LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After a very public ‘on again, off again’ flirtation with Ilya Kovalchuk, LA GM Dean Lombardi decided/was forced to move on to different pastures after the Russian superstar signed his 17 year, $102 million super deal with New Jersey.
Lombardi wanted a top 6 winger, but not at Kovalchuk’s asking price. With Alexander Frolov outbound (more on that in a moment) the Kings needed some fresh blood among their forward lines, and Lombardi made moves to bring former Toronto and Pittsburgh forward Alexei Ponikarovsky to town.
Meanwhile the aforementioned Frolov became the latest enigmatic European forward to join the New York Rangers. Clearly Rangers GM Glenn Sather has a thing for players who can have the fans out of their seat one minute, but entirely disappear from a game the next; and it seems that is the way Frolov’s promising career has played itself out, especially of late as he was cast aside by the Kings.
Though it’s no real surprise either man has picked up a deal. Both have shown they are solid, or even good, NHL players at times during their careers, but it is the money that is involved that has raised a few eye brows. Both men received a 1 year deal, but at $3 million?!
It is perhaps a little harsh to question the Frolov deal with such scrutiny. He does have two 30+ goal seasons under his belt, and has only failed to score at least 20 goals twice in his career – his rookie year (14 goals) and last season (19), were he slowly seemed to slide down the Kings depth chart. He’s also been quite durable, missing only small amount of games across his career, and has what most folks would consider ‘good size’ standing at 6’2” and 204lbs.
The 28 year old Russian is clearly talented, and despite a lack of play-off experience he has over 500 NHL games and nearly 400 points under his belt. He could be a good top 6 forward for a lot of teams. And after a disappointing year, perhaps there needs to be a little bit of ‘benefit of the doubt’ for both parties here. Frolov wants to bounce back from a poor 09/10 campaign, New York want someone to take a little of the scoring pressure off superstar Marian Gaborik.
The Ponikarovsky deal however is a little more of a head scratcher. Fresh from a disastrous stint with the Penguins, his stock is perhaps the lowest it has ever been for many. And yet he will take home $3 million this season, AND was given a $200,000 signing bonus!
After being acquired close to the trade deadline from Toronto, he scored just 9 points in 16 regular season games for Pittsburgh, and only 5 points in the 11 post season matches he featured in. Perhaps worst of all, of those 14 points in a Pens shirt, only 3 were goals and he became a healthy scratch during the play-offs. For a player pencilled in to skate alongside Sidney Crosby, that return was simple not good enough.
Maybe we shouldn’t get too tied up with his time in Pennsylvania though – not every player is successful on every team he plays on. So once again, let us give him the benefit of the doubt and look back at the bulk of his career with the Maple Leafs.
One defence of Ponikarovsky I have seen is that he is a consistent 20 goal scorer. And he is, kind of – three 20+ goal seasons, an 18 goal campaign and he had already tallied 19 goals for the Leafs last year before moving to the Mellon Arena. Respectable enough perhaps, but his career high is just 23.
Ok, he wasn’t a BIG scorer – but who would have been on some of the Leafs teams he played on? The butt of so many jokes over the past few seasons, Toronto had hit something of a funk after the lock out, one that Brian Burke is now slowly pulling them out of. Playing on teams like that, it’s going to be hard to shine, right? Well yes, but then, on those teams, someone will always score. Even the very worst teams see at least one or two guys put up some kind of return. Perhaps the more concerning part, despite teams woes, ‘Poni’ is now 30 years old and has never really looked like taking the next step from a 20 goal scorer to a 30 goal scorer.
He’s also had the chance to feature in 34 play-off games, but has only 2 goals to show for it. While his previous post season appearances with Toronto came prior to the lock out, when he was much more of a bit part player on a better Leafs team, he was with a genuine contender in Pittsburgh and as such a return of just 2 goals simple isn’t very good however you try to dress it up.
While one LA newspaper cheekily described the deal as ‘Plan C’, potentially Ponikarovsky could be a top 6 forward for LA and help the team. He’s a big lad with a decent touch and has shown he can provide 20 goals per season. If he ‘comes good’ then that will of course help LA’s development as a team. But the Kings also have some protection if it does go sour, as it is only a 1 year deal – so if he flops, just walk away next summer. But still, with all that in mind, is he worth $3 million?
For a lot of people the worrying thing is not that LA have perhaps overpaid for one man, but what that deal might mean for the rest of the league. While LA could simple walk away in 12 months time if this foray proves to be something of a disaster, the wider implications could be far more reaching – If a guy who has never scored more than 23 goals, and was a total bust playing alongside arguable the leagues best player can get $3 million and a $200k singing bonus, what will other players start asking for?
‘If player X is earning that much, I think I should get this much’
It’s the kind of trend the league could do without.
Contact the author: rob.mcgregor@prohockeynews.com
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