LIVIN ON A PRAYER
Rejoint: oct. 2017
Messages: 6,486
Mentions "j'aime": 6,459
It's worth mentioning that both Kopitar and Doughty are also still quite productive as of right now. Further, Kopitar's deal expires at the same time as Byfield's ELC (should he slide for a season). Even beyond that deal, it's not a long-term commitment to a $10M Kopitar, where a much cheaper deal would be easily negotiated as Byfield, Turcotte, and Vilardi take the reigns of the forward core.
Doughty's three years younger than Kopitar: if we extend the same line of thought that both men are decent into their 36 year-old seasons, the Kings are only going to have one year of Doughty being bad (bit of an assumption, but nevertheless). That level of talent on the back end when most every other piece is ready to be in-place is invaluable.