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You are here: Home / Interview / Coaches and Management / Lombardi talks more positively about Willie Mitchell’s future

Lombardi talks more positively about Willie Mitchell’s future

June 23, 2013 By John Hoven


In a bit of a change from several recent answers, Kings GM Dean Lombardi was speaking more positively when asked about the future of Willie Mitchell during today’s conference call. Take a look…

“That’s added to the dilemma, right?” Lombardi said, referring to Mitchell’s $3.5 million contract that would be ‘freed up cap space’ should he go on long-term injured reserve. “On the one hand, this is the first time in the last couple weeks where everything has been positive on Willie, in terms of his progress. But, it kind of circles around out there because…the hard part is it’s hard enough making decisions when you have all the facts. In this case, and in so many of these cases, we’re making decisions based upon assumptions we MIGHT think will be facts two months from now. This job is hard enough when you have all the facts and lord knows you guys remind us when we mess up. Now we have to make some of these decisions on assumptions that might or might not be the case. And that’s just the way it is with Willie. We all know how good a player this guy is, how instrumental he is, his fit with his partner (Slava) Voynov. And now all the indications are positive in terms of his health. Now, that could change tomorrow. I can’t give you a definitive answer, it’s a moving target. But, every time we do something now we have to put that off to the side and say ‘OK, if we give this player this, and bring this player here, and if Willie comes back this is what happens, if he doesn’t come back this happens. Again, all I can say is it’s definitely a consideration every time we make a decision here right now and it’s not easy.”

Of course, Mitchell’s availability to play will likely have a huge impact on the team’s ability to sign Rob Scuderi – something Lombardi also spoke about on the call (see comments linked below).

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Filed Under: Coaches and Management, HockeyBlog, Interview, Kings, NHL Tagged With: contract, hockey, injury, Kings, Lombardi, MayorsManor, Mitchell, NHL, Scuderi, trade, Voynov

About John Hoven

John Hoven is a former member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and co-hosts Kings of the Podcast. He's also the founder and editor of MayorsManor.com, which has been named Best Sports Blog in Los Angeles and Hockey Blog of the Year. Click "ABOUT OUR TEAM" below for a full bio.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. TsarNikko says

    June 23, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    Mitchell is crucial to the Kings post season, in my opinion. Hope he makes a full recovery.

  2. mythreekings says

    June 23, 2013 at 11:47 pm

    I’ve been trying to track down the official (legal) rules for amnesty buyouts. Any chance the Kings could buyout Mitchell, but then re-sign him at 1M? If that’s legal, Mitchel would get paid his 3.5M for the buyout, the Kings would free up that much in cap space, and then if he’s ready to go come training camp, could then be signed for a modest cap hit (seeing how’s he already got paid for the season). Possible?

    • John Hoven says

      June 24, 2013 at 12:11 am

      Not legal, not possible. Check capgeek.com for more info on buyout rules.

      In a nutshell, the Kings have three options with Mitchell – play him, trade him or put him on long-term IR. If he’s hurt, they can NOT buy him out. If he’s healthy, sure they could buy him out – but not to re-sign him at a lower rate.

      They love Mitchell too. So, bottom line – if he’s healthy, he’s playing for the LA Kings.

Trackbacks

  1. Lombardi explains how and why Bernier was dealt to Toronto says:
    June 23, 2013 at 3:51 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively on Willie Mitchell’s future […]

  2. Lombardi’s views on what Matt Frattin brings to the LA Kings says:
    June 23, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively on Willie Mitchell’s future […]

  3. Kings players have parting thoughts for Jonathan Bernier says:
    June 23, 2013 at 8:51 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively on Willie Mitchell’s future […]

  4. Lombardi on potential new contracts for Scuderi and Penner says:
    June 24, 2013 at 12:25 am

    […] The two biggest questions at the moment surround forward Dustin Penner and defenseman Rob Scuderi – situations that also tie back to Willie Mitchell’s health and future. […]

  5. What the Kings can offer Rob Scuderi now says:
    June 24, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively about Willie Mitchell’s future […]

  6. 10 Tidbits on Matt Frattin, new LA Kings forward says:
    June 26, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively about Willie Mitchell’s future […]

  7. Rob Scuderi leaves Kings for Penguins says:
    July 5, 2013 at 10:17 am

    […] front, Mitchell’s status has more recently been referred to as encouraging – see here for Lombardi’s comments from just a few weeks […]

  8. Updated overview of the Kings salary cap situation says:
    July 5, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    […] Lombardi talks more positively about Willie Mitchell’s future […]

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