2019-20 Kings News/Rumors

[kingsholygrail]

Seriously? They lost the 13th overall pick, Martin Jones who immediately turned into the 29th overall and Sean Kuraly, and Colin Miller who at the time was the best dman in the Kings pipeline. That is a huge amount of assets.

None of those guys make this team a contender.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

We still don't know **** about what the potential trade was, the only credible source said that the Kings had discussions with MaxPac about a potential contract. Let's not have arguments regarding something we don't know about.



I would take the Kovalchuk signing a million times over the horrible Lucic trade that Lombardi orchestrated. What is the long term ramifications of the Kovalchuk signing?

It’s telling that you need to use the same old “but Lombardi!” straw man to defend Blake. It’s like Trump supporters constantly bringing up Hillary’s emails.

 

[crassbonanza]

None of those guys make this team a contender.

Barzal or Connor do not improve this team?

 

[crassbonanza]

It’s telling that you need to use the same old “but Lombardi!” straw man to defend Blake. It’s like Trump supporters constantly bringing up Hillary’s emails.

You brought up Lombardi. I replied to you bringing him into this conversation, so it is nothing like that at all. If you don't want to compare Lombardi to Blake, don't bring him into a comment ripping into Blake.

 

[BigKing]

It's entirely possible that Kovalchuk doesn't want to play anymore as well: not for this team. Or, more favorably for him, he just wants to what is best for the team and Blake asked him to be a healthy scratch. Go ahead and just be with your family. Welcome to practice to keep sharp so you can play in the KHL next season after a buyout.

He'll have earned the majority of the dollars on his deal come this December. Kings are stuck with that 3rd year of cap hit unless they retained and add picks with the latter being something none of us want Blake to do. Just buy him out next season, eat the cap hit that would need to be eaten anyways and just be done with it. He could take the buy out and go sign another contract somewhere: be it here or the KHL. No hard feelings, he got is family in LA like he wanted and made a nice little payday while he was at it.

 

[crassbonanza]

It's entirely possible that Kovalchuk doesn't want to play anymore as well: not for this team. Or, more favorably for him, he just wants to what is best for the team and Blake asked him to be a healthy scratch. Go ahead and just be with your family. Welcome to practice to keep sharp so you can play in the KHL next season after a buyout.

He'll have earned the majority of the dollars on his deal come this December. Kings are stuck with that 3rd year of cap hit unless they retained and add picks with the latter being something none of us want Blake to do. Just buy him out next season, eat the cap hit that would need to be eaten anyways and just be done with it. He could take the buy out and go sign another contract somewhere: be it here or the KHL. No hard feelings, he got is family in LA like he wanted and made a nice little payday while he was at it.

I hope that is the case. I always Liked Kovalchuk and hate how bad the whole scenario turned out to be.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Barzal or Connor do not improve this team?

Who says they pick Barzal or Connor?

 

[KingsHockey24]

If I'm Kovaclhuk I say f*** you I'll keep my family here in LA and get paid a couple million dollars doing nothing for the next year and a half.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Barzal or Connor do not improve this team?

Barzal seems to be excelling with the Isles, who’ve done quite well without John Tavares. Would’ve been nice to have a young top line center over seven months of Lucic.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Barzal seems to be excelling with the Isles, who’ve done quite well without John Tavares. Would’ve been nice to have a young top line center over seven months of Lucic.

Trotz was the best acquisition the Islanders made.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

How can you say that when he has had a very clear plan since the day he took over? He stated over and over that his goal was to restock the pipeline, which is why he didn't trade assets during his first trade deadline, despite the team being one of the bets in the league at that point.

Are you at all connected to reality?

Luc Robitaille’s literal opening press conference was about how they still thought the Kings were contenders.

Fast forward not even three years later, and they’re rebuilding.

How is that not directionless?

Are you really 100% satisfied with Blake’s tenure? Not a single pockmark? Really?

 

[crassbonanza]

Who says they pick Barzal or Connor?

It has been reported that they were looking at one of the two of them. Those two were also expected to go where the Bruins selected, but Boston went off the board with their 3 straight picks(which looks really bd).

 

[Bandit]

While Kovy hasn't been good, this is some seriously weird scapegoating.

Or maybe there's more to it? Clearly there must be, though I'm sure we'll never find out which is annoying. Also I don't think scapegoat is really the right word. It's possible for Kovalchuck to be a problem without being the problem.

 

[crassbonanza]

Are you at all connected to reality?

Luc Robitaille’s literal opening press conference was about how they still thought the Kings were contenders.

Fast forward not even three years later, and they’re rebuilding.

How is that not directionless?

Are you really 100% satisfied with Blake’s tenure? Not a single pockmark? Really?

Blake came in with a stated goal of restocking the pipeline. He mentioned it every chance that he got and he has stuck to that plan. He chose to do that while allowing the team to try to compete. Consider this, if he thought the Kings were contenders and was not trying to restock the pipeline, why did he stand pat at the deadline?

I am not 100% satisfied, there have been a few issues that I have brought up over the past couple of years, I will say though that he has had a goal and has done fantastic at it so far.

 

[KingsFan7824]

You’re really bending over backwards to defend a GM who has presided over a playoff sweep, a second to last finish, and what will soon be another bottom five finish.

Blake and Luc came into this ****show claiming this team was still a Cup contender. That made the team demonstrably worse, and set the franchise back by at least a year if not more. Full stop.

You can’t **** on Lombardi for all the Kings failures then turn around and white knight for Rob ****ing Blake with mealy mouthed excuses like “the team quit on him.” What team? The 17/18 Kings who had an abnormally high PDO and by every statistical metric AT THE TIME were due for a significant regression? Oh, and they would be regressing from a FIRST ROUND SWEEP.

You’d think Blake for all his prescient scouting acumen and firm vision (we’re a contender oh wait maybe we need to retool on the fly oh wait now we’re rebuilding) would see the writing on the wall there. Guess not. But sure, he hasn’t hurt the franchise at all.

And don’t get it twisted: **** Dean Lombardi and what he did to this team. He had a golden goose laying golden eggs and he still screwed it up. But when are we allowed to start criticizing Blake? Year five? Year ten? Or do we just continue to blame everything on Lombardi?

This franchise has been directionless at best under Blake’s tenure. No identity. No long term plan. Just one audible after another.

I would say they currently have a plan. DL got 3 coaches, and wasn't feeling any heat until after his 5th year on the job. Have to give GMs some time. Things can change. Blake was not given a great hand. Neither was Lombardi. This is it though. If this rebuilding project doesn't start working in a few years, Blake and whoever else shouldn't get another one. They get the chance to draft some guys in the top 1-5 picks, but it has to be going somewhere.

Blake should get at least a year where the players he's drafted are significant players on the team. Guys like JAD, Anderson, and the other guy, they're barely 20 years old, and they're not even the highest picks Blake will end up with. If those guys aren't counted because Blake got the job a few weeks before the 2017 draft, then that's almost another year that he has to get out of fairness. I would count 2017, since he was there, so, have to give it some time.

 

[KingsFan7824]

If I'm Kovaclhuk I say **** you I'll keep my family here in LA and get paid a couple million dollars doing nothing for the next year and a half.

I think it's pretty clear they'll buy him out in June if it gets that far. Live with the cap hit for a year, and that's that. I'm sure he can stay in LA for the next year and a half if he wants though. Even stand outside Staples every home game and protest.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I think it's pretty clear they'll buy him out in June if it gets that far. Live with the cap hit for a year, and that's that. I'm sure he can stay in LA for the next year and a half if he wants though. Even stand outside Staples every home game and protest.

I'll never understand why Todd put Kempe on the #1 PP unit instead of Kovy. He'd at least have 4 more points I'd imagine had he been able to rocket one timers from Doughty or Kopitar.

Kempe is basically a 3rd/4th line depth scorer at this point. Something like Carl Hagelin but worse.

 

[kingsholygrail]

I'll never understand why Todd put Kempe on the #1 PP unit instead of Kovy. He'd at least have 4 more points I'd imagine had he been able to rocket one timers from Doughty or Kopitar.

Kempe is basically a 3rd/4th line depth scorer at this point. Something like Carl Hagelin but worse.

Kovalchuk isn't part of the rebuild plans. Kempe, for now, is. So they're trying to get him going.

 

[Choralone]

Are you at all connected to reality?

Luc Robitaille’s literal opening press conference was about how they still thought the Kings were contenders.

Fast forward not even three years later, and they’re rebuilding.

How is that not directionless?

Are you really 100% satisfied with Blake’s tenure? Not a single pockmark? Really?

Changing directions by definition is not directionless.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Kovalchuk isn't part of the rebuild plans. Kempe, for now, is. So they're trying to get him going.

Oh I'm well aware.

I just wonder what LA management thinks Kempe is at this point. Pretty sure they were hoping he'd be a 2nd line center haha.

 

[BigKing]

Barzal or Connor do not improve this team?

I like you crass, but you don't get to say Dean traded Barzal or Connor while continuing to say that Blake wasn't going to trade nice assets for Patches.

We don't know for sure who the Kings were going to pick. We don't know for sure what the Kings offer was for Patches. If you are going to use this reasoning on Patches, you can't ignore it with the Lucic pick.

As for the DL/Blake stuff: I love DL. I don't like Blake. That being said, I don't think I'd be really pumped on DL being the GM again nor am I advocating for Blake to be fired right now. If the goal is to be bad this year, please keep Blake in place.

Dean f***ed up a lot. Actually, his tenure is like a sandwich made out of shit for the bread but with amazing meat in the middle. His beginning was bad and the end was really bad. He was given his five year plan and actually won in year five; however, his rebuild began with Kopitar/Brown/Quick already in place. He missed on his first rebuild draft pick with Hickey but made up for it a year later with Doughty.

Blake's been shit so far at the beginning as well. Might have also missed on a high first rounder in Vilardi. Wrong coaching hire, like Lombardi. Bad UFA signing just like Lombardi when he signed Blake himself. I guess he thing I'm wondering with Blake and his signing of T-Mac for five years: has AEG given him the green light for his own five year plan that started with last year's draft? I'm thinking that might be the case but Dean just flat-out said it since there weren't a bunch of bandwagon fans to lose whereas Luc and AEG would like to keep holding on to the new fans they acquired during the Cup years. To say the plan is for five years is rough as opposed to kind of hinting at playoff contention next season when, in reality, it is the 2022 season.

Back to Blake v. Dean: Dean tanked and won an amazing prize in Doughty. He also already had Kopitar and Quick. Blake is going to need to nab an elite player in this draft and he knows it. If he can get an elite guy this year and a decent number of the higher-end prospects pan out, then Blake will be cooking with gas. 8 and 11 will still be good NHL players and they will have cap space to augment the roster further. This is where I am concerned. What happens then? I have no issues with Blake continuing to run this team when the whole point is to draft high and well: the track record for Lombardi's scouts in the 1st/2nd round is pretty good and they appear to have done well so far. It's just how much faith do I have in him to make a winning stew once he has most of the ingredients? Based on things so far, the answer is not much. I feel like he's going to have a lot of time to get smarter and better though because it appears he is here for the long haul. Anybody clamoring for his firing is probably going to be waiting for a long time.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Oh I'm well aware.

I just wonder what LA management thinks Kempe is at this point. Pretty sure they were hoping he'd be a 2nd line center haha.

I don't think they're ignorant of the fact that he hasn't been living up to his projections so far, just hoping he figures it out or looks like it enough to move him.

 

[bland]

Blake came in with a stated goal of restocking the pipeline. He mentioned it every chance that he got and he has stuck to that plan. He chose to do that while allowing the team to try to compete. Consider this, if he thought the Kings were contenders and was not trying to restock the pipeline, why did he stand pat at the deadline?

I am not 100% satisfied, there have been a few issues that I have brought up over the past couple of years, I will say though that he has had a goal and has done fantastic at it so far.

That's most definitely what they want you to think now, but looking at signing Kovalchuk, trading for Phaneuf, and nearly erasing more than half of the Kings current top 10 prospects if Pacioretty agreed to an extension tells you that the party line has been revisionist at best, downright BS at worst.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I don't think they're ignorant of the fact that he hasn't been living up to his projections so far, just hoping he figures it out or looks like it enough to move him.

Vilardi will be our savior.

He'll play for Ontario until Feb, get called up and be a point per game player here in LA.

 

[HeadInjury]

It wasn't an unreasonable signing by the Kings. The thinking was that we needed once again to bolster our popgun offense (seriously, this has been a recurring theme for years) while maintaining our stellar defense, and Kovalchuk allowed us to add a potentially dynamic offensive player without giving up assets. Some predicted a black-hole season, but nobody predicted the Hindenburg.

If the Kings think they're better off storing him in the garage, great. I'd rather they not subscribe to a sunk-cost fallacy and play him no matter what.

This is spot on. Kovy's contract is not impacting us at all. (I don't worry about Uncle Phil's finances.) Blake gave it a shot. It failed. Now someone else will get to play in Kovy's place. He apparently will only be owed $5 million on the remainder of his contract after December 15. Retain 50% of the remainder and maybe you'll find a taker for a 7th rounder or something. A year and a half of Kovy for a total of $2.5 million. Someone might give it a shot.

Or he leaves and we are stuck with his cap hit next year, which will have absolutely no effect on anyone in the world other than Uncle Phil and perhaps Blake if Uncle Phil holds a grudge.