I think a more realistic scenario than a UFA signing is acquiring someone via trade from a team who needs cap relief.
Yep, and the ball was already rolling on that one with getting Maatta.
A bit of a bump, but since this thread popped out in the General Forum, this post really stood out to me.
Is cap hit the new metric for player evaluation?
Overpaying a #1C or #1D isn't nearly as poor of a decision because they're considerably harder to acquire and positively impact the game to some degree. If you're paying them 11, but they're only worth 8 and you have no available replacement, then their value is still net positive because that salary can't be reallocated to replace them.
At this point, would the Kings like to get Doughty signed for less in his contract? Of course, but he wanted more and Blake decided to give him more. Oh well. If Doughty wasn't backing down from that, and we couldn't sign him, he could have walked and who else could have filled in that 1D slot feasibly if people didn't see Muzzin or Martinez in that spot back then? Anyone has the answer to that? If there are no good answers, then in my opinion, I can't say Doughty's contract is the worst in the NHL if the Kings can't fill that spot well. It's a tough bind, but that's where it stands. Do we have anyone (prospects or not) that can feasibly take that spot?
Thankfully, we got plenty of prospects centers that I want to see challenge Kopitar to take the spot of 1C down the line so the concern is not as high regarding 1C as it is with 1D.