I detailed three of the bigger moves in free agency below, but there have been enough moves to make my head spin. The venerable Mirtle seems to have a nice gallery of the many moves so far.The Barely Bad News: Rob Blake's price tag- $12 million- is a hefty sum.
The Sort of Bad News: Losing the decent work of Joe Corvo, although at his price and considering his, umm...checkered...past...might not be bad news after all.
The Absolutely Bad News: Spending $3 million on Steve Kariya,er, Randy Robitaille, er, Scott Thornton. This has echoes of the Penguins' cringe-worthy $1 million signing of Andre Roy (not worthy of bold face).
But, the good news is that Rob Blake will finish his impressive career in its rightful place, LA. Sure, he didn't have the most graceful departure. Sure, we booed him. And sure, his best years are behind him.
But it'll be easy to forgive these sins when Blake booms slapshots from the blueline and forms arguably the best defensive PP pairing in the West. Lube plus Rob = PP gravy.
$12 million is a lot for two years of service, but those two years give the Kings a fighting chance of remaining reasonably competitive.
Hell, if the Kings have an Elias up their sleeves, who knows what could happen? Conroy-Frolov-top flight free agent X could be a mighty fine combination.
Even if Blake is the biggest addition of the off-season for the Kings, it's always easier to march into a black hole with the promise of hip checks and hard slapshots to keep you company.
Let's just be careful to not rush into a quick-fix goalie. OK? Please?