[Signing] Kings re-sign Gaborik to 7 year contract ($4.9mil AAV)

[Scoutski]

I wonder if management openly discusses buying a player out when doing a deal like this. Obviously it is in everyone's mind that he might not be worth it in like 3-5 years, do they discuss it with the player too?

[nik-]

Free agency is going to be insanity this year.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by nik-

Free agency is going to be insanity this year.

Free agency is always insanity. I hope Treliving stays far away, at least from the bigger names.

[Parallex]

That's a nice AAV but 7 friggin' years? I wonder how many of the $$ are in signing bonus money. That is going to be a bad contract in 3 or 4 years.

[ForeverFlameFan]

7 years? Well, hopefully they know what they are doing. The Richards and Gaborik contracts imo are going to bite them in the butt in a few years when they have new prospects graduating and needing a raise for their efforts.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

richards signs for 9 years at the age of 31, and now gaborik signs for 7 years at 32.

what exactly do we have lockouts for, frigin idiotic.

50/50 split in HRR

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

7 years? Well, hopefully they know what they are doing. The Richards and Gaborik contracts imo are going to bite them in the butt in a few years when they have new prospects graduating and needing a raise for their efforts.

Hopefully they don't know what they are doing....and hopefully this DOES bite them in butt. They are division rivals after all.

[FlatLandFlamesFan]

Given his injury history he'll do a Chris Pronger in a coupla years
be unable to play but put on LTI ,and not retired.
Geesh have we learned nothing about loopholes NHL ?

[sureLoss]

Pierre LeBrun @Real_ESPNLeBrun
Pretty sure once we see year by year breakdown of Gaborik deal we'll see a 7th year with least money in order to bring down AAV

called it.

Pretty sure Gaborik will retire before this contract is fully paid out.

[dammage79]

If you score lots of goals in a Stanley cup run, you're going to get paid. Decent enough retirement contract that will never be fulfilled for the entire term

[Clever_Iggy]

The champagne buzz must not have worn off yet in LA. I was very surprised Gaborik worked out so well in LA considering his hot/cold/injury-ridden career thus far. Certainly I never viewed him as a core piece going forward and still don't. 7-years is insanity, regardless of the AAV. Unless Gaborik has advised LA that he'll retire in 3-4 years, this is a boat anchor.

Lots of young guys stepped up for LA that could contribute in the future and a trade deadline Cup run addition can be had without the long term headache of 7 years of Gaborik.

[automaton 3]

Interesting to contrast the Hawks who traded away players after their cup win (Ladd, Byfuglien, Campbell, ect) and added youth on the fly. The Kings seem to be trying to keep their team intact (Greene, not buying out Richards and now signing Gaborik to a long term deal).

Have to think that the Hawks model will work out better in the medium to long term.

[Azure]

Given his injury history, chances are he will retire early due to injury problems and the insurance company will be left footing the cost while the Kings and Gaborik walk away laughing.

Good deal IMO.

[19Yzerman19]

So basically Lombardi is conceding the cap penalties. Helping his salary structure now at the expense of the future (and likely screwing over his successor as GM rather than himself).

[Jacks]

Given his injury history that is just nuts.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by automaton 3

Interesting to contrast the Hawks who traded away players after their cup win (Ladd, Byfuglien, Campbell, ect) and added youth on the fly. The Kings seem to be trying to keep their team intact (Greene, not buying out Richards and now signing Gaborik to a long term deal).

Have to think that the Hawks model will work out better in the medium to long term.

Not so sure.

The Hawks have absolutely no center depth and I would rather have the 5/6 guys on defense the Flames have than the guys the Hawks have.

Given that they'll have to resign Toews and Kane to absolutely moronic contracts, they'll probably have over $20 million tied up in 2 players, or $25 million+ if you want to count Crawford. In fact, if Toews and Kane both take over $10 million per year, the Hawks could quite possibly have up to $30 million tied up with 3 players. And only one of those guys is a franchise player.

The Kings have a way more balanced lineup. When you have 5-6 guys that could win the Conn Smythe you know you're doing something right.

[Ashasx]

Really wish these contracts would end up biting these teams in the ass but they never seem to.

[Ashasx]

Lee Snowden‏@SnowdenNHL10 mins
$34.3 total cash. If it was over 6 years that is a $5.72M cap hit, over 5 years, it is $6.86M. Good deal. #LAKings

[RyZ]

The term is way too long, but the $$$ is fine.

Its funny that Callahan makes more than Gaborik and Nikitin isnt far behind.

[Erick Estrada]

We have seen with all the compliance buyouts over the past few seasons that these long term deals simply don't make sense the majority of the time. IMO teams are simply going to push for another set of compliance buyouts next CBA so they can rinse and repeat as teams with a lot of money are trying to win now and have no issues paying later on a compliance buyout.