"If you're a Los Angeles Kings fan worried about the slow-moving contract negotiations between dynamic young defenseman Drew Doughty and the team, GM Dean Lombardi has a message for you.

"This isn't a standoff like we've been seeing in Washington," Lombardi said, joking about the current federal government gridlock as a way to find perspective for his efforts to re-sign Doughty. "I'm fairly confident that we'll be able to get this done."

The Kings boss and Doughty's representatives (Don Meehan and Mark Guy of Newport Sports Management) have been in communication during the past few days in an effort to move the conversation toward a resolution.

"We've been talking," Lombardi said. "We're trying to hammer it out, but I don't think I really have a handle on it yet."

Part of the problem for Lombardi is the lack of contracts for players that are comparables for the 21-year-old Doughty, who became a regular on the Kings' blue line just months after being selected with the No. 2 pick of the 2008 Entry Draft.

Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos, who was taken with the first pick in that same 2008 draft, recently signed his second contract, a five-year deal worth $37.5 million (an annual cap hit of $7.5 million). Stamkos' value -- as an elite forward coming out of his entry-level contract -- had been somewhat defined by previous deals signed by Penguins centers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, as well as those inked by Capitals stars Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

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