first place but we chose Teubert I believe instead), picks to soften the blow of losing your #2 ist round pick.
BUF gets: Top 2 D-man with ability to draw crowds. New owner is DYING for a franchise guy who doesn’t wear a mask (Offered top money for B.Richards). Marketable franchise player that lifts Buffalo’s team image.
DD would be in the East, we see him once a year and maybe in the Finals. DONE!
AGAIN, no team has won a Cup with Drew Doughty yet, so our chances of doing it without him are pretty damn good.
I’ve cried over worse with this team and a Raymond Bourque redemption player doesn;t guarantee us the Cup.
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Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:23 pm
@Cynic, You posted this before but again fail to mention Buffalo as it stands is 3.5 mil over the salary cap. How and why would they trade for Drew?
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Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
@Osaka, I replied before Osaka. Their new owner is LOADED and is willing to do whatever it takes to get a franchise player (Not in a mask) in Buffalo. He offered Richards much more than he would get Doughty for, so the cap issue is a non-issue. I’m sure he has the personnel to figure it out. He’d probably pay any penalties that accrue for running over the cap limit until he can get it all figured out. That dude is ALL IN to make Buffalo a good franchise.
I’ve mentioned twice now why he would want DD. I’ll do it again. He has Star power. He’ll put butts in seats. You can market the heck out of him. He would be 90 minutes from his stomping grounds of Toronto. Whenever Buffalo plays Toronto, DD would help sell tickets. He would add legitimacy to that small market club. The endorsements DD will get will highlight the Buffalo Sabres by default as well. There are SO many reasons to do this trade for Buffalo. Pretty easy to figure out IMHO.
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Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:19 pm
@Cynic, I saw the post, sorry. That is a lot of money to move to make room for DD though. I understand the ownership has lots of money but this late in the summer it is hard to move salary. But when it comes to sport, never say never. Anything could happen.
You bring up Toronto, I am sure Burke would pay BIG for DD. He would be huge in Toronto. They have lots of young players to pick from.
xeropoint Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
@Cynic, Unfortunately the only penalty for being over the CAP in the NHL is forfeiting games. There is no luxury tax or financial penalty other than lost revenue from not being able to play.
Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
@Xeropoint, Well now wait a minute Xero…When Chicago won the cup, they got penalized the following year in cap space for the amount they were over the previous year if I am not mistaken. They didn’t forefit any games. Now maybe that has to do with the unlimited roster limit during the playoffs but still needing to be under the cap, but I’m not a CBA junkie.
@Osaka, No need for sorrys, all friends here. You’re right. Lots of money to move. If we got TM for DD, BUF would be $5 mil over the cap. They got a few guys they could ‘Release’ a la Sheldon Souray to make ‘weight’ so to say. They have 3 forwards who are all UFAs next season that make $9.825M between them: Brad Boyes, Jochen Hecht, & Paul Gaustaud. Pick 2.
Doughty for Schenn +. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the head! LOL! Rather have Myers though. Anything could happen. I guess I’m just saying Drew Doughty is very tradeable if he’s gonna be a ‘you know what’ about money.
xeropoint Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:59 pm
@Cynic, thats because there were no games left to forfiet. Several bonuses kicked in after they won the Cup, thus putting them over the salary cap before the grace period started.
hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:35 pm
@Cynic, Buffalo would drive Myers to LA themselves if Dean ever made that offer.
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Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:08 pm
@hockeysureshot, Yes, yes they would. I’d open the door and carry his stick bag for Tyler M when he got here. TM is a special player as well and BIG BIG BIG. His size on the blueline would be a nice touch for our d-core.
6-8, 222lbs. Rocket shot from the blueline.
Still amazes me we traded down from 12 to 13 and handed Buffalo Tyler and picked Teubert.
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johnjuan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:38 pm
@Cynic,
I say make it happen! Bye Bye to Doughty the Hut.
colo king fan Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
@Cynic, Had good seats for BUF@COL last year.. that dude is a damn tree… looks like he could slam dunk shaq without standing on his tiptoes.
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Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
@colo king fan, …and mobile. I can only imagine the extra reach on his pokechecks. Relatively fast for a big guy. Imagine theat guy smothering you into the boards…..
Yeah, slight mancrush.
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Dave Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
@Cynic, i’d rather see DL make a move for another forward. i think your proposal is a fair deal but DL is stocked with d-prospects. One of Voynov, Hickey or Muzzin should be ready for NHL minutes this year. I’d focus on a guy like Parise. NJ doesn’t really have a #1 d-man, Parise has a year left on his deal and NJ didn’t sign him long-term.
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Hey Drew, take a page from Jered Weaver. He took far less than market to stay on the team he wanted to be on, and the fans (at least ME) will idolize him for it. Thing is, he isn’t some 21 year old with one good season under his belt, he’s arguably the best at his position in his entire league. That is loyalty, and that is what will separate you from the Rob Blakes of the world. Enjoy being a pariah where you were once a golden boy. Oh, and do show up in shape, you’ll be on the shortest of leashes with us fans.
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Great post Rich. You listed everything someone could need in order to base an opinion of this situation. After being reminded of the situation in San Jose, and Dean Lombardi’s comments this past weekend, “Anything we do, I have to have their approval or have them be on board. It’s fair to say that in the next 24 hours I’ll be talking to Tim and he will be talking to Mr. Anschutz. There has to be some finality in our approach.” I get the feeling that if Drew isn’t signed by Monday, he’ll be traded.
Here’s why I feel this way:
Quote, “Anything we do, I have to have their approval or have them be on board. It’s fair to say that in the next 24 hours I’ll be talking to Tim and he will be talking to Mr. Anschutz.”
Analysis: Why would Dean have to talk to Tim for approval from Anschutz to give Drew a higher salary? Dean already had approval from Tim and PA to spend to the cap when they were going after Brad Richards. So it’s not a payroll situation. What else is there to talk to an owner about, especially one as hands off as PA?
Quote: “There has to be some finality in our approach.”
Analysis: Dean will not let this situation linger into the pre-season. He’s been down this road before in San Jose and it cost him his job. He won’t let it happen again.
Rich’s words: The Kings showed, in July, what they claimed (and still claim) was their best hand, and for two months they have remained adamant that they won’t budge.
Analysis: If anyone would know Dean’s thought’s on this offer, Rich would. If there was a time to budge, it’s now, the start of training camp. Dean hasn’t budged, and I don’t think he will.
Rich’s words: Don’t discount the past here. Dean Lombardi has publicly talked about the situation he faced in San Jose in 2002, when goalie Evgeni Nabokov and defenseman Brad Stuart held out. Both players eventually signed during training camp, but the well-regarded Sharks finished last in the Pacific Division and Lombardi was fired late in the season. Lombardi has publicly said that he believes the two holdout situations contributed to him losing his job. Who represented Nabokov then? Don Meehan. Who represents Doughty now? Meehan.
Analysis: They both know the past situation they were in, and you can bet they both know it also might apply here. Dean has gone for it this off-season, and anything less than a 2nd round playoff appearance will be considered a disappointment.
Rich’s words: Lombardi told me recently that he doesn’t think Meehan is holding the ghost of 2002 over his head, but Meehan didn’t achieve his high level of success in this industry by having a short memory. There’s no question that, generally speaking, past situations or personality conflicts can sometimes come into play.
Analysis: Of course Dean is going to say that, what else can he say? Dean Lombardi, “Meehan is holding me hostage here because of what transpired in San Jose, he knows that if I don’t get Drew signed, I might be out of a job, just like in San Jose.” Dean could never say that. If Drew fires Meehan for failing to get a deal done, he’ll still have plenty of clients knocking on his door for representation. If Dean doesn’t get Drew signed, he might be out of a job. Meehan knows this. Also it doesn’t help that Meehan is the Scott Boras of the NHL.
I don’t think Drew will be around here very long if he’s not signed by Monday.
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Stuart Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
@CB14, solid analysis. Maybe DL needed to talk with the bigwigs to make sure that he doesn’t lose his job over this. Maybe he needs to get them on board with idea of trading DD or at least havng them be cool with the loss of #8 jersey sales while DD sits out the year… Who knows, but I sure as hex hope that this fiasco doesn’t cost DL his job here in LA because he has been a hockey-god send!
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
@Stuart, Completly agree with that last sentence.
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jdm1977 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
@CB14,
Agreed. DL may be talking to the bigwigs to see if it okay to let DD holdout, which has the potential to alienate season ticket holders, i.e. the people/corporations who pay the big $$$$.
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Cry Baby Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:14 pm
@CB14, You throw trade idea like there are ten teams waiting to pay DD god knows what. Can anyone suggest legitimate trade partners? What teams have cap space and players that might fit on the kings? I can’t see DD sitting out the season either. Too valuable as a player or asset. This seems sticky.
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tornado12 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
@CB14, Thats scary logic, and sure hope it isnt the case.
Remember also though, that DL also said DD will be a king this year, so my logical extrapolation from this is that there are only minor differences holding up the deal, as has been postulated by other’s (the report of 7mill/per as min DD camp will take vs the 6.8 offered).
Bottom line is, as you can see, taking what someone said and following a logical path is ultimately based only on assumptions because we just dont know the facts. The only fact that we know is DL has offered a 9yr deal for 61.2 mil and this has yet to be signed, right? there have been no word from the other side.
My conclusion is, as of now DD is still not a holdout and thus has time to save face by just signing what is on the table. the offer on the table is more than fair by all accounts of comparables, within the kings (kopi is our best player and makes 6.8 per), within the team (he would be far and away the highest paid dman, he is our best dman), within position (see prior breakdowns by osaka and others), etc. He needs to sign this deal and move on so we can have a kick ass season! If he doesnt, then see my rant come sat
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
@tornado12, I hope that’s not the case as well, but I kind of expect it to happen, unfortunatly.
I’ll look forward to Saturday
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BringBackKingston Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
@CB14, I think it is possible that DL has to go up the ladder for payroll approval. While he has the green light to spend up to the cap, there may be some limit on how much in annual salary he can spend without approval. Basically, it goes to the structure of the deal, not the AAV. For instance, Mike Richards will take home over $2M more next year than this year. AEG has to budget for that increase, which probably gets really complicated given players come and go each year. So, if DD is asking for a large signing bonus, a front loaded contract, or for the second year of the deal to be small in case of a lockout while the surrounding years remain high, DL probably has to get budget approval because it affects how much has to be paid in actual salary.
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
@BringBackKingston, Good point.
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Player-X Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:22 am
@CB14, Nicely done, only one point I want to make: With regard to DL talking to the Board, it could also be just covering his own ass in case the whole thing goes bad. If everyone agrees on his final stance and offer, than it can’t be DL that takes all the blame if the deal blows up.
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I hope DD is skating brcause if he’s not, he’s gonna be 250 pounds by mid October !
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I love Doughty but he got stuck so much in the offensive zone he hurt Kopitars point total because Kopi was stuck playing Doughtys position more than Doughty.
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Reading some of the comments on this board reminds me of why so many more people fail in business ventures than succeed. He is being asked to lock-in his pay for the next 7-9 years at today’s prices with a team that has never won a SC, is committed to the idea of NOT over-paying for talent, and has a horrific track record in landing top free-agents. If you think that is the model for success in winning championships, you are wrong. You know who wins titles?? Superstars win titles, when they are combined with the right type of role players. If you don’t have enough superstars you will never be a championship team, period. I suggest Timmy and Deano take a meeting with Jerry Buss and sit down, shut-up, and take notes…
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Cynic Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:38 pm
@cfc1905, Respectfully, considering this is a TEAM event and not an individuals sport, your take would make DD out to be a Primadonna (Just about right on the mark at this point). The way you model the Kings as a franchise sounds a lot like the way Detroit was until they righted their ship by doing EXACTLY what Dean Lombardi is doing for this franchise right now. It took years to develop that and we are on the same train my friend.
Superstars do NOT win championships ALONE and the ‘right’ role players are not $600,000 dollar guys anymore, they are $2-4 million dollar guys and add up quick when subjected to a relatively low team cap. I’m sure Jeff Solomon could easily give his dissertation on how tough the cap is in relevance to player salary demands. When hockey players struggle to get 7mil a year as a high lever player in this league because of the cap after seeing baseball guys, who don’t deal with NEARLY as much as hockey players do from a physical standpoint, are getting 15-20 mil a season, Guys like DL and JS have to convince players to buy into a team plan regarding salaries to WIN. Otherwise, one guy ruins the whole mix, as DD is potentially doing now.
As far as taking notes from Jerry Buss, if DL has the salary boundaries of the NBA right now, none of this would be happening.
NBA Roster Limit = 15 players. Cap (2010-2011) = $58.044M. Avg per Player = $3.8696M
NHL Roster Limit = 23 (Active) Players. Cap (2011-2012) = $64.3M Avg.PP = $2.7956M
On avg, $1.1M per player MORE in the NBA with less players on the roster? Did I mention the NBA has a ‘Soft Cap’ which has many ways to go over the cap and not get penalized? Dean Lombardi and Jeff Solomon are MAGICIANS and Capgeek.com will show you why.
Sorry man, gotta disagree. It happens
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cfc1905 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
@Cynic, Sorry my mistake…see, I was going off facts not theory. Superstars win titles in every sport and the Kings have not had a superstar since Gretzky left, which if I’m not mistaken and I’m not, the LA Kings only trip to the SC finals just happened to coinside with Gretzky being here. Until the Kings sign at least one superstar the only cups they’ll lift will have liquid in it. FYI, superstars don’t guarantee success they’re just the cover you gotta pay to get into the club.
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Seattlekingsfan Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:47 pm
@cfc1905, What “Superstars” did the Angels have when the won the World Series. They had several very good players, and a whole roster of TEAM players. Oh and they beat the biggest superstar in the game, Barry Bonds.
Cynic Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:11 am
@cfc1905, LeBron James would beg to differ with your ‘Facts’. Dan Marino would ESPECIALLY be pissed.
Right. Luc Robitaille is chopped liver. Only the highest scoring LWer in NHL HISTORY, Hall of Famer but not a superstar.
When we had the LAPD line (Palffy, Allison, Deadmarsh), they were called the best line in hockey during their (unfortunately short) 40 something game run.
We bankrupted our ENTIRE FUTURE to go to the Cup finals in 92-93 and we’re relatively fortunate to have made it. We paid for it over the next 10 years, had 2000-2002, and then abruptly paid for it again over the next 7.
See, facts are things you can’t change, like those salary cap figures. They are what they are. Your opinion on what a superstar is or them winning championships is not always fact. I believe you were right the first time when you said it was your mistake. Free country man, believe the dream if you want….
CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
@cfc1905, Superstars win championships in Basketball, not Hockey. Boston had 1 superstar, Chara. Vancouver had 3, the Sedin sisters and Kessler. Boston Won.
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Oscar Moller's Beard Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:54 pm
@CB14, Don’t forget about Tim Thomas!
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Player-X Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:24 am
@cfc1905, Winning makes superstars, not the other way around.
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Sancho Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:15 am
@Player-X, ¡orale!
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Melissa Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:29 am
@Player-X, This!
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The kings said they offered 6.8 million for 7 years. Doughty isn’t doing this over $200,000. Bottom line if he’s a hold out it’s Dean’s fault. Why won’t Lombardi just drop the years down to 5? It’s obvious he wants his UFA years to get a raise then. You have to do what’s good for the team now even if that means giving in a little on the length. Sure he is being a little greedy on the term and wanting his UFA years, but what’s a GM to do? Have the player miss the start of camp or even become a hold out or give in on those 2 years and get him signed now sans distraction. Just speculation on my end, but I dont think he’s waiting for that $7 million mark if they offered 6.8.
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Player-X Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:25 am
@danglebagel, cuz 5 years would screw the team come renewal time.
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I think Dean should stand his ground, Doughty’s numbers did not improve from the season before. He played in 76 games was off the mark point wise by 19, and he was a +13 where as the season before he was +20, the only thing that did get higher was his penalty minutes. He needs to sign and come in and prove himself to his team and the front office that he can continue to get better…
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A Great Poll, thanks. Certainly a little gray mixed in this but I am pleasantly surprised by the results.
Wow! Good job LAKInsiders!
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Cry Baby Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:18 pm
@USHA#17, A little different than last year when people wanted Deano to offer Ilya 11 million per season for a 36 years…
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USHA#17 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
@Cry Baby,
I ran a poll on another blog at that time, got a small sampling that resulted in a resounding “Novolachuk”.
Oh, oh, oh, is this that Doughty guy who kept missing checks along the boards that cost goals???
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These should be Doughty’s final options Dean Lombardi offers him tomorrow. He has until Saturday morning at 8 AM to make his decision.
(1) 5 years @ $30 million
(2) 6 years @ $40
(3) What team would you like to be traded to because you no longer can work within our future long term goals of bringing a Stanley Cup to the team you rooted for growing up and are now a part of.
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LAPD Line Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
@Todd, I think (1) and (2) are fair for both sides. As for (3), I wouldn’t give him any say on where he goes. Edmonton or Winnipeg sound about right.
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Another thing I have a problem with is if DL had Nabokov, and Stuart hold out on him, and he attributed that to contributing to him losing his job. Then how does forcing DD to hold out change things now when dealing with the guy who represented those past holdouts? Seems like he’s just repeating the same mistake.
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Cry Baby Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:19 pm
@Dominick, Deano appears to be offering a fair contract…for me the ball is in DD’s court!
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emb3 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
@Dominick, I think has the support of ownership on this one.
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:46 pm
@Dominick, I understand your point, but disagree with the statement that Dean is forcing Drew to holdout. Drew has turned down a very respectable offer, if he wants to play he can sign for what the Kings offered. DREW rejected the offer, not Dean. That being said, I too will be upset with Dean if the hold-up really is just 200k per year.
The fact that these 2 have history really makes things nteresting. On one hand Meehan knows DL could be fired if Drew doesn’t sign and a tailspin occurs, just like in San Jose, thus he’s forcing Dean to offer the BEST deal he possibly can. On the other hand Dean knows Meehan knows this and really did offer his BEST contract 2 months ago like he said he did. Dean realized Meehan knows the situation and didn’t try to mess with him, the only problem is that Meehan doesn’t think that’s the best deal Dean will make. Very interesting. I don’t know if that made sense to anyone, but it made sense in my head!
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USHA#17 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
@Dominick,
Only hindsight will show if and where mistakes were made.
In my imagination there may be a little ego bruising involved having gone after Richards first in order to see what money was left to offer Doughty.
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Player-X Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:27 am
@USHA#17, The offers to Doughty preceded the Richards saga, but were rejected.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 18th, 2011 at 7:57 am
@Dominick, Dominick, do you actually think Drew Doughty is the best player on the Kings????
Do you really think he deserves to be the highest paid player on the team????
If he was in reality the best player on the team the fans would behind him on this and would be chanting pay him what he wants!!!
He simply has not earned the right to do what he is doing now.
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I said it all last season and I’ll say it again – DREW IS NOT WORTH THE MONEY!!!. Pull the offer. we have bench depth with people who have a thing called HEART!!! send Drew packing and let someone else pay for this over-rated primadonna. Couture hipcheck and all of those stupid penalties and whining he did. He was a liability. If he thinks he had a target on his back then, he will definitely have one on there now. welcome to the big leagues drew – you simply haven’t earned it yet. nuff said.
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hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:32 pm
@crashin’ da net, You crazy. We have no shot of beating SJ without him.
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:09 am
@hockeysureshot, He’s crazy? to say we have no shot at beating SJ without DD is just plain ingnorant and naive. I really hope you dont actually believe that….
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I knew when Doughty wasn’t preforming last year that this was going to happen.
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GKG!!!
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Take the offer, Drew. It’s more money than you’ll ever need, and if you live up to expectations, you’ll be in your prime when the contract comes up for renewal and then the sky will be the limit. But the flip side is this…. if your greedy agent makes the Kings blink, you will find yourself being resented by the other guys in the locker room as well as the fans. You’re only 21 and you’ve yet to prove you’re capable of more than one great season. It’s a team sport, Drew, and you need to think about what this stupid holdout is going to do to the chemistry in the locker room.
C’mon, kid. No one’s trying to make you take less than you’re worth. 6.8 could take care of a dozen families for a lifetime. Where does greed stop and team loyalty begin…
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Looks like DL is winning the media war.
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I think DD is a great kid, and will be star someday. But like i said, hes a kid. A kid who has one good season, a good olympics, and a norris “nomination”. In my opinion, i dont think hes earned the right to demand that much money, especially coming off a so so season. I used to think he was a great player and i respected his talent, now i feel hes being a bit greedy. Youre gonna hold out for an extra .2 million, lets play some freakin hockey already. They’re already throwing you a 6.8 million long term deal. You can demand 7 when you won the norris and have at least 3-4 consecutive solid defensive seasons under your belt.
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i can’t express my thoughts as it would definitely violate the blog rules. with that being said, ill gladly enjoy watching training camp and this season with or without doughty. As for as im concerned, welcome to the NHL viatcheslav/jake…
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KH Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:28 pm
@KH, far as*
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“Once again, the Kings have managed to put themselves in the middle of one of hockey’s messiest offseason stories”
I don’t agree that the Kings put themselves into this postion but that this postion has happen because of Doughty. He is getting offered a very fair contract considering his performance last yr compared to the yr prior.
Doughty is losing the fans!! GO KINGS!!!
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DesertKing Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
@hockey junkie,
While I agree with Rich reference the “messiest” comment, I don’t take it as a negative. Why have we been in this position 3 times in the last couple of years? Because DL is doing his best to get the best talent and that involves risk. Yeah, other teams didn’t get rejected by Kovalsuk, and other teams got rejected by Richards, and DD’s situation has become difficult, but look at the caliber of the players involved. Nothing good ever comes easy. That being said, look at the results of the other two “messy” deals:
Kovalsuk – bad season, bad team, no money, no salary cap room, and NO CUP
Richards – “I want to win” – goes to a bad team, gets a lot of money, no more salary cap room, still a bad team and their will be NO CUP
Lets look at DD – 1st season = great, second season = not as good (sophomore curse) and 3rd season = not bad, not great (but following a significant concussion). He has great potential, he can only make us better and there isn’t anybody saying that having DD on our team will hurt our chance to win THE CUP!! GKG!!
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xeropoint Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:34 pm
@DesertKing, Wasn’t he nominated for the Norris in that “second = not so good” season?
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DesertKing Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
@xeropoint,
Sorry, you are right, I got the order screwed up. Thanks
hockey junkie Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
@DesertKing,
Agree i was worried that the perception is the Kings want this mess. Building a cup team it appears is not easy!!
This Meehan fool has played this game before with the Kings as well as the Sharks from what i have read. DO NOT LIKE HIM OR HIS BUSINESS!
thanks for the dialogue!!
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By the way, I have no opinion on the situation. Of course, I’d like to see the Kings be able to sign him for 20 years at $1 million, but that’s just me wanting what’s best for the team. After all, we are fans of the logo on the front, right? That being said, I think the hang up is with Meehan. He has once again drawn the wild card by representing an elite talent in the game. All he is doing is his job…trying to get the best deal for his client, regardless of the position it puts the team in. In fact, it’s to his advantage to hold out. The Kings need Doughty and there are other teams out there that would love to have him, and based on the ridiculous contracts being thrown around (hello Florida) there are teams that would be willing to pay him what he wants. Unfortunately we don’t know any of the inside conversations. For all we know Doughty may be pushing Meehan to deal. On the other hand, we all know Drew isn’t that bright. Not that I don’t like the guy, but he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. If he pushes back on Meehan, I’m sure he will be quickly intimidated in the conversation and do what Meehan wants. Whatever, it will work itself out, and either way I still have to get up and go to work in the morning and make my mortgage payment every month.
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DISGUSTED…
Been a fan for 24 years and this is the most excited I’ve been in September before any season. Now this mees. Lombardi should not even bring up what Kopitar is being paid. That contract was signed before Drew played 1 game. I think he’s worth 7 million a year. He has a special talent that very few defensemen have. Down on Dean a bit here.
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I can play hockey, give me $200,000 and Ill do half the job on defence but Ill punch both Sedin twins in the face and take them otta the game. Hell, Ill punch everyone on every other teams top line. Dont let the door hit you in the rear Dewy, they will win the cup with or without you.
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chip Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:06 pm
@chuckrocks,
Let me get this straight: You need $200,000 in order to feel like punching a Sedin? There are a lot of fans that would do that for free.
Not me of course, I’m totally non-violent, just sayin’…
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chuckrocks Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:33 am
@chip, oh no Id punch the sedin sisters in the face for free, the $200,00 is for the defence part of my game.
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Bobcraneselbow Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:37 am
@chuckrocks, LOL…I think this is the exact wording on Kevin Westgarth’s contract. I could just see it….this single clause written in pencil on a sheet of lined paper with a big “X” on the bottom of the page that marks his acceptance.
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DD will be a no show tomorrow for physicals. I say suspend him for the season,,,I’m sure he won’t enjoy that low paying insurance check, & trade him to New Jersey for Parise. The kid is making a huge mistake,,,,he is still developing, & to hold out at this stage in his career may have a bigger impact than he is anticipating. BTW, Meehan could care less where DD plays, or quite frankly if he plays this year at all,,,,the sooner DD gets to UFA the sooner Meehan makes the big dollars. It really doesn’t matter to Meehan if DD plays in LA, NJ, Nashville or Toronto.
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I don’t think that Drew should make more then Kopi. He had the chance to show he was the top dog when Kopi got hurt and other then 1 game, he didn’t do too much against the Sharks and we lost in 6. Had the Kings beat San Jose then I would of wholeheartedly agreed that he should get more then Kopi. They didn’t however so Drew should be paid the same or under what Kopi is. 2nd it amazes me how Drew is going to make upwards of 55+ million by the time he is 27 and he still isn’t signed. Then at 27 he can sign for a boatload, so why is he showing off a hard stance with this contract. He wants to be a Kings, He wants to win…Well sign for what the DL is offering and show that you can lead this team to the Cup. Then you can work out an even bigger deal when it comes to UFA time. This whole 2nd contract thing stinks and I hope they fix it. i can’t believe that Drew is the only RFA left to sign (other then Schenn) while all the others and Myers and Taveres whom aren’t even RFA’s yet all signed and for less then they could of gotten on the market (Offer sheet) and here is Drew not signing over a little bit amount. I sure hope he comes to his senses and signs already. Or better yet do what Jack did, fire your agent and deal with it yourself.
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hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
@Jeff, Do the Yankees not sign Teixeira because they’re worried he would make more than Jeter? Dean’s logic is mindless.
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
@hockeysureshot, Teixeira was better than Jeter when he signed his deal, Doughty isn’t better than Kopi at this point. BIG difference.
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Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
@CB14, And this too. Thanks CB14.
Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
@hockeysureshot, First off that is the Yankees who have a bazillion dollars to spend on salaries. 2nd Teixeira did not sign the contract at 21 years of age or after his 3rd season. He has had much better seasons on a whole then Drew and played for longer b4 signing the contract. There is no comparison.
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hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:11 pm
@Jeff, My point is comparing contracts on the roster. I hate to break it to you, but without Doughty we’re not sniffing San Jose. I think Doughty has the potential to be the next Ray Bourque. But, you’re correct he hasn’t proven himself yet.
Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:03 pm
@hockeysureshot, Without Kopitar and with Doughty we lost to San Jose in 6 games. Had we had Kopi we would of won that series. If I had to choose between Kopi and Doughty, at this point in time, I choose Kopi. Our team is stacked defensively, not counting Doughty. We have a bunch of players just itchin to graduate from minors/juniors to enter the NHL. I feel that versus San Jose we match up in all areas. Yes Doughty puts us over the hump against them, but without him and you insert one of the youngsters we are equal with San Jose, both teams fighting for division crown. We are equal offensively, have better goaltending and even without Doughty we are better then San Jose defensively.
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Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
@Jeff, Oh Yea. I think Doughty has the potential to be the top NHL defenseman ever, or at least in the top 3. He just needs to man up, and sign. This is not the time to worry about contractcs. He can do that when he is a UFA. The money will be there, especially after he wins a couple of Norri’s or 3 and a cup.
King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:20 am
@hockeysureshot, DD is not even half the player Kopi is. Paying the guy 7 million a year for what he has given would be MINDLESS….
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:18 am
@hockeysureshot, “I hate to break it to you, but without Doughty we’re not sniffing San Jose.”
Dude…….. Get a clue! Dead shark smells foul anyway. We will own SJ this year w/wo DD! And im sure SJ has a blog for thier fans that you could partake in.
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Well I’d say we did pretty good without him last year since he seemed pretty invisible compared to the year before. Not sure how someone could expect a massive contract when the effort was less the following year. Maybe not on purpose but it certainly didnt bring him into contention for a Norris this past year.
I like the guy but we can always get a rental and I am cool with that. One guy doesn’t make the team.
Hope he signs but we will live and still win a cup if he doesn’t. It will be his loss and he should step in to make it happen.
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The Kings I believe were 5-2 without him last year. That is not a bad record!
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Trade his butt and get someone or someone and draft choises for him. He is all about himself not a team player.
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I’d like to add that when the Kings signed Kopitar he only had three years under his belt I believe. The comparisons between his contract and Drew’s is ludicrous. Do you think Detriot or Philly would pull this nonsense that Dean is? NO.
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KH Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:58 pm
@hockeysureshot, kopitar had thee great seasons and earned his contract, doughty has 2 mediocre years and one great year. the only thing upping his value is the olympics. which he was impressive but he did play for the best team so that olympics could be overvalued a little bit. if he played for slovakia, like handzus i dont think he wouldve performed as well as he did.
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hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:59 pm
@hockeysureshot, According to Dean’s logic why is Bernier’s contract similar to Quick’s? POTENTIAL. No GM in any sport should compare contracts. The Kopitar contract was signed under different salary cap numbers. To compare the contracts is ludicrous.
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Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
@hockeysureshot, All we are saying is Drew should sign the same contract as Kopi or under it. He isn’t better then Kopi at this time. Drew had a good rookie year, a great 2nd year with a Norris Trophy nom and a so so 3rd year, where he had a chance to shine without Kopi, but failed. So he shouldn’t be paid more and certainly not 7+ million a year. He is going to end up making 50-60 million over the life of the contract, why should it matter that it is over 7 million.
Kopi’s contract was yes based on potential but he showed how good he was by getting better each successive year. He didn’t go up and down like Drew did. Plus if you are going to have an off year, you better not do it the season your contract runs out.
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hockeysureshot Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
@Jeff, I’m sure Ken Holland must say “well we can’t sign Datsyuk because Lidstrom is making x amount of money” I just don’t like Dean comparing players on the same team.
I guess I am buying Doughty’s potential because in my opinion he may be the next Ray Bourque. But, I understand some of the Kings fans points for seeing his inconsistent year and only proving it for 1 season. I’d pay him based on the fact that he will be a franchise player, but I see the hesitation.
Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:14 pm
@hockeysureshot, Another thing is that Ken Holland didn’t have to worry, because most all of his stars stayed and signed reasonable deals for the good of the team. Datsyuk, Zetterburg, Franzan, all signed long term lower cap deals, where had they gone elsewhere could of gotten a heck of a lot more. They did so because they realize what a great team Detroit is and they all wanted to stay, because they knew that it is the best place to play to win. If Drew wants to win then he needs to sign what the Kings are offering, as Jeff and Dean have it set up, the salary structure, so that they can compete long term. If it is all about money then go sign with a team that will pay you, but most likely not have the opportunity to win long term because of it.
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JMFJ#3 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:11 am
@hockeysureshot actually Ken Holland has said time and time again he isn’t going to pay anyone more than Lidstrom. So if you want more than him you will have to look elsewhere. Thats why Hossa didn’t resign to a long term deal because he wanted more than Lidstrom was making and Ken Holland didn’t up the offer.
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jimrad Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
@hockeysureshot,
omg this comment about being a franchise player is too funny.
DD is not and never will be a franchise player. He has lots of potential to do some good things, but is also one good hit away from having Sidney Crosby syndrome.
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If the kings were still rebuilding how much would doughty be worth to you guys?
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
@Ashykon, less than he’s worth now that we’re contenders.
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DLB Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:24 am
@CB14, It’s odd how we were never considered contenders without him
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chuckrocks Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:53 pm
@Ashykon, ya well they are no longer rebuilding, they are done. ship his butt out. so long. dont let the door hit you in the rear.
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KH Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:04 pm
@Ashykon, how much will he be worth when we’re trying to resign willie mitchell after this season and we’re handcuffed by his contract? what if penner has a career year and we want to resign him and cant because doughty was greedy?
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DD should take a look at Selanne and learn what it means to be a true team player and sign what is a fair offer. Even though Selanne plays for the hated rivals, he is truly a class act. Learn young Doughty, learn.
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puck73 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:55 pm
@Steevogt, You wont be thinking he’s a class act when he’s destroying the Kings and Jack Johnson yet again on the powerplay.
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MadMatt Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:08 am
@Steevogt, Well said. Learn some class from guys like Selanne and fire that jerkweed agent of yours. DD, you are starting to enter into the unrecoverable zone with the fans….you better move fast.
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Rich, any chance these poll results will make it onto DL’s desk?
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USHA#17 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 8:57 pm
@jasonG, Sent it to the LA Times and The Hockey News.
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More thoughts….
First off, no one else has given Doughty an offer sheet that he has liked enough to sign. If the league thought he was worth $7M/season someone surely would have offered it to him by now.
Second, Tyler Myers is probably the closest situation there is to Doughty. They are the same age, both were first round picks and both had great years followed by a decent year but wasn’t as good as the year before. Myers signed for about $5.5M/season. I don’t see how Doughty deserves $1.5M more per season compared to Myers.
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Dear Drew,
You have more to loose here. You have said for a while you wanted to be a King, that you were a Kings fan groing up in Canada. Sounds to me like you have some agent blowing smoke up your rear just so he can get paid. We understand this is a buisness, but at what cost will you sell your soul Drew. You can go to Canada where I’m sure someone will pay you a lot of jack, or you can stay the course and become LA legend and do something no one else has been able to do, Hoist a cup for the city of Angels. The money will come. Think long and hard about what YOU really want. There is something special happening in LA, Ask yourself if you want to be part of it. Many a good player have chased the money only to realize in the twighlight of their career that they never won it all, they’ll sign some league minimum contract to to get a look at the Cup. Don’t be that guy Drew. Don’t let us down, but more important, don’t let yourself down.
Signed,
THE FANS
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puck73 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
@COUS, Gee, I was wondering when “the fans” were going to chime in.
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I wouldn’t sign anyone to seven years anyway. These contracts are getting insane. So much could happen in seven years. I think 5 yrs for a franchise player would be my limit.
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Here’s my two cents, name the last team that won the cup with a 21-23 year old calling the shots? If he wants Kopi/Weaber money than play with their work ethic and put up the numbers beyond 1 season and 1 international tournement. Ask Harold Minor ( Baby Jordan) how things worked out off of a carrer based off hype and potential worked out for him.
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King Taco Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:48 pm
@Puckn-A,
Penguins
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This a tough call, I usually don’t say over pay anyone. DD is the most talented D man ive seen come out of the Gate, since.. Forever! When this Kid plays his game in top form he’s unstoppable and his hockey sense cannot be matched. Hes in his prime years now and will no doubt be seeing serious Norris consideration more that one time throughout his career. I usually say forwards are and dime a dozen as most young players tend to be forwards anyway. This is what makes DD So special i believe because it is SO RARE to see a D man of his age and potential greatness come this early. THIS is the kind of talent you could build a team around. This being said, I cannot fathom how much $$ could want or need to play here at this time!! If its true that 6.8 was offered per year i would take that in a heartbeat! If he think he needs more to play here i would seriously consider trading him right now to NJ for Pairse(1 year left w/NJ) and their top D prospect Adam Larsen straight up. We don’t need another Rob Blake(circa 2001) holding the Kings for ransom dragging this out. If money is the issue what other team is going to pay him over 6.8? If its not money, does he want to REALLY play here or is this a ploy for a trade? I tend to think its all about his agent who i think also reps Luke schenn also.
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Puckn-A Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
@Nightman, Ummmm better than Lindstrom, Leach, Coffey, Gonchar ( when healthy) , Malakov, Stevens, Neidemeyer, the list goes on… Show me his Bobby Orr #’s and consistency and I will concede. 1 year of good numbers & potential doesn’t make a”savior” . He didn’t follow Chuck D’s advice, he believes the hype.
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nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:30 am
@Puckn-A,
Are you talking abouty these guys when they were 26 or so, or are you talking about when they were 21?
BIG difference!
DD’s ceiling is as high as any of the guys you mentioned. What will happen in the future is anyone’s guess, but don’t look at a 21 yr old kid coming off an incredible year when he won the gold, Norris trophy candidate, helpedthe Kigns make the playoff..etc
sometimes a step back is not a bad thing. Hopefully it drives him to be the best he can possibly be.
[Reply]
Michael J. Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:46 am
@nykingfan,
Didn’t JaMarcuss Russell have a very high ceiling at 21 also?
Its weird that johnson, williams, gagne, and moreau had no problems signing fair contracts and were more than excited to be in LA and contend for a cup, but doughty does not care about that he just wants money. if he was truly a kings fan growing up he would realize how close we are to winning and would want to do it just for his love of the team. 6.8 per year is not even close to a lowball offer at all either. If he really has as much potential as everyone is saying, play out these 7 years, collect a couple norris trophies and sign for chara money after and retire a rich man and hall of famer. and most importantly BRING A CUP TO LA and have that jersey retired next to some of the games greats!
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I dunno, something’s not right here. Luke Schenn has the same agent and got a nice contract, and got it signed. I really hope this isn’t Drew’s doing as a sort of “up yours” to DL for trading Simmonds. Who knows? Stranger things have happened!
[Reply]
Puckn-A Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
@Nitrohockey, If so I bet I know who wins the “up yours” battle and it isn’t the kid who is trying to call the shots on a team that defines itself with a charecter first attitude.
[Reply]
Rich,
Sort of as JasonG before me suggested, the results of this poll needs to be published. If the numbers being thrown around are correct, Doughty seems to be having a big lapse in judgment. He can’t afford to have the fans in LA turn against him. It seems very clear that the fans of the team; the people that pay the people that pay Doughty are clearly on the side of the team.
He’s my favorite player on the team, but he’s pissing me off.
[Reply]
COUS Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
@ViperHockey, Agreed, no one is above the team….players come and go, the team stands the test of time. KINGS FOREVER!
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This might be a little harsh, but it’s becoming extremely difficult to think highly of Doughty, the man/boy. If this is just so much holy capitalism, capitalism is a pretty ugly thing. If it’s a swaggering demand for celebrity-worship, it’s even uglier.
DL is nobody’s designated idiot, and I hope he stands firm. If DD is so self-important as to maul the hand that feeds him, better it’s someone else’s hand. He’s a good player, and, it seems, a _giant_ narcissist. If he doesn’t accept (very generous) Kopitar-esque dollars within the next few days, I hope DL begins exploring the idea of moving him, if possible. 21 years old, one particularly promising season, and he wants to dictate how a franchise will structure its team, perhaps for years to come? No. Nobody could like anything about that, except for Doughty and his handlers.
Too bad he acquired so many blithering sycophants while playing for the Canadian Olympic squad. Has Doughty become the greatest Doughty sycophant? It seems the answer is yes.
This isn’t just about material greed (perhaps it is for the agent), for Doughty, it’s about pedestal at this point. Sport may work that way for agents, attorneys, and/or publicists, but agents, attorneys, and publicists never have won, and never will win, a Stanley Cup.
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Without Doughty Kings are a playoff team. With Doughty we are a Stanley Cup contender. No one will replace the quality minutes 25 – 28 minutes Doughty plays each game. If DL didn’t think he was worth it, he would not offer him $6.8M for 7 years. Both sides are doing what is best for them, after all, it is a business. Hope it is resolved soon, and we can all cheer on our team.
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@Dominick,
Growing up, most of us at one time or another have heard it from our parents, teachers, coaches, pastors and other older, wiser and well meaning people that influenced our lives in a positive manner to help us be responsible for our actions:
“WHAT YOU ‘DO’ SPEAKS SO LOUDLY, THAT I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING”
The numbers in the offers presented to DD have been openly disclosed and posted in multiple media outlets. Without knowing all the details about what Don Meehan wants for his client, we do know one irrefutable fact:
DREW DOUGHTY HAS REFUSED EACH AND EVERY OFFER PRESENTED TO HIM VIA THROUGH AGENT.
How does DD look straight in the eye of any teammate that took less money to be part of this team?
I don’t really understand how any LAK fan can criticize management and ownership today for staying true to the salary management philosophy and strategy that have finally built a championship caliber team. This strategy & philosophy has been applied over quite a few years of painful rebuilding. Painful to the fans, that is.
It pleases me to see that close to 80% are voting for management to not pay DD in a manner that could create a detriment to the team ability to keep strengthening our roster.
I have even come to suspect the handful of DD die hard fans in here are DD relatives or Don Meehan spies, lol.
There is not a single player, coach, manager or even fan that is above the TEAM.
GO KINGS GO!!
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puck73 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
@Gustavo, Be careful when calling out the Beast of reason known as @Dominick, for he will destroy you with rhetoric, litigation, and fact after fact !
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Gustavo Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:58 pm
@puck73,
I must have been reading one of his posts and responded to it by accident. I had no intention of making it sound as a response to Dominick, even though we’re both diametrically apart on this issue.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:10 am
@Gustavo, It has been reported that DD turned down some long term offers. It has only been speculated on why. DD’s reasons have not been confirmed, but only speculated on (some most negatively without proof). Without knowing everything you shouldn’t just assume anything. People said JJ was a punk, self centered, and was on the trading block because DL hates him. I stuck my neck out and said lets wait till we hear everything. Here we are a couple of years later, and looking back on it, everybody was wrong, except me.
“We’re committed to being engaged in discussions and we’re more than willing to talk,” Don Meehan, Doughty’s agent, told the newspaper. “I think the next step is for the Kings to respond to our correspondence.”
Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi refused to comment for the newspaper’s story. He had said on Sunday that he hadn’t given up hope on having Doughty in camp on time.
So Meehan wants to talk and Dean refuses to comment, sounds fishy.
[Reply]
Gustavo Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:00 pm
@danglebagel,
Nothing fishy on either side. It’s a negotiation between parties and we’re just standing on the sidelines waiting for it to be resolved in a manner that pleases US, lol.
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There is more to the story than the $200K per year difference. That $200K could have been a bonus for DD if he reached a milestone on his contract. A lot of us are speculating as we were not in the bargaining table. If DD thinks Kings will win the cup during his contract, he would have signed already. $200 k wouldn’t have been the hold out. After all only few make it to the position he is in. He is a talented player with “Potential” to be a great player. He has not reached that elite level and barring any injuries, he is not guaranteed to be that great player. Kings organization is very generous at this junction to offer a long contract at 6.8M per year for the rumored 9 years. I remember when DD was drafted he was saying that he always wanted to be a Kings player. Did he say that then when he knew that Kings are lineup to pick him as the 2nd draft pick? There are too many variables that involve money with DD or his agent. I dearly loved O’sullivan when he was here, but his agent and money took the best of him and he is been traded to more teams than any other player in the last 2 years. If DD thinks he is better than team, then he is not a team player. Let him ride the wave and be traded to another team. We have had enough distractions here; we need a team player.
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Rtwing7 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:31 am
@Observer, There is no secret here. Luke Robitaille said it best, “No matter what any player or agent tells you, it’s always about the money.” In this case, DD and Meehan want a contract that gets DD to UFA age no further. DL and the Kings want to get their money’s worth and value out of the contract by keeping DD at least 2 years beyond UFA age. Unfortunately, the longer this goes the more leverage DD gains because it will be difficult to move him and get some value in return. Most teams can’t afford his type of contract under the cap, plus they know he is not willing to sign a contract that will take him past UFA status.
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Its funny how people say doughty isn’t worth that much but when others say trade him they always ask for more than doughty is actually worth. Lol just an observation.
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i have a conspiracy theory, i think drew is mad that his best friend simmer was traded and he is sour on the kings right now
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Puckn-A Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
@dannybizzler, With 6.8 million a year they could buy a lovely house and get married and see each other in the offseason
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:28 am
@Puckn-A, Funny stuff, I thought the same thing…..
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puck73 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
@dannybizzler, Whats your theory on JFK ?
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DesertKing Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 9:46 pm
@dannybizzler,
Do you have a my idea who killed Cock Robin?
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:47 am
@DesertKing, classic stooges episode… Say Jasper what comes after 75? -76? That’s the spirit!!
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Elac Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
@dannybizzler, If he misses Simmonds so much, lets get ‘em back together by trading Doughty to Philly for Giroux and a first round pick.
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When the Penguins won the cup in 09, their highest scoring D-man was Letang with 33 points, partly because Gonchar missed a lot of games that year. But the point is that JJ’s increasing point totals and lack of shutdown D ability make him comparable to Gonchar. And I think without Drew, Martinez or Voynov can put up a Letang-like 33 points with DD8′s minutes. It was good enough for the Penguins to win the cup. And last year’s Bruins won on the strength of Tim Thomas. I think the team can still be successful without DD8. Quick is getting better every year and some of the young guys on D are ready for their shot at the NHL level. There is no reason we should have to pay DD8 more than $6.8mil. If he doesn’t want to take it then he can sit around for a year and hope he gets an offer from another team. The Kings could certainly get a lot of return in a trade, and also wouldn’t mind letting him walk on an offer sheet and getting the draft picks.
That said, I didn’t want to put any blame on either side because I don’t know the details of the contract talks. I do know that most of the other restricted free agents signed for about 25% less than their market value. DL could have been low-balling the offer for the past 2 months. In this case though, I think DL actually did make a reasonable offer and probably did offer Kopitar $$$. The reason I think that they probably did make the reported offer is because Rich is stating it in his post. I didn’t want to take a side before, but if Rich states the offer was $6.8, this definitely sounds like way too much to pass up if I were DD8. And if this is the case, the Kings need to put a deadline on the offer and move on without him if he chooses not to take it.
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at least 3 shooters
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Does nobody know the meaning of the word compromise?? Geez come on guys. Give him 7 million for
5-6 years. If at the end of that contract he was brought the Cup to us in LA and won multiple
Norris Trophy’s, he can get his 8-10 million a year contract in New York or Toronto. If he hasnt, which is very possible, he realizes one year does not a career make and he works as part of the
TEAM, remember no I in Team. Barring injury he will be a valuable chip on the trading block for years to come. If he wants a NTC, then put in the damn effort. Make it 3 years NTC and the option for Free Agency in year 4 for four type A Draft picks. Plain and simple, everybody gets what they want.
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King Taco Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:55 pm
@Kings Fan in Vegas, So you would compromise by giving DD exactly what he is asking for? (reportedly) Don’t both sides give something in a compromise?
[Reply]
Kings Fan in Vegas Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
@King Taco,
I was under the impression at DD wanted 7.2 a year. so yes 7 million would be a
compromise, so would the length of the contract. Split it down the middle.
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Pretty sad…I wear his jersey & really thought the world of him. But it turns out he is just a selfish jerk with no interest in a team spirit. I say let him sit for a year & see what it gets him. Absolutely don’t give him the satisfaction of tradinging him.
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6.8M for 7 years, if true, sounds like a fair offer. I heard somewhere it was 6.8 for 9 years which I could see Doughty saying was too long into his ufa years. While I believe this (6.8 for 7) is a fair offer I really don’t believe we need to put an imaginary ceiling at Kopitars salary. Saying we won’t pay more than 6.8 just because that is what Kopi makes. Players sign contracts for what makes sense for them at the current market value. Some players focus on length of contract, nmc’s, signing bonuses etc…. Other players focus more on the average salary.
You could rank the players on any team #1 to #20, and see that the salary they are paid doesn’t come anywhere near that ranking. My point is, its very often the case that your best player is not the highest paid player on the team. Kopi can address that at his next negotiation if he wants. I’m not saying DD deserves more than 6.8, I’m just saying that is not some magical number that we shouldn’t cross.
Personally I think 6 years at 40M (6.66 per year) should work for both sides.
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I blame this on Shea Weber. =(
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bmova Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:25 am
@fridgemagnet57, Yeah but it was Weber along with Rinne who took the Preds to the second round.
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Sorry Rich, might of pushed the boundaries with that last one, but making what I make at Sony, doing a job I like, I just can’t fathom the hold out being paid over 6 million per year because your buddy was traded. Actually writing it is dificult trying not to laugh, thinking of engineers waiting tables and this kid wants the world because he’s been elevated to Bobby Orr status at 21 by media and fans. I’d love a cup but my integrity says this is a joke compared to the current state of the world, and I’m kinda over seeing their side.
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Instead of throwing out Kopitar’s salary when comparing Doughty, how about Duncan Keith? Keith is making 5.5Million and is locked up for awhile. When comparing those contracts, Doughty has some nerve asking for considerably more than Keith who is a Norris trophy and Stanley Cup winner. That contract should be the barometer, not Kopi’s.
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Dave Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:30 pm
@hockeysureshot, to an extent, yes. Keith signed for 15 years or whatever so his cap # is a little deflated because of it. i think the guys to look at are Myers and Schenn. Myers @ $5.5, Schenn @ $3.5. Similar age, RFA, etc. Doughty should be right around $6-$6.5. I don’t see any way he can argue he is that much better than Myers.
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Osaka Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:34 pm
@hockeysureshot, What about 7 time Norris trophy winner Lidstrom who just signed 6.2 for one year, how can Drew demand more than him? I agree with you though, Keith is a good comparison.
[Reply]
bmova Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:24 am
@Osaka, Not that I completely disagree with you, but Lidstrom did sign that at age 41. DD is supposedly in his prime.
[Reply]
Osaka Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
@bmova, He is 41 but he just won the Norris! He was the best D-man in the league!
King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:32 am
@hockeysureshot, Bingo
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Doughty should do what Ovechkin did and get rid of this “lawyer”
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Doughty is not worth this drama I’m sorry. Yes, he may be a franchise player and has tremendous potential, but he is still very much unproven. I would be willing to take the chance on his potential at the current offer DL has proposed, but if reports are true that it is more money that Doughty wants and not just a shorter term than forget him. We can’t make him the highest paid player on this team if it is going to prevent us from making this team better now and in the future, speaking in financial terms. We need the flexibility financially to still make this team better if the opportunity presents itself whether it be through trades or free agency next summer. That is my point. I do not want DD to leave or be traded, but if he is demanding too much money to where DL feels like it will tie our hands in regards to adding players now in the future to make this team better than I say let him holdout or explore trades if it is imminent.
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Bobby Orr – .78 PPG +95 in 3 seasons with more points in 50+ less games played ( 1 season no +/- record kept ) . Doughty .52 PPG + 16 in 3 seasons. So, not even close to the potential expectations. What a joke for asking over 4 million per season. Oh btw, Doughty 24th in Defense man scoring & 27th in +/- that warrants top 4 in $$$$ per position, right???
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King Cobra Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:34 am
@Puckn-A, Real facts vs Hype – what a concept. Good post brother.
GKG
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The voting is going nuts !!
I thought it’d be much closer. It seems the fans are siding with management in a manner that sends DD the clear message that he is no longer wanted in LA.
One of DD’s die hard fans asked earlier if fans are voting for management to not pay or also voting for not seeing DD play in LA, which to me seems like a much more drastic consequence to the situation.
Personally I hope DL holds the line at the offers he’s presented. Although I think he will bait DD’s rights to Toronto for the prospects Nashville wants so DL can get Webber.
“Oh what tangled webs we weave when we first aim to deceive:…Good old Willie Shakespeare..:)
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DD in NOT better or EVER WILL BE BETTER than Kopi.
Kopi has hart. DD was never the same after being knocked out.I question his dedication to the King.
It’s all just about few more buck for a greedy player.
Play hard Kings!
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Get rid of the bum!
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Word is Luke Schenn just signed for $3.5 for 5 years. Is Doughty worth twice Schenn? I think not.
All of these guys around his age are signing and their numbers are nowhere near what Doughty is asking for.
$5.5 for Myers, $3.5 for Schenn, $2.5 for Bogosian. Drew should be $6-$6.5 based on those numbers. Hopefully with Schenn signing he’ll see how the numbers are lining up. Stamkos only got $7.5 and he’s the best goal scorer in the league.
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KH Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
@Dave, Doughty and a 3rd for schenn and a first? Okay I’m done posting on this site for the night. Once again feel free to roast me guys…
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Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:46 pm
@KH, I’d rather he send Drew to Buffalo for Tyler Myers, whom we should of picked instead of Teubert and whatever.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:21 am
@Dave, Luke Schenn also got a 5 year offer, and surprise! he signed it. Myers, Schenn, Bogosian, I didn’t see 1 of those guys sign a 7 to 9 year deal.
Also Yes! Drew is twice as good as Schenn. Schenn hits like a defensemans version of Dustin Brown, but DD’s still the better overall defenseman.
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Sydor25 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:39 am
@Dominick, Myers signed for 7 years. Tavares for 6 years.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:17 am
@Sydor25, My bad. Myers signed for 7. I was thinking of a different player, but it was getting late.
Hey, I say it’s time to end teh Drew Doughty story….let him walk. We do not need that crippling huge contract, and one poster was correcdt in his statmemnts that 11 goals just don’e cut 7 mil.
I don’t know…think he’s going way too far, and like the lakers when Kobe don’t play sometimes, play even better. This guy is “blinded by the light” like the song, and it’s just time to say goodbye…remmeber the O’Sullivan deal…same bat time, same bat channel…but I’ll let you be the judge on that.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:12 am
@Danny Ingamells, Only thing is, is that O’Sullivan sucked.
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puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:22 am
@Dominick, And still does.
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DesertKing Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:47 am
@Dominick,
You just had to mention that fact
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Luke Schenn just signed. Amounts not known but it appears to be about $3.5M per season.
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Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:44 pm
@JDBiGC, SO this leaves Drew as the only RFA to not sign. All the others have and have taken less to do so. Drew needs to step up and take the Kings offer. Dean isn’t going to budge or should he. Drew needs to Man up and if he wants to be a King sign, if he doesn’t then let Dean know so he can work out a trade.
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Drew Yashin
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brig33 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
@Osaka, haha nice
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Ok here’s my two cents or rant…..Before these negos got to here, and right after the Kings made the off season moves they made tell me not one of us didn’t think, “man with these new players, a healthy Kopitar, Williams, and with the goaltending, and the blueline led by a Norris troghy nominee
-21 year old, Olympic star, this team just might win the Cup”. Please, before it got to this point I don’t think there could be any real Kings fan who thought this team would be better without Doughty. Folks, we are talking about a 21 year old blueline anchor, that every team would love to have on their roster. So many have talked about trading Doughty, but this is not NHL12, its not fantasy, no team would give the Kings even value (if that were even possible for most teams) to the Kings for a player they can’t get signed! The successful teams in sports sign their big name FA’s or go out and get the best FA’s available. The fact is the Kings have the cap space to sign him for what he is asking, Dean Lombardi has said it many times (just not recently) that Doughty would be a King for life and no one else would EVER wear #8 for the Kings. Well, its put up or shut time it looks like! Understand, I am not ripping on DL, but the fact is he said those words, more than once! We can talk about the D prospects at Manchester, but I’m sorry, these guys are the same age or older than Doughty and they haven’t made the impact that he has ALREADY made! We can talk about this being a team sport, and no one player makes a team, and blah blah blah, but there is no way this situation arises in Detroit, Pittsburgh, and other NHL teams who are always Cup contenders, they don’t let their star players get away. I would totally feel different if this team was cap strapped, but they are not, and won’t be. So, do YOU want the Kings to be a Cup contender or just a team that competes for a playoff spot?
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CB14 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 10:58 pm
@Shotongoal, This situation doesn’t happen in Detroit or Pittsburgh because their players take reasonable contracts so that their team can build championship caliber teams around them.
Case in point, Lidstrom just won the Norris trophy and signed for 6.2 million for 1 year. Datsyuk’s contract pays him 6.7 a year, less than Kopi, and he was better than Kopi when he signed his deal. Zetterberg makes 6.083 million, a very good cap hit for him. Crosby and Malkin both make a lot, 8.7 million, but that’s still 800 thousand less than Ovechkin makes. Crosby certainly could’ve commanded similar money. Also Letang’s deal is very good, only 3.5 cap hit for 4 years. And BTW, he scored 10 points more than Drew did last year.
[Reply]
Shotongoal Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
@CB14, yeah you’re right, Lidstroms just a couple months older than Doughty! Mark my words, the Kings will never compete with those PROVEN teams if they let Doughty go. See, that’s the difference, those teams are proven so they can sell that to their players, in the Kings situation proven is not a part of their history, so they really need to keep their star players so they might have a chance to get to that level. And here’s their chance! We shall see….I hope that’s not the only thing you got out of my rant though!
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xeropoint Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
@Shotongoal, If the successful teams are those who spend money on the top free agents and win championships, how do you explain the NY Rangers over the past decade?
Yes, there is no question the team is better with Doughty. I think it’s tough to dispute that. I want him signed but not at any cost.
Also, there are plenty of instances where a team loses a top flight generational talent and said team has gone on to win it all. See Edmonton Oilers, circa 1990.
There are also instances where teams have generational talent and dont win. Boston, with Ray Borque, off the top of my head.
That said, Kings have a better shot WITH Doughty but it’s not as cut and dry as some may think.
[Reply]
Shotongoal Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
@xeropoint, yeah I was actually talking about all sports not just hockey when it comes FA signings, and I was really putting the emphasis on retaining a teams own valuable FA’s. I never said at any cost, and if the figures being talked about are fact than it is certainly not at any cost to get this done. As far as the EDM 90′s teams are concerned, c’mon you are not really comparing this Kings team to those veteran Cup battled Oilers teams, are you? If ANY team could afford to lose a legend and continue to contend for the Cup it was those Oulers teams. Hey, let’s hope the Kings get to that level, but I’m sorry, it aint gonna happen if they let their “franchise defenseman” get away. See, my theory is the Kings just might have to overpay to keep their star players, one because they’ve already seen it that top flight FA’s aren’t sold on them yet, abd what do they have to sell their star players on? The Wings and Pens players know they may contend for a Cup every year and they might give their team that hometown bargain, unfortunately the Kimgs don’t have that bargaining chip yet with their star players. This isn’t helping either by the way! As far as Bourque and those Bruins teams go, I’m sorry but NOW is the time for the Kings to make their “generational talent” push, and I think Doughty needs to be a part of that.
[Reply]
Doughty will sign, and then get injured till January.
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Socalr6 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
@Skooma,
My fear is Kings overpay, Drew loses the fans and poisons the locker room. Draws the ire of opposing players and receives a cheap shot. Promptly suffers 2nd major concussion.
Look what happened to Crosby. Could happen.
Let’s hope not. Gkg!
[Reply]
Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:10 am
@Socalr6, Crosby won a cup though.
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DesertKing Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:49 am
@Dominick,
Dang it, you keep mentioning facts! First POS, then Cosby and the Cup. All with less than 10 words. Scary
The Kings play without Doughty, Doughty doesn’t play without the Kings. So until this is over he can sit his butt and I will be excited about our team that is playing. If this goes into the regular season I hope we get off to a great start, DD can watch his value slowly diminish from his couch. If he does sign soon then let’s just get this season started, I’m sick of worrying about it lol.
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Drew. Here is the deal. You have to do 500 hundred sit-ups for every day you don’t sign. You know you need it anyway. So by Sunday, yes that is right, 1500. Monday 2000 and so on. We all know you have a history of being out of shape. Maybe this is your sneaky master plan to work off all the pizza and doughnuts. One week from tomorrow, you will not be welcome back. You are already pushing your luck with all the fans. The poll clearly shows, you are asking for too much.
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First things first, if I said my true feelings about this Doughty situation, Rich Hammond would have a smile on his face as he blocks/bans me from this site.
Secondly, I am going to say one thing to this situation. The San Jose Sharks hold-out and Doughty hold-out are two totally different/opposite sides of the spectrum here. With San Jose, he didn’t go out and improve the team, until he had Nabokov and Brad Stuart signed. This year, he brought in Moreau, Gagne, and Richards(mike). We have great D-men in Manchester that can come up and give us a great chance + we still have Drewiske. Either way I look at it, we have Doughty or we don’t. At this stage in the game, I am blaming all parties but Dean Lombardi. Meehan because he is holding some kind of grudge I guess, and Doughty, because he has the final say on whether he accepts or declines the offer.
In closing, if Doughty isn’t signed by Frozen Fury… than he can sit at home playing NHL 12, eating doughnuts wishing he was playing. If he holds-out all season long, than I want him shipped out of LA, and we can bring someone who wants to play for us at a respectable price. If Drew aint down with that….. than I got TWO WORDS FOR HIM!!! ((thinking DX wrestling here folks(WWE), not nothing to serious.))
[Reply]
Jeff Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
@#1KingsfaninVegas, The big reason why Nabokov and Stuart held out was because ownership of the sharks had changed and they had Dean slash the budget. That is why he couldn’t give those 2 what they wanted, so they held out. With Drew and the Kings, ownership is solid and can give Drew everything he wants. The thing is what he wants and the future of the team, being competitive long term are not compatible. Drew has to realize that this not only affects this year, but the future too. Like say Zach Parise was a free agent UFA next offseason, the Kings could go after him. But not if Drew signs at over 7 million.
[Reply]
#1KingsfaninVegas Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:29 am
@Jeff,
True
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Weekes22 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:38 pm
@#1KingsfaninVegas, haha i love the dx reference, after reading your post i cant agree more, we can get another high class defenseman in free agency for half the price next year so let this punk sit and get fatter with his sub par conditioning. I heard he couldn’t even do 5 pull ups in his conditioning test, i can at least do ten so can i have 10 mil a year then?
[Reply]
#1KingsfaninVegas Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:29 am
@Weekes22,
You know it… I have NHL 12 and at the end of my season, I am half tempted on letting Doughty go. In NHL 11, Marc Andre Bergeron, did me very well
[Reply]
Here is what i’ve learned during these contract talks.
1) If DD does sign a deal now when that contract is over it will be very hard to get him to resign with us.
2) over the last month or two DD has lost a lot of respect from the Kings fan base.
Bottom DL wants to lock DD long term 7-9 yrs. DD wants shorter term 5yr.
Problem is if DL gives him a 5yr deal then DD and Kopi are UFA at the same time.
So how about 6 yrs for 6 to 6,8 million??????
Enough of this let’s play some hockey!!!
Cant wait to watch this team, this is the most excited i’ve been since the Great One came to town!
[Reply]
cdawgg Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:24 pm
@ta, I think that one of the two (most likely doughty) will be past their prime in 5 years anyway. Ideally, I’d like to see Doughty signed short term, win a cup and deal him after for a better player.
[Reply]
This whole situation is really pissing me off. Nicolas Lidstrom the best defenseman of all time, and im a diehard kings fan and im willing to admit that, only makes 6.2 million and doughty doesnt even compare to his career so far and lidstrom is a norris trophy winner not just a nominee for one year like doughty. Shea Weber is getting that 7.5 mil arbitration deal for 1 YEAR which he deserves becuase he took sole responsibility to get the preds to the second round of last years playoffs. There are so many factors that go into doughtys deal but after a lackluster season which he made many big mistakes and wasnt better than kopitar who is our highest paid player, what warrants his 7 mil per year? I think in the future he will be one of the best defenseman in the league which I dont think he is yet. Also Jack Johnson outplayed him last season and hes only making a shade over 4 mil a year. In addition im biased because i hate canada and everything it stands for after the series with vancouver a couple of years ago, so tell this punk canadian kid to take this ridiculous amount of money and get on the ice already that spoiled brat.
[Reply]
#1KingsfaninVegas Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:32 am
@Weekes22,
Amen! I have been listening to this song since we signed Moreau.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlnMVb2XVVk
Doughty needs to hear that, and learn to be a fighter
[Reply]
Bottom line is Doughty should get a Duncan Keith contract; front loaded over 13 years. A $85M, 13 years satisfies everybody.
[Reply]
KingMe20 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am
@John,
Doughty doesn’t want that length of a deal. He wants to be a UFA sooner than that.
[Reply]
Thank you Jack Johnson for being a stand up dude at a young age. While an obviously good player, the Kings fans won’t forget his off ice actions either.
[Reply]
Brig33 Reply:
September 15th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
@taylorskings, Truth I love JJ, even before all this DD stuff. He’s American what can I say American > Canadian lol
[Reply]
Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:05 am
@taylorskings, Yep. Suppose DD could get a 2 year like JJ got when his ELC ended. JJ was so happy he signed on for another 7. Maybe DD could follow in JJ’s foot steps.
[Reply]
LA67 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:16 am
@Dominick, I got my Johnson jersey because of JJ’s team first attitude. He got it signed without an agent.
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:23 am
@LA67, I heard they changed JJ’s number this year to Minus 82, awesome ! cant wait to order one !
Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:21 am
@puck73,
-82! Now that’s funny. LOL
John it doesnt satisfy doughty if he wants a short term deal
[Reply]
Give the kid a break, he needs more donut money.
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Burned out on this DD stuff. Let’s just drop the puck already! GKG!!
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Well, Doughty is officially the ONLY un-signed restricted free agent now. Schenn just signed for 5 yrs, @ $3.5mil per year! I love Drew, but he is being SERIOUSLY unreasonable with this demands. Someone who is older and mature needs to advise this kid to fire his agent and do right by his career and rep.
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Sydor25 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:42 am
@SKing11, Turris is unsigned.
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Can we trade doughty now?
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dd fire ur agent cz he’s giving u bad advise and killing ur reputation. no one likes greedy ppl and u acting like this doesnt help ur cause. look at schenn, bogosian, tavares and myers, these guys are the go2 guys on their teams and took care of business ar a reasonable price w/o drama.
[Reply]
Latest News on Doughty – Published at 938PM Pac Time
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=588606
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What is that smell???
It is the smell of greed…
It is stinking up the locker room.
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The guy is simply not even close to being worthy of being the highest paid player on the team.
If the guy was a team player he would take a little less and leave some money in the pot that we could spend on other players to build our cup winning team. I guess 6.8 million a year is an insult to the guy. GAG!!!!
Drew you are losing more and more fans by the minute. Your head is getting bigger than your play has been!
Be humble, be a team player don’t be the big distraction…….
[Reply]
If you are going to trade DD
Call Buffalo for a deal for Tyler Myers rookie of year2010 7 years at 5.5 mil cap
Trade DD for Myers and we have a Pronger type player on the D. I think we can get a good 1st round pick with this deal too…
By Sunday I will no longer be DD fan period………………………..
[Reply]
Ugh.
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This whole poll, and the thread, is about money. Nothing about whether or not they should compromise on years. That’s what I think they should do.
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Kingstane9 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 3:16 am
@DLB, bottom line is Doughty wants way to much money no matter the years. He should be happy with 5 mil, tops 6. Anyway he should never get more than Lidstrom got? At least for now, he still has a lot to prove, especially after the last season!
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DLB Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:30 am
@Kingstane9, that’s one variable.
The poll is about money. Other sources say there’s a conflict on term. DL mentioned both.
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“We’re committed to being engaged in discussions and we’re more than willing to talk,” Meehan said by phone Thursday. “I think the next step is for the Kings to respond to our correspondence”.
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I’ve had it with Drouche Doubty…Let him sit this season. There’s a wealth of talent on the blue line ready earn their keep on this team…Let’s move on
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Guess i will be that one guy at the Staples center on opening night with a huge sign that will read as follows……”SCREW DREW”
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I think the poll results speak volumes. DD is a great player. BUT, he is still way too young and not yet proven. DD has already dmaged himself with the team and fans. Hate to say it but if he doesn’t show up trade the kid or make him sit out and learn a lesson. Bad agent in this case is screwing up DD head. I still believe DL trades him today (Friday) as I mentioned earlier this week. This poll needs to be published here on the east coast because the “boards” are saying just about the same truths.
Big day tomorrow boys! This is going to be the beginning of a special year. Been waiting 35 years for this. With or without DD we are a Top 5 team. Go Kings Go!
[Reply]
Truth of the matter is, we are all professionals in our own right. Myself, Rich, and probably everyone on this post. It takes a special person to be a professional athlete and there is no doubt DD is special. But sometimes it may be valuable to stop and think for a second. If any of us were to hold out like this we would be kicked to the curb, be unable to pay our bills and loose our homes. Drew is 21 and shunning more money than most of us will make in our entire lifetimes.
Maybe Drew should stop and think of why he started playing the game in the first place. The same reason we are all Kings fans despite the long wait for a cup.
[Reply]
rabidhockeyfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:39 am
@Alanj21, Completely agree. Well said!
[Reply]
disgraceful on all sides!
DD risks alienating the fans who in today’s economy and with the job market the way it is, people don’t want to hear about haggling between $6.5 and $7 mil per year. He’ll get no sympathy.
Meehan is trying to become the next Scott Boras..He’s a lawyer..I’ve always said there’s a heaven and a hell..and then there’s a place lawyers go! (sorry to all of my lawyer buddies..nothing personal).
DL has done an amazing job since he beame the Kings GM. He’s re-built this franchise from nothing and has us on the cusp of a cup.
Unless upper management is forcing DL to hold the line at $6.8….it seems incomprehensible to allow a $200k difference to stand in the way of potentially winning the whole thing.
Remember the longer DD holds out, the greater risk of muscle pulls and other injuries when he does return. Staying in shape and staying in hokcey shape are 2 vastly different things. Training camp is only 3 weeks with an overseas trip. Not the best time to try and play catchup if you’re reporting late.
I sure hope the 2 sides see what they’re doing and come to their senses and make this deal NOW!
Don’t let ego’s get in the way of being reasonable.
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:31 am
@nykingfan, Wow, I didnt think you would be disapointed until October 4th when the season opens up and Drew is not in uniform. I am still not worried about this situation, to me Jack “The Heart Attack” Johnson needs all the training camp he can get AND THEN SOME !
[Reply]
nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:40 am
@puck73,
Then it becomes complete panic mode! lol
Training camp is to get ready fotr te season. Even if DD signs on 10/4 (?) how long before he’s ready to contribute the way we need him to?
The injury factor has to be taken into account. Pulled groins and hanstrings don’t dissppear after a week. They linger on throughout the season.
The bottom line is a holdout is a recipe for disaster. DL knows this. Hopefully he’s not willing to put another job on the line with a holdout.
I guess the Kings care about keeping Kopi as the highest paid player. I somehow seriously doubt Kopi would care less if he was the 2nd highest.
I’ve always been a huge DL supporter. Somehow I have a sneaky suspicion that this is coming from above. Just an opinion.
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 6:45 am
@nykingfan, Just sit back and relax and enjoy a cold glass of refreshing cool-aid that Dean is serving…dont worry, its not from Jonestown.
Shotongoal Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:56 am
@nykingfan, I couldn’t agree more! This smells of LIEweike and AEG! They are a “hardline” organization and this would be just like them to hold salary down. Look, this really makes no sense, if the numbers and years that everyone is hearing is accurate. This goes against DL’s building of this team “from goaltending out”. So now after you have all the pieces in place you’re going to go hardline on your “franchise” D-man? This goes against DL’s building philosophy. I’m also really tired of people here talking about Doughty not being worth this type of money, paying for potential. Hello!!! This kid has passed the “potential” test, he’s already proven his talent and value, and he’s stinking only 21 yrs old!!!
Do what’s best for the organ-i-zation……he has not proven himself to be consistent. The Kings offer is in line……take the money DD and play.
[Reply]
So, does the DD holdout officially start today? If so, he’s lost my support as a fan. And I’d say pretty much everyone in my family feels the same way.
Unbelievable it has come to this. Sad. After one of the best offseason of acquisitions by the Kings in memory.
Screw you, Meehan!
[Reply]
KingsFanFTW Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:00 am
@vplaza, yup pretty much it starts today
[Reply]
Sign-n-Trade is looking allot better the longer this drags.
I’m so loving this drama.
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GG Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:05 am
@Token, same as Cami and sulli
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Doughty always said he was a big Kings fan growing up because of Gretzky. Now if I had the opportunity to play for any pro team and get paid I would be happy. But if it was the team I grew up following then I would be extatic. I understand he deserves a good salary, but when you play in a sport that has a salary cap it can really influence the performance of the team. Ultimately, if I were in his situation I would be happy to accept slightly less so that the team I support and play for can spend more money on more assets to help achieve the ultimate goal of a Stanley Cup. After all, it’s a hockey TEAM. Not a hockey cash grab gameshow.
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Doughty is young and still makes critical mistakes. He like any young man is leaning his craft. He should put his ego in check and prove he is worth big money before the team risks a huge contract on him.
[Reply]
TRADE HIM !!!!
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I’m so trying to be level headed about this, but it really is starting to p1ss me off.
[Reply]
nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:32 am
@KC23,
me 2…both sides!
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So Luke Schenn signed a 5yr $18mil contract today with the Leafs. That’s $3.6 a season. He’s a Meehan client. From all the rumors we read about Doughty, the Kings are offering $6.8mil/season for 7 years. It has to be the years on the contract and not the dollar amount that’s holding it up. I can’t imagine Meehan sees that big of a gap salary wise between Doughty and Schenn. Either that or Doughty has instructed Meehan to that he wants to be the highest paid player on the Kings team. I’m hoping it’s because of the years on the Contract thats the problem here because if it’s not and it’s actually Doughty trying to satisfy his ego, then I don’t think that’s the kind of player that the Kings want in their locker room.
[Reply]
Lot of interesting comments here. I’ll add some of mine.
DL wants to retain roster flexibility and salary structure with this deal, while at the same time locking up DD for as many UFA years as possible. Hence the 9 and 7 year proposals with a cap hit that is equal to or smaller than $6.8. This all seems pretty wise on DL’s part.
DD (and Meehan) want a contract that ends when DD’s UFA status kicks in. Hard to fault that, from the player and agent perspective. Any of us would want that too. Regardless of our own beliefs as fans, the CBA is structured in a fashion where there are parameters that allow players to have points of maximum negotiating power. I can’t fault DD and his agent for attempting to exploit that when the opportunity presents itself.
DL obviously believes that offering DD a salary that puts DD at or near the top of the team structure is fair, and I believe all or most of us would agree with that. Perhaps DD hasn’t quite earned that in the prior three years, but I think most or all of us would agree that 2-3 years out DD will likely be worthy of that salary level.
DD and Meehan want compensation for giving up UFA years, and that is understandable. DD wants (ideally anyway) to a UFA in 5 years. I would think DD would want additional compensation to stay more than 5 years.
DL apparently wants to slot DD at a level equal to or below Kopi’s 6.8, and that is reasonable to me. However, while that makes sense for the first 5 years of the deal, the years beyond that might need to be increased to a level above that. Remember, Kopi is a UFA in 5 years and will likely be looking at offers of more than 6.8 at that time.
All of this makes perfect sense to me, at least from what we think we know about this negotiation. I can’t fault either side for being where they are, and I honestly doubt any of us would behave differently if we were either DL or DD (or Meehan, for that matter).
The problem for me comes in where DD has decided to play a version of hardball here, and it is a version that I do not feel he has earned the right to exercise. We have yet to see DD show up in maximum condition, and he has not shown a level of consistency (game to game, or year to year) that would allow for him to be compensated at a level beyond everyone else. Just because he has the “right” to negotiate from a position of strength, he is not necessarily right to do so, based on his performance and his personal committment.
DL has expectations that his top players need to act responsibly with respect to their career, and DL expects the players to work in the offseason and show up to camp better than they were the prior season. I think we could all agree that, up to this point, DD has not exhibited that responsiblity. Had DD shown that in the past few years, perhaps DL would feel more comfortable in extending his parameters. Should DL throw caution to the wind and sign DD at any cost, and risk the fact that DD might never show the responsibility that DL requires of his top players? Ability and potential aside, the committment to character that DL expects is what is missing, and it certainly must be a factor.
[Reply]
E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:48 am
@scvking,
Good points. Based on what Doughty has done in his career, he’s not a $6.8/mil a season player. He’s getting that money based on potential, which I think he will fulfill. At the same time it could blow up in the Kings face and we could see a Doughty who scores 30-40pts a season. Then I could see the Kings fans attacking DL for giving Doughty that contract. If I’m the Kings, I go with a 5 year contract. A lot can change in 5 years. For all we know, he might not even be our best D-Man in 5 years. Things change.
[Reply]
scvking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:59 am
@E-Dog,
That is the unknown factor in these negotiations. I seriously doubt DD doesn’t actually pan out as expected, but you never know.
A 5 year deal for DD puts him at UFA status the same time as Kopi, and DL does not want that to happen. That is a nightmare scenario. And it is why DL won’t do a 5 year deal.
[Reply]
Gustavo Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:27 am
@scvking,
Das right, dog!!
It’s a point often lost by those who want DL to give in to what this guy wants. Those very same people will be crucifying DL for risking losing Kopi and DD at the same time.
DL has said many times he wants to build a culture, not a rebuilding cycle.
nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:33 am
@scvking,
Ecellent points!
But if the stated difference is $200k per yr…is it worth it for either side to play hardball?
I can understand if there was a wide gap in numbers, but if it’s just $200k, then it makes absolutely no sense on either side.
[Reply]
scvking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:08 am
@nykingfan,
I don’t know if we can assume the difference is only $200k though. However, if it is, it would appear very senseless from both sides.
Maybe Meehan/DD want the 6th and 7th year of a contract to be $7.5 and $8.0? We have no way of knowing that.
Again, had DD shown the character/maturity/committment prior to this, maybe it would be easier for DL to show the additional money. Frankly, we haven’t seen much of that to this point. Potential? Almost incredible to think about what might be. But the whole package is just not in evidence yet to command what DD wants.
[Reply]
E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:08 am
@nykingfan,
Assuming the numbers we are hearing are correct. I can’t believe they are. If $200k was the holdup, I think one side would just bite the bullet. I would think it’s the years that’s the problem. DL doesn’t want to do anything less than 7. Drew doesn’t want more than 5.
[Reply]
I hate seeing this. I talked about this type of situation the other day, and most people didn’t think it was relevent. Now reading everyones blogs it reminds me of the Rob Blake situation. Yeah I’m fully aware of what happened, please don’t keep telling me. But the reason I brought the whole thing up was because both seem to alienated and ostriszed the fans so much. I hope that if Drew does finally sign whatever time frame it is, that we all as fans remember to be civil about our reactions.
[Reply]
Advocating a trade is crazy. Doughty’s presence on this team is a huge reason why people consider the Kings to be Cup contender now. You simply don’t trade away a franchise defenseman over a contract dispute at age 21. Erik and Jack Johson were both traded (for different reasons), but neither of them are as accomplished (yes, in 3 short years) or as good as Drew.
Drew had an “off” year, last year. But that off year was still better than a great majority of defenseman. You’re talking about a kid who was Norris finalist AND was on the number 1 pairing on the Canadian Olympic team (you’d be crazy to argue that he wasn’t by the Gold Medal game). Regardless of this drama, the kid is a special talent, and you certainly don’t trade him away now. A move like that would be typical Kings from the past.
As far as the 6.8m salary, we don’t even know the full context of that. Exactly how many years? All we know is that number and yes, maybe 6.8m isn’t that hot a deal depending on the length. Mike Richards is a poster boy of why you don’t sign a longterm deal for a hometown discount. Do we have any reliable info of numbers being thrown around for a shorter term deal? The only number we truly know is 6.8m and apparently that’s not satisfactory in combination of whatever number of years it’s paired with. I bet that 6.8m figure doesn’t apply to a 2 year deal.
In the end, I expect they’ll come to an agreement between 2 and 5 years and then all the angst can be spared until the process begins again. But I wouldn’t be so quick to point the finger anywhere until we get real info from both sides.
[Reply]
Maybe DL should consider letting DD cool his jets at home this season and try to trade one-for-one with Buffalo for Tyler Myers. If we can’t get the future Nick Lidstrom for a fair price, maybe we can get the future Zedno Chara for just over 4 mil a year.
[Reply]
Simmerfan11 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:48 am
@Simmerfan11, I mean at this years trade deadline, that front loaded 12 mil is killer.
[Reply]
E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 7:51 am
@Simmerfan11,
Maybe that’s the hold up we haven’t heard about yet. Maybe DD wants a front loaded contract and DL doesn’t want to do that for fear of circumventing the cap and getting penalized.
[Reply]
nykingfan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:35 am
@Simmerfan11,
He had a worse season than DD.
If we’re not going to give DD his $$ becuse of one sub par season (for him), then why would we want to pay $12 mil first year for a guy who was even less effective?
[Reply]
Gustavo Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:21 am
@Simmerfan11,
The average annual cap hit matters more than the front load. I’d make that trade in a NY minute.
[Reply]
I am so glad I have my number “11″ Kopitar jersey which I wear proudly. Sorry all you number “8′s” out there. :/ This is a bunch of crap is all I have to say.
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Drew should probably consider a few things -
1) holding out at this point means no training camp. No training camp means higher injury risk.
2) holding out means he is decreasing his future value by demonstrating that his focus is not on winning. He is fighting for a UFA payday that may not be very good anyway if he doesn’t show himself to be dedicated to winning in the next few years.
Both of those things mean the same thing. If Drew doesn’t report to camp, even if they have to settle for a short term deal and retry later, then he better take that 9 year deal because it could be the biggest payday he gets. If he holds out, he is very likely to be damaged goods, in one way or another, by the time his UFA payday rolls around.
[Reply]
So, just to break the ice, how is the weather in Nova Scotia? How about those Cubs? What did you do during the last hurricane? What’s a “Doughty”? When does the NBA season start? Yep, see ya, nice talkin’ to you too.
[Reply]
it appears that only 10% or so of voters think he’s a ‘franchise player’? – if that’s the case dump him – or are fans just fed up with greedy agents representing equally greedy players?
[Reply]
number 6 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:10 am
@petemagoop,
You can be a franchise player for sure. But it doesn’t mean it’s black and white….. yep, franchise player so why not just ask him how much he’d like and give it to him.
[Reply]
KC23 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:12 am
@petemagoop, With all the unemployment going on in this country it is very hard to swallow some 21 kid turning his nose up at 6.8 million. Makes you just want to slap him and yell wake the F up.
[Reply]
scvking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:37 am
@KC23,
I don’t think the state of the economy is even on the radar of any of these people. DL, DD and Meehan are all far removed from the financial difficulties that many are experiencing. It doesn’t exist in their world. You can’t expect that they relate in any way to what is going on. Sad, but true.
[Reply]
Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:47 am
@scvking, true… I’m sure economy just means “not first class”…
Selanne just signed a 1-year deal with the Sucks. What is he thinking? Oh yeah, I forgot, he is probably thinking “Hey, I am going to get paid for doing something I love.” Maybe someone else should take that into consideration during their contract negotiations.
[Reply]
Kingsfanone Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:43 am
@DesertKing,
Nicely said!
[Reply]
luuc Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:53 am
@DesertKing,
While I agree with your overall sentiment, Teemu’s 41…its not exactly like someone would sign him to a 7 year contract. Let’s keep this apples to apples, not apples to prunes.
[Reply]
Trade drew fatty to the jets for big buff right now.
[Reply]
E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:45 am
@Dan SanDonkey,
So we’re going to trade one fatty for another fatty. Well big buff is signed so at least that fatty will play. LOL
[Reply]
Gustavo Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:17 am
@E-Dog,
Big Buff needed extra layers to blabber to survive the Winnipeg winter. He’ll shed the the fat if we get him to LA.
[Reply]
puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:51 am
@Gustavo, Yah, wait til Greene, Brown, Williams, and Stoll get him out on the beach and Big Buff has to start sled pulling 2000 yards a day, that will shrivel him up !
Dan SanDonkey Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:27 am
@E-Dog, Buff is a monster in the playoffs
[Reply]
PP Anybody? Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:28 am
@E-Dog, Big Buff has a Stanley Cup ring. Drew doesn’t.
[Reply]
I think this post is/was meant to incite mob-mentality! LOL
I hope Simmers texts DD and says “man check out insider”
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I think I might be one of the few not really bothered by this whole situation.
Would I like to see Doughty as a King? I’d like to see him there for his whole career.
Will I be upset if he leaves? Absolutely.
Would I be mad at him for it? Not really. He’s doing what he thinks is best for him. Everyone does. I keep seeing people say ‘team’. While hockey is a team game to be played, individuals are still important. Maybe getting a concussion made Drew realize that a career could be cut short at any time, so he wants to get as much out of it while he can. I can’t say that I blame him for that. The future is always uncertain. How he plays can be risky, so he might be more prone to injuries that could end his career or make him be out for periods of time. Perhaps he’s taking all these things into consideration.
Money this, money that. It’s still a business, and it’s still an employee/employer relationship. The employee always wants to get what they think they’re worth, and the employer wants to pay as little for their services as possible. Ever go to your boss and say ‘I won’t work unless you give me xxxx, or else I walk’. How do you think that would go? Probably not how you’d want it to.
There’s a lot more to this than most people realize I think. So I’m ok with just seeing how things go, hope he signs, and accept whatever the outcome is. Either way, I’ll deal with it and cheer for the Kings like I always do. I try to not harbor resentment for any player that has ever played for us in the past. If I can manage to deal with my favorite player ever being traded away (Luc) and still love the Kings as much as I do, I think I’ll be ok regardless what happens with Drew.
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Niko Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 8:50 am
@Newf, I like your attitude and agree there is probably a lot we are unaware of in these negotiations. However, if he is trying to secure financial stability, why would he be the one holding out for a shorter contract? Already having a concussion makes him more vulnerable, so I would think, based on your logic, that he would want to sign for as many years possible if he is worried about his future health. If he is really holding out over a matter of 200k, which is only 2.9% more than the 6.8 Deano offered, I don’t see how that makes a significant difference in assuring he will be taken care of should the injury bug bite.
Just my worthless $0.02.
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Newf Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:02 am
@Niko, Well again, like it has been said, I believe Meehan is pressuring him to go for a shorter deal to get to Free Agency to test the market and once again, try to get a pay raise from the highest bidder. In all honestly I don’t see what that would accomplish. No defenceman is going to get paid more than 7.5mil at any point in their career, it’s just not going to happen.
That being said however, if he wanted to be a lifelong King, none of the Free Agency stuff be an issue at all. That issue alone targets Meehan as the source of the problems, not Drew. I don’t fault Drew in this process at all, only Meehan. I really do believe that if he had any other agent on this planet, things wouldn’t have gone this far.
All we ever really get to hear about in regards to contracts are money, years, and the occasional NTC/NMC. Drew knows he’s a big part of this team, and probably one of the keys to it winning a Cup. Meehan knows that too and I think is definitely going about this the wrong way.
I’m curious to know if Dean has talked directly to Drew, or only to Meehan…who knows what Meehan could be telling Drew. Could very well be not what Dean is saying at all.
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fsd1 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:40 am
@Newf, Meehan is doing it so Meehan can have a bigger payday too. Drew, tell him to stfu and sign a contract. Meehan is an ass.
BrokeKingsFan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:41 am
@fsd1, Bro…..this has got to be the first time ive seen you take a stance other than its just business and so on… I like it! Finally some fire out of you
tornado12 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
@broke, i second this notion…I love it!
Cup4LA64 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:11 am
@Newf, I completely agree with you. Players hold out on a regular basis in other sports and its just part of the business.
Lets say Doughty sign before season starts, the worst thing we can do is to boo Doughty. I think he is a long ways away from what Blake did (not that I completely agree with booing Blake) Blake was our captain. He ripped off his C in front of the team. Doughty is not doing anything demoralize the team other than excecising his rights to negotiate a contract.
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Shotongoal Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:03 am
@Newf, I can definitely get behind your logical post! My only concerns on both sides are these,are the Kings (AEG) hardballing, and/or is Doughty (Meehan) squeezing the Kings. If either or one of those scenarios is happening then I’m disappointed. If thise things aren’t happening, then this is just good old fashion negos and they will play out as they will.
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I’m sure his work ethic will improve if given this FAT contract… Thanks for being a team player DD
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There is no secret here. Luke Robitaille said it best, “No matter what any player or agent tells you, it’s always about the money.” In this case, DD and Meehan want a contract that gets DD to UFA age no further. DL and the Kings want to get their money’s worth and value out of the contract by keeping DD at least 2 years beyond UFA age. Unfortunately, the longer this goes the more leverage DD gains because it will be difficult to move him and get some value in return. Most teams can’t afford his type of contract under the cap, plus they know he is not willing to sign a contract that will take him past UFA status.
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Alright Doughty, today’s your last chance to show the fans you put the KINGS before yourself. Sign Deano’s offer, otherwise you have 2 options. 1. Don’t play hockey, or 2. get traded to a bottom dweller where you won’t see the playoffs again for years.
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You’d think Meehan would want a term other than 5 years at this point. Look at all of the players that are DD’s age that did get their 5-year contracts (many of them his clients). If all the them are UFAs at the same time, there will be less money around the league to go around that summer.
You’d think he’d want to stagger when they become UFAs so they aren’t competing against each other for their big pay day in the same summer.
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The time has come for Dean to take his offer off the table and make a new offer, based on the following: Every day Doughty misses training camp, the offer is decreased by $500,000 until a firm 5 mill per year is on the table with a 4 or 6 year contingency. DD has now alienated a majority of the fans by his greed.It is also believed that his head is so BIG, that we could not expect full out play each and every game and he would act like the petulant child he is. The team will be fine without or with him, but there is also the possibility he would be poison in the locker room. Isn’t that why both Cammy and POS were traded? Their demands were not warranted.
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E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:17 am
@poe,
Agreed. In Dean I trust. He wasn’t wrong on the Cammy situation. And he wasn’t wrong on the O’Sullivan situation either. If Dean would of gave in to those two we wouldn’t even be talking about signing Doughty because our cap would be up to the limit right now.
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The worst thing that happened to the Kings this summer was Shea Webbers 7.5 Million arbitration award. You cant tell me it didnt have influence on these negotiations. I have no doubt that Drew will be a great player. Does one great season and the POTENTIAL for greatness make you the highest paid player on a team expecterd to contend. If he had followed his sophmore year with sometyhing even close to it in his third…I’d say he’s worth it, but he didnt. He showed up out of shape and spent the season coughing up the puck at the blue-line, losing battles behind the net and losing his tempoer. Thats not how a 21 year old plays in a contract year if you expect to be made the teams money leader. Dean is not trying to low-ball you…he’s trying to spend the money in a fashion that will keep YOU on a winning team for years to come.
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Let’s ask Chris Chelios what he thinks. What’s the unemployment rate in the US? How many people have lost their homes? And you got a 21-yr old squabbling over $30mil over 5 years? These guys talk about hardwork and sacrafice when the reality is they’re being paid millions to play. Anyone else have a job where your work is referred to as “play” and you get paid anywhere near a pro athlete salary even if you are one of the best at it? If I “held out” I’d get fired and my family would suffer. These guys have no sense of reality.
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StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:29 am
@Mikko Makela,
Ownership and the league will make tens of millions because of Doughty’s skill and appeal. He’s a star in Canada and he’s well regarded accross the league. Watch other teams’ advertisements when the Kings come to town and they almost always say “Drew Doughty, some player, some player, and the Kings are coming to town”. Undoubtedly, other teams and the Kings make more money because of Drew Doughty (or any other star player). Yes, to you it seems like a ton of money (and it is, no doubt), but the player’s cut needs to be fair also. You can’t let billionaires exploit a kid with skill. To be clear, I don’t have much sympathy for either side at the end of the day because he’ll make more in two games than I do in a year, but if its a matter of cutting up the pie, I don’t mind siding with the player on this one. This isnt Patrick O’Sullivan or Jozef Stumpel or Mattias Norstrom. Just look at the national media attention this negotiation is getting in the US hockey markets. Do you thinkg if Jonathon Bernier did this, there would be as much press? This is a bonafide star (name recognition wise) that brings in a ton of revenue for the Kings and the league, not to mention he already is among the top ten in the league at his position of over 180 regulars (top 6 for 30 teams).
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tornado12 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:59 am
Do you or any other Kings fan go to a game to watch drew doughty play? He isnt wayne gretzky or mario lemieux or even crosby or ovechkin. He is not a superstar! with all due respect to those who make the argument that he ALONE is why we all pay money to see Kings games is just not true! Dont get me wrong, he is IMHO one of the top 3 players on our team right now and likely will ultimately end be being our best player, but a superstar he is not!
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KingMe20 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:44 am
@Mikko Makela,
If you called Chris Chelios, he’d probably say he could play right now.
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SteevoGT Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:55 am
@Mikko Makela,
I agree with you. I love hockey and sports to death, but it’s amazing how we put these people on pedastals and worship them. We throw our hard earned money at them. Let’s face it, they’re just “entertainers”. It just gives us something to do and watch for a couple of hours. They’re not out there trying to discover the cure for Cancer. And yet many athletes treat the fans like peasants, they forget that without fans, they wouldn’t even have a job, or a purpose. The owners make too much money too of course. Everything needs to get dialed back in line so we can actually afford to go to a game once in awhile…oh wait, I’m dreaming.
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Wake up DD, Schenn just signed for average of 3.6 million. You are now left out in the cold. Grow up and smell the roses. You are not worth over 6 million a year. DL trade his sorry A–.
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As much as we need him he made too many mistakes in the series against SJ. Can’t blame the kid and his agent for trying to get top dollar we all would do the same. He needs to prove he’s worth the money before he gets it. Needs to be a short term deal until he can prove his heart is bigger then his head.
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KingMe20 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 9:47 am
@Framer,
To be fair, Jack Johnson didn’t “do the same.” He decided that stability was more important, and he showed that he believes this team has a good shot at winning. Johnson bought into the team, and probably took less money than he could have gotten elsewhere.
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puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:02 am
@KingMe20, Jack Johnson’s hockey IQ at game speed in his own zone still stinks! A combined minus 82 over 4 NHL seasons isnt bad, its pathetic ! I am so glad that you are pleased that JJ is a team player and cares about the Kings. Guess what? JJ isnt guaranteed anything here with that piss poor stat and he better get it shored up real quick or Dean and Hexy will ship his ass outta here !
Bottom line…As of right now JJ couldnt cary Drew’s jock currently and you and I both know it !
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BrokeKingsFan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:57 am
@puck73, Ive read all of your JJ bashing posts and i for sure cant argue the stat portion of them by any means. His +/- is atrocious and there is no excuse for that. I dont think at this point though that JJ’s character can be questioned and that is exactly what is being questioned about DD and the point that people are trying to make. Its not comparing JJ and DD statisticaly but more of hopeing/wishing that DD would show similar character to the guys who signed reasonable contracts that still make them millionairs at very young ages and all the while allowing the team the resources to build a cup contender. Also…an annual average salary of 6.8 mil isnt exactly low balling him so If anything…again, its a character issue at this point IMO and we all know how DL feels about that.
KingMe20 Reply:
September 17th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
@puck73,
Thanks for pointing out the incredibly obvious… Jack Johnson isn’t Drew Doughty. I know. We all know. I also know that Doughty is prone to bone-headed mistakes as well (e.g., missing the check on Couture in the playoffs). Those are mistakes of youth, and they’re going to happen.
However, I missed the part where that was my point. I’m talking about what it means to act as an individual, and what it means to want to be part of a team. Yeah, Johnson isn’t Doughty, but in terms of character, Doughty isn’t Johnson, either. One of them clearly wanted to be here, and if you don’t think that other teams wouldn’t have come looking for Johnson come free agency, then I think you’re kidding yourself.
My point was that it says something good about Johnson that he didn’t want to distract his teammates with an issue over his contract, nothing more. Do with that what you will.
DD is not worth what DL is offering, he was rubish last season and doesn’t deserve half of what the offer is.
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Option 4: 6mil is the max, ask him to either take it or trade the right to somewhere else.
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Comment from Bogosian made me a little upset. Something to the effect of (Paraphrasing) ‘Even though the deal wasn’t done, I was confident it would get worked out, so I found a place to live, and I flew in a few days ahead of camp. I figured that even if the deal ran a little too long and I had to wait, it was good to immerse myself in the city and be near the team, not to mention be nearby so that I can jump right in once it’s done.’
So what does that say about Drew? It says he’s still sitting at home in Ontario. It says that he’s still there because he has no hope of being here any time soon, because if he was hopeful about rejoining the team quickly, he would be in LA, trying to at least acclimate to LA, maybe trying to at least be around his teammates off the ice, even if he can’t get out there just yet. Why wouldn’t drew be hopeful? because he knows it’s not going to happen. And how would he know that? He knows that if HE is the one making the decision.
You know. that seals it for me. What Bogosian did is the ultimate display of team attitude. Even if he couldn’t make a difference in the negotiations, there are things he can be doing to try and be a team player. Drew isn’t doing that. Why Drew? Why aren’t you here, anxious to get on the ice the minute this thing is done? I’ve defended drew quite a bit, but hearing what Bogosian did in a similar situation casts this in a different light. Drew, I understand that maybe you aren’t really the one in control of negotiations. But there are many other things you CAN do, that would show your fans and your team that you are a winner and a team player. Those things aren’t even difficult things. But you haven’t done them. So maybe you’d rather do them for another team. Maybe Drew would like to play for a basement team for the next five years…
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dMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:13 am
@Bill M., I wouldn’t be surprised that Doughty staying in Ontario is by Meehan’s request. He needs to give the impression his player is ready to hold out and will only join the team and return to the city when a deal is reached.
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E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:37 am
@dMan,
No I think it’s Drew. The reason I say this is because Luke Schenn has been in camp all week working out with his teammates. TSN shows video of him this week skating on the ice and doing drills. They even interview him. He states that he’s not worried about the contract it will work itself out and he just wanted to make sure he was there with his teammates. Schenn is a Meehan client. So if Schenn does this, what does it say about Drew.
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The Kings or US as fans can’t be so selfish as to extract morals from this situation can we? Doughty does not deserve a contract that big – bottom line. It’s utter and complete arrogance to even ask that much from Doughty’s side. Yes, he has outstanding potential – but he is also inconsistent. With the amount of ice he is getting isn’t it time he stepped his game up if he wants big money?
So do we cave and bring him back no matter the cost? HELL NO. This is starting to remind me of Kovalchuk now. I never wanted Kovalchuk and secretly hoped we didn’t sign him because of his lack of passion. Why do we want someone on our team that’s going to behave like this? Can we say poison in the locker room? Who turns down what the Kings have offered Doughty?! That tells me it’s more about money than it is about hockey or the Kings to him.
Lock him out…let’s take our chances. This sucks…Doughty’s name is totally tainted for me now…
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I hope Doughty AND Meehan realize the irreversible damage they are doing to his name!
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I say let Drew Agent waste his talent by not signning him at all…His telant will go to waste cause then what team would want him and no team can get him at all because the Kngs have the rights to match their Contract.So lets him waste it and he can blame no one but his agent and him self plain and simple…..
To me i would want Doughty to play with the Kings but if he not going to be in shape like last season then i dont want him part of this team this season at all….By missing the beginning of the season then its no important to have him playing for the Kings we need everyone in shape.If Doughty not in shape then we still have a shot but be carrying a dead weight over their shoulders and that not right
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This whole thing is beyond ridiculous. And the whole this is backwards. Normally a player wants a longer term deal than the team is willing to give him. But here we have a player wanting a shorter deal. If DL would stop being so stubborn for one minute he would see that DD is doing us a favor. Give him the shorter deal. DD is the one with more to lose here. If he turns out to be a bust (which I don’t believe he will but it is a possibility) than we will be happy we gave him a shorter deal. If he turns out to be amazing (as I think he will be) then we give him a raise before he becomes a free agent or we have this amazing player that we can trade for another amazing player). I really don’t see the problem? And, since I am dishing out advice-I would tell DD to accept a little longer deal than he wants just to have some security. DD-even if you think that you are the best Defenseman ever, don’t you want a some security-what if you get hurt?
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If it’s between 6.8 mil and 7.0 mil, let’s split the difference and make it happen. It’s not worth it to try to prove a point here. But, I’m guessing these guys would do that if that was all this was…
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Interesting that the media –TSN in particular– side with players more than mgmt in these negotiations. Toronto signing Schenn was apparently more money than TO wanted to spend, but signed more $$ for longer term and were roundly applauded by TSN.
They also seem to think that LAK’s mgmt is not playing it right with Doughty.
Easy to spend other people’s money.
Meehan is playing hardball because 1) he can and really has nothing to lose 2) holding out benefits his player (especially one that is held in such high regard by teams and media) even to the detriment of the team he is negotiating with 3) mgmt doesn’t want prolonged negotiations that will distract the team, anger fans one way or the other (see postings here), attract negative PR for mgmt and the team 4)he gets very well paid for being a jerk with little to no adverse effects and even has a bonus where players will see him as a champion for their rights
Lombardi is screwed because 1) he’s been honest about his offers, 2) he’s been public with them leaving very little room to modify them without losing face 3) as forthright and honest as he has been about his negotiations, it’ll be seen negatively by players and agents 4) team mgmt will sour on him because the perception will be (oddly and wrongly) that their GM cannot be dealt with – perhaps this is what led to his eventual demise in SJ.
I love Lombardi and what he has done with this organization. I love the fact that he’s a visionary, that he’s honest about his intentions and actions, he’s a man of his word and lives up to his promises to the fans and his planning. Unfortunately, this same honesty is what might get him in trouble. His idea that others he deals have the same integrity, fairness and reason may be naive and makes him ripe to being taken advantage of especially by bullying agents unwilling to compromise.
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:10 am
@dMan, I’d have to disagree about DL#4. I think that’s what DL made it clear he would have to talk to TL, who would then climb the ladder to talk to PA in his bunker in Co.
My question is how many GMs need to talk to somebody who will then relay the message to ownership? Is that standard NHL practice? Honestly, I’m just asking, not saying PA is a uber-ego maniacal big green wizard that lives behind a curtain and cannot be bothered…
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dMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:16 am
@Stuart, Lombardi is GM who reports to President Leiweke who must then communicate with ownership. If Lombardi was also President, he would most probably talk directly to ownership.
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puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:19 am
@dMan, You are wrong. Dean Lombardi’s titles include the following…..Alternate Governor, President, and General Manager.
dMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:32 am
@dMan, I sit corrected then.
dMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:36 am
@puck73, just looked up their titles;
Leiweke is Governor, Lombardi and Robitaille both share president duties and are both alternate governors implying they report to Leiweke.
puck73 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:13 am
@dMan, Thats a very good theory. We will see if Lombardi learned anything from San Jose and applies it to this situation.
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gene Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:13 am
@dMan, Awesome post. You hit it right on the nail. One other thought: DD go somewhere else. YOu are not worth the money you are asking. DL stick to your contract offer. Don’t give in.
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Brian Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:02 am
@dMan, Well TSN is an extremely Canadian biased media outlet so take it with a grain of salt…but you’re right, unfortunately they have influence…
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Four hundred sixty five comments in less than 24 hours…
Wordle cloud:
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4082751/LAKingsInsider_Blog
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Send a copy of this entire blog post and the poll results to Drew and his agent.
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What worries me most is not if he gets signed, but how he approaches the season once he is. What motivation would Drew have to get in shape, work hard, and improve his game as a 21 year old making 6-7 mil per year? We’ve all seen this type of story throughout sports. An athlete will get the money they feel is owed to them and then they stop trying completely. They never justify the contract because they have no motivation to do so. I hope that is not the case here, but it is a concern…atleast to me!
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Token Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:53 am
@LancasterKing, Ask Penner. He seems to know a few things about motivation.
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What about a signing bonus. He signs and gets 10 million up front then we can keep our cap down to 5.5-6.5 a year over the next 7-10 years.
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Randy S Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:38 am
@King Kopitar,
I think signing bonuses add into the cap figure.
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PP Anybody? Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:48 am
@Randy S, Tyler Myers essentially signed a contract that does just that. He get’s 12 million his first year, then 6 the next, and less each year for a total of 7 years and a cap hit of 5.5 mil. Technically not a signing bonus, but yeah it’s a signing bonus.
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I get what you are asking int he poll, but the way it is phrased is a bit wierd. I think the Kings should hold the line with their offer (no more than Kopitar, no shorter than 7 years), but at the same time I also think he should be paid like a franchise player and treated as such ($6.8M is franchise player pay for a guy like Doughty).
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Hello, you have reached the voicemail for Dean Lombardi, general manager of the better-than-ever Los Angeles Kings. Sorry I can’t take you call right now, but please follow the prompts for assistance. If this is Don Meehan, please hang up and dial 9-1-1. You are on fire and not in a good way. If this is Drew Doughty, please hang up and dial 4-1-1 since you need to get some better information than what people on fire are giving you. If this is Gary Bettman, please press “1″ to reach my pre-recorded diatribe regarding “Beat me like a tambourine” Tambellini. If this is one of the Insider participants, please press “2″ if you like Rich, press “3″ if you don’t like Rich, press “4″ if you prefer In-N-Out, press “5″ if you prefer 5 Guys and press “6″ if you prefer Tommy’s Burgers. Everyone else, please leave a message and I will get back to you later. Ciao.
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gene Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:33 am
@DesertKing, Now that is funny and dam truthful
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DesertKing Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:47 am
@DesertKing,
FYI, I would press “2″ and “4″
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Kingsfanone Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:54 am
@DesertKing,
Pressing 2 and 4 but nothing happening. Pressing again.
This thing ain’t working. Darn!
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DesertKing Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:59 am
@Kingsfanone,
You have DL’s phone number? You are the man!!
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:08 am
@DesertKing, notice he said it ain’t working… it was the fake number DL give’s out to the chicks in the club…
Kingsfanone Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:33 am
@Stuart,
Maybe I couldn’t get thru cuz Lombardi’s phone is burning up from everybody calling him? (except Meehan, of course!)
Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:37 am
@Kingsfanone, Aha!! you may be right, I may be crazy!
Kingsfanone Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:40 am
@DesertKing,
Having an Android smartphone…….$100
Google & apps loaded up……..free!
Calling Meehan just for the pleasure of hanging up on him?
Priceless!
Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
@DesertKing,
Beeeep
Hello…..This is Carl, and I’m calling because this number was on a “hows my driving sticker” on the back of a minni van. Your driving sucks, and you shouldn’t even be allowed on the road until you get some bifocals ya putz!……..If I dialed the wrong number….than never mind…..Click.
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mr.Deano help don Meehan lose his job.
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Early on I was worried. You gotta step back and just be patient. I knew this post would have so many responses. While I was angry early on, he hasn’t missed much. Yes, today is training camp, but I still believe in the end he will be a king (I know someone’s gonna ask “well when then?”. That I do not know! It’s easy to jump in with the lynchmob, but I am going to hold my ground until I here something definitive. I believe we have a cup contending team either way. I’d just rather see Drew on it.
All I know is today is Friday, After work I am going home, grabbing a six pack of new castle and frequently checking this site for sign of DD signing. (while my wife nags me to death)
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:38 am
@Chris, tell my wife to get home! Oh, you mean you have a nagging wife too??? LOL
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At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a shorter term deal like 4 year/$24M with $4M signing bonus. Lombardi might want Doughty to prove himself in the 4 years while keeping his cap hit under control. Within 4 years, the team will have assets able to take over defensively should Doughty decide to test the FA market whether or not he will have brought a cup to L.A.
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Stat wise, yes Doughty is nowhere near Kopitar level. But You watch his play, Doughty makes a huge difference on the ice. He opens up the offensive attack when taking the puck in. He gets up and down the ice faster than anybody, and he always makes big plays on defense. The stats from last year may not show much but if you see him on the ice and pay attention what he does when he’s out there. It’s makes a HUGE difference with and without him. And his agent knows that, that’s why I’m sure that his agent wants him to be the highest paid player. A great player doesn’t just show it on the stat sheet, he shows it on the ice. I want Doughty to come back just because having him on the ice makes a big difference and he can open the game up so much when he’s out there.
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Michael_DD8 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:01 am
@Brad,
You are totally correct. Many people miss these things and it hurts. The amount of things Doughty does in the game other then just “Score” and “Assist” are ten fold to those Stat sheet statistics. Nobody his age plays the same amount of time he does, at the level Drew plays at. (Norris Trophy level) It hurts so bad to read the fact fans think we can easily move on without him.. We COULD, YES we would prob still make the playoffs, but i want to win the cup. Regardless, Drew is what makes our blue line such a huge threat, and to win the cup, we need Drew and im positive in that thinking.
One last thought, this Don Meehan guy is prob our worst anymore right now. It hurts to think that if this was any other agent, it might not even be like this.
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Michael_DD8 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:02 am
@Michael_DD8,
worst enemy*
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Bottom Line:
If DD signs a huge contract and has a sub-par season, he’s probably through in LA.
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E-Dog Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:39 am
@Sergei Prozacutov,
If he signs a huge contract and has a bad year then guess what. We’re stuck with him. No one is going to take on a huge contract if the player is not performing up to it.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:11 am
@Sergei Prozacutov, If he signs a big contract and gets another Norris trophy nomination, everybody will worship him, and that comment will be lost to the sands of time.
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Everyday that Dewy misses his contract should go down by $200,000.
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:09 am
@chuckrocks, If that’s the case then sit him out and in a year or so he can sign for nothing.
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:10 am
@Dominick, now you’re coming around Dom!!!
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Dominick Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:48 am
@Stuart, If we sit him out at 200K a day, pretty soon he’ll owe the Kings money. LOL
Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:50 am
@Dom, then the million$ question will be would Meehan have to pony-up 15% of the payments made???
@TSNBobMcKenzie: Raitis Ivanans, who was KOed in Game 1 last yr and didn’t play all season, trying to get medically cleared to re-join CGY in training camp
lol
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Kingsfanone Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:48 am
@Subby,
“Raitis not know long division.”
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dMan Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 10:54 am
@Subby, not sure why this is funny. Just another reminder how pervasive concussions have become in the NHL even among the fighters.
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Howe 9 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:45 am
@dMan, I agree. Not funny. I wish all the best to Raitis.
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Wow, there’s a lot of venom being spewed here.
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I thought the Kings did their homework on Doughty before they drafted him? Why are we at this stage if all the staff felt this guy was a franchise player who is a team player first.
Maybe we got it wrong…maybe ownership isn’t team first! ; )
Whatever happens I hope it ends soon so we can put this behind us and focus on the Cup.
I put a $150.00 wager on them winning it this year and no agent is going to crush my hopes of a Cup win and a chance at some nice Vegas coin!
Get er’ done!!
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number 6 Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:05 am
@KOHO,
Well KOHO, I can’t use the words ‘doing my homework’ before they drafted him. But (and I’m being 100% honest here, I felt a real lack of maturity in DD’s words in the interview that Rich did with him before the draft… so…. it doesn’t surprise me to see this.
That said, I’m Not saying they should have drafted someone else. Just that he seemed like a young surfer type dude in his way of speaking.
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StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:11 am
@KOHO,
They did do their homework.He’s as good as they thought, probably better. He’s probably been more successful than even HE thought he’d be. Name another 18 year old number one defensemen? Three years of being the TOI leader for the Kings is impressive any way you slice it.
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BluLiner Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:44 am
@StillneedDewey FKA PakiFro,
. . . and a Canadian Olympic hero.
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I think this shows Drew’s attitude that he is for himself and not a team player. I think some of his personality showed last season with his play. I say don’t budge from what you have offered. If he signs then trade him for someone with a higher regard for his team mates. He does not command a higher salary than Kopi, or even Richards or Gagne for that matter.
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Funniest thing I’ve read today on another site “how can any 21 year old think he’s worth 6.8 million dollars?”.
My response “Wasn’t that what the Kings signed Kopi too a few years bakc, when he was how old?”.
His reponse “get lost idiot”.
LOL!
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Stuart Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:21 am
@Dominick, I wonder if AK fired Meehan before or after signing that coni?
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Doughty has not proven himself to get the kind of $$ that he and his agent are asking for.You don’t need this to disrupt a team that Lombardi and the owner have been piecing together, as we all have been seeing now. Let him sit, trade him, make good of what they have right now. If it is a key that they need on the pp, then you work with a specific 2 forwards to run the point and can skate to back check and whom has a cannon of a shot. He should look how many people are without jobs and be grateful he gets paid the amount of $$ that he already makes playing the game of hockey that he loves like all the other players in the NHL
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i have been a kings fan for 30 years and i’ve waited a long time for a roster like we have this coming year, as much as i loved DD we can win with out him and i’m tired of everyone blaming meenan (agent) as DD can at any time ssy just get this done as i want to play with L.A as we have someting special here and we are going to be contenders for years to come.
QUESTION: if KOPITAR was making 6m a year would DD ask for 6.2m a year??? just se he can be branded as the highest paid L.A king???
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How can any young man or woman in there early 20′s demand more money? Doesnt DD realize there are millions of Americans out of work who would treasure making $50,000 a year much less making being able to make $6,000,000 a year? Why don’t you grow up DD and be thankfull for what you have. What a selfess joke you have turned into. DL trade him, he is a cancer in the loc ker room.
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How come no other team as offered him more? Hmmmmmmm
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bmova Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:44 am
@Sancho, I don’t think they want to risk giving up 4 first round picks!
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I am going to LMAO when we sign Doughty and he has some amaazinngggg season this year and we are all sitting her like ………….
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scvking Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 11:43 am
@Subby,
While there are some definite anti-Doughty posters here, most are in the “just get it done” camp.
One point that I think is overlooked a bit is that DD went into last season knowing it was a contract year, and fell back a bit from the preceeding season. Now, he is asking for a lot of money, and some of us think there is a bit more accountability in play that DD or Meehan seem willing to accept in regard to that sub-par performance.
I for one think DD is going to be amazing, but is not there yet. He could holdout, and sign at some point and be the playoff MVP, and I don’t think many can doubt that could happen.
I think we all know the ceiling is extremely high for DD, and it may not be too far off.
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Subby Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
@scvking, This ^ :]
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I believe since camp opened today DL should allow Rich (or even Helene) to interview him so we all know the same facts on the DD and what the stance of the team is currently.
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I vote for option 4: trade him for some gifted young talent.
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Drew fatty must be too busy reviewing all those offer sheets to come to camp.
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So………..is DD a character guy afterall? the verdict is still out IMO
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I just don’t understand why the negotiations have to take this long. If both sides want to get serious, this should get done in one day. If Kings want to keep him, and Doughty really wants to be a King, it’s called a compromise. Just resolve this already! This has to be affecting the players as well as the fans.
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The biggest hold up with this whole situation, in my opinion, is the uncertainty on both sides. The Doughty camp sees it as “if they’re asking me to give up UFA years, then they’d better pay me for them” while the Kings management side sees it as “were not giving you Ovechkin money until you earn it.” When you really think about it, its a genius play by Dean. If they sign DD for 9 years at an aav of 6.8 and he turns out to be the perennial Norris finalist we all think hes capable of being then – while the first few years will be an overpayment – the latter years will be a steal at 6.8. Conversely, Doughty sees it as getting gipped out of UFA years, but if hes being paid higher than he should be for the first 4 he will more than make up the money lost by foregoing 3 years of UFA anyway!
I see this being resolved in one of three ways: (a) Dean offers more years and more money; (b) Dean offers less years at a significantly reduced AAV; or (c) Doughty/Meehan blink and sign the deal thats on the table. In my opinion these are the only acceptable outcomes from the team (and by extension, fans) standpoint. Honestly, for me, signing Drew to more money only to get last years Doughty is scarier than letting him walk and having to find someone to fill his minutes. Thats a season-long problem, overpaying him for 10 years is a decade long problem that will handicap the teams ability to win for the foreseeable future. If its me – I offer him 4 yrs/24M. If he lives up to his expectations he can have his payday in 4 years. At least then you know you’re signing a motivated player.
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Brown, Kopi, Green and Quick need to talk to Doughty and urge him to accept the deal by the Kings. I don’t think Lombardi is trying screw Doughty out of what he deserves. He is looking at the team long term which is what a good GM does. I hope that Doughty sees what kind of a scumbag Meehan is and fires him after all of this is done. That will prove that he isn’t completely greedy and that he wants to play hockey.
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Scaught Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
@The Dude, Yes.
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I would rather lose without him and have the CAP space to pick up somebody else. Than to lose with him and be stuck because he is overpaid and we have no CAP space.
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Doughty is a top 10 defenseman in the league. If the difference is only $200,000 a year, I don’t see why the two sides can’t come up with a deal. That isn’t that big of a difference. They need to sit down and hammer out a deal. The Kings have aspirations to win the Stanley Cup. They don’t win one without Doughty
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Scaught Reply:
September 16th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
@houseoflords, Sure they do. They’re 6 deep in elite offense and the D will hold up just fine if Quick does well. Drew’s a blue chip but isn’t worth what he’s asking right now in his career.
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Screw him. 7 mil a year, my a$$. When he carries a team the way a guy like Shea Weber does, fine. Until then, GTFOH, Drew.
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King Cobra Reply:
September 18th, 2011 at 8:12 am
@Scaught, Well Said
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I’m ready to trade him frankly. Sure he is a very good player who may become a great player, but he is just 1 player on a team. As well as this team has been built, I don’t want to see it torn apart because of one huge salary that forces us to pass on or lose players that could fill any holes. If he misses training camp, he is going to be a hinderance rather than a help. I hope he’s getting lots of offer sheets sent his way with a 6.5 mil limit
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hey king fans im sorry about this becuase doughty is gunna be a beast whether you like it or not! He is one of my fav players. Detroit will take him! good luck
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As much as im pissed at drew right now, i still now deep inside hes gonna be great. But wait, 6.8 million? Take the money Drew! You want more than Kopi? Youre kidding right? Wtf? Youre serious? LMAO!
Kopitar is a superstar, every Kings fan knows that. You dont get a+25 by accident as a top line center. Take the money Doughnut, you will be rewarded with many championships!
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