from Darren Dreger of The Dreger Report,

The structure of this mammoth contract has been the main issue for the past month, but sources say Kings general manager Dean Lombardi didn't want to pay Kopitar north of $9 million, didn't want to frontload the agreement and didn't want to have to include a no-move clause.

In the end, Kopitar got what he wanted, an annual average salary of $10 million, a heavily front-loaded contract that will pay him $14 million in year one and includes two $9-million signing bonuses, immediate no-move protection that carries through year four of the extension, and a limited no-trade clause that will blanket the last four years of the deal.

Lombardi's slow play throughout this negotiation was a somewhat dangerous approach. As impactful as Kopitar is, $10 million consumes a hefty chunk of cap space, especially with the expectation the salary cap will increase marginally, if at all.

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