"I would not be surprised if he was a holdout"

I would not be surprised to find out that this comment was supposed to be off-the-record. [UPDATE: Rudy points out in the comments that "this is pretty clearly a plant by Dean to make Doughty nervous." I'm kind of embarrassed I didn't think of that.]

Kings assistant Ferreira been around rink a few times | Jim Alexander | PE.com | News for Inland Southern California

[...] Ferreira's has been a life often spent on the road, and his current role as special assistant to Kings president/general manager Dean Lombardi -- the continuation of a relationship that goes back four decades -- is no different. [...] He is a valuable complement to Lombardi and assistant GM Ron Hextall, filling in whatever gaps need to be filled and contributing the instincts and wisdom of the hockey lifer.[...] Today's Kings are still at a negotiating stalemate with defenseman Drew Doughty , a restricted free agent. That situation got no easier Wednesday when an arbitrator awarded Nashville's Shea Weber, a more experienced defenseman, $7.5 million for one year.

"This year we were up in Toronto for the scouting combine and Dean had some meetings with Newport Sports (Doughty's agents)," Ferreira said. "He came back and they were discussing what went on, and I just looked at him and said, 'Dean, they don't want to make a deal. They're not ready to make a deal.' That's gonna be a tough one. I would not be surprised if he was a holdout. I went through it with Paul Kariya, and Dean's been through it."

More validation for my irrational gut instinct on this situation.

(hat-tip to Bobby Scribe for digging up this article; how it eluded my Google Alerts I'll never know)

Further Reading on Doughty Mania: