2019-20 Kings News/Rumors

[YP44]

Based on Coach Todd’s post game comments, we’ll see some combination of AHL recalls and healthy scratch action before Wednesday’s game.

It’s obvious Kovalchuk is going to get scratched first. Dude must really need his paycheck to not be booking his first class seats on the Aeroflot website right now. Zero surprise if he is scratched 5 games in a row and put on waivers.

My guess is that they recall Frk because who cares if he gets claimed and he’s scored some goals in the AHL. I think they also recall LaDue and send down Roy. Time to swap junk for crap.

Management will expect those moves to placate the few restless natives who bother to watch / tweet. A Kovalchuk distraction / not playing in the AHL might be a good distraction / scapegoat while the team sucks every 4 / 5 games.

I could see Ladue for Roy.
Kovalchuk cannot be waived due to NMC

 

[DoktorJeep]

Jesus, he literally can’t be waived? So only healthy scratch, IR, playing or he quits?

I could see Ladue for Roy.
Kovalchuk cannot be waived due to NMC

 

[YP44]

Jesus, he literally can’t be waived? So only healthy scratch, IR, playing or he quits?

or retained and traded

 

[kings11]

Jesus, he literally can’t be waived? So only healthy scratch, IR, playing or he quits?

He cant quit either because hes a 35+.. we need to let be him and hopefully he scores or someone/anybody is dumb enough to trade for him..

 

[Bandit]

Couldn't agree with this more.

I think Turcotte has very real top line talent, but he's not quite a Kopitar-tier prospect. Kaliyev also has unbelievable raw skill, and if developed correctly could be the best of the entire bunch.

We have no one resembling Doughty in our defensive pipeline. That will be an extremely difficult hole to fill.

While true, that's not really a reasonable bar. Despite his obnoxiously shitty powerplay skills, he's the best defenseman this franchise has ever had. Those guys don't exactly grow on trees.

Boston doesn't have another Borque in their pipeline
Detroit doesn't have another Lidstrom in their pipeline
New Jersey doesn't have another Stevens in their pipeline

You get the idea.

 

[YP44]

While true, that's not really a reasonable bar. Despite his obnoxiously ****ty powerplay skills, he's the best defenseman this franchise has ever had. Those guys don't exactly grow on trees.

Boston doesn't have another Borque in their pipeline
Detroit doesn't have another Lidstrom in their pipeline
New Jersey doesn't have another Stevens in their pipeline

You get the idea.

Boston has Carlo and somehow Chara is still relevant.

The other two are in the same boat as LA.

Point is LA needs a legit #1 D prospect in the pipeline, not saying a future best D in franchise history. Both very very hard to come by

 

[kings11]

Boston has Carlo and somehow Chara is still relevant.

The other two are in the same boat as LA.

Point is LA needs a legit #1 D prospect in the pipeline, not saying a future best D in franchise history. Both very very hard to come by

#1 Dman are the rarest to find... That's why the 2008 draft is one of the best ever..
I'm happy because to date we have what appears to be a #2 and #3 in the pipeline in Toby and Mikey.
Add in a Jaime Drysdale and thats a legit top 4 with a stud PPQB.. granted Lafreniere or Byfield would be my 1 & 2 ... We need a mobile, physical, defensive Dman, you know like Erik Cernak ... Hopefully moving a Toffoli or Marty can help us unearth one of those..

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Agreed, #1 d-men are murder to find, which is why I believe they're worth more than anything.

Edmonton got a McDavid before they got a true #1, even trading Taylor Hall for a guy they thought could do it.

Toronto is trying to patch things any which way they can...Reilly is a hell of a player but he's far from deployment/matchup proof.

Devils finally bit the bullet and traded for Subban, Rangers for Trouba, etc.

Most of the lottery teams finally have to say "f*** it" and trade some assets for a mid-to-low #1, that's how exceedingly rare Doughtys are. Even more so for the ones that can play any situation, like Drew, Suter, Weber, etc

 

[KingsFan7824]

There are some things that concern me now vs. where they were in 07-09.

Obviously the contracts. Once DL traded Lubo and Cammalleri the Kings had a ton of cap space, in addition they were able to trade those two players for significant assets. They botched the pick from the MC trade but it was still a 1st round pick in a loaded draft. The Lubo trade brought the Kings two guys who were pretty solid contributors playing various roles for 7-8 years. They aren't going to get squat for any of the veterans on this roster they plan to move So that hurts you in two ways, you aren't able to unload veteran players for assets and you aren't able to unload them period. If Carter and Quick plan to play out their contracts what do you do, sure you can buy-out but that is pushing the problems down the road. Having the contracts we have also prevents the Kings from making a Ryan Smyth like trade, now the Smyth trade ended up not really working out as expected but DL had the cap space to take on a short term bloated contract for a solid veteran player to insert into the lineup when the Kings were ready to contend for a lower playoff seed. Blake is probably not going to have that option in two years even if he wanted to because of the awful contract situations of Carter and Quick.

The other concern is the lack of really high end talent. The Kings last dynasty was built on the backs of three elite players, guys who in their primes were Top 10 type players (Doughty and Kopitar) or very close to that (Quick). Are there any players like that in the Kings system? No. And don't get me wrong the system looks great right now and part of the issue was not having lottery balls fall our way, but the Kings need to try and find a superstar or two along the way here, hopefully this draft.

And I still think 2017-2018 will go down as one of the most damaging seasons in the history of the franchise. It gave ridiculous false hope to the people in charge and prevented the moves that should have been made from being made.

And we have to remember, Quick was a surprise. He wasn't supposed to be the guy. You have to get lucky to be great sometimes.

The only missed opportunity after 17-18 is trading Doughty. However, other than him wanting out, I don't think he was going anywhere, even if the 17-18 team finished last overall. He's part of the Quick/Brown/Kopitar group. They all got their contracts, and if he wanted to stay, he was going to get paid for the Cups. It's not smart, it's not right, but it was something that was inevitable if he wanted it. Even if the Kings had a universally accepted great GM, I don't think he would've wanted to be the guy known as the guy that traded Doughty. Players like that don't move unless they request it.

Good or bad, I don't think that one can be put into the missed opportunity category.

Based on Coach Todd’s post game comments, we’ll see some combination of AHL recalls and healthy scratch action before Wednesday’s game.

It’s obvious Kovalchuk is going to get scratched first. Dude must really need his paycheck to not be booking his first class seats on the Aeroflot website right now. Zero surprise if he is scratched 5 games in a row and put on waivers.

My guess is that they recall Frk because who cares if he gets claimed and he’s scored some goals in the AHL. I think they also recall LaDue and send down Roy. Time to swap junk for crap.

Management will expect those moves to placate the few restless natives who bother to watch / tweet. A Kovalchuk distraction / not playing in the AHL might be a good distraction / scapegoat while the team sucks every 4 / 5 games.

Why do you think management has to placate anything? They've told us, repeatedly, that they are not about winning right now. That they fully expect this team to be bad for a while. That they cannot compete with the veterans on this roster. If Kovalchuk gets scratched, that's all a head coach thing. No hardcore fan cares. No casual fan is going to care or know what a Kovalchuk is. Management stopped trying to sell things a year ago. They're not trying to fool anyone anymore. They're trying to suck. Or, they've accepted that the roster sucks. They're done trying to pull a fast one on everybody. They're promoting college games because they don't care about the current roster.

He cant quit either because hes a 35+.. we need to let be him and hopefully he scores or someone/anybody is dumb enough to trade for him..

He can quit, the cap hit just doesn't go away. That's why nobody is trading for him until at least the summer, and he's all in on playing the 20-21 season. Because nobody wants to be stuck with even 50% of his hit if it's dead space. Even then, Kovalchuk is a high maintenance player. You have to git him into a system, he has to find the right C to play with, he does his own thing, etc. Which means it's probably more likely that it's no earlier than the 2021 deadline before he's gone. Unless he goes back to Russia this summer.

 

[kings11]

And we have to remember, Quick was a surprise. He wasn't supposed to be the guy. You have to get lucky to be great sometimes.

The only missed opportunity after 17-18 is trading Doughty. However, other than him wanting out, I don't think he was going anywhere, even if the 17-18 team finished last overall. He's part of the Quick/Brown/Kopitar group. They all got their contracts, and if he wanted to stay, he was going to get paid for the Cups. It's not smart, it's not right, but it was something that was inevitable if he wanted it. Even if the Kings had a universally accepted great GM, I don't think he would've wanted to be the guy known as the guy that traded Doughty. Players like that don't move unless they request it.

Good or bad, I don't think that one can be put into the missed opportunity category.



Why do you think management has to placate anything? They've told us, repeatedly, that they are not about winning right now. That they fully expect this team to be bad for a while. That they cannot compete with the veterans on this roster. If Kovalchuk gets scratched, that's all a head coach thing. No hardcore fan cares. No casual fan is going to care or know what a Kovalchuk is. Management stopped trying to sell things a year ago. They're not trying to fool anyone anymore. They're trying to suck. Or, they've accepted that the roster sucks. They're done trying to pull a fast one on everybody. They're promoting college games because they don't care about the current roster.



He can quit, the cap hit just doesn't go away. That's why nobody is trading for him until at least the summer, and he's all in on playing the 20-21 season. Because nobody wants to be stuck with even 50% of his hit if it's dead space. Even then, Kovalchuk is a high maintenance player. You have to git him into a system, he has to find the right C to play with, he does his own thing, etc. Which means it's probably more likely that it's no earlier than the 2021 deadline before he's gone. Unless he goes back to Russia this summer.

I understand the cap hit.. I meant more tot he fact that I rather trade the guy ... but that ain’t happening

 

[bland]

Remember the folks that claimed that it didn't hurt signing Kovalchuk because he was a free asset and didn't cost the team anything?

Ice time for a Grundstrom or a Luff that's the cost. Inability to play any kind of team game during a teaching phase, that's the cost. A dark cloud around a team trying to clear the air, that's the cost.

 

[Bandit]

Remember the folks that claimed that it didn't hurt signing Kovalchuk because he was a free asset and didn't cost the team anything?

Ice time for a Grundstrom or a Luff that's the cost. Inability to play any kind of team game during a teaching phase, that's the cost. A dark cloud around a team trying to clear the air, that's the cost.

They could easily scratch him and play one of the kids if they wanted to.

You know what I’m sick of? Let me tell you. Alleged authority figures and leaders in business that don’t have the balls to tell lousy employees to get on board or eat shit. The only thing allowing a single player to be a problem is coaches and management being a bunch of spineless p***yes.

 

[kingsfan28]

Yeah, add to that that he's slowed down and all his cute little offensive plays usually just end in turnovers and it's not a pretty sight. Maybe we get lucky and someone takes him at the deadline but I doubt it. I will never understand though why they've barely used him in the one thing he's still potentially good at which is the one-timer on the powerplay. Mind boggling really, but what can you do. The dude is finished.

But the whole team sucks too.

Kempe has taken his spot on the pp. Why? He's been so useless on the pp, at this point, putting Campbell out there instead of him would be better. Like you said, kovy is good at shooting, put him in a position to do so.

 

[kingsfan28]

Couldn't agree with this more.

I think Turcotte has very real top line talent, but he's not quite a Kopitar-tier prospect. Kaliyev also has unbelievable raw skill, and if developed correctly could be the best of the entire bunch.

We have no one resembling Doughty in our defensive pipeline. That will be an extremely difficult hole to fill.

Does anyone in the league? We have some good guys coming up but, yeah nobody of that caliber. To me, the top young dmen coming up in the NHL are all the same, nobody stands out, and i don't mean that in a bad way.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Bjornfot, Anderson, Durzi, and Clague are all solid prospects on D.

 

[bland]

They could easily scratch him and play one of the kids if they wanted to.

You know what I’m sick of? Let me tell you. Alleged authority figures and leaders in business that don’t have the balls to tell lousy employees to get on board or eat ****. The only thing allowing a single player to be a problem is coaches and management being a bunch of spineless *****es.

I would bet the farm that Desjardins did just that on orders last year. He could afford to alienate folks as a short timer, no doubt in my kind that he was charged with sending a message to Kovalchuk.

 

[bland]

Kempe has taken his spot on the pp. Why? He's been so useless on the pp, at this point, putting Campbell out there instead of him would be better. Like you said, kovy is good at shooting, put him in a position to do so.

Because they needed to see what they have in Kempe.

The Kings have a whole year for evaluations, and given that a new, more forward-friendly system is being implemented, it makes perfect sense to see if Kempe can find a way to put his set of tools to good use. Its not happening, and maybe 10-11 games is enough time to get a pretty sound opinion, but 5 or 6 wasn't.

We all know what Kovalchuk can do, but its not enough to change their fortunes, so the best thing to do is to put your best foot forward and clearly that is investing in the future.

 

[BigKing]

Remember the folks that claimed that it didn't hurt signing Kovalchuk because he was a free asset and didn't cost the team anything?

Ice time for a Grundstrom or a Luff that's the cost. Inability to play any kind of team game during a teaching phase, that's the cost. A dark cloud around a team trying to clear the air, that's the cost.

Yep. That’s what I’ve been saying for awhile now.

It’s just money is such a shortsighted outlook on it, as if there isn’t a butterfly effect.

It is easily Blake’s worst move. Complete air ball with zero positives.

 

[BigKing]

I would bet the farm that Desjardins did just that on orders last year. He could afford to alienate folks as a short timer, no doubt in my kind that he was charged with sending a message to Kovalchuk.

Was just saying this to my family today.

His actual dollars are smaller next year. They’d love for him to go back home next season. Cap doesn’t matter.

 

[Bandit]

I would bet the farm that Desjardins did just that on orders last year. He could afford to alienate folks as a short timer, no doubt in my kind that he was charged with sending a message to Kovalchuk.

Possible certainly but that raises a few red flags to me if true. First that Blake boned it so badly on judging IK’s character that only a month or so into a three year deal he asked his coach to be the bad cop to try and fix his mistake. Second that when that obviously didn’t work that Blake himself didn’t step up and deal with it directly.

 

[Schmooley]

Trying to pin it on kovalchuk is just not gonna help. Yea it probably was a bad signing and it would be nice to bring grundstron or luff into the mix.
But after kovalchuk is gone it will just be someone else to blame. No one on the roster should be safe and all offers should be listened to. That includes kopitar and doughty. They arent winning with these guys and 5-1 with them is not much better than 7-0 without them.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Remember the folks that claimed that it didn't hurt signing Kovalchuk because he was a free asset and didn't cost the team anything?

Ice time for a Grundstrom or a Luff that's the cost. Inability to play any kind of team game during a teaching phase, that's the cost. A dark cloud around a team trying to clear the air, that's the cost.

Grundstrom wasn't in the organization when they signed him, Luff was an undrafted free agent who had 12 whole goals in the AHL the year before, there was no teaching phase, and the dark cloud wasn't there yet. Luff and Grundstrom are 22 and almost 22. Both RFA's this year, so if they don't play, maybe you can keep them cheaper. Even if Kovalchuk is bought out in June, Luff and Grundstrom will be 23 and 22 at the start of next year. It's going to be ok. It sucks that IK is wasting a spot, they never should've signed him, but it's going to be ok. At least those two are playing in Ontario. For a team that has a good record so far.

 

[Seventyx7]

Remember the folks that claimed that it didn't hurt signing Kovalchuk because he was a free asset and didn't cost the team anything?

Ice time for a Grundstrom or a Luff that's the cost. Inability to play any kind of team game during a teaching phase, that's the cost. A dark cloud around a team trying to clear the air, that's the cost.

It was still the right move, compared to the other option. Luff not having a spot hurts much less than JAD and a first (Turcotte) for Pacioretty would have. Oh and Pacioretty would have been signed for 6-8 more years.

 

[bland]

It was still the right move, compared to the other option. Luff not having a spot hurts much less than JAD and a first (Turcotte) for Pacioretty would have. Oh and Pacioretty would have been signed for 6-8 more years.

It wasn't Kovalchuk OR Pacioretty - the Montreal deal was including Muzzin so Blake could add them both under the cap.

 

[lumbergh]

It's time they played Kovalchuk exclusively on the power play. Let him play the entire power play. Just put him above the dot on the left side, ala Ovechkin. He doesn't even have to move. He won't get tired.

Kovalchuk is a complete liability in every other situation. It's not because he's trying to torpedo the team. He's not a bad guy. At his age, he's not going to adjust his style, which is high risk, forcing passes. Put him in a situation where he can succeed and help the team. Keep him out of situations where he'll cost the team goals.