News Article: 2008 Draft Revisited

[King'sPawn]

I'm not a big fan of "first line" centers who are way below 50% in the faceoffs circle. Defense wins championships.

You do realize that during the cup win, Kopitar was a team worst 48.6% on faceoffs among centers with > 100 faceoffs, as well as ranked 31st among FO% amongst all skaters? Does that mean:

a) Kopitar doesn't play defense
b) Kopitar isn't a "first line" center
c) The Kings didn't win a championship in 2012

 

[yankeeking]

it would be interesting to find DL's notes before the draft, he called the coin toss for the first pick the biggest moment for the team or something similar, and find out what he was thinking about stamkos and if he woud have taken him first. We all know he loves his dmen and already had a first line center, who ironically scored with less than a minute left to win and tied us for last instead of "winning" last straight out........how different would we be if he took stamkos first then traded uo to get myers and voynov......for me I am pretty happy with how things turned out, we waited a long time for 6-11-12

 

[santiclaws]

I'm not a big fan of "first line" centers who are way below 50% in the faceoffs circle. Defense wins championships.

I am not going to date that supermodel! The middle toe on her right foot is 1/4" too long for my liking. Oh, and as to the "Defense wins championships" thing - why don't you go look how many Cups teams have won since the last lockout without being top 10 in offense.

 

[Herby]

I am not going to date that supermodel! The middle toe on her right foot is 1/4" too long for my liking. Oh, and as to the "Defense wins championships" thing - why don't you go look how many Cups teams have won since the last lockout without being top 10 in offense.

The Offensive and Defensive rankings of Cup Champs since the first lockout

Carolina 06
Offense - 3rd
Defense - 18th

Anaheim 07
Offense - 7th
Defense - 7th

Detroit 08
Offense - 3rd
Defense - 1st

Pittsburgh 09
Offense - 6th
Defense - 18th

Chicago 10
Offense - 3rd
Defense - 5th

Boston 11
Offense - 8th
Defense - 3rd

Los Angeles 12
Offense - 29th
Defense - 2nd

Chicago 13
Offense - 2nd
Defense - 1st

Average ranks of cup winner

Offense 7.6
Defense 6.8

Pretty close, and that is with the 2012 Kings winning with the second to worst ranked offense in the league.

To say you a guy like Stamkos doesn't help win championships is ridiculous.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

^ there should be an asterisk next to the kings offensive ranking. The kings were the highest scoring team in the postseason that year and one of the highest scoring teams after terry Murray was replaced and Jeff carter was added. The 29th ranking while accurate, is misleading. Scoring goals was not a problem in the regular season last year and they struggled in the playoffs. Had they carried their GF average into the postseason, there is a chance they would've played for their second cup. Defense is definitely still very important but so is offense.

 

[King'sPawn]

^ there should be an asterisk next to the kings offensive ranking. The kings were the highest scoring team in the postseason that year and one of the highest scoring teams after terry Murray was replaced and Jeff carter was added. The 29th ranking while accurate, is misleading. Scoring goals was not a problem in the regular season last year and they struggled in the playoffs. Had they carried their GF average into the postseason, there is a chance they would've played for their second cup. Defense is definitely still very important but so is offense.

You can always manipulate statistics to prove a point or strengthen a point. The problem is, without looking at the other teams' offenses at the deadline, or after a drastic change in personnel (on or off ice), you can't suddenly put an asterisk next to the Kings without putting an asterisk next to another team for another reason.

I understand that there WAS a drastic change, but it adds subjectivity to an objective argument... then the entire discussion becomes, in my opinion, meaningless.