Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Hitting the Floor

The salary cap floor for next season is $40.7 million dollars. The Kings, as of right now, have a total of about $29 million in salaries so far. I'm not the mathematical genius/geek that Earl is, but I think the Kings are going to be okay. They need to sign Patrick O'Sullivan to a deal, which hopefully will be not nearly as retarded as that Jeff Carter contract. They also need to sign Erik Ersberg, Brad Richardson, Matt Moulson, and Gabe Gauthier. O'Sullivan should get around $2-3 million over a couple of years, while the rest should get a million each. Say that's around $7 million, which puts the Kings at $36 million. If they then sign Mike Commodore (please?) and Rob Blake, the Kings should be sitting right at the floor. Some Kings fans will bitch and moan about the fact that the Kings aren't spending up to the cap, but when you consider the fact that Jack Johnson, Anze Kopitar, Ted Purcell and Brian Boyle are all going to be restricted free agents next year, it seems like a good idea to leave some space.

The Kings' situation puts them in a rather enviable position in the coming season. Take Philadelphia, for example. They're right up against the the cap and have yet to sign 5 restricted free agents. If the Kings wanted, they could offer just enough to keep Philly from matching but not enough to lose a 1st-round pick. Or, if they were so inclined, they could take on salary from another team that's near the cap in exchange for draft picks. The salary would have to be for only one year, obviously, but it could be done. Should be fun to watch.

10 comments:

Earl Sleek said...

The salary would have to be for only one year, obviously, but it could be done.

Marchant + Schneider for a draft pick: everyone's problems solved?

(Todd and Matt don't even need to relocate; they could carpool to work.)

RudyKelly said...

Hmm... you know, I never considered the possibility that the Kings could trade for Schneider, but if the two teams could get over the whole hate thing it could actually work.

Ken said...

I agree with the trade...Lord knows we need rid of some people in Anaheim.

Sarah said...

If Schneider could go to LA, he'd be happy. If he could go to SJ, I'd be happy. I just hope for his sake he can stay in California.

Anaheim will take a huge hit to their rep after signing a big name free agent only to trade him a year later. Players and agents have a long memory. And with all these long-term deals being signed (and no-trade clauses), it shows that players are tired of being moved left and right. Going to a team that has moved players left and right will be avoided.

But Burke will be gone in a year anyway, so that is for the next GM to worry about.

Mike in OC said...

I hope the Kings stay at the floor, the owners need to save them penny's for our new football stadium.

As a bonus (to us Ducks fans), the Kings SHOULD remain no better than average.

Win/Win.

Earl Sleek said...

Anaheim will take a huge hit to their rep after signing a big name free agent only to trade him a year later.

I can't believe I have to get franchise reputation advice from a team that's now known for firing division-winning coaches :)

Kevin Y said...

The Kings are in a situation where they need to refrain from signing free-agents that eventually under-perform (Handzus, Cloutier just to name a few). They've got great young talent in Kopitar, O'Sullivan, Brown, Frolov, and Johnson. They need to save some money to sign those guys when their contracts expire, and they'll look good for the future just as long as they can keep that young core. And wait until Doughty, Teubert, and Hickey come up.

Sarah said...

I can't believe I have to get franchise reputation advice from a team that's now known for firing division-winning coaches :)

I can't believe a Ducks fan is defending Wilson. =)

Unknown said...

I don't think burke (or any other gm) should worry about hurting a players feelings at all. I think the players are getting a little too much say in their futures these days. I mean, its not like schneider wouldnt get the money garaunteed to him from his contract. If it would make the ducks situation better to trade him then that's what he ought to do, regardless of what his agent thinks. And for schneider, then he doesnt have to be on the ducks anymore, so its win-win!

Alexander Dubcek said...

Anaheim will take a huge hit to their rep after signing a big name free agent only to trade him a year later.

Eh, I don't think this is a concern. For one thing, Schneider's only on a two-year deal, so even if he does get traded, it's not like he had expected to play here five years and was being shipped out after just one.

Plus, I think if potential free agents are that concerned with staying in one place, they'll push either for a no-movement clause, or for a really long-term deal (probably at least four or five years), since that also makes it harder to get dealt with a contract like that (see: DiPietro, Rick).

I'd cite the case of the Kings signing Demitra to a three-year deal, then trading him a year into the contract, as a precedent for this, but it's not like the Kings have been able to get any big free agents since then (nor am I certain they've been that aggressive pursuing them). But that probably has a lot more to do with free agents wanting to go where they can win right away, rather than participating in a rebuild.

I think for a team to get a rep for not keeping guys around for the life of their contract, there would have to be repeated instances of dealing players in the early stages of multiyear contracts. For the Ducks, at least, there just aren't a lot of players who would even be candidates for that, since they don't have a lot of guys brought in as UFAs who still have several years left on a contract.