Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Hockey players love to live in Los Angeles for the Kings. Dustin Penner started his NHL career in Anaheim after going undrafted at age of 18 years old. Now a savvy veteran, Penner has had adversity on and off the ice. A rocky marriage, and suspicious “pancake” related injury, were sources of criticism just while with the Los Angeles Kings.
It was made public today that the home he once shared with one of his former-wives is officially on the market and for sale. This doesn’t mean Penner is looking for a change of venue for his professional career. Los Angeles is the only city you can skate in the morning, surf in the afternoon, ski in the evening and still get to Las Vegas by supper.
The house was a part of the divorce proceedings, though many details are not being revealed. Whether the listing of the home was purely for that reason or it was possibly foreshadowing a move away from Los Angeles, Penner is not going to get as nice a contract next time from Dean Lombardi.
At best, his performances were meaningful in some games, but lacked any consistency. Again this season, Penner was benched in the regular season. He can hardly expect a raise on his next signing.
Slava Voynov is getting ready to sign a contract that some are estimating around $4 million a year. The only reason for that inflated value was Ryan Suter’s deal in Nashville. While that number is probably coming from Voynov’s agent, it does make it even harder to keep Penner and his huge salary around if he can’t produce regularly or find some chemistry on the team.
One very important and special note concerning Penner: he is the most entertaining player on twitter. Go follow him. He loves good music and the music scene here in Los Angeles. He has a great sense of humor. When he is at his best, he is a leviathan on the ice, destroying anyone he wants.
He may be the only former Duck who became a King that it is ethically justifiable to love. If you had to take bets, he’ll probably take a pay cut to stay and finish out his career. That is unless the Kings find him truly a burden; God forbid.
Isaak Koenka is a writer for www.RantSports.com.
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