SO Tim Leiweke, governor of the Los Angeles Kings, an organiza tion that boasts some of the most promising young players in hockey, including 19-year-old Anze Kopitar, 24-year-old Alexander Frolov, 19-year-old Jack Johnson, 24-year-old Mike Cammalleri, 22-year-old Dustin Brown and 21-year-old Patrick O’Sullivan, goes to Kansas City and has this to say after recruiting the Penguins to play in the new arena that, oh, by the way, the owner of the Kings owns and operates:
“There’s something special about this franchise,” said Leiweke, and he was not talking about his very own franchise, no, most certainly not, but rather another one. “This is the best young team not only in the NHL, but the best young team in sports.
“If you sat down and wrote a book and looked at the final chapter on how you go out and build a spec arena and then get an anchor tenant to fill it, the last chapter is going to be titled, ‘The Pittsburgh Penguins.’ This is the team you would dream to get.”
Kings fans must be thrilled to learn that the governor of their team – an individual, by the way, who apparently is becoming a very big deal in the NHL – can’t stop drooling about another team.
Then there is this: Not only did Leiweke travel to Kansas City on behalf of L.A. owner Philip Anschutz and his Anschutz Entertainment Group to meet with Mario Lemieux, so, too, did future Hall of Fame winger Luc Robitaille, who is on the Kings’ board as an alternate governor.
Robitaille, of course, could not stop talking about Sidney Crosby, who happens to be represented by the same agent who represented Robitaille much of his glorious career.
“For people who know basketball, he is our LeBron James,” said Robitaille, perhaps unaware that Kansas City lost its NBA franchise to Sacramento 21 years ago. “There’s no doubt that [for] everybody banking on hockey and the league, he’s the guy you want to bank on.
“He’s the next Gretzky.”
Why spend time boosting the profile of Kopitar? Why wonder why the Kings have been able to sell out only four of their first 24 home games?
Let’s ignore, for the moment, the comedic symbolism of having Kansas City and Pittsburgh, the two least significant and smallest markets in Major League Baseball, being the cities vying to showcase the NHL’s most important player.
Let’s ignore, for the moment, that Crosby is obligated to his current franchise for only five more seasons and might actually choose to play in a glamour market upon reaching free agency as a 24-year-old in 2012.
But we cannot ignore the conflicts of interest that exist in allowing the Los Angeles Kings to have direct financial interest in a competing NHL franchise and in allowing members of the Kings’ board to recruit another franchise to play in their owner’s building. Does Leiweke have authority to act for two teams should the Penguins move to Kansas City and become the Monarchs?
Where is the propriety? Where is the Imperial Commissioner? Where is the outrage?
And where, oh where, does it all end with this operation on Sixth Avenue?
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Glen Sather did Kevin Lowe a favor in 2004 by picking up the remainder of Petr Nedved‘s contract as a condition of the deal that sent him to Edmonton for the playoff drive, and now, even if unknowingly, the Oilers GM has done the Rangers a huge favor in return by claiming No. 93 on waivers this week, thus preventing the center’s Act III on Broadway.
Nedved is one of the best men to play in New York over the past 15 years, but management must have been kidding in thinking he could be compatible with Brendan Shanahan and fill the team’s need for a playmaking second-line pivot. It was equally ignorant to believe Nedved would have been able to play left wing on the Jaromir Jagr–Michael Nylander unit and thus allow Martin Straka to shift to the middle on the second line.
Really, the last thing the Rangers need is a finesse-oriented veteran, no matter his native land. It’s troubling that everyone else in the world understands that, but somehow they do not.
Mike Knuble‘s two-year, $5.6 million contract extension does not, by the way, come with a no-trade clause, the Flyers’ winger told Slap Shots on Thursday, and as such, the 33-year-old go-to-the-net finisher should be among the prime properties on the trade market.
Many rumblings throughout the league, you should know, that the Sharks are becoming somewhat impatient with Ron Wilson‘s work behind the bench.
This just in. Rangers seeking to lure Devils to Garden if arena in Newark does not open on time.
“Martin Brodeur is the best goaltender in hockey,” Sather said. “We’d love to have him at the Garden.”
