Drew Doughty

It was a gritty and ugly win Saturday Night at Verizon Center for the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings overcame an early injury to star defenseman Drew Doughty and a parade of penalties to take the bout 3-2 in overtime.

The Los Angeles Kings finally bowed to the inevitable on Thursday signing 21-year-old defenseman Drew Doughty to an eight year $56 million contract.

General Manager Dean Lombardi was said to have taken the position that he wouldn't sign the young defenseman for more than last year's leading scorer: 24 year old Anze Kopitar. That dream is dead and Drew Doughty now officially leads the LA King cap parade with a $7 million a year hit for the next eight years.

Drew Doughty finally ended his holdout with the Los Angeles Kings this week, signing an eight-year deal worth $56 million. This is certainly a good move for the Kings, locking down one of the league's best defenseman for a long period of time.

Some eyebrows have been raised due to the length and dollar amount of the deal, but after Shea Weber signed for a deal worth $7.5 million a year, the Doughty singing should not be a surprise.

Drew Doughty and Shea Weber were two of the biggest names on the restricted free agent market this season, and both of them managed to land major contracts.

Shea Weber through arbitration, and Drew Doughty through holding his breath until the team gave in.

They are two very different players who landed very similar contracts, so it only seems natural that we should compare the two and see which player is more "worth" their weight in salary.

To me, the answer seems pretty simple.

According to a report by The Hockey News, Drew Doughty has signed an eight-year, $56 million contract to stay with with the Los Angeles Kings.

Rumors began circulating on Twitter this morning that the Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche are currently engaged in trade negotiations centered around embattled defenseman Drew Doughty and center Paul Stastny.

It is now September and we are one month away from the start of the NHL regular season. However, with that in mind, that also means the start of training camp is just around the corner.

In case you have been living under a rock for the last few months, Drew Doughty has held out despite receiving lucrative contract offers.

Drew Doughty has shot down a nine-year deal worth $61.2 million, and perhaps now it's time for the Kings to consider dealing him. The idea seemed insane to me a month ago, and even though I questioned his personality and if he should be the cornerstone of the Kings, plenty of fans came to his defense.

Bleacher Report's own Featured Columnist Nicholas Goss wrote an article today posing a fair question: At this stage of the game should the Los Angeles Kings consider trading Drew Doughty's rights?  

The Los Angeles Kings and restricted free-agent defenseman Drew Doughty have yet to agree on a new contract, and with less than a month until NHL training camps begin, should the Kings think about trading his negotiating rights?

There's no question that Kings fans, and probably the team itself, are feeling a bit anxious as the new NHL season quickly approaches.