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Originally Posted by OrangePuck  I disagree. Pronger wins the award for being the best defenseman in the league and Rob Blake wants to be the highest paid defenseman in the NHL. Sure you can argue that he was only a mere 5 points short of Pronger but at the most you can argue same salary (assuming other parts of the game are in order). However, he wanted his contract negotiated before the season. The Kings had him signed through 00/01. They had every right to see how the year would play out. |
After Pronger set the market by signing a three-year deal worth over $9 million a year, that made him the highest-paid defenseman. Blake never made any kind of statement that said he sought to make more than Pronger, he simply acknowledged that it helped his bargaining position.
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The Kings absolutely had every right to see the year play out, but they knew what the fan backlash would be if they were to allow Blake to leave as a UFA and receive nothing in return, especially considering the Kings' ownership was one of the five richest in the NHL. The Kings, for their part, DID work to negotiate in the beginning, but their supposed "final offer" was $7.5 million. So, knowing Blake wanted to be in the Pronger ballpark, somewhere between $8.5 and 9 million per year, the sides were off anywhere from a million a year to a million and a half. When Blake didn't sign the Kings' deal of $7.5 million per, the Kings stopped negotiating for four months.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck The thing is that Rob wanted guarantees that he would still be making top dollar no matter what and wanted that in writing before suffering an injury that may affect future wage earnings. On some level I understand that...if he were on an entry level contract and was looking to secure his future. However, he had already been made a very rich man by this time and he could have waited. Instead he decided to get all butthurt about not having had the $42.5 mill dollar offer before the season. |
See, I don't know where you're getting your info, but it's wrong. The Kings' offer was for 3 years at $7.5 per, that's $
22.5 million -- not $42.5. And I don't recall any bitterness about when the offers were made, where did you hear that? The only bitterness came about when Blake was threatened by the team that he would be traded if he didn't sign the Kings' offer.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck This I do not recall and if you have proof I'll be willing to learn this. Otherwise this is just your word against mine. |
Well, now looking at the info, I was off on the difference -- it was likely $1 million to $1.5 million per year, not $2 million. So that's my bad.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck Twist in the wind? Meanwhile he is making what? About $8 million a season at the time? Only $2mil a year shy of the NHL highest paid players in Forsberg, Kariya and Jagr? Cry me a ****ing river. |
He was making $5.2 million per year at the time, not $8 million. That's in the first link I provided.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck Fortunately for them not enough. They improved with Deadmarsh and Miller. Rob got to coattail a team to the Cup and all were happy. |
It was a pretty damn good trade for the Kings at the time, and they got two very solid NHL players (and as it would turn out, the pick that landed Brian Boyle). But the Kings lost it in that the team who receives the best player in a deal wins the deal.
As for Blake "coat-tailing" the Avs to a Cup, he got 8 goals and 29 points, and was a +9 in the 36 games he was there that season. He also led the team defensemen in scoring in the playoffs. Blake was more than holding his own alongside Ray Bourque, who was certainly motivated to win his first Cup. Would the Avs have won that Cup without Blake? We'll never know, but I doubt it.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck If I were Blake I would have signed it. Lombardi ****ed up. However, you'd think Blake would at least do the decent thing and help the organization in their time of need. The organization has made him an extremely rich man. They paid him $12 million dollars for about $3 million dollars worth of work. Doesn't that count for something? Doesn't making the playoffs matter to him at least a little? Apparently not in Rob's little cocoon of narcissm. |
Again, you make it sounds as if Rob owes the Kings. The Kings made the deal, and they overpaid to do so. As for what you call "$3 million worth of work" -- that's just a cheap shot. You know as well as I do that he's been injured, first his hip, and now the broken bone in his ankle. When he's been healthy, he's played well.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck The Kings want to trade him. You and I both know that they do. If they don't trade him then it can safely be assumed that it was because he would not waive his NTC. I see what you are doing though. Putting the burden of proof on me to invalidate my claim. Very clever considering I don't have the inside access to obtain such information. All I can do is turn the tables on you and ask you to prove to me that the Kings do not want to trade him |
I've never said the Kings don't want to trade him, it's just a matter of when and if the right deal will come along. It would be ****ing stupid for the team to just throw him away. If another team is willing to over-pay for a rental of Blake, Lombardi will then inquire about Blake waiving the NTC.
As far as I know, Lombardi and Blake have respect for one another. I doubt that Lombardi is going to ask for the NTC to be waived unless he can present to Blake a convincing deal that will help the Kings AND Blake. It's gotta be mutual, and I don't think either side has a real problem with that arrangement. It's only the people here, who don't know or don't care about the facts, who hate Blake because it's the in-thing to do here at LGK and call him "selfish" based on no evidence -- it's only those people who have a problem with this.
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Originally Posted by OrangePuck Gee Hitman, are you always so condescending? Allow me to apologize for painting a negative picture of your man crush. I'll promise not to do it again in the future. |
It's just the ones who go out of their way to hate Blake who want to throw out the "man-crush" line. Wonder why that is? Fact of the matter is Blake is no more selfish or self-centered than any professional athlete. The hatred of Blake here is a product of illogical and misinformed people, people who spent the last six years and change booing Blake every time he touched the puck. I'm not surprised the hatred is still there -- it takes a while to just start supporting a guy you've spit on all those years. But the real truth is that the Kings were FAR more responsible for the trade with Colorado than Blake was, and that Blake owes this franchise nothing. If simply reciting the facts makes me someone with a "man-crush", that's OK. But I'll say to you and the other haters, at least have a valid reason to hate the guy. So far, you really don't.
Like I said before... 
McKingfan
