Where to begin? Okay, just start…
- Numbers 10 and 17 are available.
- 18, Mike Richards‘ number, is not. What will he wear?
- I hope not 81.
- I’m trying to remember if the Kings have an 8. Oh, Jesus. Seriously, that should tell you where my head is right now.
- I hope he takes 10.
- I guess that solves the Dustin Brown / Wayne Simmonds log-jam on RW.
- Ditto for the Brayden Schenn / Andrei Loktionov overlap at center.
- Except, with Richards and Kopitar in the top-six, where do you put Loktionov?
- You’ve got Jarret Stoll, Loktionov, Trevor Lewis and Brad Richardson as possible bottom-six centers. For Loktionov to center the #3 line, it would have to be a very different line, conceptually, than what we’ve seen under Terry Murray.
- I have long lobbied for the small-speedy Donnelly/Millen type third line, so this maybe is an opportunity for that to happen.
- In which case, who is getting the tough defensive minutes? My first thought about that: make Kopitar’s line and Richards’ line both capable of playing a scoring and/or stopper role, leaving a Loktionov line to destroy people with its speed and skill.
- I don’t know if I even like that idea. But I also don’t like the idea of Loktionov rotting in Manchester. Yes, I know he could benefit from another year in Manchester. But Richards is signed for 9 more years.
- And Stoll? He’s not going to be a fourth line center, is he? Not with his face-off ability. Maybe he plays left-wing on Loktionov’s line and takes a lot of draws.
- Who is RW3 now? Trevor Lewis? Well, that would be fast. Stoll/Loktionov/Lewis.
- Oscar Moller? Maybe you should consider coming to camp. Just saying.
- No Simmonds, no Schenn, no Moller, maybe no Smyth…. I guess things are looking better for Brad Richardson now.
- Patrick O`Sullivan, sub-par season, traded; Lubomir Visnovsky, sub-par season, traded; Wayne Simmonds, sub-par season, traded.
- Question for Philly people: what kind of winger does Richards click with? The options on the left are Dustin Penner, Scott Parse or a player TBD. On the right, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown.
- That’s likely all she wrote for Michal Handzus, isn’t it?
- The Kings’ first pick in tomorrow’s draft is now #79. I don’t think Lombardi has ever had a first pick lower than #41 (I would have to check my old post on that topic to confirm).
- Kind of makes a Smyth for picks trade seem more logical.
- The Richards contract, with its $5.75MM cap hit, is affordable. However, in terms of the Kings’ current cap situation, it’s an increase of almost $5MM from where we were a couple of hours ago. Only Simmonds was on the roster, and his cap hit was under a million.
- That means that Smyth is gone, one way or another. Either he’s traded or he’s bought out. But the Kings can’t afford to add Richards’ cap hit, subtracting only Simmonds’, and still keep enough room to be able to match any offer sheet that comes Doughty’s way. I haven’t added up the numbers yet, but I’m pretty sure that’s a fact.
Penner / Kopitar / Williams
Parse? / Richards / Brown
Stoll / Loktionov / Lewis
Clifford / Richardson / ??
LW2 and RW4 are still question marks. I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think Lombardi’s not done.