Speculation: 2020-21 LA Kings News/Roster/Rumors Discussion Part VI

[deaderhead28]

I will be disappointed if they move a top prospect or 2 for a 29 year old with 1 year until he hits UFA. If they make a move for Eichel that doesn’t complete mortgage the future then I’d learn to live with it. Bernstein’s, Turcotte, Byfield and multiple picks is crazy to me.

Fortunately Blake has never said they were going for 29 year olds.My understanding is getting talent to grow with young prospects like 23 to 26.....

 

[deaderhead28]

These guys might be traded for all the stuff LA needs and for what? To sneak into the playoffs and maybe win a round? Eichel is in his prime production years for 3-4 more years and that's if his neck is ok. It seems some here just want to see Kopitar and Doughty get another shot while mortgaging the rest of the future.

Kings are not keeping all these players,its impossible...Some will be used in trades and others part of the new core and future.Kings are going to put together a team that can compete,they can't now with the personal they've.Its a business,not a marriage...

 

[Fishhead]

I think the whole Blake's goals thing is kind of silly. Here is exactly what he said about the playoffs: “That’s what we expect to do. This is a results-oriented business. And to get these results, results are wins. You want to keep building on that.”

Almost every freakin' GM or coach in the league is going to say stuff like that. He didn't say he had it mapped out or that anything but the playoffs is a failure. It's just motivation for the players. The worst thing he could say is that it's not realistic to compete for the playoffs. What's that say to the kids coming in? You aren't good enough, you can't compete. Then what's the point of playing hard? Blake isn't trying to deceive anyone, there isn't a fan around that is surprised the Kings missed the playoffs, we all knew that going in.

Blake isn't saying stuff to lie to fans or to get them to buy tickets, he's letting the emerging players know that the expectation is to win. They did take a huge dump at the end of the season and the effort wasn't there, but they did play pretty damn well for the first half of the season. Not really surprising given that they are one of the youngest and most inexperienced rosters in the league.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Blake saying they expect the playoffs this year, was another miscalculation on his part, just like when he took over the Kings from DL stating they will compete for cups, then later after making the playoffs saying they are cup contenders etc.

You can make excuses for why he’s setting his expectations by saying he has to set those expectations, every GM does yet the players he puts on the ice fail him...time and time again.

 

[Reclamation Project]

 

[funky]

Why are we complaining that Blake said the goal was to make the playoffs? He is management. What is he suppose say?

hey everyone, ya the goal is to dress a team. Hopefully win 10 games or so. Don’t want the guys to try to hard. Want to test drive some prospects.

On most teams we would have 23 guys asking for a trade if they heard that. We seem to have a few floaters on this team that might not mind but you just can’t say crap like that and expect your players to perform. I don’t like Todd but that would put him in a horrid position as well with the players saying if the boss don’t care, why should we.

 

[SFKingshomer]

Laine scares me a lot more than Eichel but I think you could get him pretty reasonable for the potential upside he brings.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Drew Doughty for GM.

 

[BigKing]

I think the whole Blake's goals thing is kind of silly. Here is exactly what he said about the playoffs: “That’s what we expect to do. This is a results-oriented business. And to get these results, results are wins. You want to keep building on that.”

Almost every freakin' GM or coach in the league is going to say stuff like that. He didn't say he had it mapped out or that anything but the playoffs is a failure. It's just motivation for the players. The worst thing he could say is that it's not realistic to compete for the playoffs. What's that say to the kids coming in? You aren't good enough, you can't compete. Then what's the point of playing hard? Blake isn't trying to deceive anyone, there isn't a fan around that is surprised the Kings missed the playoffs, we all knew that going in.

Blake isn't saying stuff to lie to fans or to get them to buy tickets, he's letting the emerging players know that the expectation is to win. They did take a huge dump at the end of the season and the effort wasn't there, but they did play pretty damn well for the first half of the season. Not really surprising given that they are one of the youngest and most inexperienced rosters in the league.

Exactly; however, he wasn't just using GM-speak when he expects playoffs by next season. If he sits on his hands again this off-season, then we will know he has changed course on that timeline.

 

[tomd]

Exactly; however, he wasn't just using GM-speak when he expects playoffs by next season. If he sits on his hands again this off-season, then we will know he has changed course on that timeline.

There is a bigger problem brewing though and that is a complete meltdown of the locker room and total team dysfunction. Doughty's quotes above are pretty telling and he's publicly calling out on Blake and management to do something. It's very possible that this could quickly devolve into a choice between "stay the course" and Doughty asking for a trade. Shades of Buffalo.

 

[BigKing]

I mentioned yesterday that Doughty is probably more tired of the losing than 11 and 23. The latter two already had a long stretch of garbage seasons in the standings while this is Doughty's first prolonged suck era. Prior to the Willie D season to now, he never missed the playoffs two seasons in a row. He signed that extension after Blake supposedly added offense to a team that made the playoffs and featured a Hart finalist/Selke winner while he, himself, was a Norris finalist. If he knew what was about to transpire in just three-to-four months, I doubt he signs here.

He's been good about not publicly being disgruntled but I'm sure Blake told him that it wasn't going to be five years of sucking on purpose for high draft picks. I don't think Doughty talks about needing to bring guys in this offseason unless he knows it is in the works. If there is one thing I imagine Blake to be, it is a guy that is going to be close with his star defenseman.

@tomd I was typing this before your response but might as well tag you in it now.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Doughty's comments actually remind me of Wayne Gretzky's request in the final year of his contract. He wanted to see a commitment from the new owners and asked for them to make some upgrades to the roster, but instead they opted to go on with a rebuild and bid adieu to The Great One.

This time the situation is vastly different though as the prospects are there, though whether or not they are ready to contribute is up for debate. The Kings had ten regulars in the lineup this season who were 24 or younger, and this is the youngest roster they have iced in quite some time. That group of nine also doesn't include guys like Byfield, Kaliyev, Kupari, Clague, Strand, Luff, who all fit in that age bracket as well.

The Kings can certainly afford to make a move, and if they do so, I would think it will be for players who are still in their early to mid-20s who can be long term impact players, and players who can help reshape this team into playoff contenders.

 

[bland]

Doughty is wrong - and selfishly incapable of looking at the big picture. Don't blame him at all for being upset about all the losing, but if he couldn't see what was inevitably going to happen here when he signed that deal he needs to take a look in the mirror.

Its a simple equation. The Kings best chance at contending again comes from within, and that will take time.

There are no big impact free agents this summer. Anything has to come via trade, and you are slitting your own throat to spite your face if you sacrifice the promising future to chase uncatchable glory now just to make a couple of old heroes feel relevant.

 

[Kudelski37]

Laine scares me a lot more than Eichel but I think you could get him pretty reasonable for the potential upside he brings.

I'd go for Vrana over Laine. Vrana has 68 goals over the last 3 seasons compared to 70 for Laine. Over half of Laine's goals during this time are on the power play. Vrana has only 2 PPG during this time. I think Vrana has a chance to explode if given 1st pp unit time.

 

[Rusty Batch]

We could put a really good team together rn if we used our cap space and some of our prospects/picks. That really good team could become a great team if the prospects we hang onto pan out. I don't blame Doughty for getting frustrated with us potentially not doing that.

There's no guarantee if we keep waiting that we end up in a better spot than we would be in now.

We could massively improve this team with 20 mil in cap space, a lottery pick, 2 2nds, 2 3rds, and dipping into some of our prospects that maybe we have soured on a bit.

It's just really not that hard to understand the massive talent upgrade that could be brought in and paired with Kopi,Doughty,Petersen,Vilardi,Iafallo,Roy,Bjornfot, Anderson, Byfield, Kaliyev, Turcotte,etc....

 

[BigKing]

Just wanted to stick up for my guy MacD.

Yes, he took a step back this season. The numbers don't lie. He sucked. That said, any of you that want to say the Kings are a playoff team if he didn't play at all have had a lot of air let out of that balloon by seeing this team play like trash without him as well.

Roy in his exit interview saying he gets excited being paired with MacDermid just once again reiterates my point that he is a real character guy on a team that seems devoid of character. He wasn't given the two year contract because he was going to be the key piece of a Cup contender: it was a reward for the work that he has put in for years and because that work is something that Management wants the young guys to see and be around.

Blake never expected contention this year so MacDermid playing a lot of games doesn't matter. I would hope that those crucifying MacDermid can now be at a point where they can see that this team's issue wasn't MacDermid playing instead of Clague but rather that it just isn't good enough top-to-bottom no matter who is playing in place of MacDermid. As a matter of fact, the Kings should have a better draft pick thanks to Kurtis and who cares if they won four more games? They finished 14 points out of the playoffs haha.

Guy has a cap hit of $875,000. We'll see what the off-season brings but I think the Kings will be perfectly fine to carry him again as the #7D that plays maybe 30 games or they send him down and have ZERO problems paying him that $875k to be a total professional and bad-ass down in Ontario. Captain material. I think the latter is a real possibility and, if that happens, there is real value to it and it is completely worth the contract and every goal against that can be pinned on him this past season.

 

[BigKing]

Doughty is wrong - and selfishly incapable of looking at the big picture. Don't blame him at all for being upset about all the losing, but if he couldn't see what was inevitably going to happen here when he signed that deal he needs to take a look in the mirror.

Its a simple equation. The Kings best chance at contending again comes from within, and that will take time.

There are no big impact free agents this summer. Anything has to come via trade, and you are slitting your own throat to spite your face if you sacrifice the promising future to chase uncatchable glory now just to make a couple of old heroes feel relevant.

Players--especially great ones--generally believe in themselves. Like I mentioned, he signed that deal after the cloud of Sutter was removed and he and his Cup buddies had giant years. Kovy gets added. Carter for a full 82. Still surrounded by a lot of guys he has won with. He's not worried about the state of the pipeline: he's expecting to keep being a playoff team. To be fair to him, Muzzin/Martinez/Toffoli/Pearson have all produced since leaving and now even Carter is in a small sample size. Long story short: I don't blame him for not thinking the bottom had actually already fallen out but they just didn't know it.

He's already playing with a bunch of young players and the Kings have a ton of prospects. Yeah: I don't think he cares if they move some of those prospects along with future picks to help add legit players so they can start the process of winning games. I don't think he is wrong either: I'm just not a fan of blowing up the entire prospect pool for immediate help to try and win a Cup in the next two seasons. I am in favor of adding a piece or two that are in a good age bracket that won't devastate the pipeline but will be part of the long-term solution.

 

[tomd]

Doughty is wrong - and selfishly incapable of looking at the big picture. Don't blame him at all for being upset about all the losing, but if he couldn't see what was inevitably going to happen here when he signed that deal he needs to take a look in the mirror.

Its a simple equation. The Kings best chance at contending again comes from within, and that will take time.

There are no big impact free agents this summer. Anything has to come via trade, and you are slitting your own throat to spite your face if you sacrifice the promising future to chase uncatchable glory now just to make a couple of old heroes feel relevant.

Blame whomever you want but the problem is real and toxic and absolutely NOT the environment to bring young kids into.

 

[Schrute farms]

Brown in his "prime" -- lol ya right. Kopi isn't either -- but he's still very good and arguably still elite and at the tail end of his "prime".
DD though is still elite and in his prime (albeit not where he once was -- maybe team status has a lot to do with that though)

 

[bland]

Players--especially great ones--generally believe in themselves. Like I mentioned, he signed that deal after the cloud of Sutter was removed and he and his Cup buddies had giant years. Kovy gets added. Carter for a full 82. Still surrounded by a lot of guys he has won with. He's not worried about the state of the pipeline: he's expecting to keep being a playoff team. To be fair to him, Muzzin/Martinez/Toffoli/Pearson have all produced since leaving and now even Carter is in a small sample size. Long story short: I don't blame him for not thinking the bottom had actually already fallen out but they just didn't know it.

He's already playing with a bunch of young players and the Kings have a ton of prospects. Yeah: I don't think he cares if they move some of those prospects along with future picks to help add legit players so they can start the process of winning games. I don't think he is wrong either: I'm just not a fan of blowing up the entire prospect pool for immediate help to try and win a Cup in the next two seasons. I am in favor of adding a piece or two that are in a good age bracket that won't devastate the pipeline but will be part of the long-term solution.

Sure, all things to be discussed in your exit interview or away from cameras. This was ridiculously childish and all part and parcel of the problem here - entitled players using their longterm contracts to leverage out coaches they don't want to play for, and now publicly using that leverage against the general manager to try and maximize TWO players remaining prime years.

Don't understand the need to rebuild Drew? Its because your team failed in 15, 16, 17 and 18 when the team was loaded with veterans and spent to the cap. THAT was your chance.

You were gifted a second chance you didn't deserve when Blake came in and acted against the teams best interests instead of tearing it down right away.

Your team has won one playoff game in 7 years. You aren't good enough to challenge anymore. Your Cup days here are over. Either get on board with what must happen here or be the bad guy and force your way out. Don't demand to be catered to as your frustration mounts. That is not the leadership your team needs from you.

 

[Herby]

Doughty has finally had enough, this was about as expected as the runs after Taco Bell, actually surprised it took this long. Part of me doesn't blame him, but part of me wonders why you would sign for such a long deal when it was clear to Helen Keller that the Kings were in a steep decline when he signed it. I think DD might have been lied to, either that or he had way to much optimism and it blinded him to what has been clear about this team since 2015.

Either way the comments are great news for the Kings, either the Kings make a play for Eichel and they try and go for it in the final couple years of Doughty and Kopi's prime or Doughty ok's a trade to a contender like they should have done 3-4 years ago and the Kings can be awful the next couple of years and pick high in the next couple of drafts where there are potentially a couple of true franchise players (even higher level prospects than QB). I'm actually excited about what this team might do for the first time since 2014. The end of this ridiculous illogical attempt at rebuilding on the fly might finally be here.

Boy would it be nice to get into the Delorean and trade Doughty at the end of the 2017 season. Wonder where the Kings would be right now with those assets. Instead we have 126-136 and 0 playoff wins.

 

[Rusty Batch]

Players--especially great ones--generally believe in themselves. Like I mentioned, he signed that deal after the cloud of Sutter was removed and he and his Cup buddies had giant years. Kovy gets added. Carter for a full 82. Still surrounded by a lot of guys he has won with. He's not worried about the state of the pipeline: he's expecting to keep being a playoff team. To be fair to him, Muzzin/Martinez/Toffoli/Pearson have all produced since leaving and now even Carter is in a small sample size. Long story short: I don't blame him for not thinking the bottom had actually already fallen out but they just didn't know it.

He's already playing with a bunch of young players and the Kings have a ton of prospects. Yeah: I don't think he cares if they move some of those prospects along with future picks to help add legit players so they can start the process of winning games. I don't think he is wrong either: I'm just not a fan of blowing up the entire prospect pool for immediate help to try and win a Cup in the next two seasons. I am in favor of adding a piece or two that are in a good age bracket that won't devastate the pipeline but will be part of the long-term solution.

I just don't think it has to be so dramatic where you "blow up the entire prospect pool". I mean we traded toffoli for 2 2nds and Madden right, I don't remember people thinking we got ripped off. Mike Hoffman got signed for almost nothing last year. You make a few moves like that, call up our mature prospects, and all of a sudden there is a lot of talent on this roster.

Just seems like there is this group of people on here (not saying you) so afraid to pull the trigger and make our team better because then maybe we get a lower pick next year. Or god forbid we sacrifice a couple prospects.

 

[Master Yoda]

Just wanted to stick up for my guy MacD.

Yes, he took a step back this season. The numbers don't lie. He sucked. That said, any of you that want to say the Kings are a playoff team if he didn't play at all have had a lot of air let out of that balloon by seeing this team play like trash without him as well.

Roy in his exit interview saying he gets excited being paired with MacDermid just once again reiterates my point that he is a real character guy on a team that seems devoid of character. He wasn't given the two year contract because he was going to be the key piece of a Cup contender: it was a reward for the work that he has put in for years and because that work is something that Management wants the young guys to see and be around.

Blake never expected contention this year so MacDermid playing a lot of games doesn't matter. I would hope that those crucifying MacDermid can now be at a point where they can see that this team's issue wasn't MacDermid playing instead of Clague but rather that it just isn't good enough top-to-bottom no matter who is playing in place of MacDermid. As a matter of fact, the Kings should have a better draft pick thanks to Kurtis and who cares if they won four more games? They finished 14 points out of the playoffs haha.

Guy has a cap hit of $875,000. We'll see what the off-season brings but I think the Kings will be perfectly fine to carry him again as the #7D that plays maybe 30 games or they send him down and have ZERO problems paying him that $875k to be a total professional and bad-ass down in Ontario. Captain material. I think the latter is a real possibility and, if that happens, there is real value to it and it is completely worth the contract and every goal against that can be pinned on him this past season.

The problem I had with MacD wasn't that he was terrible in the D-zone, and just about everywhere else this year, and it did look like he regressed from a decent showing last season.
But he just stopped hitting anybody, and he didn't do anything to put fear in anybody like he did before.
There was a game late in the season where Doughty was hit pretty hard, interfered with, right in front of MacD and he just stood there and did nothing.
I'm fine with him being a bad defenseman as long as he take the occasional run just to let everyone know that he's there and deter the other team from pulling dirty crap, but none of that happened this year.
I don't know why he stopped doing it because that's what made him a decent #7 Dman.

 

[johnjm22]

Doughty has 6 years left on his deal. No contender has 11M in cap space to afford him.

King retaining a significant portion of his salary in a trade seems unrealistic considering how many years he has left.

Although the Rangers look like they're ready to do something stupid. Maybe Blake should call them.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The way Athanasiou ended the season, with one goal in the last 15 games, is it really worth bringing him back? He completely disappeared after the Jeff Carter trade, and I feel like how he closed out the season left a bigger impression than everything else he did prior.

I'm lukewarm in regards to bringing him back, as I feel like he's another one of those redundant players who makes no real impact in the outcome of a game. He's really a bottom six forward who is very streaky when it comes to offensive production, and he is pretty weak in his own zone.