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With the 2015 playoffs now under way and without 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings. As we all know they fell just short of a spot and are now being forced to have an overdue long summer vacation This will be a very different summer than what the Kingdom has become recently been accustomed to.
Reports are flying around that the NHL salary cap may not rise from its current status of $69 million. With the important and necessary urgent need to extend Anze Kopitar’s contract before it expires at the end of the next season, plus the ongoing uncertain status of suspended player Slava Voynov and the major issue of Mike Richard’s declining skill and painfully large contract, the Kings may not be able to re-sign all of or any of their unrestricted free agents. We all may have to be prepared to say farewell to some of the Kings’ key players that have helped the franchise win 2 Stanley Cups in (sigh) 3 years.
This is a hard, bitter but unfortunately natural process that happens to all teams in this salary cap era (look at 2010 Chicago Blackhawks and 2014 Boston Bruins) but this is the first time where it really has become a thorn in the side of the Kings.
Many possible scenarios can play out this summer, such as the Los Angeles Kings trading or buying out Mike Richards. That would free up enough cap space where the Kings can “maybe” re-sign defensemen Andrej Sekera and/or “Mr. Game 7” Justin Williams and/or center Jarret Stoll. Slava Voynov could be found guilty for domestic abuse and be permanently suspended by the NHL (and face deportation and/or jail time) which would also free up some space to sign some players or he may be back by next season and his contract will be back on the team’s cap. This may mean we lose any chance of signing Sekera but that’s considering Sekera even wants to return to Los Angeles. This all makes my head hurt.
Anything positive or negative can happen really but however this plays out in the end, someone beloved by the Kings fan base and/or crucial to the team’s past success (excluding this season of course) is going to have to leave. As unfair as it seems, even if both the player AND the organization may want to keep working together, the reality is that’s how business is conducted in today’s NHL. A hard cap limit is a hard cap limit and it cannot be breached without serious penalties and reprecussions.
I have no idea who is going to end up leaving and/or staying but just in case the worst case scenario does occur, I would like to extend some heartfelt thanks and say farewell to those warriors that helped our Los Angeles Kings become what us fans, long time or short, have always dreamed of and wanted, a Stanley Cup championship winning team (twice!)
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