A very good chance Ryan Smyth would have been bought out?

August 2, 2012
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Among Rich Hammond’s latest set of answers to readers’ questions was this tidbit:

Forum answers X « LA Kings Insider

The fact is, there was a very good chance that the Kings would have bought out [Ryan] Smyth’s contract if they didn’t trade him. Getting his massive salary off the books was not a bad thing at all.

That’s news, isn’t it?

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Some posts the robot says are related, but I'll let you be the judge of that:

  1. Dean Lombardi Trade History
  2. Ryan Smyth is funnier if you do as I did and accidentally insert an imaginary “r” in the word “pick”
  3. Why do people keep saying that without Smyth and Scuderi the Kings are the same team as last year? (And why did I buy it, until I looked?)
  4. Brashear to Rangers, Smyth to Kings, now Ward to Carolina…anyone see the pattern here?
  5. Via Matthew Barry: Lombardi tells Purcell to get to the blue paint, talks Calder and Army, and gives Boyle the Teeniest Wisp of a Last Chance Not to Suck
  6. Coming Down the Pipe!: On the Fence With Ryan Ellis
  7. The Copper & Blue: Ryan Ellis, If Available

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This entry was posted on August 2, 2012 at 11:59 AM and is filed under Latest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

  • https://www.icloud.com/ DougS

    That kind of surprised me, too. It would have been a good move, but I don’t remember anyone that close to the organization saying at the time, “Well, if the Kings didn’t trade him, they were going to buy him out anyway.”

    • USHA#17

      As I recall in his final LA season the shifts were very short and most of his ice time was spent on his ass due to his inability to stand up to or skate through a check. Looked like this body quit on him.

      • https://www.icloud.com/ DougS

        He was definitely in physical decline at that point. He would have been an albatross if he had stuck around for the last year of his contract.

      • https://twitter.com/BobKnob2point0 Bob Knob

        He sucked ass for the full last half of the season and then picked it up for the playoffs. Kinda makes you wonder about him. Did he get healthy just in time for the playoffs? Or was he dogging it half of the year? I think fitness is certainly an issue with him as well. But he’s an idiot so I’m sure he will do the same things he has always done to prepare for the season.

        • OneTimer

          Sorry Bob, but I just gotta say that I’d stop short (way short) of calling Ryan Smyth an “idiot.” (And I’m really trying to not take you too literally.) Making the best choices for OURSELVES (as we see them) in life is frankly what we should all be doing, everyday. “Older, banged up player”, “Sentimental Canadian family guy/hometowner”, or “non-Los Angelino vibe guy” … sure, probably all of the above. But idiot? – um, no.

          Go Kings.

  • Kluka68

    Now that Kings won Stanley Cup, it’s strange to go back in time and think about the guy just asked for the trade from the team who got it all at the same year.

  • Jack

    I wondering if the buyout would have been only if the trade had not gone through. Smyth had a NTC didn’t he? And he made it known he’d only accept a trade to Flames or Oilers. Leaving Lombardi with so few options meant that if trade talks fell through (which was close to happening by the look of the final trade), a buyout might have definitely been considered.

    Instead we had a massively lopsided trade where Smyth was turned over for a conditional 7th round pick and fourth-liner Colin Fraser. Sorry, I mean Stanley Cup champion Colin Fraser. Whoops, I mean, now two time Stanley Cup champion Colin Fraser.

    Guess we won that trade.

    • http://www.mcsorleys-stick.com/ Quisp

      I wondered the same thing.

  • USHA#17

    Smyth was a dog in 10-11. Running out of gas early he disrupted any chance(s) for the success of his line mates. Same thing transpired in Edmonton. Fast start, slow finish. The thing is in “shaping” trade he jumped the gun and blew the hole card of a team (IMO) happy to see him go. Most likely no love lost either way.

  • https://twitter.com/BobKnob2point0 Bob Knob

    It’s too bad he didn’t get bought out, his tears would have tasted even more delicious.