Deadline discussion part three: Cost and effect

Shortly after 12:00 noon on Wednesday, the NHL’s trading deadline will have passed, and fan bases across the National Hockey League will have evolved from assessing the costs to address their team’s wants and needs to projecting the futures of a slightly realigned balance of personnel.

In advance of the trading deadline, I sat down with General Manager Dean Lombardi to try and gain a sense of the direction the team will be heading at the trading deadline, and the efforts undertaken by the Kings’ hockey executives to improve the club.

Keep in mind that tampering rules do exist, and general managers can’t pinpoint players on other teams by name. So don’t expect any salacious details surrounding Player X to be revealed by the club’s executives.

Instead, this multi-part discussion serves as an interesting guide to develop your own conclusions about where the Kings are at, where they are headed, and what type of hypothetical player movement would best give the team a chance to win a higher percentage of regular season and playoff games.

Yesterday, Lombardi referenced the recoil that comes with trading for a player in the final year of their contract. “So you overpay at times to get him and you might have to overpay on your cap, so you’re taking a double hit,” he said. The overpaying doesn’t only come from the amount it takes away from the cap space, but also from an actual roster spot that would otherwise be taken by a current roster player or a player in the system.

Dean Lombardi, on fitting a trade target onto the roster:
It’s not only the price you pay to get the player, but is that price related to asset value, i.e. how long you have the player? And then if you commit to having the player, what’s the price on your cap space to keep the rest of your team? Because you’re never in a great position if you trade for a rental, give up a lot, and he walks on you. Now you’ve really done it. But even if you do pay it, and keep him, now you might really have done it to your cap space. So those are the things that people don’t generally think about. There’s a cost. There’s a cost in what you give up, and there’s a cost in what it costs to keep him. And then there’s a cost if you keep him, what you have to get rid of that’s on your roster. So arguably, just think about it, just say I trade for Player X. I give up a first and a second rounder. Then I have to sign Player X because I’ve given up so much. The agent knows he has all kinds of leverage because you gave so much. Then I sign him, and I have to jettison somebody out of that room. So now the price has really become a first, a second, and a player I had to give up to get out of here to sign him. So those are the things, when you do your Wall Street formulas that you don’t think about. It’s just like trade deadline day – everybody goes ‘Let’s do something.’

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To mitigate the complications, as Darryl Sutter mentioned yesterday, the Kings could simply continue to afford rookies Tanner Pearson, Linden Vey and Tyler Toffoli the opportunity to earn additional responsibilities. That’s not to say the options of trading for a player in the final year of his contract and loosening the reins on the younger players are mutually exclusive, but that it’s an additional option that won’t force the team to part with any assets. It also has the potential to affect the team’s skill level, which is a priority.

“Those kids bring what we’re lacking, which is making some plays,” Lombardi said. “All three of those kids can make plays. They were one of the most dynamic lines in minor league hockey.”

“You even see Linden, in the short time he’s out, he makes a lot of little plays. It doesn’t bring you out of your seat, but you’re keeping the puck. He gives the puck to a guy who can do something with it. He just doesn’t get rid of it and say, ‘You deal with it.’ And all three of them can do that, but they’re inexperienced.”

Deadline Discussion part one: How did we get here?
Deadline discussion part two: Supply, demand and the cap