There’s a lot of news in Kings Land today, so be patient. We’re cranking it out by the truck load. If you want the skinny on Rob Blake being hired, full comments from the former Kings defenseman and GM Dean Lombardi are already up.
Now, let’s hear from Kings captain Dustin Brown, who signed an eight-year contract extension earlier today. This is part one from his media conference call this afternoon…
– On knowing the salary cap and using that info as a background for making a deal:
“I think going into it, I did my homework on my comparables and I had some help from the PA and getting some numbers, and comparables, stats. It get’s pretty confusing sometimes when you’re doing it, but at the end of the day I was well aware of the cap. There’s only so much money to go around, and the cap going down this year and having uncertainty of what it will be next year. That was probably the most difficult part but at the same time, within the cap I think we have an opportunity to keep this team together. That was part of my decision in wanting to stay is I believe we have a chance to win.”
– On not wanting to start next season without an extension already in place:
“That was a big thing for me, just seeing what happened with Getzlaf and Perry last year, they got the deals done. At the same time, during the year I think it should be about hockey and what’s being done on the ice and I didn’t want it to be a distraction for myself personally, first and foremost, I didn’t want it to get in the way of what I need to do on a day-to-day basis to help this team win. But also, it gets quite old I think in a year, whether we’re winning or losing, the number one question every day is are they going to extend you or are you working on your extension. It could be a distraction like I said for me personally and the team as a whole. So I was really eager to get it done prior to the beginning of the year if we were going to get it done at all.”
– On how quickly the process moved along:
“I flew out to LA, I want to say last Monday, and had two or three meetings in person with him then, and then I had to leave and we kind of did the rest of it over the phone over the last week or so. Dean should probably speak to this, but I would assume that it probably went quicker than it normally would considering me not having any representation other than myself. We cut through the typical negotiation tactics pretty quickly, because I didn’t have an agent. That’s just my opinion. I think if I had an agent, we’d still be negotiating and still be a lot farther apart than what we settled on.”
– More on the motivation to get the deal done now:
“Yeah, for me, not having representation was more of a comfort level with the Kings as opposed to anything else. I feel like giving the relationship, I can get it done directly. Once it was evident that both sides kind of wanted the same thing, it kind of snow balled from there.”
– On how positive and encouraged he is looking ahead:
“That’s part of playoffs, being hurt. At the end of the day, it’s an exciting thing- not necessarily a good thing but it’s an exciting thing, depending on what way you look at it- after you decompress from the playoffs you think back and you look at how you played individually and how you played as a team. I know I didn’t play as well as I wanted to in the playoffs, injuries aside, there was still a lot more than I could approve on. What happened in the playoffs, the more I think it, the more that extends to our entire group. I don’t think we played anywhere close to the level that we’re capable of playing and we still made it to Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, and that’s not an easy thing to do. Like I said, it’s kind of a round about way of being excited about a team is that we didn’t play very well and we made it as far as we did. Part of my decision of signing an extension is that I truly believe that the guys that we have in place we can be a winning team for years to come.”
– On the fact the Kings have nearly all of their core players locked up on long-term deals:
“It’s not only that our core is locked up. You look at our core and we’re all relatively within the same age group, a group of three or four years. I think that’s important and that’s probably been a reason for our success is the way that Dean and the management have kind of designed the team is that we weren’t built to win the Cup just one year and then disappear. It’s kind of all came into place in the sense that we’re all going to be going through this together. That was a big reason why I wanted to resign here.”
– On new players joining the team this coming season:
“I think were in a good spot. It’s a difficult off-season for all teams with the cap going down. You look at what Dean has done, he’s done a really good job up until this point so much in that fact that few advantages that GM’s have gotten out of teams aren’t really designed for teams that manage their teams well coming into the lockout. Can’t use any buyouts so at the end of the day, you’re going to lose some players. You think of Scuds and Pens. Scuds on the back-end was a huge part of our team over the last four years. That’s the nature of the business when the cap is going down, it’s a matter of trying to reload and not lose any edge over the teams that you do have.”
– On Lombardi saying he expects Brown to continue to grow and still give more:
“There’s always room to grow, especially in that aspect. The stuff on the ice is stuff that you work on everyday. The leadership part is something, there’s plenty of room to grow because I’m still learning everyday. I was named captain at a young age and when our team was at a different time. It was a completely different team at that time. Now, it’s like I’ve kind of grown into the role, but there’s still room to grow in the sense that there’s places I can be better within my leadership role. We have great leaders on this team and that’s part of everything about this team- there’s not one guy who is going to have to do the whole thing but at the end of the day I was named Captain. Dean and I have had talks periodically about continuing to grow as a leader because it’s not something that can really be taught, it’s most just sticking with it and figuring it out. There’s no one specific thing that says if you do this, you’re a great leader. It’s more of an instinct thing for me.”
Still lots more to come. Until then, check the links below, there’s plenty to read today!
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