Kings News: Jordan Nolan contract done. 2 years @ $700k/yr

[Herby]

What's with the Yay? Basically means Clifford is gone for 100%

If that's the Clifford from the end of last season and the playoffs...

...YAY!!

 

[lumbergh]

I still don't think Clifford is getting shopped. Too good a player to move for picks.

 

[Trolfoli]

Toffoli isn't going to start the year in the AHL

Williams is not going to get traded to bring Clifford back...

Martinez is gone... He can be good, but will require ice time for that... being a healthy scratch wont help him. He will not replace JM... only way Martinez stays is if Mitchell isn't ready to go.

Ellerby is going to the minors to work on his game.. could be lost to waivers.

That leaves
DD/RR
VV/WM
JM/MG
JS

This leaves 3.4M for Clifford/Lewis/buffer

Lewis at 1.25K leaves 2.15M leaving a 400k buffer you are looking at 1.75M max for Clifford. Close to the cap, but Clifford is so versatile in the Kings system losing him to provide 1M in cap relief over an entry level guy I don't see happening. If you have injuries and the **** hits the fan make trades and deal with it in season.

Carcillo is taking over Richardson's spot... no reason he should have ice time over younger guys that are still improving.

King: he is a project... as him and Nolan are the 2 biggest guys on the team now... giving him a 3rd line spot to see if he can develop for the next year or two isn't a bad idea. He has 2 playoffs now and 1 short season under his belt.... He has until Kitsyn/Pearson/Andrehoff come up to show he can do something...

 

[Rorschach]

Nolan had a terrible year. Not sure what he proved to get him more than league minimum other than being big.
hopefully he bounces back to how he looked in 2012 after his call up.

Agree. Seems like 800K too much.

 

[Telos]

We have two defensemen coming off of injury and our forward prospects are more readily available to step in immediately than our defensive prospects. We are going to carry two spare defensemen. Not to mention that fourth line wing is the easiest spot to learn on and play out of the lineup.

Clifford is too good for the fourth line. Especially at $1.5 million. He's ready to move up and has great potential, playing him on the fourth line or in the press box for that price is a waste. There are many faces behind him that can play that spot just fine for less money, such as: Carcillo, Nolan, Andreoff, and Pearson.

He isn't going to take the third line spot. King may have taken a step back offensively, but he is by far superior defensively when compared to Clifford. King is taller, stronger, and tougher to play against around the boards. He may not have Clifford's energy, but he by far fills the mold Sutter and Lombardi is looking for.

The bottom line is Clifford needs to move up, but he isn't the best option for the upper spots, and Lombardi isn't going to pay him $1.5m to be on the fourth line or the press box over a $700k Nolan. It hinders the asset and takes away from our cap flexibility, every $100k counts.

 

[Sacha Baron Corbin]

Brown-Kopitar-Williams
Carcillo-Richards-Carter
Frattin-Stoll-Toffoli
King-Fraser-Lewis
Nolan

That's how I see it playing out. And honestly those wingers outside of maybe Brown are going to move around to different lines at different times throughout the season.

Clifford goes for a 2nd and a meh prospect. Or a great prospect straight up. Or a couple of decent picks. But who knows he could be packaged with Muzzin or Martinez and get us an even better LW.

God help us if Carcillo is on the 2nd line.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I would think the Kings let Ellerby or Schultz go first before Martinez. Next summer Mitchell is a UFA. So Muzzin replaces Mitchell and Martinez gets his spot alongside Greene back.

 

[Reaper45]

God help us if Carcillo is on the 2nd line.

Yeah he really dragged Sharp and Hossa down too.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

We have two defensemen coming off of injury and our forward prospects are more readily available to step in immediately than our defensive prospects. We are going to carry two spare defensemen. Not to mention that fourth line wing is the easiest spot to learn on and play out of the lineup.

Clifford is too good for the fourth line. Especially at $1.5 million. He's ready to move up and has great potential, playing him on the fourth line or in the press box for that price is a waste. There are many faces behind him that can play that spot just fine for less money, such as: Carcillo, Nolan, Andreoff, and Pearson.

He isn't going to take the third line spot. King may have taken a step back offensively, but he is by far superior defensively when compared to Clifford. King is taller, stronger, and tougher to play against around the boards. He may not have Clifford's energy, but he by far fills the mold Sutter and Lombardi is looking for.

I disagree with your thinking king is far ahead of clifford defensively. In alot of the games i saw king never went deeper then the top of the faceoff circle in the defensive circle and did a little circle around it. If thats playing defensive hockey then i'm wrong. Clifford plays hard and is clearly a better player.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Carcillo has potted over 12 goal twice. That is more than any of our bottom six ever have besides Stoll.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Just out of curiosity, which player is better Hossa or Carter?

 

[YP44]

Nolan, Fraser and Carcillo can all rotate for two spots. They have all been healthy scratches before. Clifford is an everyday player so they either deal him or King.

I don't see it happening but I would love it if we dealt King to fit in Cliff.

 

[Telos]

I disagree with your thinking king is far ahead of clifford defensively. In alot of the games i saw king never went deeper then the top of the faceoff circle in the defensive circle and did a little circle around it. If thats playing defensive hockey then i'm wrong. Clifford plays hard and is clearly a better player.

I don't see it. I personally saw more defensive gaffes from Clifford, who sometimes looks lost in his own zone, while King maintains his strong play around the boards. They've both shown similar offensive production, and King is bigger and stronger, and it is clear that Sutter and Lombardi favor him in some respects given how consistently he played on that line.

Personally, if I were in control, I would have traded King and put Clifford on the third line, but I don't see Sutter and Lombardi doing that.

 

[YP44]

God help us if Carcillo is on the 2nd line.

I think we will see him Frattin, and Toffoli rotate through. Carcillo has played with Richards and Carter before in Philly.

 

[Thrice]

Carcillo has potted over 12 goal twice. That is more than any of our bottom six ever have besides Stoll.

Since 2008 he's scored 23 goals total. 5 seasons. 23 goals.

 

[Thrice]

Just out of curiosity, which player is better Hossa or Carter?

At this point Carter. Time and injuries seem to have finally caught up with Hossa.

 

[Trolfoli]

You pay Clifford 1.5-1.7M to sit on the 4th line so when there is an injury he can fill in. With the Kings play style the Left wings getting injured is a pretty sure thing. Say Brown goes down... bump Frattin to 1st line and bump Clifford to 2nd.....

I don't see the Kings having 8 D... Martinez isn't going to improve by not playing and there is no place for him to play. You don't want developing guys to sit out... either they play in the NHL or should be in the minors... Ellerby you may be able to sneak past waivers... not the case with Martinez so he'll be moved.

Carcillo has scored 2 goals in each of the last 2 seasons....

 

[regulate]

People that keep writing in 4th line players also have to remember that Cliche is signed on a one way contract (most of you aren't counting him when you are counting the number of players that are signed one way deals). He may not be popular on the internet fan boards, but that doesn't mean he won't have a good shot at the roster. He has to be better than Fraser, but then again, who isn't.

 

[KingCanadain1976]

I don't see it. I personally saw more defensive gaffes from Clifford, who sometimes looks lost in his own zone, while King maintains his strong play around the boards. They've both shown similar offensive production, and King is bigger and stronger, and it is clear that Sutter and Lombardi favor him in some respects given how consistently he played on that line.

Personally, if I were in control, I would have traded King and put Clifford on the third line, but I don't see Sutter and Lombardi doing that.

I saw just the opposite Clifford looked to me alot better in the defensive zone and as far as strength goes clifford is in the best shape on the team and i bet would beat king in alot of strenght tests. I gave u the bigger but in everything else i see clifford better. I also want to say king plays more ice time so yeah if the prouction is even that should tell u something.

 

[deeshamrock]

God help us if Carcillo is on the 2nd line.

I can't see how he would be. I don't see how he will be in the reg. lineup and if he is inserted, it should be the 4th line, 3rd tops.
Him playing with MR in Philly doesn't make him a 2nd liner. That was a top 6 center suffering with a bottom dwelling winger. He sucked then and nothing I saw of him in Chicago changed that. Playing on the 2nd line and being a 2nd line player are 2 different things. Sutter has better options.

 

[BigKing]

Agree. Seems like 800K too much.

Hilarious.

How many legit fighters have played a pretty regular shift throughout the playoffs and the SCF for Cup-winning teams since the lockout?

Nolan has what is becoming a unique skill set in this league: big guy with solid speed, decent hands and very-good fighting skills.

Kopitar is getting paid about $7MM too much since he has been so very blah the last 30 games or so if this is the kind of logic we are going to use around here now.

As for potential lines, I still think Carter should be a C, meaning the 4th line C should be Stoll. This probably won't happen so I would rather have Lewis at C4 with Nolan at RW4 so the C4 position will be manned by someone with good defensive acumen.

Fraser is cool and all and love his effort, but I like other wingers more than him and we have Cs playing wing currently so it would make sense to bump him out of the lineup to make room for the wingers. When Fraser was off his game last year, he may have been the worst player on the team. His play in the first loss against the Ducks last season was the worst game by a Kings player all season. The charging penalty against SJ was pretty stellar as well.

 

[Telos]

I saw just the opposite Clifford looked to me alot better in the defensive zone and as far as strength goes clifford is in the best shape on the team and i bet would beat king in alot of strenght tests. I gave u the bigger but in everything else i see clifford better. I also want to say king plays more ice time so yeah if the prouction is even that should tell u something.

If I were in charge, I'd keep Clifford, but it's hard to argue that Lombardi and Sutter and set to give King the boot ahead of Clifford. He is young, injury prone with a concussion history because he is one of the worst fighters, and he is weaker than King. Clifford is definitely a big and strong guy, but King has a couple of inches on Clifford and nearly 25 pounds.

King has played 80 NHL Games and produced 24 points, and 38 playoff games with 13 points. Clifford has played 205 NHL games and produced 40 points, and 23 playoff games and produced 7 points. I just don't see the edge falling with Clifford. King edges him in every category other than energy and potential, but given our depth on left wing now, we can afford to maximize the asset now rather than squandering him on the fourth line. Just makes the most sense to move him if Lombardi isn't going to let go of King.

 

[Seventyx7]

Fraser should be the forward moved out.

4th line of Clifford/Carcillo-Lewis-Nolan.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Agreed, King has only size over Clifford and more ice time.

And why Fraser isn't moved or waived yet I don't know. He holds no purpose.

 

[hockeyisone]

First the team picks up Frattin and he was 2nd line LW. His 9 goals and 8 assits in the AHL should really help the team. He could not even make the leafs. His tunnel vision will also help this line.

Second the team picks up Carcillo and now he is 2nd line LW, his 4 goals and 10 assist for the past two years should really help the team. Lets me guess and say he he will make room for Carter and Richards... thats because he will be in the penality box. Both are 3rd and 4h line players.