If you were hoping for the Kings to land one of the ‘big name’ free agents this year, well… you just haven’t been paying close enough attention.
GM Dean Lombardi entered the off season still needing to get contracts done for many Restricted Free Agents – including Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin and Jordan Nolan.
At the end of the day, with the salary cap coming down, it was also going to be hard to retain his three Unrestricted Free Agents – Dustin Penner, Brad Richardson and Rob Scuderi.
Two of the three have already bolted.
As reported earlier, Scuderi signed a four-year deal to return to the Penguins. Then, later this afternoon, Richardson agreed to a two-year deal with Vancouver, worth $1.15 million per season.
For Richardson, it should be an opportunity to earn a full-time gig in the NHL. Over the past few seasons he proved to be a valuable member of Darryl Sutter’s roster, a versatile forward who could play all three forward positions up and down the roster with various linemates. He was also one of the few players to provide the Kings with some speed.
The stat with Richardson that’s always stood out the most is when he was with the Owen Sound Attack (OHL) in 2004-05 he actually posted more goals and assists than a young Bobby Ryan. Not that he’ll be that type of player with the Canucks, but it’s still a pretty amazing tidbit.
The 28-year old Belleville native was universally liked by his teammates in LA and will be missed. Perhaps his last contribution to the team was providing Nolan with his new nickname ‘Gordo.’
It hasn’t all been subtraction today, Lombardi has made one addition to his roster as well.
Former first round draft pick Jeff Schultz (27th overall, 2004) agreed to a one-year deal in LA worth $700,000.
A left-handed shot, Schultz has played n 399 career NHL games (all with the Washington Capitals). Last season he saw action in 26 games and picked up three assists. Standing 6-foot-6, 230-pounds, he’s posted 75 points in his career (11G, 64A), 133 penalty minutes and a plus-78 rating.
And, get this, in 2009-10 he played 73 games and was a plus-50. No, that’s not a typo.
There were rumors of Lombardi trying to acquire him at the trade deadline this past season, before ultimately bringing Robyn Regehr to the Kings.
Finally, what’s the latest on Dustin Penner?
Within the hour, a source close to the situation told MayorsManor the Kings were ‘still in the mix’ – so, we’ll have to see what happens next.
Recently, Penner opened up in an exclusive interview here – where he talked about the possibility of returning to LA with a pay cut and/or on a short term deal.
After adding Schultz – and factoring in the money needed for the players the Kings made qualifying offers to – they have roughly $2M in cap space to work with, according to this article here.
However, if Lombardi was to sign all of his available RFAs, LA would have 24 roster players, one over the limit of 23. Meaning, a trade will be needed at some point even without Penner.
Unless Dean makes a trade with either Muzzin or Martinez or both, Kings have too many d-men and I’m really confused about this. It’s not like Muzzin can go back to the minors because 1) he earned a roster spot and 2) he won’t clear waivers.
This makes my head hurt.
I believe there is a typo. Richardson posted more points in the OHL than Corey Perry that year.
Not a typo. Richardson had 41 goals and 56 assists that year. Ryan had 37 goals, 52 assists.
Perry topped them both, posting 47 goals and 83 assists with the London Knights that season.
The Mayor don’t lie…
#MayorRuling on what happens with Penner? I believe he will go…we need to sign a few RFA’s and make another trade with some defenseman.
Mayor, it is not a requirement that a team carry 23 roster players at all times. You can carry 20 (even less if you want like the Devils did because of Kovalchuk for a few games) and use players on two-way contracts from the AHL when someone gets injured in order to save cap space.
And if the Kings were to do that, it would give them more cap space to sign a top forward, which obviously holds precedence over having extra healthy scratches on one-way contracts.
Already covered this idea. See the comment section of this article:
http://mayorsmanor.com/2013/06/what-the-kings-can-offer-rob-scuderi-now/
Any word on Bud Holloway? Does DL intend to sign him or use him as piece in a trade? Or is it that Bud won’t sign a 2 way deal?
Thanks
They were talking, then things cooled, not very likely a deal will be reached at this point.
So Mayor, please stop being a homer and defending Dean Lombardi’s inactivity through misinformation, like he just has to re-sign all the RFAs and carry 23 roster players. That is categorically false. A good GM in the Kings’ current cap crunch would carry only 20 roster players so as to save the cap space needed to improve the QUALITY of the roster, which matters much more than its QUANTITY, especially when you have all the quantity you could ever want in the AHL, plus there are always unsigned depth players available even mid-season you can always add if someone gets injured.
No need to defend Lombardi. Not my job.
My track record speaks for itself.
So what you’re saying is you’d rather them have to be in an absolute mad scramble to fill depth positions if someone gets hurt than simply signing their own RFA’s? How did carrying less players work out for Jersey that year?
Yeah New Jersey was bad because they didn’t carry enough 4th liners… *bashes head into desk to see if brain will compute on same level as your afterwards*
“Absolute mad scramble?”
What on the planet earth are you talking about? It goes like this. Dwight King gets injured one night. Now the roster is down to 19. Kings call up Linden Vey, or Tanner Pearson, or Bud Holloway if he returns, or anyone else. He comes to LA and plays the next game. Now we have 20 again. Ta da!
It’s the same as carrying 23 roster players, really, only the extra 3 don’t count against the cap this way because they have what is called TWO WAY contracts, which basically means instead of having them in the press box counting against your cap every game even when they don’t play, they only count against your cap when they PLAY when you have them with your NHL team!
Make sense?
Please quote me the part of the CBA where it says having 23 players on one-way contracts is required in the NHL. It’s not. Completely optional.
Carrying 23 roster players is not required. It is a waste of cap space. It is much more economical to only carry 20 one-way contracts to play every night, while using players on two-way contracts in the AHL, like Pearson and Linden Vey, as your extra 3 so that they only count against the cap when you call them up to replace injured players.
And if Pearson and Vey are going to be part of the Kings’ top 20 at the NHL level this year, then you obviously go with another three.
As noted above, please see the comment section of this article, where I originally made notes on this subject:
http://mayorsmanor.com/2013/06/what-the-kings-can-offer-rob-scuderi-now/
It is technically correct that you don’t need to have a 23-man roster. So, if that’s what you’re looking for – it’s been acknowledged.
At the same time, for a team who keeps their top prospects 3,000 miles away in Manchester it’s not very practical – especially with back-to-back games on the West Coast.
Could the Kings do it? Yes. However, to do so would also require trading even MORE players than mentioned in the article above.
So, rather that continually point out your dissatisfaction with the notion of a 23-man roster, how about some trade suggestions. Which Kings players are you getting rid of to produce your desired roster?