2016-2017 Kings Roster Talk Part III

[Kingspiracy]

This shoulda coulda woulda stuff gets a bit boring after a while, theres no point crying over spilt milk. I think DL was right in moving futures while we had a core chasing a cup, just like I think he's right buttoning off this year, in going for cheaper options. Lets save the crying for if we miss the postseason.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

hey guys habs fan here...Can you guys tell me what's Pearson's potential? Can he be a 1st liner in the future? Is he very skilled? Is he hard working every night? thx

Hello. Tanner Pearson's potential is possibly reaching 30 goals. He works hard and
has overall good instincts. A few years ago, he broke his leg and they could not believe how hard he worked and was walking and progressing ahead of schedule. His best asset is his speed. He has a good shot - hard, pretty accurate. He mostly plays with Carter and Toffoli and you can call that the top line on some / most nights, compared to Kopitar's line. He would be a top 6 on any team, I would think. He's not overly physical, but not soft either. Solid player.

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

Kyle Connor would have been quite an effective player this year for the Kings I would think. He was stuck in a logjam of young offensive players in Winnipeg, but the Kings do not have the same kind of offensive forwards in depth spots. He could have been a solid 30-50 point guy for the Kings this year.

Also guys like Anthony Mantha, Marko Dano, Andre Burakovsky could have been solid top 6 guys for the Kings this year.

Not saying I think that they definately shouldn't have made those trades, but the OP was just talking about how much guys from those missing picks might have helped.

Kyle Connor is exactly the name that came to my mind, too. He was the one most predicted the Kings would choose with that year's first-round pick.

 

[Steve Zissou]

And "boundless optimism BS" is something this board knows very little of. Take a look around, my dear.

 

[KingsFan7824]

This shoulda coulda woulda stuff gets a bit boring after a while, theres no point crying over spilt milk. I think DL was right in moving futures while we had a core chasing a cup, just like I think he's right buttoning off this year, in going for cheaper options. Lets save the crying for if we miss the postseason.

Sometimes living in the past is good, unless you're the GM I guess. We're all just very lucky the Kings won the Cup after the Richards deal, otherwise the shoulda coulda woulda on that would be historically legendary. Some complain about the deal anyway, but it would certainly reach beyond pre-2012 Purcell/Moulson/Boyle levels.

Carter has gone stone cold in the last 15 games(since the bye week), with just 2 goals, one of which was into an empty net, and the other on the PP. He has 9 points in those 15 games, only 4 at 5v5, one of them being the empty net goal. He has 0 ES points in the 9 games since he got punched by Kesler.

Kopitar hasn't scored a 5v5 goal since January 31st, which was of course against the Coyotes. He's got 5 ES goals this year, against Arizona, Dallas, Buffalo, Columbus, and Minnesota. A couple came against good teams at least. He's got 5 ES assists and points in the 15 games. Toffoli has 8 points, 6 at ES, in the last 15.

6-6-3, and 5-5-1 at home, since the bye week. 0-1-1 against Arizona. 3-4-3 against western teams. 2-3-1 in games against non-playoff teams, and only 1 of those games was on the road, which was a win in Colorado. So 1-3-1 against non-playoff teams at home down the stretch. Florida was on a hot run when they came in, but still.

Since the Kings bye week:
Calgary, 25 points
Chicago, 24
San Jose, 21
Nashville, 21
St.Louis, 18
Anaheim, 17
Edmonton, 17
Minnesota, 16
LA, 15

A point per game hasn't been good enough. They've lost ground on everyone, and they were already behind everyone except Calgary and Nashville when they went into their break.

 

[AlphaBravo]

This shoulda coulda woulda stuff gets a bit boring after a while, theres no point crying over spilt milk. I think DL was right in moving futures while we had a core chasing a cup, just like I think he's right buttoning off this year, in going for cheaper options. Lets save the crying for if we miss the postseason.

Couldn't agree more. Just in general, I cannot stand being around people who obsess about how something would have turned out if this and that had happened in the past. News flash, there is no time machine. All we can do is learn from the past, and deal with the current circumstances. People can bag on DL all they want, but he is showing that he learned from the past. I recall during our offseason threads, close to 80% of people wanted: (a) the youth to get a chance to play; (b) no more wasting of assets on rentals; and (c) our defense being addressed. DL did all of that. Kempe, LaDue, and Gravel got playing time, and he stated during a recent interview that he plans on calling up more players from Ontario. DL didn't give up a single draft pick away for a rental this year, and our defense corps is finally solid again.

DL was in uncharted territories when he won two cups in three years and didn't have the experience necessary to know what to do once on top. Very few GMs have this type of experience, and only Stan Bowman has been almost perfect at keeping a team competitive for multiple years and after multiple cups. The good thing is that DL learned from his mistakes and appears to be on the right track. My only criticism is that he has not fired Sutter yet.

 

[KingTrouty]

A million likes for this gif

Nihilists, dude!

Also, your avatar is one of the best films I've ever seen

 

[YP44]

I am bummed the team is likely not heading to the playoffs, however I see no reason why LA will not be back next year.

Positives:
LaDue is looking amazing. I thought he was our best d Last night in Calgary. The team may get a top 10 pick. I know the draft is weak but when was the last time LA had a top 10 pick? Sure it could turn into Colten T, but could also be the next top end D to slip in the draft. Quick has looked good coming back from injury. Brown looks way better this year than past 2-3 years. Hopefully he comes back a bit more next year.

Negatives:
Gaborik is a ****ing anchor. I bought in on him during the world cup but now it would be amazing if LA could use his cap hit else where. What is going on with TT. His contract will be interesting. What happened with Kopitar, it would not shock me if he goes under the knife at the end of the year to permanently fix whatever injury he missed pre-Christmas.

I maybe one of very few but with LaDue looking as good as he has I would go hard after Duchene. I would move Muzzin and TT for him. I will likely get crucified for putting Toffoli on here, but I am assuming his contract demands would be more than what Duchene is making. I feel Duchene would help LA's faceoff woes which help the procession game LA relies on. Also Duchene brings more speed to his game and would line up nice with Kempe. The deal would create more cap flexibility and bring in a top end player.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

As an aside I really, really like Kempe at center over wing. Sort of the Carter thing, more space to use skating.

 

[YP44]

As an aside I really, really like Kempe at center over wing. Sort of the Carter thing, more space to use skating.

at home yes, on the road he should be on the wing for a year or two.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

at home yes, on the road he should be on the wing for a year or two.

Might as well learn now in these situations imo, I'm not sure jumping back and forth is a good thing, though I think I get your point that he shouldn't be exposed vs other teams first lines

 

[Bandit]

Might as well learn now in these situations imo, I'm not sure jumping back and forth is a good thing, though I think I get your point that he shouldn't be exposed vs other teams first lines

Yeah I mean not like this season isn't lost already, might as well use these last games as a learning experience for some of the kids.

 

[YP44]

Might as well learn now in these situations imo, I'm not sure jumping back and forth is a good thing, though I think I get your point that he shouldn't be exposed vs other teams first lines

I think there is a line between learning and destroying confidence.

 

[deeshamrock]

As an aside I really, really like Kempe at center over wing. Sort of the Carter thing, more space to use skating.

I do too, he's got the speed and smarts and put him with TT and TP, let them grow into a dynamic young line.

 

[kopitar1199]

my picks for next year
kempe needs either second or 3rd line minutes and special teams time, dont care where he plays
trade martinez yes, hes preformed well this year but at 30 and locked up for a few years time to sell ship before its too late
bring back voynov, hes still under contract with us, hes 3 years younger than marty and playing at high levels in the k, i know it unpopular but im with they mayor, hes desired and needed back here
we also need a 1b goaltender now, and he should be cap friendly, remember how good quick was when jones and bernier was backing him up and challenging him in practice
sign kubalik before the hawks or the pens do
i say we lose out and shut quick down to try and get a top ten pick, i like rassmusenbut if not then i say we go after poehling, 17 year old playing college hockey, could develop into a monster playing against men 3 years older than him....

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

Can we stop with the Voynov crap??!!! That ship has sailed, sunk and nearly drowned everyone.

So, we've got 5 centers now: Kopitar, Carter, Kempe, Dowd, and Shore. What happens when Shore comes back from injury?

 

[kopitar1199]

Can we stop with the Voynov crap??!!! That ship has sailed, sunk and nearly drowned everyone.

So, we've got 5 centers now: Kopitar, Carter, Kempe, Dowd, and Shore. What happens when Shore comes back from injury?

honestly no, he paid his time and we never filled his role.... i for one want a defenseman who can hit the net more than ten times a season.... there are other players who were more detrimental to this team than slava voynov.

 

[Fishhead]

honestly no, he paid his time and we never filled his role.... i for one want a defenseman who can hit the net more than ten times a season.... there are other players who were more detrimental to this team than slava voynov.

He wouldn't be able to come back by next year regardless. He already would have had to submit some applications and would have to be working on getting out of his current contract. There is zero evidence of that happening.

If he does make it back, it probably won't be until 2019-2020.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Buyout Gaborik. Bring in a new coach. Full youth movement. Let the tank begin.

Come on, chaps. Pull your knickers up. We've done this before.

 

[Choralone]

The D is in great shape, IMO. It's fully stocked and we even have some excess to address some needs at forward. A few of the guys are young and need a bit more seasoning, is all.

Doughty, Muzzin, Martinez, Forbort, La Due, Gravel, McNabb - that's nice - and at least a couple of the prospects more recently drafted should pan out in a few years, too.

We need to draft and develop more goaltenders and centers - the latter is where we miss those draft picks we traded away. But there's no crying over spilled milk.

 

[kopitar1199]

He wouldn't be able to come back by next year regardless. He already would have had to submit some applications and would have to be working on getting out of his current contract. There is zero evidence of that happening.

If he does make it back, it probably won't be until 2019-2020.

dont know where you got the fact that he cant get out of his contract, like kovalchuck and other high caliber players in the k, its reported he has an out clause, and as far as paperwork and nhl dealings, i doubt we'd hear anything until it starts to get close to done.... by no means do i think hes coming back for sure, but in mayor i trust and i sure as hell hope he is right on this one...

 

[KingsFan7824]

Buyout Gaborik. Bring in a new coach. Full youth movement. Let the tank begin.

Come on, chaps. Pull your knickers up. We've done this before.

Why buy Gaborik out if you're going to tank? That just creates dead cap space later. Trade Carter, Toffoli, Pearson, Muzzin, and Martinez. If you can trade anyone else, do that too. The more time Doughty has left on his current deal, the more he's worth. Do not buy more guys out though. Don't trade any picks to get rid of anyone. Trade the guys that are worth something, live with the bad contracts that are here, and watch those overpaid players die slowly on the vine. Then 4 or 5 years from now, hopefully there's a nice young foundation to carry Kopitar's body around for a year or two until he's finally gone too.

 

[lumbergh]

Can we stop with the Voynov crap??!!! That ship has sailed, sunk and nearly drowned everyone.

So, we've got 5 centers now: Kopitar, Carter, Kempe, Dowd, and Shore. What happens when Shore comes back from injury?

Dowd sits. He's been outplayed by the offensive black hole that is Nick Shore this year.

Nick > Nic

 

[KingsCourt]

Buyout Gaborik. Bring in a new coach. Full youth movement. Let the tank begin.

Come on, chaps. Pull your knickers up. We've done this before.

exactly...not like we have never gone through this before, i actaully welcome some fresh blood.

 

[YP44]

Buyout Gaborik. Bring in a new coach. Full youth movement. Let the tank begin.

Come on, chaps. Pull your knickers up. We've done this before.

I imagine a buy out would be very expensive on Gaborik. It's too bad he has had such a **** season. I thought there may have been a glimmer of hope that he holds value before the year. Now no chance.

Maybe DL can pay vegas to take him, but I do not see why they would.