Anyone that has been around VFMS for any extended period of time knows that I’m a loyal, dedicated, border-line obsessive Kings fan. Usually when I throw together articles or research statistics for a particular piece, I try to put my Kings hat aside and write with a level of objectivity. Of course it will seep through from time to time, but at least there’s an effort. Most days I attempt to maintain a certain level of professionalism. Today is not one of them. Today I’ll be using words like “our team,” “us” and “we,” when I look at the Kings inactivity to start the free agency period. If that’s not your cup of tea, then you can just skip onto the next article or come back soon. No hard feelings. Because there are days that I respect myself, this is certainly not one of them.
Let me preface all of this with a simple opening caveat: I’ve bee a staunch Dean Lombardi supporter since he joined the team 3 seasons ago. I repeatedly look to San Jose to see the type of foundation that he’s capable of building. I look at the pipeline of players that the Kings have within the organization and cringe when I remember how bear the cupboard was just a few years ago. Through the draft, he’s been able to provide hope for the future with important pieces with like Drew Doughty, Oscar Moller and Wayne Simmonds. He’s been able to stash guys like Thomas Hickey, Colten Teubert, Andrei Loktionov and Jonathan Bernier in Juniors (or the minors) while letting them properly grow into legitimate NHL players without rushing them like so many regimes before them did. In no way, shape or form am I marginalizing any of that. Its part of the puzzle—and he’s REALLY good at it. But that’s just it—it’s only PART of the puzzle.
Kings Free Agency Activity: Somewhere south of spectacular...
I’ve been one of the people that have been preaching patience for years as the Kings have undertook their enormous rebuild. When people screamed for the quick fix, I understood that it wasn’t in our long term plans. When people wanted to trade away some of our promising prospects for a band-aid, glorified 2nd line guy, I knew it would be best to stay the course. Obviously, Dean Lombardi had a bigger plan to not only make this team competitive for the playoffs, but eventually the Stanley Cup. After all, that’s why we were going though all of this, right?
We kept hearing management repeat over and over that they were going to address the team’s weaknesses via free agency this offseason. If you have any problems remembering what the Kings major weakness is, let me remind you that they were 27th in the league in goals scored. They were last in the entire NHL in even strength goals (by a wide margin) and were shut-out a franchise record 11 times. It’s not like we’re talking a great franchise here either. When you’re setting a record for futility on a team KNOWN for futility, that’s one hell of an accomplishment.
So they need a fucking scorer. Or 5.
Here in lies the problem that I have with the Kings inactivity on the first day of free agency. When no moves were made at the trade deadline, I was fine with it because we were told that we were going to do something in the offseason—specifically with free agents. When the Kings had a relatively quiet draft weekend by using their 5th overall pick and trading the underwhelming Brian Boyle, I saw that as management staying the course. Why make trades for high priced scorers when they were obviously going to make a hard push to sign one 4 days later when free agency opened. I trusted that they had a plan.
Here’s where my trust has got me. I’m sitting here a day after all of the free agents became available—still waiting for the Kings to add that scorer that they so desperately need. I watched the Kings pick up a defenseman, Rob Scuderi, who under normal circumstances I’d be thrilled with. We hear rumors that the Kings have even offered a contract to (soon to be former) Flyers goaltender Marty Biron.
It’s like a parent that looks at their child and finds all B’s and one D. When next semester rolls around and the child has raised one of the B’s to an A, that’s nice. It’s an upgrade—its better than it was. But it’s NOT the glaring weakness. The Kings top-flight wingers, that is our organization D on the franchise’s report card.
Meanwhile, all of the top scorers have since signed contracts elsewhere. Fanbases all over North America have watched their teams add pieces to themselves better or make minor adjustments to already strong teams. Not in L.A. though.
The management has repeatedly explained since the lockout that they’d be fiscally responsible. Over the last few seasons, the AEG ownership group has self-imposed their own budget max—far lower than the league’s salary cap. Fortunately for the fans, the NHLPA negotiated a cap floor—otherwise there’s no telling how cheap Phil Anschutz, Tim Leiweke and crew would be. More and more, I’m starting to think that “fiscally responsible” term is just an easy way to get out of spending any real money to ice a legitimate contender. Scratch that, a legitimate NHL team.
A guy that never had any intention of leaving the Eastern Conference. That would be our Plan B...
The truth of the matter is the Kings had the most money under the salary cap when the season ended in June. With just over $14 million in extra room, the Kings were linked to any and every player available. If for no other reason, the Kings had the cap space and the cash to spend. And they SHOULD have been linked, as they had publically stated that they were going to make a run at a bonafide sniper.
We were told to wait. Trust us—we have a plan. Trust us, we’re going to be a legitimate contender with the moves we make this offseason. No disrespect, but was he really talking about Rob Scuderi? Yeah, I didn’t think so. So here I sit—still waiting. Just like I have been for the last 25 years. Just like SOME fans in LA have been waiting for the last 42 years.
It’s no secret the Kings are seriously lacking in the scoring department on the wings. They’ve needed genuine #1 winger ever since Ziggy Palffy left the team immediately following the lockout. We’ve been told that the Kings would be unable to spend the money it would take to lure one of the big name’s to LA until we had re-established our foundation and re-stocked our pipeline of prospects. This was the year we were told that the Kings would be in a position to make take the next step—from “bottom feeder” to “young team to be feared.” This was the year that management would augment the young foundation with some proven NHL talent.
As the celebrated free agents have already signed with other teams, Dean Lombardi’s plan has been revealed to the public. The Kings were going to make a push for Marian Hossa—and they were going to push hard. Lombardi has stated that he was prepared to offer Hossa 10+ years and at least $5 million. As crazy as Chicago’s contract sounded when it was announced on Wednesday, Lombardi was prepared to offer the same type of contract. The problem was that Hossa really wasn’t interested in coming to Los Angeles. Basically, he wanted to play for a GOOD team. The Kings paled in comparison to a Western Conference Finals participant like the Blackhawks.
No one wants to come here because we suck. But what came first? The chicken or the egg? Do the Kings annually finish at the bottom of the standings because they can’t attract top-tier free agents? Or do they have a problem attracting the free agents because they perpetually finish towards the bottom of the standings? Dean Lombardi admitted as much to Rich Hammond of the Daily News:
“So that’s the market. If you’re looking for top wingers, who else is there that fits? You’ve got 30 teams out there and we couldn’t offer the part that some other teams could. Chicago is a contender. Washington is a contender.”
So what was plan B? Plan B was Mike Knuble—who had no intensions of leaving the Eastern Conference. So at no point in time were the Kings EVER on his radar. So that brings us to Plan C. Are you ready for it? Ready? Yeah… I’m still waiting too. Because there WAS no Plan C.
You’d think that guys like Marian Gaborik and Martin Havlat would have been a nice addition to a team that was looking for scoring. There’s no doubt that the Rangers were proactive in their pursuit of Gaborik. Hell, the day before the trade deadline, they actually MOVED salary so they’d be able to make a push for him. Did you hear that? There was a team that DIDN’T have cap space—yet still made room to be able to sign the guy they wanted. The Kings had PLENTY of space, yet did nothing.
Rich Hammond over at Inside the Kings has some great quotes from Lombardi about his quasi-pursuit of Gaborik and Havlat. Here’s a snippet (you should really check out the entire article):
“We were prepared to look at Gaborik, but we were not prepared for a Hossa-type deal. We were talking first about a one (-year contract), then a two or three for Gaborik. Then they got the Rangers’ thing. You’re looking at a guy who played 17 games last year, and has a series of those. Forty-eight games, 65 games, 65 games. There’s some gray there. I didn’t have gray areas on Hossa. It might work out, but do we need to take that risk and jeopardize things right now? I don’t think so. I’ll take that risk on Hossa-type players. Will he be healthy? Maybe. We had the one (-year deal) out there and we talked about two or three, then he gave us the Rangers’ number and we said, `We’re done.’ It’s more about rolling the dice, and I don’t think we should roll the dice and jeopardize what we’re trying to do here. Same thing goes, to a degree, with Havlat. I’m not interested in rolling the dice.”
Is this the same guy that acquired Dan Cloutier and Alyn McCauley? Is this the same guy that traded for Justin Williams and Jarret Stoll? So now, all the sudden, when we have to spend extra money and need to do something to address a glaring weakness, he pulls the “history of injuries” card? What the fuck?
A stay at home defenseman? Really? I think someone is missing the point...
Whether we want to admit it or not, the Kings don’t have the luxury to only pursue perfect players. No, the Kings will have to pick and choose which shortcomings they’d be able to live with—and which ones they cannot. It’s no secret that both Marian Gaborik and Martin Havlat have had injury problems throughout their career. But if the GM is willing to take on players with injury problems in the past, then wouldn’t it be worth it to pursue players that could be DIFFERENCE MAKERS that have had injury problems?
The most troubling part of Dean Lombardi’s comments is that they never seriously pursued either Gaborik or Havlat. You can say what you want—but offering Marian Gaborik a one-year contract when he’s one of the most coveted free agents ISN’T going to get it done. Period. Anyone that doesn’t admit that is either naïve or is drinking more of the Kings Kool-Aid than I am.
The truth is the Kings never actually made an offer to Marian Hossa. That’s not their fault. But then never made REAL offers to Gaborik or Havlat either—and that IS their fault.
I’m not even sure where to direct my anger at this point? Should I be pissed at the General Manager that hasn’t had a big time free agent signing in his entire career (neither LA nor San Jose)? Should I be upset with the ownership group that is willing to pay $250 million for a soccer player, yet annually has one of the lowest payrolls in the NHL? Should I be upset with AEG because they self-imposed a cash cap that helped the franchise remain solvent, while insuring that the product on the ice would not. Or should I be upset with myself—for believing that all of this was temporary and truly believing that our ownership and management knew that we were a top line winger away from being a playoff team?
I’ve already gone through the “I’m done with the Kings” step in my 12 step grieving process. I’ll stick with them because I’m loyal and I’m stupid. Albert Einstein said that the definition of Insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” At first I though I was the one insane because I know that I’ll stick with the Kings through all this. But, I was wrong. No—it’s the Kings that are insane. They’re doing the same thing they’ve always done and expecting a different result.
I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.
