Confirmed with Link: Muzzin signs 5-year extension

[Ron*]

Trade Slava....Nope.

Just let A-Mart walk, the guy deserves a pay day anyway. Along with an increased role. Anyone noticed Slava played more minutes than Doughty last two games ? Weird.

A-mart gets bumped up to second pairing when Regehr leaves. You forget that too.

If I am DL, I am not "just let(ting) A-mart walk." This guy is the only guy in Stanley Cup history to net an overtime goal to win a series in both the Western Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. In addition, and ultimately more importantly, he is a vastly underrated defenseman with an excellent slapper.

Got to do everything to keep this guy.

 

[Whiskeypete]

Actually, I don't recall anyone saying this. Where is your source?

it was speculated by many and discussed here for months. i don't recall the exact dollar amount, but it was north of $70M.

it did cause some headaches for teams that suddenly had to cut ~$1M or so of salary. i recall discussion here at the time of the Greene signing and Willie leaving that this reduction meant there was zero chance of both returning. it left Dean with no money left to re-sign others, while trying to retain both vets

A-mart gets bumped up to second pairing when Regehr leaves. You forget that too.

If I am DL, I am not "just let(ting) A-mart walk." This guy is the only guy in Stanley Cup history to net an overtime goal to win a series in both the Western Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. In addition, and ultimately more importantly, he is a vastly underrated defenseman with an excellent slapper.

Got to do everything to keep this guy.

i can't see Dean just letting Alec 'walk'. Dean is to savvy with his assets, to simply let a player with Alec's resume and upside potential to just walk away. Dean will find a way to re-sign him, or he will swing some kind of trade for him so he gets a return.

i think he gets moved to a team in a similar fashion as the Carter - JMFJ trade, only this time Dean will take a high end prospect or pick(s). this would also hinge on if the team is able to re-sign him, but i think this gives Dean the best return and allows him to restock the cupboard

 

[KINGS17]

A-mart gets bumped up to second pairing when Regehr leaves. You forget that too.

If I am DL, I am not "just let(ting) A-mart walk." This guy is the only guy in Stanley Cup history to net an overtime goal to win a series in both the Western Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. In addition, and ultimately more importantly, he is a vastly underrated defenseman with an excellent slapper.

Got to do everything to keep this guy.

It's pretty obvious that the Kings' plan is to groom McNabb as Voynov's future partner.

...and Ron, you could be right about the cap. People overestimated this season's cap by quite a bit this time last year. I think Dean will exercise caution going forward, and see how things go this season. I don't anticipate any of the older guys getting re-signed until after the season is over, much like the Matt Greene signing.

 

[kingsfan]

Obvious its just one tweet, and preliminary at that, so things can easily change. But lets assume its true. That puts the cap at less than 72 mil for next year. Now obvious the unknown is the player escalator, which could bump it another ~3 mil. But when you see how much the players put in escrow and the fact that they refused last year, that is very much up in the air.

I'd rather wait until a bit of the season has gone by. Some numbers are known, but others aren't right now, I'm not even sure how they can make a predict or even base preliminary evaluation when not all the data even has a base guideline for it.

A-mart gets bumped up to second pairing when Regehr leaves. You forget that too.

DS has almost always went with a puck-mover and a stay-at-home/physical type. I doubt Regehr is swapped out for A-Mart.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

A-mart gets bumped up to second pairing when Regehr leaves. You forget that too.

If I am DL, I am not "just let(ting) A-mart walk." This guy is the only guy in Stanley Cup history to net an overtime goal to win a series in both the Western Conference Finals and the Stanley Cup Final. In addition, and ultimately more importantly, he is a vastly underrated defenseman with an excellent slapper.

Got to do everything to keep this guy.

it was speculated by many and discussed here for months. i don't recall the exact dollar amount, but it was north of $70M.

it did cause some headaches for teams that suddenly had to cut ~$1M or so of salary. i recall discussion here at the time of the Greene signing and Willie leaving that this reduction meant there was zero chance of both returning. it left Dean with no money left to re-sign others, while trying to retain both vets



i can't see Dean just letting Alec 'walk'. Dean is to savvy with his assets, to simply let a player with Alec's resume and upside potential to just walk away. Dean will find a way to re-sign him, or he will swing some kind of trade for him so he gets a return.

i think he gets moved to a team in a similar fashion as the Carter - JMFJ trade, only this time Dean will take a high end prospect or pick(s). this would also hinge on if the team is able to re-sign him, but i think this gives Dean the best return and allows him to restock the cupboard

I dunno guys, he's let Scuderi and Mitchell walk in consecutive years; obviously keeping a core d-man until the playoffs are over is in our best interests unless we're somehow trading for an upgrade, so why would Martinez be any different? Penner scored iconic goals and we let him go too. I doubt he holds any more sentimental value to the org than the previous two do...and granted, DL didnt' just let Mitchell walk, I'm sure he would have brought him back for the right price, so if THATS what you're saying, I agree. I just don't see our GM making moves (trading salary etc) to KEEP Martinez. Not because I don't like him, hell I wish he would do that, but because he's caught in a numbers game and stands to play a bigger role for more money elsewhere.

 

[KINGS17]

I dunno guys, he's let Scuderi and Mitchell walk in consecutive years; obviously keeping a core d-man until the playoffs are over is in our best interests unless we're somehow trading for an upgrade, so why would Martinez be any different? Penner scored iconic goals and we let him go too. I doubt he holds any more sentimental value to the org than the previous two do...and granted, DL didnt' just let Mitchell walk, I'm sure he would have brought him back for the right price, so if THATS what you're saying, I agree. I just don't see our GM making moves (trading salary etc) to KEEP Martinez. Not because I don't like him, hell I wish he would do that, but because he's caught in a numbers game and stands to play a bigger role for more money elsewhere.

I agree, Martinez is a key piece to contending for another cup this season. Dean won't let him go. Dean may be forced to let him walk after the season is over. This is why you have a pipeline. Hopefully Forbort or another kid in Manchester shows something and is capable of being a 5-6 sometime soon.

On a side note...

If you're say the Philadelphia Flyers, would it have not been smarter to wait a season and sign Martinez as a UFA at around $4M a season than to sign a 35+ year old Streit and MacDonald at around $5M each.

 

[kingsfan]

I agree, Martinez is a key piece to contending for another cup this season. Dean won't let him go. Dean may be forced to let him walk after the season is over. This is why you have a pipeline. Hopefully Forbort or another kid in Manchester shows something and is capable of being a 5-6 sometime soon.

On a side note...

If you're say the Philadelphia Flyers, would it have not been smarter to wait a season and sign Martinez as a UFA at around $4M a season than to sign a 35+ year old Streit and MacDonald at around $5M each.

Smarter yes, but do you want to be the one to tell the rapidly aging and rabid Ed Snider, who pursuit of the cup seems to be like his own personal Viagra, to wait one more year, or do you just want to start handing out his money and quietly hope his slip into dementia is quick but doesn't take the Flyers down with it?

Seems like the Wirtz situation in Chicago.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I don't see them letting Alec go,

I see Muzzin, Doughty, Martinez, and Voynov being the core D for the future, McNabb, Greene, being in there as well,

Muzzin, Doughty
Greene/McNabb Voynov
McNabb/Greene Martinez

As the foreseeable future, I definitely think they let Regehr go, and I believe they will let Stoll go IF they feel Andreoff is ready for 4th line minutes, moves Richards up to 3rd line, Andreoff starts at 4th line and works his way up

 

[Buddy The Elf]

I agree, Martinez is a key piece to contending for another cup this season. Dean won't let him go. Dean may be forced to let him walk after the season is over. This is why you have a pipeline. Hopefully Forbort or another kid in Manchester shows something and is capable of being a 5-6 sometime soon.

On a side note...

If you're say the Philadelphia Flyers, would it have not been smarter to wait a season and sign Martinez as a UFA at around $4M a season than to sign a 35+ year old Streit and MacDonald at around $5M each.

I think it is probably bad management to wait for and expect there to be UFA's for you to sign from year to year. If they are there, great but don't count on it. They should probably work on drafting and developing defensive players. It seems like they focus on the forward position and that's about it. But I'm not a Flyer fan either. They just seem to always have an issue at goal and I can't think of many Flyer drafted and developed dmen off the top of my head.

 

[Ron*]

I dunno guys, he's let Scuderi and Mitchell walk in consecutive years; obviously keeping a core d-man until the playoffs are over is in our best interests unless we're somehow trading for an upgrade, so why would Martinez be any different? Penner scored iconic goals and we let him go too. I doubt he holds any more sentimental value to the org than the previous two do...and granted, DL didnt' just let Mitchell walk, I'm sure he would have brought him back for the right price, so if THATS what you're saying, I agree. I just don't see our GM making moves (trading salary etc) to KEEP Martinez. Not because I don't like him, hell I wish he would do that, but because he's caught in a numbers game and stands to play a bigger role for more money elsewhere.

I think you are forgetting a couple of things.

Scuderi left not just for monetary reasons but also for family considerations. They wanted to get back to Pittsburgh.

Mitchell got mad money from Florida. DL was never going to match that.

Alternatively, Martinez is 27 and just entering his prime. He is a good solid defender who has offensive upside. He is an asset to this team and has mentioned the value of the clubhouse environment on more than one occasion.

As far as iconic goals go, you can't compare Penner to Martinez. Penner is a slug. Martinez brings it every day.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I think you are forgetting a couple of things.

Scuderi left not just for monetary reasons but also for family considerations. They wanted to get back to Pittsburgh.

Mitchell got mad money from Florida. DL was never going to match that.

Alternatively, Martinez is 27 and just entering his prime. He is a good solid defender who has offensive upside. He is an asset to this team and has mentioned the value of the clubhouse environment on more than one occasion.

As far as iconic goals go, you can't compare Penner to Martinez. Penner is a slug. Martinez brings it every day.

Jazz hands patterns himself after Ron

 

[kingsfan]

I don't see them letting Alec go,

I see Muzzin, Doughty, Martinez, and Voynov being the core D for the future, McNabb, Greene, being in there as well,

Muzzin, Doughty
Greene/McNabb Voynov
McNabb/Greene Martinez

As the foreseeable future, I definitely think they let Regehr go, and I believe they will let Stoll go IF they feel Andreoff is ready for 4th line minutes, moves Richards up to 3rd line, Andreoff starts at 4th line and works his way up

What is the timeline on 'the future' because of the six D you listed, only Greene is remotely close the end of his career (and likely has five or so years left, maybe more). Considering the Kings have Forbort, Miller, LaDue, Ebert and Leslie in the system, along with Kevin Raine and Alex Roach and recent draft picks like McKeown and Lietuniemi, at some point either the Kings are going to have to start trading players, be it prospects or pro level guys, or risk letting those kids all walk for nothing, ala Hickey. Within three years most of those guys are going to be waiver wire eligible.

 

[Ron*]

Jazz hands patterns himself after Ron

I knew you weren't going to let that pass you by.

 

[Fishhead]

One thing the Kings have going for them is guys now want to stay here. Before, we had to really offer top notch money to lure players. But recently, Gaborik, Greene, Muzzin - all decent contracts and at or below reasonable AAV for their services. One is a star type player, one a lunchpail guy, and the other an emerging player. They all seem to realize what they have going on is special and want to be a part. The only recent contract that was a little big for me is Brown's, but he took a deal for peanuts before and has more than earned that.

It seems like a small thing, but it could give the Kings a decent edge in trying to retain guys like Amart, Stoll, and Williams. Every little bit helps when it comes to things like that. It's going to be tight and will be highly dependent on cap figures going forward, but being able to fit this much talent under a cap illustrates just how much times have changed with regards to the perception of the Kings organization among players.

 

[Evgeny Oliker]

Muzzin

Deal is all nice and dandy...


But does anyone know when Muzzin will actually play???

 

[HansH]

Can one of the resident photoshop experts create a "Muzzinga!" t-shirt/picture? Thx

 

[Winger23]

I guess I'm in the minority but I think Martinez is being pumped up a little much here. There's a reason he was in the dog house for the start of the season last year. Don't get me wrong I love me Mr jazz hands but its premature to say he's ready to play a top 4 role. He's still a bit shakey on the defensive side of the puck. 3-3.5 million tops imo or you let him walk.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I knew you weren't going to let that pass you by.

If I would have missed that, I would have to kick my own ass

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think you are forgetting a couple of things.

Scuderi left not just for monetary reasons but also for family considerations. They wanted to get back to Pittsburgh.

Mitchell got mad money from Florida. DL was never going to match that.

Alternatively, Martinez is 27 and just entering his prime. He is a good solid defender who has offensive upside. He is an asset to this team and has mentioned the value of the clubhouse environment on more than one occasion.

As far as iconic goals go, you can't compare Penner to Martinez. Penner is a slug. Martinez brings it every day.

Yeah I wasn't trying to be reductive, I'm more pointing out that rather than trade an asset mid-season for 'better asset management' purposes (i.e. get something rather than let the guy walk), our org opts to hold onto guys that are contributors until the end of the season. I think Martinez's situation is VERY comparable to Mitchell's, though; even though they're obviously different players, you wouldn't be able to fault Martinez for wanting a bigger, more important role (and the money that comes with it) on another team, and even if we WANT to keep him, he may be priced out of our range. Mitchell was in our top 4 and got what, 4.5? Martinez is going to get more than that (from another team), and he's on our bottom pairing.

The 'iconic goals' thing was a response to another quote. Martinez has more heart in his stick than Penner could ever hope to have, I agree. I was just saying there's no way management keeps a player just for nostalgia's sake.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I guess I'm in the minority but I think Martinez is being pumped up a little much here. There's a reason he was in the dog house for the start of the season last year. Don't get me wrong I love me Mr jazz hands but its premature to say he's ready to play a top 4 role. He's still a bit shakey on the defensive side of the puck. 3-3.5 million tops imo or you let him walk.

You might be right, but the point is that while he's a bottom-pairing guy here (on a contender), he's easily a top-4 d-man on MANY other teams. He's going to get paid commensurate with that or his agent has failed (or Martinez has lovingly taken a hometown discount).

 

[bmr]

I think you are forgetting a couple of things.

Scuderi left not just for monetary reasons but also for family considerations. They wanted to get back to Pittsburgh.

Mitchell got mad money from Florida. DL was never going to match that.

Alternatively, Martinez is 27 and just entering his prime. He is a good solid defender who has offensive upside. He is an asset to this team and has mentioned the value of the clubhouse environment on more than one occasion.

As far as iconic goals go, you can't compare Penner to Martinez. Penner is a slug. Martinez brings it every day.

Yeah - there is a definite difference here between Scuderi/Mitchell and Martinez. Those guys are on the tail end of their careers and being offered that mad money. I'd much rather give it to a guy like Martinez, who will be entering his prime.

Don't forget also that most defensemen in this league take longer to develop/mature and we are incredibly lucky to have such a solid/young D-corps.

 

[tsanuri]

Yeah - there is a definite difference here between Scuderi/Mitchell and Martinez. Those guys are on the tail end of their careers and being offered that mad money. I'd much rather give it to a guy like Martinez, who will be entering his prime.

Don't forget also that most defensemen in this league take longer to develop/mature and we are incredibly lucky to have such a solid/young D-corps.

I want to keep Martinez but the the question comes down to can we afford to have 4 guys making over $4M a year on D? He is probably looking at the 4.5M+ mark. He's a UFA not a RFA. At that number we would be at 20M for our top 4 D. But that is a very good top 4 without a doubt.

 

[Trolfoli]

Ok... with Doughty and Voynov there is no room for Martinez to move up because the Kings pair a crease clearing D-man with a puck mover.... Kings cannot afford Martinez at 3M+ on the 3rd pairing with Greene 2.5M....

Martinez won't be traded this year because at 1.1M he has far too much worth to the Kings.... He will walk in free agency because another team will offer more money and a chance at moving up to a second pairing...

Letting Martinez walk is not "bad asset management". If the Kings were out of the playoffs by the deadline... sure get something back for him... Playoff teams should not dump their depth before the playoffs.... Losing Martinez to UFA with no compensation sucks, but really what are you getting for Martinez at the trade deadline? Maybe a second?.... At this point in Kings history they can actually sign UFA's so losing Martinez and replacing from within or picking up a UFA to take his place isn't an overall loss on asset management....

On the McNabb being brought in to be paired with Voynov... yeah... I'm not buying it... McNabb may eventually fill out into a big crease clearing D man, but that is years away... It takes time for the body to fill out to that point... I just can't buy that McNabb is going to be the anchor on a second pairing with Voynov while the Kings are contending for another cup.... Putting him into a situation with either Geene or Doughty playing the shutdown roll makes a lot more sense.... This is looking like Jack Johnson to me... Voynov's play made Johnson expendable....

 

[Ollie Weeks]

I'm really not comfortable giving Martinez a hefty raise/extension and asking him to assume a larger role for us when he's ideal for 15-16 minutes a night against the softies. He might make some more strides this year and prove me wrong, but I think at this age he is what he is, and I love the guy but I love the team more. He's likely the first casualty this summer.

I have to imagine that even now DL is trying to work out bridge deals for Toffoli and Pearson before things get out of hand lol. They could make it hard for us to retain both Stoll and Williams. Perhaps that prompts us to give up Clifford or Lewis to keep one of those guys. Andreoff, Shore, or one of the others could make the leap. The more RFA's we get out of the way early, the better.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

What is the timeline on 'the future' because of the six D you listed, only Greene is remotely close the end of his career (and likely has five or so years left, maybe more). Considering the Kings have Forbort, Miller, LaDue, Ebert and Leslie in the system, along with Kevin Raine and Alex Roach and recent draft picks like McKeown and Lietuniemi, at some point either the Kings are going to have to start trading players, be it prospects or pro level guys, or risk letting those kids all walk for nothing, ala Hickey. Within three years most of those guys are going to be waiver wire eligible.

Not sure how the waivers work to be honest, but three years down the road, Greene will be gone, not sure who replaces him out of the ones you listed,

Then you take stock of what you have at that point, what you don't do, is let Martinez walk for nothing, that's really bad asset management as you don't have to let him walk, just because players are waiver eligible means nothing.