Rumor of The Day
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Because the NHL is thin on rumors these days (unless you’re a stain named Eklund), today we’re bringing you a veiled threat. Ok, it’s not so veiled.
Unable to field a full (professional) hockey team this season, Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi has resorted to threatening other teams that may try to ‘take’ his players. Next year.
From the Sporting News:
He [Lombardi] wanted to make it clear that he’d match any offers for his restricted free agents (next summer) like Kopitar and Johnson. He said: “We’re not only going to match any offer sheet, we’ll have enough space to go after your guys. Go ahead and make our day. If you sign our guy, we’re coming back with both barrels firing. You’d better be damn straight that you have the cap space and all your guys are signed.”
These are some strong, tough words that would probably carry a bit more weight if his own damn job wasn’t so close to going down the shitter. Lombardi should’ve capitalized on the attention a bit more and used the opportunity to put some feelers out — “All you sonzabitches better stay the hell away from my roster or I will tear your f’n heads off!!! And by the way, here’s my resumé just in case any of you are hiring in the near future - Love the tie by the way. Is that silk? Looks great. OK, so thanks a lot for your time and have a safe ride home”.
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August 8th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I actually like this move by Lombardi. The only problem I foresee with this stance is that it gives his RFAs all the negotiating leverage in terms of any potential extensions… I can see Jack Johnson being tabled an extension and him saying “no thanks, I’ll wait for the offer sheets, then we’ll talk…”