In what appears to be a salary dump (at least to me, after a first glance), the Kings shipped forward Patrick O'Sullivan to the Carolina Panthers today just before the trade deadline, for forward Justin Williams.
I've been reading some of the feedback from fans at both LGK.com and some of the other hockey sites, and obviously most people don't like this deal straight up. But after looking a tad further into this, looking at some of the other factors possibly involved behind the deal, I came to the conclusion (along with a friend of mine who will remain unnamed) that this was probably a salary dump, and the Kings were probably gearing up for a busy off-season this summer. (Remember O'Sullivan signing that big four year, $21MM deal in the off-season?)
Personally, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the Kings went hard after Marian Gaborik this summer. It's the only explanation I can think of after giving up on such a promising young kid in O'Sullivan. The offense this year has been inconsistently sporadic at best, and my feeling is because they don't really have a proven veteran scorer on their top two lines to take the scoring burden off Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar or Alex Frolov.
I was also reading from the fans that their impression is the Kings have all but given up on this season. They haven't played well in the last week or two, and have fallen further behind the pack for that elusive eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with some tough losses, too many, in fact. But because there is so much parity in the conference right now, there is still hope, albeit a longshot at this point with too many teams ahead of them to climb.
Having said all that, would it be that bad to miss the playoffs one more season, then go sign that big veteran scorer they've really been lacking for a few years, and then make a serious run next season with everyone a year older and more mature? I don't. And I know Kings fans are tired of not making the playoffs, but obviously Dean Lombardi has a plan, and the best plan of is to stick to your plan and let it play itself. The Kings were never expected to be in contention this far into the season anyway. But should they manage to get into the playoffs, that would be nice, too.
A couple of other notes, both Erik Ersberg and Sean O'Donnell agreed to contract extensions today, and Tom Preissing was assigned to Manchester this afternoon after clearing waivers.
I've been reading some of the feedback from fans at both LGK.com and some of the other hockey sites, and obviously most people don't like this deal straight up. But after looking a tad further into this, looking at some of the other factors possibly involved behind the deal, I came to the conclusion (along with a friend of mine who will remain unnamed) that this was probably a salary dump, and the Kings were probably gearing up for a busy off-season this summer. (Remember O'Sullivan signing that big four year, $21MM deal in the off-season?)
Personally, I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if the Kings went hard after Marian Gaborik this summer. It's the only explanation I can think of after giving up on such a promising young kid in O'Sullivan. The offense this year has been inconsistently sporadic at best, and my feeling is because they don't really have a proven veteran scorer on their top two lines to take the scoring burden off Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar or Alex Frolov.
I was also reading from the fans that their impression is the Kings have all but given up on this season. They haven't played well in the last week or two, and have fallen further behind the pack for that elusive eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with some tough losses, too many, in fact. But because there is so much parity in the conference right now, there is still hope, albeit a longshot at this point with too many teams ahead of them to climb.
Having said all that, would it be that bad to miss the playoffs one more season, then go sign that big veteran scorer they've really been lacking for a few years, and then make a serious run next season with everyone a year older and more mature? I don't. And I know Kings fans are tired of not making the playoffs, but obviously Dean Lombardi has a plan, and the best plan of is to stick to your plan and let it play itself. The Kings were never expected to be in contention this far into the season anyway. But should they manage to get into the playoffs, that would be nice, too.
A couple of other notes, both Erik Ersberg and Sean O'Donnell agreed to contract extensions today, and Tom Preissing was assigned to Manchester this afternoon after clearing waivers.
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