News Article: Elliotte Friedman: Mike Futa leaving the Kings

Ray Martyniuk

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Mar 13, 2019
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I am still looking for that article where it states Kubalik didn't want to sign in LA. Does it exist? I just hear everybody thow it around like its the facts of the case. The article below is a pretty comprehensive read on how he got to Chicago but doesn't state that and does not lead you to believe that he didn't want to be here. Additionally, if LA had thought he was talented enough, would he have been traded for a 5th?

While we may never know the full answers, I think it is more fair to say that LA didn't realize the talent they had, made offers that were unreasonable and that may have lead Kubalik to not want to be here. However it starts with the Kings recognizing talent and managing talent appropriately.

Inside Dominik Kubalik's journey to the Blackhawks' top line
LA had their chance and blew it,end of discussion! Instead Simcoe boy signs Kovalchuk and hopes he's the same player at 34 he was at 29,Great gamble! And all it cost him was 6 million a season for 3 years! Therein lies the story. Blake boy has all this money tied up and can't maneuver!And to boot gets Prokhorkin instead of the kid turned man Kubalik who has been a scorer from the time he was born! Was a Futa,Yanetti,Lombardi find and not slowboy Blake! How else can you explain it? Kubalik wanted a legitimate chance to make the Kings,but Blake wanted him to start in the minors and prove himself...idiot! He's the best LA draft choice in recent memory(2009 onwards) and will if there is a full season next year pot 50 goals. Haven't had one of those scorers in a very long time in LA boyz! Kopitar to Kubalik scores...instead we get Kopi to Brown misses the net,puts it in the crowd,flubs the shot,ditto for Yafallo! Kings wasted a great player like Kopitar playing him with slugs and not bonafide talent that I'm dam sure Futa,Yanetti and Lombardi all saw! But not Butthead Blake!
 

Sleeping Dog

Fan Since ‘68
Sep 21, 2013
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LA had their chance and blew it,end of discussion! Instead Simcoe boy signs Kovalchuk and hopes he's the same player at 34 he was at 29,Great gamble! And all it cost him was 6 million a season for 3 years! Therein lies the story. Blake boy has all this money tied up and can't maneuver!And to boot gets Prokhorkin instead of the kid turned man Kubalik who has been a scorer from the time he was born! Was a Futa,Yanetti,Lombardi find and not slowboy Blake! How else can you explain it? Kubalik wanted a legitimate chance to make the Kings,but Blake wanted him to start in the minors and prove himself...idiot! He's the best LA draft choice in recent memory(2009 onwards) and will if there is a full season next year pot 50 goals. Haven't had one of those scorers in a very long time in LA boyz! Kopitar to Kubalik scores...instead we get Kopi to Brown misses the net,puts it in the crowd,flubs the shot,ditto for Yafallo! Kings wasted a great player like Kopitar playing him with slugs and not bonafide talent that I'm dam sure Futa,Yanetti and Lombardi all saw! But not Butthead Blake!

How many freaking times do people have to point out that Kubalik didn’t want to sign here? That ship has sailed. No one wants to keep hearing your bitching over and over and over. Time to move on to another topic.
 

Ray Martyniuk

Registered User
Mar 13, 2019
5,275
1,316
How many freaking times do people have to point out that Kubalik didn’t want to sign here? That ship has sailed. No one wants to keep hearing your bitching over and over and over. Time to move on to another topic.
There was never any mention that he didn't want to sign with the sad sack Kings! When there is a talent such as his, a winning franchise pursues and doesn't let go until the deal is done. Blake shit the bed just admit it...Blake is not GM material! Is ill-equipped. He thinks all prospects should be tinkled pink with signing with the big team for nothing or under the conditions they set...where is the negotiating for the talent who proved himself for the last 4-5 years and since he was 14 that he's a scorer and not some slug!
 

Raccoon Jesus

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There was never any mention that he didn't want to sign with the sad sack Kings! When there is a talent such as his, a winning franchise pursues and doesn't let go until the deal is done. Blake shit the bed just admit it...Blake is not GM material! Is ill-equipped. He thinks all prospects should be tinkled pink with signing with the big team for nothing or under the conditions they set...where is the negotiating for the talent who proved himself for the last 4-5 years and since he was 14 that he's a scorer and not some slug!

Chicago is a whopping 8 points ahead of us in the standings.
 
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Sleeping Dog

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There was never any mention that he didn't want to sign with the sad sack Kings! When there is a talent such as his, a winning franchise pursues and doesn't let go until the deal is done. Blake shit the bed just admit it...Blake is not GM material! Is ill-equipped. He thinks all prospects should be tinkled pink with signing with the big team for nothing or under the conditions they set...where is the negotiating for the talent who proved himself for the last 4-5 years and since he was 14 that he's a scorer and not some slug!
Whatever dude, I’m done discussing this with you. Enjoy talking with yourself.
Next topic?
 

Ray Martyniuk

Registered User
Mar 13, 2019
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Chicago is a whopping 8 points ahead of us in the standings.
But talentwise way ahead us! And they some good talent coming on board. Blake's idea is too put all the eggs in Ontario and let them fight it out instead putting the players in the best position for success...that maybe the Collegiate ranks where Turcotte should have stayed at least another year ala Caufield,Kupari,should have stayed at Karpat,Sodergran in Sweden,Madden another year in college...an extra year never hurt anyone ask Teemu Selanne and Peter Forsberg what the extra time did for their careers...it prolonged it and now Kubalik has come over as a man not a wide-eyed boy easily cast aside after 3 years struggling in the minors or the AHL!
 

Fishhead

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Jul 15, 2003
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There was never any mention that he didn't want to sign with the sad sack Kings! When there is a talent such as his, a winning franchise pursues and doesn't let go until the deal is done. Blake shit the bed just admit it...Blake is not GM material! Is ill-equipped. He thinks all prospects should be tinkled pink with signing with the big team for nothing or under the conditions they set...where is the negotiating for the talent who proved himself for the last 4-5 years and since he was 14 that he's a scorer and not some slug!

I can't believe I'm doing this... but:

Dominik Kubalík has received an offer from the Los Angeles Kings

There's the offer from 2017

"He thinks all prospects should be tinkled pink with signing with the big team for nothing or under the conditions they set...where is the negotiating for the talent who proved himself for the last 4-5 years and since he was 14 that he's a scorer and not some slug!"

You don't know how contracts work for these players. There is no negotiating, or lowballing. It's a set contract, it's an ELC - the same for any team he signs with.

And this is what Stan Bowman had to say:

"Bowman asked Kings GM Rob Blake about Kubalik. "On first approach, Rob said, 'I don't think we want to trade him. We might try to sign him ourselves,'" Bowman said. Bowman said fine but checked back again. And again."

They made an offer, he didn't take it. Stop trying to rewrite history to make a point that isn't there. There's this thing called the internet, where everything is. If he wanted to sign with the Kings, he would have. It was the same exact contract no matter where he signed.

Here's a quote from Martin Straka, his GM, on Kubalik:

"But I talked to him about it then, and he said he did not want to go there. He was scared they would put him on a farm team, and he would not have success. It was only when he had confidence in [himself] that he was ready to go over."

It was all Kubalik, not the Kings. End of story. No one is going to convince you otherwise, because you'll just gloss over everything and believe what you want to believe. At this point it's like talking to a flat-earther. No amount of evidence is going to convince you. He wasn't ready, didn't accept the offer, and by the time he was ready the Kings didn't have confidence he would come over. Nothing else to say, really.
 

Bandit

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Jul 23, 2005
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But talentwise way ahead us! And they some good talent coming on board. Blake's idea is too put all the eggs in Ontario and let them fight it out instead putting the players in the best position for success...that maybe the Collegiate ranks where Turcotte should have stayed at least another year ala Caufield,Kupari,should have stayed at Karpat,Sodergran in Sweden,Madden another year in college...an extra year never hurt anyone ask Teemu Selanne and Peter Forsberg what the extra time did for their careers...it prolonged it and now Kubalik has come over as a man not a wide-eyed boy easily cast aside after 3 years struggling in the minors or the AHL!
I thought the discussion was over? Why are you still talking about it?
 
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SFKingshomer

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Lombardi would have made Kubalik earn it in Ontario as well see Bud Holloway. 1 big factor is Kubalik wanting to play with Dominik Kahun his CZE linemate.
 

Herby

Now I can die in peace
Feb 27, 2002
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The Kings screwed up, it doesn't have to be brought up a million times and people don't have to make excuses, it is what it is, teams screw up, Calgary gave up on Martin St. Louis and he ended up being one of the best players in the 2000's. The Kings European Scouts and Management did not realize they had an NHL 30 goal-scorer, looking back he obviously should have been brought over some time earlier.

And props to Kubalik, he believed in himself and held out for what he thought (and correctly thought) he deserved, he was not an AHL player, he knew his value and didn't want to ride busses. And he was really good this year, his arsenal of shots is elite, the puck booms off his stick like it does some of the top scorers in the league.

The sucky thing for the Kings was that their draft strategy for skilled players in that era largely amounted to dart throws in the later rounds, basically all of them missed except for one and they didn't get him over here.
 

Herby

Now I can die in peace
Feb 27, 2002
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Mullett Lake, MI
Lombardi would have made Kubalik earn it in Ontario as well see Bud Holloway. 1 big factor is Kubalik wanting to play with Dominik Kahun his CZE linemate.

This is just terrible if it's true. So the guy scored 30 goals in a shortened season and looked like a legit 1st line player in the NHL but he would have been in Ontario and not a terrible LA team because he would "Have to earn it", what did Kyle Clifford, Oscar Moller, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar earn? Sports should be a meritocracy.

Makes zero sense for the product on the ice having a 30 goal scorer in the AHL, it's also horrible for the cap, missing out on said 30 goal scorer making 925k on an ELC.
 

Fishhead

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This is just terrible if it's true. So the guy scored 30 goals in a shortened season and looked like a legit 1st line player in the NHL but he would have been in Ontario and not a terrible LA team because he would "Have to earn it", what did Kyle Clifford, Oscar Moller, Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar earn? Sports should be a meritocracy.

Makes zero sense for the product on the ice having a 30 goal scorer in the AHL, it's also horrible for the cap, missing out on said 30 goal scorer making 925k on an ELC.

That's because it's not true. Lombardi didn't make Kubalik an offer, Blake did. Kubalik didn't take it.

I don't understand how this is a Kings screw-up, in any form. They followed the guy's progress. They kept tabs on him. He was invited to come over for camps (which he didn't). They made him a contract offer.

I mean, what else were they supposed to do with him? Kidnap him to get him over here?
 

Fishhead

Registered User
Jul 15, 2003
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And props to Kubalik, he believed in himself and held out for what he thought (and correctly thought) he deserved, he was not an AHL player, he knew his value and didn't want to ride busses. And he was really good this year, his arsenal of shots is elite, the puck booms off his stick like it does some of the top scorers in the league.

This completely contradicts what his GM said after talking to Kubalik at the time the Kings offer was made. He lacked the confidence to make the move. See Straka's quote above with regards to their conversation.
 
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GoldenBearHockey

Registered User
Jan 6, 2014
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I dunno about you guys, I'm absolutely pissed that LA couldn't sign McDavid.....I mean seriously.....how do they let a talent like that get away
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
21,812
20,607
People are still arguing with andys? I un-ignored him once and it was the last time I'll make that mistake.

He constantly ignores all evidence submitted and pushes the same ignorant rhetoric.

He's not even spouting opinions. He's spreading falsehoods to start arguments and at this point should just be flagged for trolling.
 

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