The Poni Express, Direct to L.A.
by Quisp on Jul 27, 2010 12:23 PM PDT
67 comments
Will he play on the same line as the Meat Train? Eager to fulfill the Kings quota of enigmatic big-bodied Russian left wingers, etc., blah, yadda. Yeah, Alexei Ponikarovsky was one of the names featured on my roster musings flow chart. I can see the wisdom of swapping out Fro for Poni. I just liked Fro, "is all." But, Poni, welcome to LA. I read on Wikipedia that you're a Canadian citizen. That's kinda cool. But it also says you favor the #23. What number will you wear?
I haven't even seen the terms of this deal yet. I'm going to guess... 3 years/$7MM?
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Didnt really see too much of this guy, can you give an assessment of his skill set other than just a big rusky?
"It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."-Alan Garner
Big Russkie is pretty close. He’s a 20 goal guy with a big body. Throws a decent amount of hits but not “big hits”.
Could use his size more but goes to the net hard, not a soft perimeter player.
Pension Plan Puppets*
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Chemmy, do I like this signing then?
Right now I just don’t like that he looks like Olli Jokinen.
Wait till this year.
He’s a good player. If he signed for under $4M I think this is a shrewd move by Lombardi.
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
ps. I put up an awesome Ponikarovsky fanshot
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
his name is too long….is there any way we can convince him to shorten it? maybe include that in the contract??
"It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."-Alan Garner
How about Pocahontas?
The Spirit of MeatTrain'10!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Jul 27, 2010 12:59 PM PDT up reply actions
Except for last season has been consistant for the prior six seasons.
Tends to play well in the last five minutes of games but not a great clutch player scoring wise. Seems to take a lot of 3rd period penalties.
Good replacement for Fro. Both will give you 16-20 goals but Fro is more of a clutch player.
If under $3M IMO he is deal
Thanks
GoKings09, Good question.
After double checking I misread the career stat sheet, picking up on Pittsburgh (2 goals -6) and missing Toronto (19 goals +5), only Pittsburgh (2 goals -6).
The situational stats I used (clutch, last 5, etc) picked up correctly, however.
Sorry about that and thanks for asking!
PS Perhaps better then a good replacement for Frolov
He’s not Russian… according to Wikipedia, he’s a “Ukranian-Canadian”. What the…?
Denis Gauthier sucks at hockey... and life.
I haven’t even seen the terms of this deal yet. I’m going to guess…
$1.02 million over 17 years?
The Spirit of MeatTrain'10!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Jul 27, 2010 12:35 PM PDT reply actions
with the first 900K paid over the first 11 years!
"It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."-Alan Garner
whoa frontloading FTW
Truncated truclence
by Future_considerations on Jul 27, 2010 12:39 PM PDT up reply actions
I’d take Poni at $3.5 without blinking. He’s a solid 55-60pt guy.
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I agree, 50-60pt vet like Poni would easily go for 3.5. Top 6 forward, can play on the PP and PK, but like Karina said… too many hooking/holding penalties.
Frolov has averaged around 25 goals and 60 points a season for the past 6 seasons, never having scored less than 19 goals and never less than 48 points. And Frolov is only 28.
Poni scored 50 points last year, and 61 the year before. In 4 other full seasons, his point total has ranged from 28 to 45 points. Giving him an average of less than 45 points over 6 seasons. And he’s 30 years old.
Neither player offers much other than offense.
Do you consider this an upgrade? Because Frolov got $3 mill for the year… what makes you think Poni is worth more? If you’re paying more than $2.5 for this guy… I dunno if I’d understand that.
by Beantown Canuck on Jul 27, 2010 1:03 PM PDT up reply actions
Well, I'm going by SBNation's scouting report
Which says that Poni is a good two-way guy, so perhaps he does offer at least some defensive value? Which one could say of Frolov, too — under Murray, he was expected to play more defense, and he did that pretty well.
I’m not saying Poni will be an upgrade over Frolov, but it sounds to me like he’s a pretty direct replacement.
If there were personality issues, with management or in the locker room, that would make more sense then. From an outsider’s perspective, so far I don’t get it. But let’s wait and see the term. Perhaps he signed for low $$$.
by Beantown Canuck on Jul 27, 2010 1:09 PM PDT up reply actions
I Read It That Way, Too
Perhaps in the exchange we may have a man who stands up to a checking game a little better and his stats indicate he’s strong in the last 5 minutes of games, a boost the Kings could have used toward the end of last season.
A Fro replacement certainly. If we can find another like this we can call it a Modine upgrade.
For $3M and one year, not a bad move.
I wouldn’t exactly consider him an upgrade over Frolov – I’d say similar player in slightly different packaging. Not as young, not as high potential, etc. As a UFA though? Yeah, he’s going to get more than 2.5, come on now.
yeah I think he’ll get more than 2.5… which is why I’m wondering why didn’t you just stick with Frolov?
Poni was a bust in Pitts, who knows how he’ll fair in LA. I think he’ll do just fine, mind you. But Frolov was a known quantity. Last year was a down year for him… but is still comparable to a normal year for Poni.
by Beantown Canuck on Jul 27, 2010 2:01 PM PDT up reply actions
They pretty much broke it off with him before they even went after Kovy. So…yeah, something went on there. They never seemed willing to offer that much for him.
Right now I’d rather have Fro, but I’m not in charge.
In Dinglebarn We Trust
TSN says 1 year deal for $3.2 million for Poni. What do you guys think? That seems like a fair rate based on his stats… but it’s just strange to me that Frolov went for less. Like you said, bridge must have burnt between he and the Kings.
by Beantown Canuck on Jul 27, 2010 2:07 PM PDT up reply actions
Too much
$3.2 million? Unless the Kings see something I don’t, I’m not sure what he’s exactly done to merit a raise. Hopefully he mixes better in LA but I think half the deal in Pittsburgh was that the pace was too much for him.
There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball - unfortunately, neither of them work.
That’s about the only way this deal works. You were probably able to give him the most amount of money, aside from Atlanta. I honestly thought he might end up there, because he’s good friends with Antropov from their days in Toronto.
One year is probably the only thing. You’ll have to pay Doughty and Johnson quite a lot of money next year, and I imagine you’d want to keep most of the other FAs.
There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball - unfortunately, neither of them work.
Yeah. We needed a bridge player. This is fine.
Without Kovy, I don’t see a problem re-signing the young guys. In an ideal world we’d get to keep Handzus if he signs for less. Williams — doubtful.
Woooo, 2012!
In Dinglebarn We Trust
We needed a bridge player.
Hee-hee! Dinglebarn would be so proud of you, Niesy :)
The Spirit of MeatTrain'10!
by DodgerBlueBalls on Jul 27, 2010 3:43 PM PDT up reply actions
AF was a known...
…however when seeing his name on blogs from other teams a lot of folks felt they could live with out Frolov.
Alex is going to get a rude awakening in NYC. I don’t think they’re gonna like his lack of aggressive play.
yep
Frolov + Torts = Doghouse
i'll show you my butt tattoo if you'll show me yours
Latest from Hammond
Apparently, Lombardi did get in touch with Team Fro after the Kovalchuk signing went down, but Team Fro had already decided to go in another direction. So that’s why the Kings didn’t get Fro back even though his market price seems to have been both affordable and reasonable.
That would seem to give credence to the “Fro didn’t like being treated as a doormat” meme. Except that I would still point out that TM consistently praised Fro the rest of the year after his benching and even gave him some time on the top line.
But basically, yeah, I agree with you guys. I don’t see how he’s going to get an easier ride with the Rangers than he did with the Kings.
I hope he works out better for you than he did for us (Penguins). Sincerely. He seems like a decent guy and I’m glad he landed on a good team. He didn’t do much for us in the playoffs (in the end he was getting scratched even though we traded a top prospect to bring him here for the playoffs). But I think it was partly because the line wasn’t meshing very well, and because the team was having trouble getting around the trap (Habs).
LA should follow the example of Pittsburgh and put up a large billboard welcoming Ponikarovsky to the team.
That was awesome.
"The only way out is in a body bag. Go Leafs Go." - Blinky
They did that?
What would we have to do to get Crosby on the Leafs...?
Wishful thinking never ends in Leaf Nation. For now, Go Leafs! (and Pens!)
Yes we brought him here on a private jet and rented a billboard to welcome him. They did the same thing for Jordan Leopold. The organization really makes an effort to make players feel welcome and special… I think they hoped to keep both of them if they worked out. But then after playoffs our GM decided not to resign either of them.
This is the billboard:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/fw7iF68JR8k/S5ECYEhNOUI/AAAAAAAAwEo/hfUg7hOePng/IMG0378.jpg
Best of luck to the Poni Express in LA
I was hoping the Penguins would be able to find a way to keep him around, but it wasn’t meant to be. I never really thought he had a chance to mesh with the team or his linemates – he was out of the lineup at first with visa issues, then Malkin missed some games, and they really never played together in the regular season.
Then when it was time to put up or shut up in the playoffs, they really had nothing to build off and both Poni and Feds weren’t performing, so Disco Dan had to bench them. But I’m glad to see that he went to a very good team and has every chance to be back in the playoffs next year. Very solid skater for a big man and is definitely an asset on the PP.
There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball - unfortunately, neither of them work.
I think Poni’s time in Pittsburg was just kind of overwhelming, because he was actually a pretty solid player for the Leafs. Worst thing about him is that he has a bad habit of taking offensive zone penalties.
Given time to gel in LA he will fit right in and be an effective player. At the right price (probably 3-3.5ish) , you guys will learn to love your Poni rides. Not going to turn LA into an instant cup winner, but I think this team needs experience more than anything (probably more than Kovy even… just sayin). I really like the Kings (despite ’93), and I wish Poni a lot of success. I hope to see him burning the Canucks in the playoffs numerous time in the future.
by samspade on Jul 27, 2010 2:33 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
23+23 = 46 or 23x3 = 69
He likes 23 because two grandparents and his wife were born on the 23rd.
So Jersey number(s) 46 or 69. Both are available…
I’m gonna guess it’s not 69…
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by Great Ice-Pectations on Jul 27, 2010 3:43 PM PDT up reply actions
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