Fare Thee Well, Fat Man

by RudyKelly on Dec 31, 2008 8:31 AM PST Comment 11 comments

Another year, another goaltender that didn't work out. Jason Labarbera had his chances to capture glory as the goaltender for the Los Angeles Kings, but once again it seemed forces beyond control made that goal impossible to attain. Like Mathieu Garon and Cristobal Huet, Labarbera now goes to a good situation with a Canadian team with hopes that he can turn it around.

It really is kind of frustrating to have this happen again. Look at Labarbera's career, it's filled with missed opportunities. In 2005, he was rookie of the month in October and had a golden opportunity to seize the Kings' #1 spot when both Garon and Cloutier went out, but he had to take a few weeks' off because of (I think) his girlfriend's health. He never really regained the magic that season. Then in 2006, he was forced to stay in Manchester for an entire season, leading to exile while guys like Barry Brust and Sean Burke got their shot with the Kings. Oddly enough, that was the one season where everything went right for him. Last year, Labarbera had a real nice stretch of games in December before Ryan Smyth broke Labarbera's ribs. He wasn't the same when he came back. Then, this year, Labarbera committed himself to getting in shape and had a golden opportunity to finally become the Kings' #1 goaltender. And he blew it. I don't know why, other than maybe he was putting too much pressure on himself, but he blew it. Two other goaltenders did not, and Labarbera became expendable. It happens.

There has been some comparison of Jason Labarbera and Dan Cloutier, but that's ridiculous. For one, Cloutier was far worse than Labarbera. Two, Labarbera really tried. I don't know, maybe it's because I played goal or maybe it's because I feel bad for Labs since he really did try to get in shape this off-season, but his story is a sad one, not one made for mockery. (Well, besides the joke in the title.) Unlike Cloutier, Labarbera was friendly to everyone in the locker room, never complained about playing time, and holy shit do you remember that one goal Cloutier let in? Disgusting.

I doubt Labarbera will follow in the footsteps of Garon and Huet and solve the Canucks' goaltending woes, but I also doubt this will be his last stop in the league. Despite what we saw this season, I still think Labarbera is an average goaltender. At least I hope so, otherwise he's going to make me look pretty stupid, huh?

***

With Labarbera gone, the Kings' goaltending situation is a little clearer, but not much. Just like at the beginning of the season, the Kings have 2 goaltenders that are relatively unproven and they will probably let them fight it out for the starting spot. Terry Murray is a simple guy and usually just goes with a goalie until he has a bad game and then switches it up, so we'll probably see that happen. Right now it's Quick, but if he sucks on Saturday then it'll be Ersberg. It's interesting that the Kings are going with 2 goaltenders that have a combined 41 games played in the NHL, but talent is talent, right? Besides, if one of them sucks the Kings can always give Bernier a shot.

I like the idea of Ersberg and Quick partnering up because they have different strengths and weaknesses. Ersberg is always calm on the ice and usually prevents things from getting out of hand. Quick is bigger and more talented, but he's also a little out of control. It will be good for him to work with Ersberg in practice every day and learn from him.

***

I'm out until the Kings' game on Saturday because I'm traveling to the snow, so you're going to have to rely on Earl and co. for all your updates. If you're wandering around Sequoia National Park in March and see a frozen corpse lying on the ground, stop and say hi.

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It’s interesting that the Kings are going with 2 goaltenders that have a combined 41 games played in the NHL, but talent is talent, right?

Sweet lord. Well, at least it’s going to be tough to accuse the Kings for overspending on the position. But hey, how important is goaltending, anyway?

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Dec 31, 2008 9:31 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

Also, it’s tough to tell you which is more stunning:

a) the fact that Dan Cloutier remains the highest-paid goaltender on the Los Angeles payroll.
b) the fact that the previous statement was true even before the Labarbera trade.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Dec 31, 2008 10:34 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

they’re still paying him????

by Karina on Dec 31, 2008 10:36 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Through the buy-out mechanism, the Kings are still paying him something like $1.033 million per year for this season and next. Ersberg and Quick have a combined salary of $1.25 million and an even lower salary cap hit.

Here’s the cap-math site, if you’re interested.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Dec 31, 2008 10:39 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

This is the best we could do under the circumstances. I think the idea at the start of the season was to have Labarbera play decently enough to warrant a trade deadline deal. Lombardi was probably hoping for a 2-3rd round draft pick, but given Jason’s play this season, a 7th rounder was probably the best we could get. I think Labarbera just wilted under the pressure this season. This was the first time he was labeled the number one and the nerves ate him up. I wish he would have done better since he seems like a decent fellow, but maybe this is the first step towards his true dream as a roadie for Metallica. Now we can let Quick audition while Ersberg plays for a contract, Bernier gets to be top dog in Manchester, and Zatkoff gets to play in the AHL. Not bad, I think goaltending isn’t going to be as worrisome anymore.

by Nut on Dec 31, 2008 10:41 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

No, a 7th rounder is definitely about what I’d expect, and it’s more than Burke got for Bryzgalov (though Breezy made more at the time). I don’t know if a 2nd or 3rd round pick for a goalie is realistic anymore, though. There just seems to be too many goaltenders available (both within the league and within the AHL) that even a real difference-maker doesn’t land as much in a trade as it probably should.

And Labs really wasn’t pushing that “difference-maker” label very hard. It’s a pretty shrug trade, I guess. Kings get a pretty useless pick and the Canucks get a cheap fill-in with limited upside.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Dec 31, 2008 10:56 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Great, and hilarious, job on this blog, guys.
Did I mention I like the Blogger set-up better?

This Labs trade stinks if you ask me.
I think a 7th rounder is an insult and I’d have preferred to lose Labs to the waiver wire, or let him stay in Manch as backup, to getting a 7th – better known as nothing.
I think a dependable backup is worh more than that.
And if goalies are cheap, and they are, why couldn’t Lombardi have gotten one for a crap pick 2 weeks ago when he was trying to deal for one?
I like the space it opens in LA because Labs dropped the ball on being No. 1, but Moulson is 1 player seeking a spot where there are 12 openings and we still have him.
Labs is a guy we thought was our No. 1, and he’s only 1 of 5 that could arguably play serviceably in LA this season.
How is it good to get rid of a player like that?
Anyway, let’s hope Murray pulls his head out of his ass and puts together some better lines with Boyle in there, and let’s move on.
I just wish Lombardi rated NHL-level talent a bit higher when he’s trading it.

Go USA.
Remember 1812.
Kick those imperial Canadian/English to the curb tonight.

http://worldhockeydaily.wordpress.com/2008/12/31/labarbara-dumped/

PS – I worked out the math, and Preissing/Zeiler costs about 10 million over the next 3 season if they can’t be dropped, and Cloutier/McAuley will cost the Kings about 4 million over the next 2 seasons (clarify: this season is included in this).
That’s a total of almost 15 million over this and the coming 2 years, or on average, 5 million a season.
I don’t think dropping Labs 875 thousand for the remainder of this season really makes a dent in the payroll dept. compared to that.

Happy New Year.

by the eight-O-five on Dec 31, 2008 4:42 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Did I mention I like the Blogger set-up better?

Yeah, I’m still feeling this stuff out. I do like the easy 5-game-outlook schedules on the right bar — that’s essentially become my weekly planner now.

I think a dependable backup is worh more than that.

I can see that, but I dunno — at this point in the year it’s not worth much more. I’m not sure there was really that much more to be had. If Lombardi could have foreseen this in the summer, though, I think he could have fetched more in return. Dean definitely picked a low point in the Labarbera-worth scale, though.

http://www.battleofcali.com/

by Earl Sleek on Dec 31, 2008 5:42 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

You know what’s weird about this trade? The headlines aren’t “Canucks acquire LaBarbera for draft pick”. The headlines are “Kings acquire draft pick for LaBarbera”.

Fuck you, Denis Gauthier

by Kevin Y on Dec 31, 2008 5:46 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It doesn’t matter as much what Lombardi thinks his players are worth, but what other GM’s think his players are worth. Of course, he needs to know how to rate his players so he gets full worth for them, but getting a 7th rounder is probably Jasons worth right now so that our up and comers can get better experience. Murray probably going to give him more opportunites to screw up so we/he wasn’t go to be able to up his trade value before the deadline. And nothing is better known as nothing. A 7th rounder is not nothing. Granted they mostly don’t turn into NHLers but every once in a while they do and like Vancouver just did (and Dean loves to do) they are good for trades.

by Nut on Dec 31, 2008 6:34 PM PST reply actions 0 recs