The Los Angeles Kings, Andrej Sekera and the Great California Adventure

Guess who’s back? That’s right it’s ….. the Los Angeles King’s winning streak! (Did you think I was going to say “me” If you just said yes, you’d still be right!)  The Kings are back in the playoff hunt and are now tied for third place in the tight Pacific division after defeating the lowly Edmonton Oilers and the Eastern Conference leading Montreal Canadiens (who had back up Dustin Tokarski in net instead of potential Vezina and maybe Hart trophy candidate Carey Price).  This ends an awful 3 game losing streak that I had to witness first hand (at the least the first 2 games) with my beautiful wife and our close friends on our latest California adventure (not Disney) holiday trip.

We all attended the February 26th game at the always stunning Staples Center against the Ottawa Senators and then invaded the Ponda (Honda Center) for the game on the 27th against the rival Anaheim Ducks.  The fact that the Kings lost both games I attended was hard to take but in the end is irrelevant only because this is my article and I can say such things to make it personally hurt less!

California as usual was a paradise (and I’m sure I don’t have to tell any of you that) and with the amazing and wonderful friends that we have down there, the 2 losses didn’t ruin an otherwise perfect trip.  Sadly though, after spending 10 days under the California sun (to which we were told that the weather was unnaturally cold for this time of year in Southern California and in all honestly, compared to the harsh Canadian winter, Cali felt like a desert to us!), I have found myself struggling with the adapting process to my natural habitat of Canada.  It is still minus thirty degrees celsius here (which is minus twenty-two degrees fahrenheit there) and I have been literally shoveling snow ever since we got off the returning plane. Since I’m back to my regular schedule of California dreaming, I decided to just catch up on some recent King’s news and happenings that occurred while we were away visiting the vast Kingdom of our beloved Los Angeles Kings (of course technically if we were in the Kingdom of the Los Angeles Kings, it really can’t be considered “being away” from it but details, details!)

On Wednesday February 25th, King’s GM Dean Lombardi pulled off a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes for versatile but unrestricted free agent defenseman Andrej Sekera.  Going to Carolina was a first round draft pick (either for this year or next year depending on whether the Kings make the playoffs or not this season) and prospect Roland McKeown.  This trade fills up the empty defensive void that was left on the team after the lengthy suspension of Slava Voynov.  Giving up first rounders is always a risky business and hard to predict but with the team’s defensive core rocked to the bare necessities all season long, this trade was a must.

A 9 year NHL veteran and 2 time Olympian, the 28-year-old Slovakian native is a talented defenseman who can play both on the right side or left side of the ice.  More known for his speedy puck rushing skills than his defensive capabilities (though he does have a defensive upside), it’ll be interesting to see how the 6’1, 200 pound Sekera can adjust to not only Darryl Sutter’s defense first system, but playing for a team that is in full “make the playoffs” desperation mode after playing for dismal teams for most of his career.

After the excitement of his trade to Los Angeles had died down, Sekera’s first few games with the Kings has been a sub par performance at best. Growing pains like that are to be expected at most times whenever a player has moved to a new team and environment and it takes some time to adapt (think Jeff Carter in 2012).  What is worrying many in the Kingdom is what will happen in the off-season when Sekera becomes a full unrestricted free agent?  How much money are he and his agent looking and asking for? And how much can the Kings fully commit to him (if they decide to commit to him) when still having to re-sign (or not) fellow unrestricted free agents Justin Williams, Jarret Stoll, Jamie McBain and Robyn Regehr, as well as restricted free agents Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Andy Andreoff and Martin Jones. And that is without mentioning the giant elephant in the room of what are the Kings going to do about Anze Kopitar‘s much deserved contract extension?  After this season, Kopitar will be starting the last year of his current contract (yikes!) As devoted and committed as Kopitar seems to be towards the Los Angeles Kings and the city of Los Angeles, simply allowing Kopitar to play his last season without a new contract would be management suicide and something the old King’s system would probably have done (and that’s not good).  In other words, “Kopi” needs to be locked down and fast but with the salary cap possibly not raising above its current $69 million cap hit next year, the King’s nearing their full “cap”acity (see what I did there?) and trying to not allow too many free agents to get away in the off-season, the Kings may not have the choice or luxury of extending “Kopi’s” contract to any satisfying length.

Also, where does Voynov fit into all this?  If Voynov is able to return to the team (which is still possible) then his full contract of approximately $25 million ($4.16 million a year) goes back onto the King’s already tapped out salary cap.  If Voynov doesn’t return (which is still possible) then his cap hit will more than likely be gone, but the King’s will then lose a talented and battle hardened defenseman for longer than a full season without any promise of Sekera returning and potentially taking his place. The Voynov enigma continues.

I could only guess that this might be the final hurrah for Regehr as a LA King (and I’m sure many of you are cheering and hoping for this to happen as I say that!) This could open a spot for Sekera on the roster (assuming he would want to stay in LA) regardless if Voynov does or does not return to the team but one thing Sekera lacks in his impressive repertoire is the punishing (and frightening) defensive skills that Regehr has in his (aging?) skill set.  Hate him or love him (or are just putting up with him) Regehr is a classic defensive defenseman and that’s a hard to find asset that Sutter depends on heavily for his system.  Sekera replacing Voynov is one thing but can the Kings afford to lose another heavy defensive defenseman to free agency like they did with Willie Mitchell and Rob Scuderi in the recent past? That to me seems like a bigger gamble than trading away a first round pick.  Be prepared everyone if the King’s decide to re-sign Robyn Regehr if Voynov’s fate turns out to be a negative one.

Speaking of the Sekera trade, unbeknownst to my wife and I on the very day that trade was happening, we were at the Toyota Sports Center watching the Kings practice.  After the practice was completed and I was done taking a thousand photos like a TMZ “reporter,” we made our way outside to that beautiful and warm California climate, where a man with graying hair and wearing all black walked right past us in a serious hurry.  Reminding me of the hurried rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, I looked up to see and noticed that it was Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi!  I reacted like how any life long, far away living Los Angeles Kings die-hard fan would react and that is by screaming to my wife, “OH MY GOD IT’S DEAN LOMBARDI!!!”… um I mean, I nonchalantly  whispered to my wife, “Oh look, it’s general manager Dean Lombardi, how splendid.”

Noticing the obvious sign that Lombardi was busy and seemingly on a mission, I decided to leave him be and let him do whatever serious King’s business he had to attend to.  No I’m just joking, I obviously stopped him in mid-track and asked him for a picture! To his kindness, he stopped and we had a conversation.  By conversation, I mean I asked him if we could take a photo and he turned me down … BUT he did explain to me that he was juggling something rather important and it needed his full attention.  I accepted his decision and respected it, and by that I mean I gave him the saddest face I could muster.  It seemed to have worked and he quickly changed his mind and was kind enough to take a picture with me, satisfying this Los Angeles Kings fan boy in me.  Mr. Lombardi then spoke to me about his farm in Massachusetts and I still have no idea why he brought that up or how he got on that topic but I was in awe just the same.  After he left and we met some guy named Anze Kopitar, my wife and I did the most natural thing you can do after being graced with a genius (no joke there, just a fact) and that of course means … we visited Hollywood!  While they’re taking a thousand pictures of the fan girl who is my wife with the New Kids on the Block Hollywood Star, I received a text from my friend (who is from LA) that she had just found out that not only did Kyle Clifford sign an extension with the Kings that day but the Kings had just traded for Sekera too!  No wonder Lombardi was in such a hurry!  All that and he still took the time to take a picture with a fan and talk about his farm! Brilliant!