Escept that the Kings also have the cap space to make a good offer.  The problem in L.A. is they have a cheap owner and Lombardi is a “yes man” who won’t spend daddy’s money to improve the team.

Posted by sean_o_sean on 08/31/10 at 09:15 PM ET

Someone call the WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAbulance

Posted by Evilpens on 08/31/10 at 10:16 PM ET

The simpering self pity of this article couched in “this is really for the fans” is pathetic.  Kovalchuk isn’t being forced to go anywhere.  If he wants to go to Russia, the NHL will not skip a beat.

Posted by CallMeJerry on 08/31/10 at 10:55 PM ET

Posted by CallMeJerry on 08/31/10 at 10:55 PM ET

offcourse not,this dumbass league doesnt skip a beat when players go on strike and it loses a season,its a stupid league,and it is proving that again and again

Posted by edillac from isolation on 09/01/10 at 04:22 AM ET

offcourse not,this dumbass league doesnt skip a beat when players go on strike and it loses a season,its a stupid league,and it is proving that again and again

Posted by edillac from Rollin’ down the street on 09/01/10 at 04:22 AM ET

It WASN’T a strike, it was a lockout by the owners to break the players’ association. And if another season is lost after two more years, it will again be the fault of the owners, not the players.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 09/01/10 at 06:52 AM ET

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 09/01/10 at 06:52 AM ET

even worse,
but the media was going on about how it was all the players fault,
and I personally wouldnt blame the players if they went on strike,they are the ones on the ice,fans watch because of them,not the owners,etc

Posted by edillac from isolation on 09/01/10 at 07:36 AM ET

1:  It doesn’t matter whose fault the lockout was….it was bad for the NHL’s image and will again be bad for it’s image if it happens again.

2:  @Sean O Sean:  I certainly agree that the Kings have a history of being cheap when it comes to free agents, and that Dean Lombardi has had trouble signing them since he came to the Kings.  But I have to disagree with you about the Kovalchuk situation.  The Kings made an offer that was more then fair and as it turned out apparently Kovi was just using the Kings as leverage against the Devils.  You can’t blame Dean for Kovalchuk’s greed.

3:  And on the topic of the greedy Russian, the original article is garbage.  Nobody is forcing Kovalchuk to leave the NHL except for Kovalchuk.  Somehow he’s got it in his brain that he needs $100M dollars to validate his worth to an NHL team and it’s an absurd demand.  When it became clear to him that nobody that wanted him could sign him for that amount, including the Kings for reasons that have been well documented, he SHOULD have lowered his demands and signed a legal contract somewhere.  But because of his greed and his inflexibility the Devils have had to try to be creative with the salary cap to try to get Kovi into a Devils uniform.  I don’t blame Lou.  He’s doing the best he can under the circumstances.  This is 100% Ilya Kovalchuk’s fault and if he bolts to the KHL it’s because he priced himself out of the NHL market.  If that happens as far as I’m concerned he can stay in Russia.

Posted by Paul From Cali on 09/01/10 at 07:52 AM ET

Posted by Paul From Cali on 09/01/10 at 07:52 AM ET

greedy Russian is such a favorite insult by some hockey fans,assholes

Posted by edillac from isolation on 09/01/10 at 07:58 AM ET

Well he is Russian so I guess you’re implying he’s not greedy?  Demanding 100M dollars and not budging off that number is not a sign of greed?  What is then in your book?

Posted by Paul From Cali on 09/01/10 at 08:03 AM ET

Please have some perspective and ease up on the shrill tone. Kovalchuk is free to accept terms or leave to accept terms in any other league that will pay him. And as for the NHL being unique in driving a player off, which is Politi’s scenario, you do not need much of an imagination.

Baseball owners colluded in the late 1980s, effectively enforcing some unwritten rules designed to keep free agent offers down and salaries in check. Bob Horner, for example, played a season with the Yakult Swallows in Japan before returning as a free agent the next season with St. Louis.

It is the NHL’s right to enforce it’s salary rules, however vague they might be, until they are overturned in court/arbitration/back alley fight. The player can walk or stay. That’s the way it should be.

Posted by Denverspurs from New York on 09/01/10 at 10:55 AM ET