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2017 Offseason Thread 5.0 Summer Doldrums

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Ziggy Stardust said:
Yep, and they got nothing back for Stastny and every asset acquired in the O'Reilly/McGinn trade from Buffalo has turned out to be a dud. Some horrible asset management there.
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All because they didn't want to pay O'Reilly 7M, which looks like a perfectly fair amount now.
 
damacles1156 said:
Colorado's problems started once Jamie McGinn, Paul Stastny, Ryan O'Reilly all left the team. I think Ryan O'Reilly is a very underrated hockey player.

That is a lot of leadership that was out the door.
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Colorado had 5 guys with between 28 and 23 goals in 13-14. They had 5 guys between 70 and 60 points. 4 of those 5 had what are still their career best season that year. Plus Varlamov had a career year, and they even got good depth production from Andre Benoit of all people. That's how you put up 112 points as a team.

Then Stastny leaves for nothing(but, who is going to trade him when you have the 3rd best record in the league?), O'Reilly gets traded for what so far hasn't been all that much, Iginla got that much older quickly, and even Soderberg completely tanked last year and had his least productive season since he was a teenager in Sweden.
 
I wonder what the whole deal is with this whole Duchene debacle. The same team that created the whole Ryan o Reilly crap, is behind this again. So peculiar. Just trade him.
 
Sol said:
I wonder what the whole deal is with this whole Duchene debacle. The same team that created the whole Ryan o Reilly crap, is behind this again. So peculiar. Just trade him.
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LoL, can they trade their GM? To Siberia....?! :sarcasm:
 
Vamos Rafa said:
Unpopular opinion

The salary cap sucks
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You do know without a cap the Kings would be a bottom half team every year for the rest of your life right. So you liked when 5 teams spend 90 million and the rest spend about 40-50. Made the nhl like the NBA is now only a few teams with a prayer to win. The cap makes hockey matter to all the teams in the league instead of only 5-6 willing to spend crazy
 
Slava Voynov is back in SKA's lineup.

He had a goal and an assist in there 9-1 win over Ugra.

Alexander Dergachyov also got his first of the year as well.
 
Now that we have seen some preseason games, here are my take aways:

(1) John Stevens is no Daryl Sutter. I had a feeling that we might see the same old Kings style of hockey, but that does not appear to be the case. The team is doing a good job of getting into high danger areas, and the defense is activated. Instead of simply taking shots from the point, the defensemen are actually going down low and shooting from the face-off dots. This may expose our defense and lead to odd man rushes by the opposing team, but I am confident that the increased offense and Jonathan Quick back in net will mitigate that risk.

(2) Speaking of Jonathan Quick, he appears to be back in 2012 form. If he stays healthy, we will be a much better team this year by that alone. No knock on Budaj, and I think his overall numbers were impressive, but his frequent 1 or 2 soft goals, and inability to be effective on back to backs cost us several games last season (the latter part was not his point, I blame Zatkoff for that).

(3) I was really impressed with Campbell in last night's game. I had never seen him in action, and the guy was fantastic in net. I hope Stevens gives him a long hard look for the backup position.

(4) Now to defense. I think we can all agree that the Muzzin-Martinez 2.0 is not working out. Yes, small sample size, but that pair didn't work last year and I don't see them working out this year. I would rather see them spread out, and for Martinez to stabilize the bottom pair. Ideally, I would want to see Forbort/Doughty; Muzzin/LaDue; and Fantenburg/Folin/Martinez pairings. That said, I think we will see a lot more offense from Doughty, Muzzin and Martinez with the Kings new system.

(5) On offense, it appears that the top 6 is pretty much set. The 70s line will stay together, and we will see Kopitar, Cammy, and Brown together. The biggest question is where Gaborik will fit in once he is back. He can either move up to the 1st line, and we will have Kopitar with two high skilled forwards, or we can move him to the third line to play with Kempe and Dowd. Stevens will have to experiment with different combinations to see what works.

(6) With respect to the kids, I was very, very impressed by Auger. He is physical, and bulldozed straight to the net. I had never seen him play before, so this was my first glimpse. If he has the ability to play consistently this way, he would be a great fit in our bottom 6, and may eventually replace Andreoff, Nolan or Clifford.
 
AlphaBravo said:
Now that we have seen some preseason games, here are my take aways:

(1) John Stevens is no Daryl Sutter. I had a feeling that we might see the same old Kings style of hockey, but that does not appear to be the case. The team is doing a good job of getting into high danger areas, and the defense is activated. Instead of simply taking shots from the point, the defensemen are actually going down low and shooting from the face-off dots. This may expose our defense and lead to odd man rushes by the opposing team, but I am confident that the increased offense and Jonathan Quick back in net will mitigate that risk.

(2) Speaking of Jonathan Quick, he appears to be back in 2012 form. If he stays healthy, we will be a much better team this year by that alone. No knock on Budaj, and I think his overall numbers were impressive, but his frequent 1 or 2 soft goals, and inability to be effective on back to backs cost us several games last season (the latter part was not his point, I blame Zatkoff for that).

(3) I was really impressed with Campbell in last night's game. I had never seen him in action, and the guy was fantastic in net. I hope Stevens gives him a long hard look for the backup position.

(4) Now to defense. I think we can all agree that the Muzzin-Martinez 2.0 is not working out. Yes, small sample size, but that pair didn't work last year and I don't see them working out this year. I would rather see them spread out, and for Martinez to stabilize the bottom pair. Ideally, I would want to see Forbort/Doughty; Muzzin/LaDue; and Fantenburg/Folin/Martinez pairings. That said, I think we will see a lot more offense from Doughty, Muzzin and Martinez with the Kings new system.

(5) On offense, it appears that the top 6 is pretty much set. The 70s line will stay together, and we will see Kopitar, Cammy, and Brown together. The biggest question is where Gaborik will fit in once he is back. He can either move up to the 1st line, and we will have Kopitar with two high skilled forwards, or we can move him to the third line to play with Kempe and Dowd. Stevens will have to experiment with different combinations to see what works.

(6) With respect to the kids, I was very, very impressed by Auger. He is physical, and bulldozed straight to the net. I had never seen him play before, so this was my first glimpse. If he has the ability to play consistently this way, he would be a great fit in our bottom 6, and may eventually replace Andreoff, Nolan or Clifford.
Click to expand...

I don't think Dowd starts in the lineup. Kempe has been getting the center starts preseason. Most likely will see...

Cammy--Kopitar--Brown
Pearson--Carter--Toffoli
Andreoff--Kempe--Brodzinski
Clifford--Shore--Lewis

Pressbox--Mersch, Dowd, Nolan

Would rather see Lewis for 3LW and Nolan for 4RW until Gaborik gets back for that 3LW. Andreoff to AHL

Forbort--Doughty
Muzzin--Martinez
Fantenberg--LaDue

Pressbox--Folin

I'd rather have Muzzin with LaDue and Martinez with Folin and Fantenberg in the press box. Until we can trade Martinez/Muzzin (Preferably Martinez) for offensive help.

Quick
Kuemper

I'd rather have Campbell back up Quick. Campbell has shown a lot last year and this preseason and Kuemper really hasn't shown much.
 
Last edited:
AlphaBravo said:
Now that we have seen some preseason games, here are my take aways:

(1) John Stevens is no Daryl Sutter. I had a feeling that we might see the same old Kings style of hockey, but that does not appear to be the case. The team is doing a good job of getting into high danger areas, and the defense is activated. Instead of simply taking shots from the point, the defensemen are actually going down low and shooting from the face-off dots. This may expose our defense and lead to odd man rushes by the opposing team, but I am confident that the increased offense and Jonathan Quick back in net will mitigate that risk.

(2) Speaking of Jonathan Quick, he appears to be back in 2012 form. If he stays healthy, we will be a much better team this year by that alone. No knock on Budaj, and I think his overall numbers were impressive, but his frequent 1 or 2 soft goals, and inability to be effective on back to backs cost us several games last season (the latter part was not his point, I blame Zatkoff for that).

(3) I was really impressed with Campbell in last night's game. I had never seen him in action, and the guy was fantastic in net. I hope Stevens gives him a long hard look for the backup position.

(4) Now to defense. I think we can all agree that the Muzzin-Martinez 2.0 is not working out. Yes, small sample size, but that pair didn't work last year and I don't see them working out this year. I would rather see them spread out, and for Martinez to stabilize the bottom pair. Ideally, I would want to see Forbort/Doughty; Muzzin/LaDue; and Fantenburg/Folin/Martinez pairings. That said, I think we will see a lot more offense from Doughty, Muzzin and Martinez with the Kings new system.

(5) On offense, it appears that the top 6 is pretty much set. The 70s line will stay together, and we will see Kopitar, Cammy, and Brown together. The biggest question is where Gaborik will fit in once he is back. He can either move up to the 1st line, and we will have Kopitar with two high skilled forwards, or we can move him to the third line to play with Kempe and Dowd. Stevens will have to experiment with different combinations to see what works.

(6) With respect to the kids, I was very, very impressed by Auger. He is physical, and bulldozed straight to the net. I had never seen him play before, so this was my first glimpse. If he has the ability to play consistently this way, he would be a great fit in our bottom 6, and may eventually replace Andreoff, Nolan or Clifford.
Click to expand...

(1) totally with you here. Expected small tweaks, not wholesale changes--saw some stretch passes, some quick passes to get the puck moving forward in transition instead of doing the 'slow everything down' thing, people going to the slot and passing/taking the puck there, and PLENTY of 4-man rushing, it's insane. I have zero doubt we'll be scored on more like this, but we have very talented scoring d-men, and it's more of an aggressive system like Nashville with the d-men, so I'm loving it.

(2) Quick has mostly come to bail us out when the team let's him see some action; hope that holds true. Looks very, very good so far.

(3) been very impressed with all the goalies frankly, though there aren't really blue chip prospects among the bunch, when are there really? Though Petersen is a very highly regarded prospect and Campbell once was, solidifying depth with what we've done so far is amazing.

(4) I still think this is our biggest weakness--the raw talent is there, but none of the configurations seem to work or click. I know we're a little spoiled here, but remember when Voynov came up and had instant chemistry with Mitchell? This missing element might not be skill or ability but rather chemistry and reads (though I guess I'd assert reads and being able to play/communicate with a partner are massively underrated skills).

(5) been thinking about this a lot today and its sort of a similar issue with the defense--what configuration 'works' on the 3rd and 4th lines? In theory, Gaborik-Kempe-X could be great, but then does Shore go 4th? Dowd to the bench? Lot of stuff I have a hard time figuring out there. We're not LOADED with offensive talent, but I think with the uptempo system we might be a bit underrated here, too.

(6) I want to love Auger but the stuff you've seen on display is what made regular AHL viewers think he had a future. I only say 'but' because he didn't display that nearly enough. He was constantly having pucks explode off his stick and just flat out inconsistent. If the guy we saw last night is the guy we got even 3/4 of the time, he'd be a sure-fire player just on tools alone. He's not a dumb player, by any means, just all over the map. I'm a big fan and rooting for him because he's unique, I just want him to show it more. But who is the 'hands in close' guy going to be? Mersch, Auger, or someone else?
 
Totally agree with the last three posts above.

Kings D is more active.

Campbell and Auger looked good.

The issue is the Kings have too many forwards. They can't sit 3 forwards. Also, on D I see Frolin playing with either LaDue or Fattenberg I don't see the latter two playing together. Kings won't ice two rookie D on the same pair.

Still wondering what the Kings do with one of Mersch, Dowd and Nolan. Seems like the roster is set.

Cammy - Kopitar - Brown
Pearson - Carter - Toffoli
Andreoff - Kempe - Brodzinski
Clifford - Shore - Lewis
 
Kind of off topic, but will HF (or another outfit) ever re start their prospect grading / info site again. I used to really enjoy reading up on all the different prospects coming through. It was a great resource for comparing teams youth and depth.
 
Johnny Utah said:
Totally agree with the last three posts above.

Kings D is more active.

Campbell and Auger looked good.

The issue is the Kings have too many forwards. They can't sit 3 forwards. Also, on D I see Frolin playing with either LaDue or Fattenberg I don't see the latter two playing together. Kings won't ice two rookie D on the same pair.

Still wondering what the Kings do with one of Mersch, Dowd and Nolan. Seems like the roster is set.

Cammy - Kopitar - Brown
Pearson - Carter - Toffoli
Andreoff - Kempe - Brodzinski
Clifford - Shore - Lewis
Click to expand...


Rosen said in his comments to posters that Mersch will most likely be in the AHL and Fantenberg and Ladue are starting Folin sits.
 
Cammy - Kopi - Brown
Pearson - Carter - Toffoli
Gaborik - Kempe - Brodz
Clifford - Shore - Lewis

Forbort - Doughty
Muzzin - LaDue
Martinez - Fantenburg

Quick
Campbell

I don’t remember the last time I was excited about a Kings team.
 
markisonfire said:
Cammy - Kopi - Brown
Pearson - Carter - Toffoli
Gaborik - Kempe - Brodz
Clifford - Shore - Lewis

Forbort - Doughty
Muzzin - LaDue
Martinez - Fantenburg

Quick
Campbell

I don’t remember the last time I was excited about a Kings team.
Click to expand...

Weirdly I'm very excited. I wrote off a decent performance, as far as the standings go, a while back. A good season wouldn't be a shock but I dong expect it.

However I can't wait to watch how our game evolves under Stevens and intend to enjoy watching which prospects will show they belong in the NHL. It's going to be fun.

I'm a glass half full kind of guy.
 
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