Alright King fans, how’s your summer going? After that nightmare of a July 1st (I swear, I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed), Dean Lombardi is starting to look like he knows what he’s doing. Dare I say—genius? Getting one of your promising defensemen to sign a 2 year contract with a $1.425 million cap hit will elicit that kind of reaction. Someone should hire him as GM or something.
What were the most important orders of business this offseason? Everyone has their list of wants, but EVERY Kings fan wanted a top line left winger and knew that Jack Johnson needed to be resigned. Some people wanted to trade the #5 pick for a superstar, some people wanted one of the big name free agents—but everyone agreed on the LW and Jack Johnson.
Oh my God! A restricted free agent signed quickly with the Kings? I'm so confused...
Honestly, could things worked out any better for the Kings? Obviously there are concerns about Ryan Smyth, but he’s exactly the type of players the Kings needed. Not only does he play the right position, but he’s exactly the type of player that Lombardi loves. If you were going to build the perfect fit for the Kings, it would have been Ryan Smyth 5 years ago. I think this year’s version of Smyth should fit right in. Oh, and he waived his no-trade contract to come here. When was the last time that happened?
The second necessity of the off-season was settling the Jack Johnson mess. There were stories (thank you Darren Dreger) that told us that Jack’s Dad was trying to negotiate with a team in Russia to gain leverage with the Kings. Maybe it’s because the reports said the two sides were so far apart or maybe it was because I’m a Kings fan and I’ve seen this shit happen before—but I was hoping for the best, yet expecting the worst.
The news of Jack Johnson’s signing is GREAT news on every front for the Kings. They signed the young defenseman to a 2 year deal with a cap hit of LESS than $1.5 million per year. Are you kidding me? If someone told me that the Kings would be able to sign Johnson for anything less than $2 million, then I would have been shocked! On top of that he’ll still be a RESTRICTED free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the new 2-year deal (arbitration rights need to be confirmed). So if the Kings want him around for more than 2 years, the ball is in their court.
The reason that I like the contract so much is that Dean Lombardi was able to sign Jack Johnson as the player he is today, not the player he MIGHT be in a couple of years. Teams all over the league overpay players based on potential and hope—yet Lombardi has never done that during his entire tenure in Los Angeles. God knows I hate how some of the dealings go down, but I’m glad that he didn’t change this precedent for Johnson. Today, as in the past, Lombardi can look the young players in the eye and say, “I’ll pay you for what you show me. Not for what you could do, but what you HAVE done.” With negotiations for guys like Oscar Moller, Drew Doughty and Wayne Simmonds coming up in a few years, paying for potential would have been a dangerous precedent to set.
Let’s be honest thought—this is a good deal for Jack Johnson as well. I have no inside info in this case, but I would guess that it was Johnson that wanted the shorter deal. With a 2-year deal, he’ll have time to prove himself as the valuable defenseman that Kings fans so desperately want him to be. 2 years means a shorter time frame towards a potential payday.
On a personal level, I like that Johnson signed this kind of deal, and signed it fast. Instead of dragging this process out (I’m looking at you Cammy and Sully), he manned up and signed the contract that gives him the opportunity to prove himself. You must have self-confidence to sign this kind of deal—but the reward will be much greater if he performs.
So now that we have THAT settled, bring on training camp!
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Perfect title to this article!
The bottom line here is this is a great deal for both sides which is rare. Johnson has proven very little at this point. He wants the big bucks but know he has to earn it. I’m sure Los Angeles wanted a longer deal for only slightly more money. When this contract is up, Johnson is still an RFA and he either gets his payday or doesn’t.
Hell of a way to start off a weekend!