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About This Page: This is a discussion on LA Kings Talk within the LetsGoKings.com forums, at Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fan Forum. Originally Posted by 4/10/82
is it a bad sign that the first link on a google search for "alec martinez" is a gay escort service?
It's only a bad sign
NHL free agency doesn't start for another 60+ days. I'm not sure how you expect Lombardi to sign any NHL free agents until then.
What do you have against a GM building a young team through players he drafted and signing them to entry level contracts?
I have nothing against it I just don't like the path DL is going. I know there isn't much we can do with UFAs right now and I am fully aware the youngsters are ruling the league right now but all the successful teams currently mix youth with experience. I don't see any signs that DL cares about getting proven talent on this team because all he does is focus on youth.
I've mentioned it before but this is a prime example. We are putting a lot of our faith in players who are unproven right now. 5 years down the road when half of these guys are a let down at the NHL level, the rebuild would have been a complete waste of time. I just want more security for a future with all these seasons being thrown away.
I have nothing against it I just don't like the path DL is going. I know there isn't much we can do with UFAs right now and I am fully aware the youngsters are ruling the league right now but all the successful teams currently mix youth with experience. I don't see any signs that DL cares about getting proven talent on this team because all he does is focus on youth.
I've mentioned it before but this is a prime example. We are putting a lot of our faith in players who are unproven right now. 5 years down the road when half of these guys are a let down at the NHL level, the rebuild would have been a complete waste of time. I just want more security for a future with all these seasons being thrown away.
What happens when Lombardi does dip into the UFA market and the players that he brings in get hurt or under-perform? How can you blame the GM for bringing in proven NHL players like Nagy, Handzus, Preissing and Calder who all, to a man, under-perform this past season?
Is Lombardi supposed to predict the fact that Kyle Calder would get hit with a slapshot that breaks his thumb and takes him out of the line-up for 3 1/2 weeks. Or that Ladislav Nagy would suffer a neck injury for the first time in his career and end his season in mid-January? Or that it would take Tom Preissing 60+ games to finally find his game? Or that Michal Handzus would forget how to win a faceoff/shoot more than 1 time per game(89 SOG this season)?
Everything that COULD go wrong with his UFA signings DID go wrong. But to say that Lombardi has some aversion to signing proven NHL players is false. His list of viable options is severely limited by the wretched history of this franchise.
I love proven NHL talent the same as you do but not at the UFA cost of Briere, Gomez, Drury or Elias.
What happens when Lombardi does dip into the UFA market and the players that he brings in get hurt or under-perform? How can you blame the GM for bringing in proven NHL players like Nagy, Handzus, Preissing and Calder who all, to a man, under-perform this past season?
Is Lombardi supposed to predict the fact that Kyle Calder would get hit with a slapshot that breaks his thumb and takes him out of the line-up for 3 1/2 weeks. Or that Ladislav Nagy would suffer a neck injury for the first time in his career and end his season in mid-January? Or that it would take Tom Preissing 60+ games to finally find his game? Or that Michal Handzus would forget how to win a faceoff/shoot more than 1 time per game(89 SOG this season)?
Everything that COULD go wrong with his UFA signings DID go wrong. But to say that Lombardi has some aversion to signing proven NHL players is false. His list of viable options is severely limited by the wretched history of this franchise.
I love proven NHL talent the same as you do but not at the UFA cost of Briere, Gomez, Drury or Elias.
I actually agree with you whole heartedly for the most part. The UFAs you mentioned though are second rate proven talent in my opinion. We need a veteran that will actually rub off on the kids and produce (preferably a forward). What we have are under performing overpaid players that were never really impact players. Then with players like Blake, you offer them more than they are worth and add a NTC and the motivation to earn his money is gone because the management can't do a thing to change him.
I'm not saying let's spend all our money on UFAs but you get 1 or 2 that will change the environment both on and off the ice so the next generation can step up.
I have nothing against it I just don't like the path DL is going. I know there isn't much we can do with UFAs right now and I am fully aware the youngsters are ruling the league right now but all the successful teams currently mix youth with experience. I don't see any signs that DL cares about getting proven talent on this team because all he does is focus on youth.
I've mentioned it before but this is a prime example. We are putting a lot of our faith in players who are unproven right now. 5 years down the road when half of these guys are a let down at the NHL level, the rebuild would have been a complete waste of time. I just want more security for a future with all these seasons being thrown away.
There are entry level contracts. Most of them will be in the minor leagues for a while, it has very little to do with UFA signings for the next year or two. Also, just because a player is signed doesn't mean he's going to even be on the Kings NHL, or even in Manchester. Hickey was signed last season, but he played in juniors. A year did NOT come off of his contract. I don't see how you can NOT like what DL has done with our prospect depth. The UFA signings have been another matter, but they are pretty independent from these ELCs.
There are entry level contracts. Most of them will be in the minor leagues for a while, it has very little to do with UFA signings for the next year or two. Also, just because a player is signed doesn't mean he's going to even be on the Kings NHL, or even in Manchester. Hickey was signed last season, but he played in juniors. A year did NOT come off of his contract. I don't see how you can NOT like what DL has done with our prospect depth. The UFA signings have been another matter, but they are pretty independent from these ELCs.
Prospect depth is good but define prospect. A prospect is literally a word for something that COULD be good. All of our prospects are gambles. They might not turn out well. I have no problem with youth but I have a problem with relying solely on youth. In regards to contracts, a team of kids is cheap. You build a team that builds chemistry then when their prices go up you have to change things again.
Prospect depth is good but define prospect. A prospect is literally a word for something that COULD be good. All of our prospects are gambles. They might not turn out well. I have no problem with youth but I have a problem with relying solely on youth. In regards to contracts, a team of kids is cheap. You build a team that builds chemistry then when their prices go up you have to change things again.
Who is saying that we are relying solely on youth? We have a ton of prospects, and a ton of good prospects. Obviously not all of them will work out, and not all of them will even play in the NHL. Just because someone gets an ELC does not mean that they are going to be playing on the Kings next season. This isn't like signing someone in the NFL or NBA where there isn't really a minor league system (NBDL I guess but it is not similar to how the NHL works).
In a hard capped system you really do have to rely on the youth though. In order to accommodate the re-signing of the high skilled players on your team (like Kopitar, Johnson, etc.) you have to set yourself up with a good stream of prospects to keep costs down that allow the financial flexibility to do it. And while I agree to some degree about not going all out with youngsters, I think you should only go the free agency route to either compliment what you have or plug a hole you're not able to fill with a guy in your system.
Detroit runs this to perfection. They have a nice drafted core of players (Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, and Lidstrom); a series of prospects making fairly modest contract figures who are able to fill in (Valtteri Filppula, Darren Helm, Johan Franzen, Tomas Kopecky, Jiri Hudler, Niklas Kronwall, etc.); and then free agents who provide skills or play roles that their prospects aren't able to fill yet (Brian Rafalski, Chris Chelios, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Brad Stuart, etc.)
Their Assistant GM, Jim Nill, once talked about how their prospect reserve (coupled with their on-ice success) allows them to develop young players with patience to develop and grow into roles that they can play with the big club. It's what allows them to churn out player after player that seem to "fit" their system and makes it look like it's all plug and play with their guys.
In a few years they'll be looking at their current depth guys already on the pro team (like Franzen, Flippula, Hudler, etc.) and will have to determine if they're ready to take on bigger roles with the team, are worth offering contracts to, or if it would be smarter to replace them with a fresh batch of cheaper prospect like Justin Abdelkader, Jimmy Howard, Jonathan Ericsson, Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey, Cory Emmerton, etc. And if those prospects fall short they'll sign free agents to plug holes until they can develop a replacement.
I think that's what the Kings are working towards. A point where they can sign free agents for small roles instead of desperately needing to get guys to fill big holes on the team and paying steep consequences when it doesn't pan out or it's a wrong fit. I think the first steps towards that is to keep drafting kids and keep signing them to develop in Manchester.
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