Leverage, Credibility and Interpreting the Sounds of Silence

[Len-Det64]

Originally Posted by VCRW

I'm sorry, but this dog won't hunt. Brown signed a contract after coming off a season that did not compare to all that Sully brought to the team last year. I am really getting tired of hearing this specious argument. Comparable value is derived from the entire NHL, not just 2 players on a bad team. Frolov and Brown made conscious, individual decisions to ensure their security and by doing so gave up the precedent setting concept. O'Sullivan's agent is asking the Kings to take off these inappropriately applied shackles and look at all players' deals from around the league. Why is that a problem? Patrick remains unsigned at the Kings discretion. DL is the one holding the power.

So what you are saying is that Brown's Numbers from '06 - '07

GP .. G .. A ... P . +/- ... S
81 . 17 . 29 . 46 . -21 . 195

Don't compare to O'Sullivan's numbers from '07 - '08

GP .. G .. A ... P . +/- .. S
82 . 22 . 31 . 53 . -8 . 220

From what I can tell is that they are pretty close so the conclusion I would come up with is that even though they are different style players their numbers do match up pretty well. Patrick might play a more defensively responsible style but Dustin plays a much more physical game.

[sjsoldo]

Whole thing is depressing. Both sides are hurting each other...

[Dominic Lavoie]

One of the best contributions to LGK that I have ever seen.

[Ararat15]

Damn this freaking blows.

We've all been enamored with the young talent that DL has been accumulating, but the whole time these players could be thinking "unless he specifically mentioned me as a guy that is super important to this team, I'm going to get shafted." Welcome to the dark side of being a rebuilding team....with too many unproven assets, almost everyone is expendable, which does nothing to inspire player confidence.

I mean so far, that's really the only precedent the DL regime has set for any of the incoming players. Cammalleri gets traded and gets labelled as a selfish bastard, which may or may not have been true. Vis, who I think everyone in and out of the locker room loved, signs a long-term deal and gets shipped a few months afterwards, leaving him and the rest of the players in a state of shock. Meanwhile, we're throwing out huge contracts and NTCs to guys like Handzus. You've got to admit, as a player, those kinds of thoughts would run through your head from time to time. Bet you O'Sullivan's thought that once or twice.

Sure, it's business and tough decisions need to be made, but seriously, every Kings player should pretty much be expecting to get lowballed at this point. And if your name isn't Brown, Kopitar, Johnson, Bernier or Doughty, you could be gone at any point for whatever reason.