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

[Mats26]

The offense is not the problem this year. Sure our PP sucked for a bit but overall the offense has generated chances. We need to get the puck out of the D zone quicker. We get hemed in our zone for shift after shift then we say our offense isn't producing. Fix the D so we seperate the man from the puck and make a good first pass out of the zone, you'll see how much better our wins\loss record would be.

And yes, McDermind is part of that issue. Need D men to have hockey IQ as well as forwards.

 

[LAKings88]

Clague's awesome, though I can understand if/why you wouldn't count him as a regular.

Part of my major frustration with management this year is the 'we can't complete a breakout pass, we need a dynamic LHD' followed by *sends Clague to AHL*

Clague should be in the lineup the rest of this year. Give him a chance to prove he belongs.

 

[tny760]

Interestingly, the Kings are 7th in the league in percentage of goals scored off the rush:
Which Teams are Relying on the Rush?

i was gonna go on a bit of a rant about defining "off the rush" til i saw the article and he defines it as "within 5 seconds of a controlled zone entry" like that's about as strict a definition as it gets

really surprised to see those numbers but i caution against using "___th in the league" when there's such a small spread in the middle. certainly above average though and holy are some of those outliers interesting

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

i was gonna go on a bit of a rant about defining "off the rush" til i saw the article and he defines it as "within 5 seconds of a controlled zone entry" like that's about as strict a definition as it gets

really surprised to see those numbers but i caution against using "___th in the league" when there's such a small spread in the middle. certainly above average though and holy are some of those outliers interesting

Yeah, definitely. Those numbers actually surprised me. My anecdotal memory is that the Kings are pretty bad at sustaining pressure, which that seems to confirm, but I would not have picked them as being high up there with scoring off the rush and defending off the rush.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Except most players can't switch vastly different positions at the drop of a hat. MacD very likely isn't going to be an exception. Never drafted, played in juniors as a 20 year old, probably put on defense in his younger days for a reason, etc.



Lias Andersson 2.0. Just a team trying to turn some excess picks into players. The Kings still have more picks this year than there are rounds, and might even add more. Even Grundstrom is becoming one of "those guys" on the roster.

As Futa said "Lias Andersson is a helluva player and nasty" and Wrobo had glowing reports last week....and you do not get drafted #7 overall and are without a high pedigree and talent.
There's a reason why Lias was captain of Team Sweden in 2018 and NOT Rasmus Dahlin or Elias Pettersson. The game he recently socred a goal, he could have had 2 more, wihout
any help from his inept linemates. He's scoring a pt a game in Ontario, while no one else there has a ppg. 3 short handers. If he got the chance here that Wagner, Lizotte and others
have, he would succeed. But he hasn't.

 

[tbrown33]

As Futa said "Lias Andersson is a helluva player and nasty" and Wrobo had glowing reports last week....and you do not get drafted #7 overall and are without a high pedigree and talent.
There's a reason why Lias was captain of Team Sweden in 2018 and NOT Rasmus Dahlin or Elias Pettersson. The game he recently socred a goal, he could have had 2 more, wihout
any help from his inept linemates. He's scoring a pt a game in Ontario, while no one else there has a ppg. 3 short handers. If he got the chance here that Wagner, Lizotte and others
have, he would succeed. But he hasn't.

McLellalan even compared his motor favorably to Lizotte’s in preseason (or maybe it was early in the regular season). And Lias has waaaaaaay more skill. Frustrating.

 

[tny760]

Yeah, definitely. Those numbers actually surprised me. My anecdotal memory is that the Kings are pretty bad at sustaining pressure, which that seems to confirm, but I would not have picked them as being high up there with scoring off the rush and defending off the rush.

guess it makes sense, our guys are generally not great at tip plays (minus the last few games) so it's not like they're pushing cycles out to the point then tipping shots in. i guess even the non-point shots have been quick low-high plays. the cycles do tend to fizzle out.

i can see the rush defense being good though, seems like we get eaten alive by teams with good defensemen who can walk the line and get their shot through but that precludes the goal from being a rush chance more often than not

 

[KingsFan7824]

As Futa said "Lias Andersson is a helluva player and nasty" and Wrobo had glowing reports last week....and you do not get drafted #7 overall and are without a high pedigree and talent.
There's a reason why Lias was captain of Team Sweden in 2018 and NOT Rasmus Dahlin or Elias Pettersson. The game he recently socred a goal, he could have had 2 more, wihout
any help from his inept linemates. He's scoring a pt a game in Ontario, while no one else there has a ppg. 3 short handers. If he got the chance here that Wagner, Lizotte and others
have, he would succeed. But he hasn't.

There's also a reason a guy with high pedigree and talent who got drafted 7th overall and captained Team Sweden is traded for a low 2nd rd pick 3 years after being drafted. He did nothing with the Rangers either, and they had all the reason in the world to try and make it work.

I also never quite understood the nasty part of the quote. Maybe if it's using the current day definition of nasty, I don't know, but whatever he's doing doesn't look nasty to me.

 

[regulate]

Without MacDermid 10-2-3
With MacDermid 6-16-3

Sometimes it really is that simple.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I love Big MacD, but he has been bad defensively - he did look decent in Friday's game. When he is given a bigger role or tries to do too much, he seems to blow it. If Kings are in a playoff chase and they have Lemieux, he can sit.

But honestly, one player is not the issue this year. The whole team is horrible except AA, AI, Brown, Anderson, DD, Roy, and Kopitar.

 

[regulate]

As Futa said "Lias Andersson is a helluva player and nasty" and Wrobo had glowing reports last week....and you do not get drafted #7 overall and are without a high pedigree and talent.
There's a reason why Lias was captain of Team Sweden in 2018 and NOT Rasmus Dahlin or Elias Pettersson. The game he recently socred a goal, he could have had 2 more, wihout
any help from his inept linemates. He's scoring a pt a game in Ontario, while no one else there has a ppg. 3 short handers. If he got the chance here that Wagner, Lizotte and others
have, he would succeed. But he hasn't.

I don't think there is any doubt that Andersson is more skilled than Lizotte and/or Wagner, but he loses his NHL spot because the coaching staff doesn't trust him, at least not yet, defensively. His 5.0 GA/60 rating at even strength is the worst rating of any skater on the team that has played 10 or more games (even worse than MacDermid, which is no easy accomplishment). They send him down to get his reps and work on his 200 ft game, and while he's made some outstanding plays on the PK to score some shorthanded goals, he still gets lost a lot in his own zone, particularly puck watching, something that is at epidemic levels among the young Reign forwards. I hope it works out, I think the Kings will protect him if they go 7-3-1 in the expansion draft. I'm not on the Lizotte (God bless him) nor Wagner bandwagon, and the faster the Kings replace mediocre skill players with better ones, the better off the big club will be.

 

[Sol]

The Kings need better high end wingers, but they definitely need competent defenseman. Our Dmen make such idiotic mistakes all the time. Yes playing MacDermid as much as he has should be a one way trip to the Sun for Tmac. But Blake gonna Blake.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Let's look at the D...

Doughty, Anderson, and Roy are top 4 D man. We can argue Walker is a 4-5 guy (probably why Hoven said he is trade bait). Clague is basically a #5 D with potential to move up to a top 4. Maata, Wolanin and MacD are all #6, #7 guys. TB is #4, 5 at this point also. An ideal healthy Kings D looks like this below...

DD-Anderson
TB-Roy
Clague/Maata-Walker

Though, Clague should be in over Maata, even though that's a lot of youth. BTW Maata is bad.

The gap is someone between Doughty and Roy/Anderson.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I would argue that Clague has performed as a top-4 d all year, having him at #5 would be reminiscent of 2012 Martinez if only Strand could summon the ghost of Greene.

 

[Schmooley]

I think were underrating Bjornfot on here. He plays a calm and efficient game. Hes so solid and his game is still growing. I think he will be coveted by every team in the league in the future.
Also really interested in seeing Clague get some more time.

 

[Peter James Bond III]

McLellalan even compared his motor favorably to Lizotte’s in preseason (or maybe it was early in the regular season). And Lias has waaaaaaay more skill. Frustrating.

100%. Find the Wrobo quotes...best report on any player he's had. I take Futa's, Yannetti's and Wrobo's assessment over Todd's...proof by the fact he tries to get MacD in the lineup
as much as he can...and the record with MacD is horrible, vs no MacD. So there's that. Lias should be in over: Wagner, Lizotte, Lemieux for certain.

Without MacDermid 10-2-3
With MacDermid 6-16-3

 

[Herby]

and you do not get drafted #7 overall and are without a high pedigree and talent.
.

 

[deaderhead28]

Kings scouts < other teams scouts

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Kings scouts < other teams scouts

Zmolek was actually picked by the North Stars, where coincidentally Dean Lombardi was employed at the time.

 

[deaderhead28]

Maybe the North Stars hired a few ex Kings scouts

 

[Herby]

Zmolek was actually picked by the North Stars, where coincidentally Dean Lombardi was employed at the time.

Ha.

I can usually give an explanation or reason as to why someone is picked high in the draft, even Jens Karlsson and Derek Forbort. But there are 2 guys above all else who I watched and to this day have no idea how they were drafted as high as they were.... Doug Zmolek and Colten Teubert. Doug Zmolek made Matt Greene look like Bobby Orr.

 

[kovacro]

Doug Zmolek and Shane Churla for Daryl Sydor. What a deal.

 

[Herby]

Doug Zmolek and Shane Churla for Daryl Sydor. What a deal.

Same clowns who drafted Matt Johnson with the #33 overall pick.

The good news is the Kings were undefeated in bar brawls that year.

 

[Johnny Utah]

The only saving grace was that we turned around and dealt Churla, McSorley and parts to NY for Lappy, Norstrom and parts.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Ha.

I can usually give an explanation or reason as to why someone is picked high in the draft, even Jens Karlsson and Derek Forbort. But there are 2 guys above all else who I watched and to this day have no idea how they were drafted as high as they were.... Doug Zmolek and Colten Teubert. Doug Zmolek made Matt Greene look like Bobby Orr.

Any idea why Adam Bennett, Jason Herter, and Jason Marshall went 6, 8, and 9 in 1989?