The Kings Appeal

Another slight twist has been added to the Los Angeles Kings and Drew Doughty conflict. The two teams have still not been able to work out a contract on this off-season, leaving the Kings without their highly skilled defenseman, and Doughty without a deal. Tim Leiweke, the Kings Governor and President of its parent company AEG, has come out with a statement to the press fully supporting his general manager Dean Lombardi.

Lombardi took a stand when Drew Doughty and his agent denied a reported $6.8 million deal, the same dollar amount that their current star Anze Kopitar makes per year. The belief is that Doughty and his agent want more, an apparent $7 million base-line deal.

Tim Leiweke stands with Lombardi as do the large majority of the fans, and almost positively the players of the Los Angelis Kings. The full description of the stand-off can be read in my recent article; “Doubting Doughty”

"This is not a matter of the Kings or AEG saving money. That is zero of the conflict here," Leiweke told Helene Elliott of the Times. "This is a matter of allocation of dollars and the fight here is how do we ultimately respect Drew. And we respect the world out of Drew. I think the world of the kid. He is the cornerstone of the franchise long term and we're not going to let him go anywhere."

Leiweke laid to rest the thought of a possible trade, as stated previously by Lombardi. The team is preparing for a trip to Europe where they will open up in Stockholm, Sweden on October 7th against the New York Rangers.

"I support Dean on what he's trying to do here," Leiweke said to Elliott. "He's not trying to be cheap. He's not trying to be disrespectful. We love Drew. It's an allocation issue here and everyone, including most of the players I've run into in the last week, they get that we are desperate to try to keep enough resources to keep this team together long term."

"So from my standpoint I want Drew to come back. Please, Drew, come back. We love you. Let's not destroy this relationship or his reputation or our reputation over something like this. We need to get this done. He needs to get back in here. And we need to get him ready to go to Europe. He should not miss that trip. It would mean that we would begin to move on without him and that's a bad thing."

Doughty has posted 33 goals and 93 assists for 126 points with a +16 rating in 239 games, all as a King. The 2nd overall draft choice in 2008 is a major asset to his team, but until he eats a piece of the humble pie he is stagnant.

His club has great potential for this upcoming season, and hopefully a player of his caliber will be a part of it sooner than later.

Though I don’t doubt the ownership and management groups on their intention to make it work, I’m sure damage is being done between the player and the team in the office and on the ice. Kings fans are not being treated with what they deserve, either, which makes this contract more time sensitive than the player camp apparently feels to this point. Drew and Co. need to find a resolution, and fast.

- Kendall Grubbs