GDT: 2019-20 GM #10 LA Kings vs St. Louis Blues @5:00pm 10/24/19

[Axl Rhoadz]

One thing that stands out, Kempe has no business being on the pp. My god, the difference between pp is staggering! One team stands around making pretty passes killing 90 seconds with no shots, the other just shoots and tries to scores and does 3 times!

Kempe = ZERO f***ING FINISH

 

[lumbergh]

Kings are now -7 on special teams (5 goals for, 12 goals against). Plus they're -4 in all empty net situations (1 goal for and 5 goals against). At even strength they're actually outscoring opponents.

This team is not terrible, but they have some things to work on. At least those things are fixable.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kings are now -7 on special teams (5 goals for, 12 goals against). Plus they're -4 in all empty net situations (1 goal for and 5 goals against). At even strength they're actually outscoring opponents.

This team is not terrible, but they have some things to work on. At least those things are fixable.

Yep, pointed that out earlier in the season too--fixed the 5v5 play bigtime, which is the big thing. The other stuff is details--important details to winning games, obviously, but even if the PP/PK are buttpuckering, the other 95% of the game is now awesome.

 

[lumbergh]

I know Drew Doughty thinks he's the best defenseman in the world and awesome at playing defense, but I'm starting to think he has an inflated sense of his own play. Seven goals against while penalty killing in 10 games, just 30 minutes of penalty killing time in those 10 games. Lots of video on those goals where Drew is spinning like a top when the goal is scored. Now, I get that Ben Hutton is not the best penalty killer in the world, but maybe Doughty isn't either.

The two together are getting eaten alive on the PK.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I know Drew Doughty thinks he's the best defenseman in the world and awesome at playing defense, but I'm starting to think he has an inflated sense of his own play. Seven goals against while penalty killing in 10 games, just 30 minutes of penalty killing time in those 10 games. Lots of video on those goals where Drew is spinning like a top when the goal is scored. Now, I get that Ben Hutton is not the best penalty killer in the world, but maybe Doughty isn't either.

The two together are getting eaten alive on the PK.

I was thinking that last night on the PP goal they scored on basically a rush.

Yeah he was kind of hung out to dry by both Kopitar and Hutton leaving three guys on his side, but Drew compounded the issue and shotgunned himself in the face by just kind of occupying a space in the mid-slot.

He hasn't been solely at fault--they've been systematic breakdowns--but the 'conservation mode' I called him out for a game or two ago has manifested as bad positioning in all situations and egregiously bad on the PK and when he ends up the last line of defense, something that's been a major strength of his throughout his career in reading plays, he just shits himself and falls over.

He's content to let Hutton go get the puck and get killed but then doesn't react at all when the obviously incoming turnover happens. It's been like this on and off for the last few games. It's like he's awesome for one night, then starts huffing his own farts and believing the press clippings, then lays an egg the next game, gets mad at himself, and repeats the cycle. We really need him to be superhuman all season, not 'merely' a #1 d-man, and definitely not one that's cruising around thinking he's awesome while everyone else works. I've never criticized his effort outside of last season when it was understandable--but now, I'm hoping TMac is taking notes.

The one at ES that went off his skate and to a Blue--it seemed more like he's trying too hard to anticipate plays and get them turned up ice quickly/immediately instead of just keeping the puck out. I can appreciate that to a degree. But it's become a bad habit

 

[Lt Dan]

Yesterday's game was pretty much what I expected to happen against one of the elite teams in the league. Still plenty to work on. Maybe Kempe needs a game off or needs to watch How Stella got her Groove back

 

[bland]

The biggest defensive problem, and by a considerable margin, isn't the group of defensemen or goalies - its a bunch of irresponsible forwards not making proper reads and turning over pucks in dangerous positions.

 

[tny760]

The biggest defensive problem, and by a considerable margin, isn't the group of defensemen or goalies - its a bunch of irresponsible forwards not making proper reads and turning over pucks in dangerous positions.

definitely been a lot of slop passes trying to force plays that they're not necessarily capable of

the "marty special" blind backhand turnover pass is getting very old already

something to be learned from guys like lizotte and wagner who get the puck on their stick and skate to the net one way or another

 

[bouncesonly]

Kings are now -7 on special teams (5 goals for, 12 goals against). Plus they're -4 in all empty net situations (1 goal for and 5 goals against). At even strength they're actually outscoring opponents.

This team is not terrible, but they have some things to work on. At least those things are fixable.

 

[Bandit]

Kings are now -7 on special teams (5 goals for, 12 goals against). Plus they're -4 in all empty net situations (1 goal for and 5 goals against). At even strength they're actually outscoring opponents.

This team is not terrible, but they have some things to work on. At least those things are fixable.

The PK is fixable. The powerplay is a lost cause until 8 & 11 are out of the picture (or at least severely beaten with their own jock straps).

 

[Fishhead]

Ran into a team that played well, it happens. TM does have them playing pretty damn good. If the special teams are sorted, there's a lot for this team to build on.

 

[lumbergh]

I was thinking that last night on the PP goal they scored on basically a rush.

Yeah he was kind of hung out to dry by both Kopitar and Hutton leaving three guys on his side, but Drew compounded the issue and shotgunned himself in the face by just kind of occupying a space in the mid-slot.

He hasn't been solely at fault--they've been systematic breakdowns--but the 'conservation mode' I called him out for a game or two ago has manifested as bad positioning in all situations and egregiously bad on the PK and when he ends up the last line of defense, something that's been a major strength of his throughout his career in reading plays, he just ****s himself and falls over.

He's content to let Hutton go get the puck and get killed but then doesn't react at all when the obviously incoming turnover happens. It's been like this on and off for the last few games. It's like he's awesome for one night, then starts huffing his own farts and believing the press clippings, then lays an egg the next game, gets mad at himself, and repeats the cycle. We really need him to be superhuman all season, not 'merely' a #1 d-man, and definitely not one that's cruising around thinking he's awesome while everyone else works. I've never criticized his effort outside of last season when it was understandable--but now, I'm hoping TMac is taking notes.

The one at ES that went off his skate and to a Blue--it seemed more like he's trying too hard to anticipate plays and get them turned up ice quickly/immediately instead of just keeping the puck out. I can appreciate that to a degree. But it's become a bad habit

I should probably mention that Doughty is now -8 in all situations, 8 goals for, 16 goals against. Same ratio 5 vs. 5, 4 goals for, 8 goals against. Pretty ugly numbers.

If Doughty and Quick suck all season, this will be a very long year.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I should probably mention that Doughty is now -8 in all situations, 8 goals for, 16 goals against. Same ratio 5 vs. 5, 4 goals for, 8 goals against. Pretty ugly numbers.

If Doughty and Quick suck all season, this will be a very long year.

That's where I have to stop you a bit.

Doughty is getting deployed like Vlasic, but with Hutton as his partner. There's a reason Walker and Roy's pairings are doing so well and it's partly because Drew has some of the ugliest minutes in the league.

He definitely needs to be better, and I've already complained about his conservation mode, but if they loosen up his minutes, Walker and Roy get buried instead. Pick your poison.

It's like people forgetting one of the reasons Burns and EK are so successful in SJ (Or the Vegas version of Colin Miller) is because Vlasic is getting absolute shit minutes...but remove him from the equation and you have to give those minutes to guys far less equipped to handle them.

 

[Steve Zissou]

If Doughty and Quick suck all season, this will be a very long year.

And...?

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Hutton looks like a young Doug Stanhope. I did a Google image search for "young Doug stanhope" and there was a tweet from Doug stanhope where he posted a picture of Hutton saying the same thing.

 

[Bandit]

And...?

Seriously, does anyone really think this isn't going to be a long year?

 

[crassbonanza]

Seriously, does anyone really think this isn't going to be a long year?

Last season was a long year that was extremely difficult to get through. This season is not going to be a long one. The team has looked fantastic so far this season and really has nothing to lose. New coach, new system, new players, fun prospects. If someone thinks this season has been long so far I feel bad for them, because this has been really exciting to watch.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Last season was a long year that was extremely difficult to get through. This season is not going to be a long one. The team has looked fantastic so far this season and really has nothing to lose. New coach, new system, new players, fun prospects. If someone thinks this season has been long so far I feel bad for them, because this has been really exciting to watch.

well said and very true.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Last season was a long year that was extremely difficult to get through. This season is not going to be a long one. The team has looked fantastic so far this season and really has nothing to lose. New coach, new system, new players, fun prospects. If someone thinks this season has been long so far I feel bad for them, because this has been really exciting to watch.

Yeah, last season was a zero-hope, boring, dumpster fire from a team who couldn't even get out of their own end, a coach who was done two stints ago, and fading veterans not giving a shit. It was absolutely lifeless with very few highlight moments other than a few Wagner goals and guys breaking through. The lottery loss was the hockey gods rubbing our nose in our own shit for good measure.

This year is last year's highlights on steroids--killer youth, loaded system, uptempo hockey. It's all I was hoping for.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

That's where I have to stop you a bit.

Doughty is getting deployed like Vlasic, but with Hutton as his partner. There's a reason Walker and Roy's pairings are doing so well and it's partly because Drew has some of the ugliest minutes in the league.

He definitely needs to be better, and I've already complained about his conservation mode, but if they loosen up his minutes, Walker and Roy get buried instead. Pick your poison.

It's like people forgetting one of the reasons Burns and EK are so successful in SJ (Or the Vegas version of Colin Miller) is because Vlasic is getting absolute **** minutes...but remove him from the equation and you have to give those minutes to guys far less equipped to handle them.

The only problem I have with this is that Doughty is supposed to be one of the elite defenders in the league. That’s always been his call sign: fantastic two way defender.

If we’re going to hold him to the same defensive accountability as Burns/Karlsson, then Doughty is a demonstrably worse version of Burns/Karlsson, because he doesn’t create near the same offense.

I understand that Doughty plays the hardest minutes on the team, but we can’t have it both ways with him. If he’s an elite defender, he needs to play like it.

Or just go full Burns, score 20+ goals, and forget about the defense.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The only problem I have with this is that Doughty is supposed to be one of the elite defenders in the league. That’s always been his call sign: fantastic two way defender.

If we’re going to hold him to the same defensive accountability as Burns/Karlsson, then Doughty is a demonstrably worse version of Burns/Karlsson, because he doesn’t create near the same offense.

I understand that Doughty plays the hardest minutes on the team, but we can’t have it both ways with him. If he’s an elite defender, he needs to play like it.

Or just go full Burns, score 20+ goals, and forget about the defense.

Are we not holding him accountable? I literally just said he needs to be better despite his deployment. He hasn’t been bad though, the other poster just suggested Doughty sucks/is sucking. I agree his calling card and his admitted focus is elite defense and he hasn’t been doing that to the degree we’re accustomed to this year, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been good at all. Why is everything so binary around here?

About not creating near the offense as Burns and Karlsson, look again. He’s got the same amount of goals as both combined, one less point than Karlsson, 3 less than Burns. While getting shit-tier defensive deployment. Those guys are both being sheltered by Vlasic and getting force fed offensive opportunity and they still can’t stop the defensive bleeding. So...

Doughty getting underrated here is new, though, I’ll say that. Like, people are over here pinning all our PK goals on him when those other guys barely sniff the PK. Calling him “demonstrably worse” than other elite men by trying to ignore usage is dishonest. I think he’s got nowhere to go but up this season. It reminds me of the EK/Doughty Norris race where some posters were trying to use ‘all situations GA’ against Drew when he was leading the team and nearly the league in PK time and EK was playing damn near every second Ottawa had on the PP and offensive deployment 5v5 while hardly touching the PK. These are important details. Edit: or when people were slamming PK Subban in Nashville when he was playing the shutdown pairing with Emelin yet still rocking it, while people were trying to push Josi for Norris ignoring that him and Ellis were free to do whatever they wanted

Now, if you want to talk shit about Drew on the PP? Have at it. That’s an opportunity he’s squandering for sure. But take Drew out of his minutes and/or off this blue line and watch everyone just get completely obliterated, much like how Martinez/Fantenberg were like 25% CF vs. VGK in the playoffs in the #1 role.

 

[Bandit]

Last season was a long year that was extremely difficult to get through. This season is not going to be a long one. The team has looked fantastic so far this season and really has nothing to lose. New coach, new system, new players, fun prospects. If someone thinks this season has been long so far I feel bad for them, because this has been really exciting to watch.

Last night is exhibit A why this is going to be a long year. The team is still figuring it out and trying to turn over the roster. They have already been 100x better than last year but that doesn’t mean this year is going to be good. Can’t kill a penalty, can’t score a powerplay goal. Sometimes can’t even dump the puck past the blue line. This is all fine and to be expected given the circumstances, but there’s 71 games left. It’s going to be a long year.

 

[crassbonanza]

Last night is exhibit A why this is going to be a long year. The team is still figuring it out and trying to turn over the roster. They have already been 100x better than last year but that doesn’t mean this year is going to be good. Can’t kill a penalty, can’t score a powerplay goal. Sometimes can’t even dump the puck past the blue line. This is all fine and to be expected given the circumstances, but there’s 71 games left. It’s going to be a long year.

It's nice that you waited until a shit game to respond to my post, did you have my comment in your memory all game just waiting to post a pithy response? Every team is going to have some shit games and the Kings just did, but they play again tonight and I am personally excited to watch what happens. I've been excited to see Walker take another step, I've been excited to see Grunny produce in ther A, I've been excited to see Turk putting up points in college and I've been excited to see Kaliyev tearing up juniors. Again, last year was a long season, there was no direction and a listless team. This year is full of fun prospects, a system that advocates high danger chances(both for and against) and a coach with a 5 year contract who is free to make roster decisions with a long term goal in mind. For a rebuilding team we are in a pretty great situation.

 

[Bandit]

It's nice that you waited until a **** game to respond to my post, did you have my comment in your memory all game just waiting to post a pithy response? Every team is going to have some **** games and the Kings just did, but they play again tonight and I am personally excited to watch what happens. I've been excited to see Walker take another step, I've been excited to see Grunny produce in ther A, I've been excited to see Turk putting up points in college and I've been excited to see Kaliyev tearing up juniors. Again, last year was a long season, there was no direction and a listless team. This year is full of fun prospects, a system that advocates high danger chances(both for and against) and a coach with a 5 year contract who is free to make roster decisions with a long term goal in mind. For a rebuilding team we are in a pretty great situation.

Dude take a breath. It was the very next game, don’t act like this was weeks ago. And there was nothing “pithy” about it. I’ve said many times including this message that you’re losing your mind over that the growing pains are fine and to be expected. That doesn’t change the fact that the season is going to be long. No idea why any of this is so offensive to you but you should probably go take a nap or something.

 

[crassbonanza]

Dude take a breath. It was the very next game, don’t act like this was weeks ago. And there was nothing “pithy” about it. I’ve said many times including this message that you’re losing your mind over that the growing pains are fine and to be expected. That doesn’t change the fact that the season is going to be long. No idea why any of this is so offensive to you but you should probably go take a nap or something.

Maybe you are the one in need of a nap, because you are the one bringing up a comment from 4 days ago. Also, I honestly don't know how I am losing my mind over the team, I am extremely happy with the direction of the Kings. Anyways, despite the loss I am having a great time watching the team this season as opposed to last year where it felt like a f***ing chore to watch the games. Should I remember to bump this comment if the Kings smoke Chicago tonight? If they don't should I bump it if they beat Vancouver next Wednesday? Will that change your opinion?