[News] Mike Richards on waivers - CLEARS

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by fleury

I have no idea how some of these proposal for Toffoli are being thrown out there. That'd be like us throwing away Gaudreau for a team wiling to take on a long term Stajan (if Stajan were signed to a long term deal). How would LA be able to justify that to their fan base? It simply makes no sense. The Flames would have to make it worth their while. LA's not going to rebuild, so any deal with Richards and Toffoli would likely be for a package like Hudler and Wideman plus a 2nd rounder coming Calgary's way. This way LA retools and makes the push for the playoffs (while also replacing Regehr), while the Flames get an up and comer in Toffoli and a pick. I'd think a deal like that would make a little more sense.

The reason it is being thrown out is because Friedman has reported that one of Calgary or Toronto wants Toffoli in exchange for taking on Richard's contract.

Obviously LA would be very reluctant to make such an exchange.

[GioforPM]

The other teams are just starting negotiations at a high price. Of course Toffoli isn't going anywhere. But maybe Lombardi cracks at the enxt level down.

[Antithesis]

The thing for me - and I'm far from an expert - is that Richards' salary and term combined with the fact that we are competing with the Kings for a playoff berth makes trading for him too huge a risk to include anything of immediate value or even potential immediate value. If the Flames are mulling over this (and make no mistake, they should be considering all avenues to improve the team) I believe the conversation needs to stay along the lines of Richards + Toffoli for a 3rd round pick or something.

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I wonder if Roland McKeown could be swung Calgary's way.

Perhaps Richards, McKeown and a 2015 2nd rounder for Glencross?

Just to be sure, I don't want Richards' contract. It'll still be on the books when Gaudreau, Monahan and Gio need to be re-upped and their the first priority.

[FlameZilla]

Adding Toffoli to the equation and suddenly things look really interesting... Lombardi would be insane to do that. Could he get that desperate to lose Richards?

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by FlameZilla

Adding Toffoli to the equation and suddenly things look really interesting... Lombardi would be insane to do that. Could he get that desperate to lose Richards?

IMO, No. The Kings would be better off just buying out Richards in the offseason.

[Antithesis]

I guess I really was out in left field with my earlier thoughts. I guess I was figuring that the Flames could always just wait the Kings out, or just not take Richards on for anything less. Seems like a huge gamble.

[Geeoff]

I am against helping out LA with Mike Richards. They will use the cap space to acquire a defenseman and bury us in the playoff race.

[Enoch Root]

To put the King's situation into perspective:

They have 7 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1 goalie signed for next year (including Richards) at a cap hit of $54.2M

They need to re-sign (or replace) Williams, Stoll, Pearson, Toffoli, Clifford and Shore, among others. Just the trio of Williams, Pearson and Toffoli will cost more (probably much more) than $10M to re-sign.

The cap was projected at $73Mish assuming a dollar of 88 cents. But the dollar is now at 81 cents, so the cap could easily be going down next year (and there has been recent talk of $68M).

Their team is still pretty young and is clearly and definitively in win-now mode (Kopitar, Doughty and Quick are in their primes)

But there seems to be no way that they can keep the team together while they are wearing Richards' contract. However, if they could dump it, they would be at $49M and would have the room to sign the above mentioned guys.

If they can't move him, this team will be ripped apart.

No doubt they will find a way to do something without moving Toffoli. However, the situation is pretty bad and I would think they are better off biting the bullet and making some kind of a deal, as opposed to doing nothing and sitting on Richards.

By the way, sending Richards to the AHL only gains them $400k in cap relief at the most. They get $925k in relief, but then they need to add another body and even at the league minimum, that's $500k.

[Vinny01]

The Kings could be better of trading Dustin Brown if they have to. His play is slipping but teams always want forwards like that.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

The reason it is being thrown out is because Friedman has reported that one of Calgary or Toronto wants Toffoli in exchange for taking on Richard's contract.

Obviously LA would be very reluctant to make such an exchange.

Yup, I seen that tweet, but I was questioning the trade proposals being thrown around. Those don't benefit the Kings at all aside from cap relief. Team just don't package solid young prospects in a packaged salary dump. It'd take a bit to get Toffoli out, and so far all proposed trades are too one sided. I doubt the Kings are that desperate.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

agreed, but it does start to frame the value of cap space.

Carolina will be in a similar boat with Semin's contract, and they don't generate the revenue the Kings do. They should be looking to offer more

I think the value of our cap space will grow exponentially peaking at the draft and July 1st timeframe

I think the value of our cap space will peak in a future season.

An interesting wrinkle to this whole thing is that if we hypothetically get Toffoli and Richards for a 7th, is Toffoli going to to outperform his contract in the years where we are at cap max by a greater extent than Richards is underperforming his? Given that he will be off his ELC by then, he might not, despite being a good young player. So, I'm tempted to stay away from this deal, even if Toffoli's included.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by fleury

Yup, I seen that tweet, but I was questioning the trade proposals being thrown around. Those don't benefit the Kings at all aside from cap relief. Team just don't package solid young prospects in a packaged salary dump. It'd take a bit to get Toffoli out, and so far all proposed trades are too one sided. I doubt the Kings are that desperate.

I agree with your overall sentiment (and am just giving you the gears) ... though I would argue that we've seen few trades of this sort over the years. The only one I really remember is Mogilny years back. Hard to find a precedent for a trade like this.

[dammage79]

Notable Kings prospects worth a look at (not without some risk on a couple):

Nikolai Prokhorkin
Maxim Kitsin
Valentin Zykov
Roland McKeown (Weird he is not on the Kings prospect list on their home site. )

Prokhorkin is finishing up a contract with the KHL and could sign for next season. Very skilled player.

Kitsyn is in the AHL and is just now getting accustomed to NA hockey.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

To put the King's situation into perspective:

They have 7 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1 goalie signed for next year (including Richards) at a cap hit of $54.2M

They need to re-sign (or replace) Williams, Stoll, Pearson, Toffoli, Clifford and Shore, among others. Just the trio of Williams, Pearson and Toffoli will cost more (probably much more) than $10M to re-sign.

The cap was projected at $73Mish assuming a dollar of 88 cents. But the dollar is now at 81 cents, so the cap could easily be going down next year (and there has been recent talk of $68M).

Their team is still pretty young and is clearly and definitively in win-now mode (Kopitar, Doughty and Quick are in their primes)

But there seems to be no way that they can keep the team together while they are wearing Richards' contract. However, if they could dump it, they would be at $49M and would have the room to sign the above mentioned guys.

If they can't move him, this team will be ripped apart.

No doubt they will find a way to do something without moving Toffoli. However, the situation is pretty bad and I would think they are better off biting the bullet and making some kind of a deal, as opposed to doing nothing and sitting on Richards.

By the way, sending Richards to the AHL only gains them $400k in cap relief at the most. They get $925k in relief, but then they need to add another body and even at the league minimum, that's $500k.

That's impossible. That would mean perfect - who can do no wrong - GM Dean Lombardi made a mistake by not using a compliance buyout when he had the chance

[Roof-Daddy]

As others have mentioned, I doubt anyone is getting Toffoli or Pearson for taking Richards contract, but what about RH D-man Colin Miller who is 21 years old and has some very attractive traits for a Dman in today's NHL, like good skating and puck moving abilities....has 10 goals and 29 points in 37 games in his 2nd pro season.

Or maybe we could pry Drew's brother Nick away from Lombardi?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

As others have mentioned, I doubt anyone is getting Toffoli or Pearson for taking Richards contract, but what about RH D-man Colin Miller who is 21 years old and has some very attractive traits for a Dman in today's NHL, like good skating and puck moving abilities....has 10 goals and 29 points in 37 games in his 2nd pro season.

Or maybe we could pry Drew's brother Nick away from Lombardi?

Ask yourself this: Would Collin Miller, a 5th round pick in 2012 (think of Ryan Culkin) be worth committing to $5 mil/year until 2020 for? My guess is probably not.

[RisebroughRuinedMyYouth]

Heard Eric Francis on the Fan 590 in Toronto today -- he mentioned the Flames could be trading Wideman or Hudler for Richards.

He said something like Hudler was "probably worth" his contract these days.

What a hack.

[dammage79]

Lol, Hudler? I'd light a pitch fork on fire and head down to the saddledome myself to protest that dumb assed move. I wouldn't even want the Flames to do that with Toffoli and extras tacked on to it.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by RisebroughRuinedMyYouth

Heard Eric Francis on the Fan 590 in Toronto today -- he mentioned the Flames could be trading Wideman or Hudler for Richards.

He said something like Hudler was "probably worth" his contract these days.

What a hack.

Francis, Eric sucks.