Kings News: Kings resign Martinez 2 years 2.2 mil total

[KingsFan7824]

As long as nobody is asking to be traded, and the Kings are under the cap, there's no pressure to trade anyone yet. What's the rush? I say let it play out in camp, and then figure out what to do.

 

[Herby]

Well, he played fine for the Kings in the playoffs.

Alec Martinez did?
In 2013?

 

[MsMeow]

Yay! He had an up and down season this season but there was no training camp and he was injured for quite a while. Funny how so many are quick to write him off. He was terrific in 2013's playoff run and with a normal season including full training camp and no injury concerns, I'm sure he will be fine.

 

[Mats26]

You have 9 D now.

If Mitchell is not ready he goes on IR. that's 8

You then send Ellerby to Minors. Doubt anyone wants him. That's 7

Not complicated

We think the same, not sure why everyone thinks Willie is ready to start the season.
Green, Willie, RR all had surguries and we are ready to trade Marts after a decent signing...lol

 

[Whiskeypete]

the decision will be made at camp plain and simple. last summer we were talking about Voynov-Martinez as the present day combo of Zhitnik-Sydor. how the two of them combined with DD, meant that LA was set and stacked for years on the blue line.

move forward a year and people forgot how pleased we were with this setup. VV was a rising top 4 that still hadn't peaked. AMart had shown us a calm and steady presence.

i like Alec's game (well the 2012 version). he is very calm and cool, smooth skater and began to play fairly physical which i think was attributable to being 100% comfortable with the NHL game. if he can return to that same form he will be a fantastic #5-6 PMD, that can get the breakout and transition moving. at the same time be defensively responsible and able to skate with top level talent, while also playing heavy.

Muzzin has shown flashes, but struggled. he was a rookie it is expected. this season will be very telling, now that he has a lot of GP's in the NHL. now he has to up his hockey IQ, which will lead to him slowing the game down and being able to better use his big frame.

now people are turning on AMart after a subpar season, which i think can largely be blamed on the two injuries he suffered in a compressed season. the kid never got his game back and it wouldn't surprise me if he was slightly hesitant after having his face blown up.

Sutter may want to play big, which means Muzzin over Amart. if this is the case then it can easily be asked then why not Muzzin over VV? if it is a size thing only then Voynov could be replaced for the same reason.

take the size out of the equation, because it is speculative. good coaches play their best line up they can field talent wise. AMart didn't play well last year and Sutter didn't play him as a result.

i think with camp the D lineup shakes out with DD, VV, Greene and RR are set in stone. the wild card is WM obviously and can/will shake this all up.

RR (ls) - DD (rs)
? WM (ls) - VV (rs)
? - MG (rs)

AMart (ls)
Muzzin (ls)
Mitchell (ls)
Ellerby (ls)
Schultz (ls)

you have five guys battling for one or two spots depending on WM's status. all of them are left handed shots (ls). it is obvious that Dean has stockpiled left handed Dmen to prepare for the Mitchell situation.

if Mitchell returns then you have most likely a Muzzin/AMart combo on the bottom pairing and the two flipping for the #7 spot. Ellerby and Schultz are sent to MAN if they clear.

if Mitchell doesn't return, then you have Muzzin skating on the 2nd pairing with VV. AMart matched again with Greene. Ellerby and Schultz then fight for the #7 D spot, with the loser going to MAN

 

[KINGS17]

Dean has bought several insurance policies on Mitchell's health. None of this has to be decided until the Kings are deep into training camp and the pre-season schedule.

Competition is a great thing!

 

[BigKing]

If they don't win the Cup in 2012 with this magical run in regards to the defense where nobody got injured and everyone just seemed to play and be slotted perfectly, people wouldn't be so hard on Muzzin.

As this year's playoffs showed with Kopitar and Brown, one amazing stretch of games doesn't mean that's how it is always going to be. Martinez was horrible this season and made just as many glaring errors as Muzzin on a pro-rated basis, but Muzzin was a rookie playing his first season on a team defending the Cup as opposed to Martinez who was a rookie on a "oh, that's cute...the Kings think they are good" team. Shortened season no less as well with little-to-no practice time.

I can give Martinez a bit of a break because of the face injury during the lockout, but the guy is a #5 at best on a Cup contender. The way he is talked about on here, you'd think he was a #3 and we just aren't allowing him to blossom or something. I think there is a lot of 2012 goodwill going on here for Martinez followed up by greedy, we-expect-to-win-by-bringing-back-the-entire-Cup-team expectations levied on a rookie in a Muzzin who was not part of the SC squad. While he made rookie mistakes, the way he is talked about on here is ridiculous. We can crap on his rookie season by saying he only had one good month, but each month was so much more important in this shortened season and he was a huge reason why this team was able to finish in 5th. How tight were the standings this year? Kings only finished with 4 more points than 8th place Minnesota. Without that "just one month" from Muzzin, the Kings could have been right there with the '06 Canes or bounced in the 1st round by Chicago, which would of been a complete nightmare for those many posters on this board that feel the need to pollute the main board in regards to people respecting the Kings Cup win.

Anyways, there is no need to trade anybody right now, especially not for some unknown draft pick. You wait until camp and act accordingly unless there are issues with Clifford and Lewis. With Mitchell such an injury risk, I'd keep Martinez and Muzzin. Ellerby can attend as many important events with Kopitar as he wants but he is still waiver fodder and will be used as such.

 

[topliner967]

I like it, hopefully he'll come back strong and prove that he earns a spot in the top 6.

 

[Reaper45]

There's a chance Mitchell, Regehr and Greene aren't ready to start the season.

Doughty-Muzzin
Voynov-Martinez
Ellerby-Schultz
Bodnarchuk

Wow.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

http://mayorsmanor.com/2013/07/lombardi-has-a-mitchell-update-and-too-many-defensemen/

 

[Bandit]

Last season was his worst. The season before was his best.

Let me ask... do you think Dwight King will rebound next season? Because last season was his worst.

Yes. King had a sophomore slump, Martinez was playing his way back from getting hit in the face with a puck. Both these guys played every game and were effective in our cup run. It would be sheer idiocy to toss them aside because they each had a sub-par, lockout shortened season...

 

[Jason Lewis]

The Schultz signing is all the more puzzling to me at this point. I figured the insurance policy on Mitchell would come in the form of Keaton Ellerby, who despite the flack he took from a lot of fans did admirable in his circumstance.

If it's between Schultz and Ellerby for a 6/7 spot I'd almost always nod to Ellerby.

More on topic though that's a good signing and arbitration avoidance by Martinez.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Some interesting quotes from Darryl Sutter from earlier in the season regarding Alec Martinez and the Kings' use of defensemen:

http://lakingsinsider.com/2013/05/08/sutter-needs-defensemen-to-play-like-veterans/

“So he’s given us 12 minutes. Is 12 minutes enough? No. We need a little more in both ways – quality and quantity,” Sutter said of Martinez following the team’s morning skate at the Scottrade Center on Wednesday.

“Whether we like it or not, we are not a veteran defense. Marty…played a grand total of maybe a hundred games or whatever in the NHL. I don’t even know. But he’s got to play like one of our veterans. It can’t be just Robyn and Drew and Slava and Robbie playing like veterans. You need everybody to.”

“He’s brought a little bit more speed into our lineup. You know what? He hadn’t earned his right to play, and we put him in when we were down two-nothing in the series,” Sutter said. “Quite honest, he got hurt in here during the regular season the second or third shift of the game, and we had never seen him play at the level – whether it was confidence or compete, whatever it was – but he never got back to it. He didn’t earn his right, very simple. He didn’t play to his potential, and we were down in the series and we decided to put him back in.”

http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/20...ing_wp_cron=1373911020.5325000286102294921875

“He’s struggled. … He has to be a big part of the solution if he wants to stay in the lineup. He’s a young player who hasn’t played much in this league. My job to teach them and make sure they’re prepared to compete. But if they don’t learn and they don’t compete they’re going to have trouble with me in terms of how much they play.”

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Why did we sign Schultz? for Manchester?

I think as an insurance to Mitchell and to push Ellerby for the 7th spot.

As long as nobody is asking to be traded, and the Kings are under the cap, there's no pressure to trade anyone yet. What's the rush? I say let it play out in camp, and then figure out what to do.

Exactly.

Dean has bought several insurance policies on Mitchell's health. None of this has to be decided until the Kings are deep into training camp and the pre-season schedule.

Competition is a great thing!

Exactly.

The Schultz signing is all the more puzzling to me at this point. I figured the insurance policy on Mitchell would come in the form of Keaton Ellerby, who despite the flack he took from a lot of fans did admirable in his circumstance.

If it's between Schultz and Ellerby for a 6/7 spot I'd almost always nod to Ellerby.

More on topic though that's a good signing and arbitration avoidance by Martinez.

See my comment above but my guess is part of it is to push Ellerby. There will be a lot of healthy competition in training camp and hopefully Willie Mitchell is part of it.

 

[HYORI 1963]

The Schultz signing is all the more puzzling to me at this point. I figured the insurance policy on Mitchell would come in the form of Keaton Ellerby, who despite the flack he took from a lot of fans did admirable in his circumstance.

If it's between Schultz and Ellerby for a 6/7 spot I'd almost always nod to Ellerby.

More on topic though that's a good signing and arbitration avoidance by Martinez.

Agreed. Signing of Schultz is redundant, if not puzzling.

 

[Reaper45]

Agreed. Signing of Schultz is redundant, if not puzzling.

Not really. Say everything goes according to plan and we start the season with

Doughty-Regehr
Voynov-Mitchell
Martinez-Greene
Ellerby

If 2 guys go down with injuries an were forced to call someone up, wouldn't you rather it be Schultz instead of Campbell or Bodnarchuk?

 

[HYORI 1963]

Not really. Say everything goes according to plan and we start the season with

Doughty-Regehr
Voynov-Mitchell
Martinez-Greene
Ellerby

If 2 guys go down with injuries an were forced to call someone up, wouldn't you rather it be Schultz instead of Campbell or Bodnarchuk?

No, I'd actually prefer to get a look at one of our kids. They deserve a look in the nhl imo. Besides, I don't expect 2 of our dmen to go down much like last year. Last year, a lot of players were caught by surprise and didn't have time to get in shape and thus getting injured.

 

[Reaper45]

No, I'd actually prefer to get a look at one of our kids. They deserve a look in the nhl imo. Besides, I don't expect 2 of our dmen to go down much like last year. Last year, a lot of players were caught by surprise and didn't have time to get in shape and thus getting injured.

Schultz is 27 and has 399 NHL games.

Campbell is 25 with 0 NHL games.

Bodnarchuk is 25 with 5 NHL games.

I for one would rather see a guy with NHL experience if the need arises.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Schultz is 27 and has 399 NHL games.

Campbell is 25 with 0 NHL games.

Bodnarchuk is 25 with 5 NHL games.

I for one would rather see a guy with NHL experience if the need arises.

Does all that NHL experience matter when Schultz is awful?

 

[Reaper45]

Does all that NHL experience matter when Schultz is awful?

I'd say so. Look to me there's a reason why Lombardi tried to deal for him last year and then signed him this year. The Caps don't really play d. Lets give him a shot in the system where we stress d and positioning. I'm willing to bet he's much better here IF he spends time with the big club.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Kings' defensemen by games played (and age).

Robyn Regehr (33): 943 games
Willie Mitchell (36): 719 games
Matt Greene (30): 466 games
Jeff Schultz (27): 399 games
Drew Doughty (23): 364 games
Keaton Ellerby (24): 160 games
Alec Martinez (25): 142 games
Slava Voynov (23): 102 games
Jake Muzzin (24): 56 games

While Sutter did seem to have a preference of giving minutes to more experienced defensemen, he did seem to favor the inexperienced Muzzin over Martinez and Ellerby. Now that Martinez is under contract, the Kings are in no rush to trade him.

The Kings may decide to keep Martinez around until camp to determine what to do with him. If he outperforms Muzzin and earns a spot as the LH dman on the 3rd pair, then Muzzin is pushed down to the #7 slot or is moved, which would force the Kings to waive both Ellerby and Schultz, or keep 8 defensemen on the roster and waive just one of the spares.

With Mitchell and Greene not really being guaranteed to play in all 82-games, it is very likely that the Kings could just keep 8 defensemen on the roster. It's something Sutter openly talked about after seeing two of his top defensive dmen go down to injuries.

 

[King'sPawn]

I really think it would be unwise for the Kings to wait until training camp to trade one of their defensemen. Training camp is when GMs try to REDUCE the roster size down to 23; adding players is counter-intuitive to the whole process. Unless the team doing the trade is trading away a roster player, and that opens up a whole new can of worms of what team would trade away a 2nd line lw that the Kings can afford, for the defenseman the Kings don't want to keep?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

If they decide to go with 8 defensemen, the Kings would just have to waive one player from their blueline and carry 13 forwards. They could potentially ice this lineup:

Forwards (13):
Kopitar
Brown
Williams
Richards
Carter
Toffoli
Stoll
Frattin
King
Lewis
Clifford
Nolan
Fraser

Defensemen (8):
Doughty
Voynov
Regehr
Mitchell
Greene
Muzzin
Martinez
Schultz

Goalies (2):
Quick
Scrivens

 

[Whiskeypete]

I really think it would be unwise for the Kings to wait until training camp to trade one of their defensemen. Training camp is when GMs try to REDUCE the roster size down to 23; adding players is counter-intuitive to the whole process. Unless the team doing the trade is trading away a roster player, and that opens up a whole new can of worms of what team would trade away a 2nd line lw that the Kings can afford, for the defenseman the Kings don't want to keep?

the GMs are trying to cut down their roster, but there are always a few situations that arise during camps that will create trade partners. someone gets injured, a rookie/young player doesn't perform to expectations to make the big club, etc. there is always the true upgrade over what another team has. LA's d corp has pieces that are an upgrade for many NHL teams to draw from. in all likelihood there will be a handful of teams looking for help on the blueline as they exit camp.

If they decide to go with 8 defensemen, the Kings would just have to waive one player from their blueline and carry 13 forwards. They could potentially ice this lineup:

Forwards (13):
Kopitar
Brown
Williams
Richards
Carter
Toffoli
Stoll
Frattin
King
Lewis
Clifford
Nolan
Fraser

Defensemen (8):
Doughty
Voynov
Regehr
Mitchell
Greene
Muzzin
Martinez
Schultz

Goalies (2):
Quick
Scrivens

imo there is no way they go back to that cluster of a situation. it was one thing when the organization overall didn't have depth, but that no longer holds true. hell even the LW "black hole" has depth in the cupboard at this point. the only gap imo that exists now is in net.

anyways back to the 13/8 roster. with the possibility of Pearson, Vey and Andy knocking on the door the team cannot afford to just push the kids away. even that one roster spot is key to have them with the club to play a game here and there, not to mention just practicing with the big club.

if Mitchell returns then Ellerby and Schultz are bound for MAN. i wouldn't be surprised if Dean moves one of them for #4-7 pick when he realizes that the big club and a fw MAN d prospects are going to be more valuable than Ellerby and Schultz. again there are a few D prospects that are right there. i don't think they will make the team, but they are close to a call up and should get a game or two just for experience and evolution.

i maintain the D (with Mitchell's return) will come down to a 7 man corp, with AMart and Muzzin battling for the 3rd pairing left position

 

[KINGS17]

I really think it would be unwise for the Kings to wait until training camp to trade one of their defensemen. Training camp is when GMs try to REDUCE the roster size down to 23; adding players is counter-intuitive to the whole process. Unless the team doing the trade is trading away a roster player, and that opens up a whole new can of worms of what team would trade away a 2nd line lw that the Kings can afford, for the defenseman the Kings don't want to keep?

It's extremely unlikely that the Kings will be getting an asset that can be used as a 2nd line LW in any trade for one of their surplus defensemen. The idea of the extra defensemen at this point is to create increased competition and force these guys to improve. Whoever is left standing will get the 6 and 7 spots. Whatever is left will be waived or traded for at best a 2nd or 3rd round pick most likely.