Toggle sidebar

Speculation: 2019-20 News/Rumors,Roster thread Post Deadline

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Status
Not open for further replies.
Given where the Kings are as a management team and where Futa is with his career, him departing isn’t a surprise. The choice of ex Kings and friends of BLuc taking on leadership roles did start with DL, so the charge of nepotism isn’t 100% accurate. And if the current crop of prospects is as good as projected, maybe the heavy lifting on the prospect front is done for the near future and Yanetti has taken charge there as well.

What is certain is that BLuc now have sole responsibility for the overall direction and growth of the franchise. Part of how they will be measured is the management talent they develop and bring in where necessary. Hopefully they grow or hire the next Futa. Which is another challenge on their plate in addition to getting this team back to the playoffs and really contender status.
 
  • Like
Reactions: verbalkint47 and regulate
DoktorJeep said:
Given where the Kings are as a management team and where Futa is with his career, him departing isn’t a surprise. The choice of ex Kings and friends of BLuc taking on leadership roles did start with DL, so the charge of nepotism isn’t 100% accurate. And if the current crop of prospects is as good as projected, maybe the heavy lifting on the prospect front is done for the near future and Yanetti has taken charge there as well.

What is certain is that BLuc now have sole responsibility for the overall direction and growth of the franchise. Part of how they will be measured is the management talent they develop and bring in where necessary. Hopefully they grow or hire the next Futa. Which is another challenge on their plate in addition to getting this team back to the playoffs and really contender status.
Click to expand...


I agree there's nothing we can do about it and they'll be measured on what happens next.

I'm also on the record as largely a Blake supporter and think he's done excellent things turning a weakness into a strength.

However, I already thought development--particularly of skill players--was a legitimate concern, and devaluing Futa--one of the most qualified hockey people this organization has ever had, from his roles in juniors all the way through stanley cup championships--to rebalance in the direction of Glen Murray and Nelson Emerson whose largest qualifications are as video coach/development coordinator seems imbalanced. I don't think that's an unfair criticism, especially given they followed those guys up with Craig Johnson and Jaroslav Modry.

Like I said, who's next? Visnovsky as nutrition coach?
 
  • Like
Reactions: DoktorJeep
Raccoon Jesus said:
I agree there's nothing we can do about it and they'll be measured on what happens next.

I'm also on the record as largely a Blake supporter and think he's done excellent things turning a weakness into a strength.

However, I already thought development--particularly of skill players--was a legitimate concern, and devaluing Futa--one of the most qualified hockey people this organization has ever had, from his roles in juniors all the way through stanley cup championships--to rebalance in the direction of Glen Murray and Nelson Emerson whose largest qualifications are as video coach/development coordinator seems imbalanced. I don't think that's an unfair criticism, especially given they followed those guys up with Craig Johnson and Jaroslav Modry.

Like I said, who's next? Visnovsky as nutrition coach?
Click to expand...
Not Visnovsky, Zhitnik.
 
Nothing against Futa, but he was also heavily involved in the horrible drafts that plagued the Kings for most of the past decade. He was great with the OHL guys because he wasn't so far removed from it when they were hitting on them.

Again, I have zero against him and I'm not saying he is bad but I'm also not saying he is a shoo-in for a GM job somewhere. You never know though: we used to crush Al Murray and then he goes on to be showered with praise in Tampa Bay.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Statto, funky, DoktorJeep and 1 other person
BigKing said:
Nothing against Futa, but he was also heavily involved in the horrible drafts that plagued the Kings for most of the past decade. He was great with the OHL guys because he wasn't so far removed from it when they were hitting on them.

Again, I have zero against him and I'm not saying he is bad but I'm also not saying he is a shoo-in for a GM job somewhere. You never know though: we used to crush Al Murray and then he goes on to be showered with praise in Tampa Bay.
Click to expand...


Kings have largely been one of the most efficient, effective drafting teams across time and it's widely agreed upon off this forum that 'bad drafting' by the Kings is actually 'lack of picks' due to movement of assets, they've still gotten great value with the picks they have and have the greatest NHL placement of players from rounds 5-end of draft than any other team in the last couple of decades.

"During the first 11 of the 16 years (the period where we have finality on all of the draft picks) measured, the teams that most consistently found success at the draft (I define success as being in the upper third of the league in that draft in terms of point outcomes) are the Blackhawks, the Kings, the Blue Jackets and the Predators. Those four teams all finished in the top-10 in seven out of 11 draft classes."

Analyzing 16 years of NHL draft data to see which teams have...

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-ranking-decade-draft-results/

Best Drafting Teams in the NHL


It's obviously not just Futa and there's more to the puzzle like franchise vision/culture but I wish this myth would die, these guys have been hitting value homers despite shit picks, the biggest problem has been the lack of blue-chip picks. He'll find a job in short order.
 
  • Like
Reactions: funky
Seems to me the Kings are well run from the top down, the drafting has gotten better under Blake and development has been a strength since Lombardi was hired. What I hear consistently from Robitaille is exactly what I want to hear - build through the draft and properly develop players. And whose to say guys like Emerson, Murray, O'Donnell, etc. aren't good teachers and talent evaluators.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HookKing and funky
BallPointHammer said:
Seems to me the Kings are well run from the top down, the drafting has gotten better under Blake and development has been a strength since Lombardi was hired. What I hear consistently from Robitaille is exactly what I want to hear - build through the draft and properly develop players. And whose to say guys like Emerson, Murray, O'Donnell, etc. aren't good teachers and talent evaluators.
Click to expand...


They obviously are given their hit list but don't forget the new development guys are....Craig Johnson and Jaroslav Modry.

Maybe it's nitpicking since everything else has been so good but I do doubt their ability to, say, take Turcotte/Vilardi to the next level. They haven't had many blue-chip/skill players to work with so it's sort of a chicken-and-egg thing but it's fair to question imo.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Kings have largely been one of the most efficient, effective drafting teams across time and it's widely agreed upon off this forum that 'bad drafting' by the Kings is actually 'lack of picks' due to movement of assets, they've still gotten great value with the picks they have and have the greatest NHL placement of players from rounds 5-end of draft than any other team in the last couple of decades.

"During the first 11 of the 16 years (the period where we have finality on all of the draft picks) measured, the teams that most consistently found success at the draft (I define success as being in the upper third of the league in that draft in terms of point outcomes) are the Blackhawks, the Kings, the Blue Jackets and the Predators. Those four teams all finished in the top-10 in seven out of 11 draft classes."

Analyzing 16 years of NHL draft data to see which teams have...

https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-ranking-decade-draft-results/

Best Drafting Teams in the NHL


It's obviously not just Futa and there's more to the puzzle like franchise vision/culture but I wish this myth would die, these guys have been hitting value homers despite shit picks, the biggest problem has been the lack of blue-chip picks. He'll find a job in short order.
Click to expand...

That's fine. Maybe "horrible" is too strong of a word but, at the same time, pulling Dowd in the 7th round doesn't drastically move the needle even if it is cool to pull NHL players in the throwaway rounds. The quote about the first 11 out of 16 years starts in 2003 and ends in 2014 when they got Kempe. So it includes major boosts from the Classes of 2003, '05 and '06 and then the late 00's when the Kings were drafting high.

Again, I'm not piling on the guy and I fully understand that it is harder to hit on picks when you don't have high ones. Furthermore, drafting kids can be a real crap shoot anyways and most teams won't get raked across the coals unless they seemingly go way off the board, like the Hickey pick. I'm just saying that any sort of "magic" seemed to wear off a while ago: just like it did for Dean. In 2014, Dean was going to be GM forever and Futa was going to be a GM somewhere else in short order. Now, the former is a consultant and the latter is looking for a job that may--or may not--materialize.

I guess the main thing I'm saying is that I don't know how much of a shock wave this sends around the league or if it just really a locally based one since it is another longtime member of the Cup-era group leaving. I'm in no way belittling his contributions to the best era in Kings history: I just don't really know if his leaving now has any material impact on the current state of the pipeline and how the Kings have been drafting under Blake. I'm somewhat surprised he actually stayed this long because he seemed like such a Dean guy but perhaps he was kept on since he still had what appears to be solid relationships with a lot of the homegrown talent on the team and there was a real sense of continuity when Blake took over, i.e. Stevens, the same roster etc. Now that so many guys have been traded and it is quickly becoming a team that will be filled with very few players from the Cup era, Blake and Co. are cool with moving on. Could be a mistake but I'm not concerned one bit and I'm not going to pass up a chance to criticize Blake. Feels like Yannetti became more prominent than that 50/50 split in responsibility he spoke about in 2014.
 
  • Like
Reactions: funky
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom