The Ball is in the King's Court

These days, more mistakes are made by GM's across the league on trade deadline day than any other day of the year, minus July 1st of course (Chris Drury and Scott Gomez anyone?).  That's why I think teams everywhere have to be envious of the position the Los Angeles Kings find themselves in going into the big day.  As of Wednesday morning, they are seven points out of a playoff spot.  Not an insurmountable number to overcome, but difficult nonetheless, mostly because of the amount of teams they would need to leapfrog.  However, expectations were low coming into the season, and ticket sales have been relatively stable, so there isn't the same kind of pressing need as there is in, say, South Florida to make it to the post-season.  

The Kings have two things going for them that put them in an amazing position.  First, they are loaded, moreso than any other team in my opinion, with young, budding superstars.  Frolov, Kopitar, and Brown up front.  Jack Johnson and Drew Doughty on defence, and of course, Jonathan Bernier in goal.  For now, the Ersberg/Quick combo isn't too shabby either.  Second, they have more cap space than anybody.  Meaning, they don't have to sell off any significant players and they can actually add players that are more than rentals.  Those available in this category include; Ryan Smyth, Jason Blake, Michael Nylander, Ryan Malone, Jason Spezza, and Jordan Staal.  They're in a position to make a run at the playoffs while still building in the right direction for next season.  Most teams have to choose between one or the other - winning right now or winning in the future.  Life's easy when you can avoid ruling on that sort of thing.  In a nutshell, LA is coming out of tomorrow a better team at 3pm than they'll have when Dean Lombardi wakes up in the morning, and the team will be better still when the puck drops on the 2009-2010 campaign.  Go Kings.  And Dean, feel free to sleep in, it won't be a big deal.