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Speculation: 2020-21 News/Rumors/Roster Thread Part II

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Raccoon Jesus said:
I'm a little surprised Luff is still in the plans.
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I’d rather have Luff than Amadio, but I really can’t wait until the “best prospects are fourth round picks” era of the Kings comes to a close. We’re almost there. Shout out to Paul LaDue and Michael Mersch.

With that said, signing Hutton would leave the Kings with a pretty competent defense if we really want the kids to mesh in Ontario.

Hutton - Doughty
Anderson - Roy
Maatta - Walker

Bjornfot - Durzi
Clague - Strand
 
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kilowatt said:
Somewhere in Russia, Justin Azevedo just woke up in a cold sweat.
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That’s just fear; fear of running into Maxim Kitsyn in a dark alley.
Maxim+Kitsyn.jpg
 
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Ziggy Stardust said:
Probably his last shot at cracking the lineup as a bottom sixer who can chip in offensively. Guessing he’ll be fighting for a spot along with guys like Amadio and Grundstrom (who really needs to step up this year).
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kilowatt said:
I’d rather have Luff than Amadio, but I really can’t wait until the “best prospects are fourth round picks” era of the Kings comes to a close. We’re almost there. Shout out to Paul LaDue and Michael Mersch.

With that said, signing Hutton would leave the Kings with a pretty competent defense if we really want the kids to mesh in Ontario.

Hutton - Doughty
Anderson - Roy
Maatta - Walker

Bjornfot - Durzi
Clague - Strand
Click to expand...

And I'd rather have Amadio than Luff. I'd rather have Grundstrom than both. Or at least, on paper, what they should be. But all three of them are on their last lives here imo. They might all be tweeners and never hack it, who knows, that's gotta be TBD this year. My shock is less that Luff is in that crowd and more that they're looking at a new deal for him.

I'm just eager to see who this year's camp surprise is. There's gotta be at least a Lizotte in there, right? 30 point pace buzzsaw was a pretty nice surprise out of basically nowhere.
 
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kilowatt said:
Amadio is about as tenacious as Milton from Office Space.

giphy.gif
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Kinda sad actually, I was very impressed with him at his first training camp -- his physique as deplorable as it was, he had good playmaking skills, just not the speed, strength and tenacity to go with it. I got reamed last year for suggesting he be cut coming out of the exhibition season. In hindsight, he probably made the team because there wasn't anyone better.
 
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What exactly is the outlook for the next season? Another tanker? Black hole team? Playoffs? Cause it doesn't seem like any of the prospects or recent draft picks will be "ready" (whatever that means). What happens if it's another pile of poop.....no big deal? Fire sale (Management, players, coaches)?

My predictions.....no offense, again. Power play, mediocre at best. Maybe penalty kills will be solid (not great, not bad...probably above average'ish). I don't think the cup vets are gonna change up their game at all, except maybe Brown (he might have a great season and end up being swooped up by Seattle).
 
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bouncesonly said:
What exactly is the outlook for the next season? Another tanker? Black hole team? Playoffs? Cause it doesn't seem like any of the prospects or recent draft picks will be "ready" (whatever that means). What happens if it's another pile of poop.....no big deal? Fire sale (Management, players, coaches)?

My predictions.....no offense, again. Power play, mediocre at best. Maybe penalty kills will be solid (not great, not bad...probably above average'ish). I don't think the cup vets are gonna change up their game at all, except maybe Brown (he might have a great season and end up being swooped up by Seattle).
Click to expand...

barring any earth shattering trades or free agent signings I say we are lottery pick bound but more the 5 to 10 range.
 
I want to see some form of progress and hope for this team. It looked pretty grim throughout last season with the exception of probably the last month before the stoppage. So I think if we can have more moments like that last month stretch, but happens more throughout the season in great stretches, I'm happy. Maybe, some guys get called up and perform well? Hopefully? I guess us being more of on the bubble of the playoffs (and probably miss it by a couple of points) is too hopeful for 20-21.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
I'd like a better season, but I'd also like Brandt Clarke/Owen Power.

Maybe the hockey gods will do us like they did us this year, or they've done NYR/NJD/Chicago in recent lotteries.
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Yeah, I think what’s most important this year is making sure the veterans on the team are doing their very best to make sure the rookies can come in and succeed. Last year was the first year of MacLellan’s system, and this year they need to execute. The kids are going to make mistakes, the veterans need to be there to coach and help them.

That likely means minor steps forward in the margins - a better penalty kill, a better power play, a few more goals for and a few fewer goals against.

And most importantly, experience for some of the younger players. Playing in your first NHL game is a lot different than playing in your tenth. I hope we see a lot of guys get nine games over the course of the season, starting with the guys who have to go back to juniors and ending with some of the guys in Ontario staying up (like Vilardi and Anderson last season).

That’s my hope anyway.
 
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bouncesonly said:
What exactly is the outlook for the next season? Another tanker? Black hole team? Playoffs? Cause it doesn't seem like any of the prospects or recent draft picks will be "ready" (whatever that means). What happens if it's another pile of poop.....no big deal? Fire sale (Management, players, coaches)?

My predictions.....no offense, again. Power play, mediocre at best. Maybe penalty kills will be solid (not great, not bad...probably above average'ish). I don't think the cup vets are gonna change up their game at all, except maybe Brown (he might have a great season and end up being swooped up by Seattle).
Click to expand...

I'm sticking to what I've been saying and they should aim for a Wild Card spot. I'm not saying they'll make it into the playoffs, but that should be goal to get close. If they miss out and are in the black hole so be it. The prospect pool is the best in the league by a country mile, they don't need another high draft pick even if they can draft a top pairing defenseman next year. What we need to start seeing is progress and we saw it at the end of last season with the win streak. If we are a bottom 5 or 10 team I don't think that's a good sign. Not fire Blake/McLellan/Robitaille bad, but that's not good.

I think what next season is going hinge on is Doughty bouncing back and Quick/Petersen pushing each other to perform better. I think if the defense/goaltending improves I think we'll be better.

The offense will probably depend on how well Vilardi and Carter do. I think Kopi, Brown, Iafallo, Lizotte should all probably have around the same kind of production as last year. Guys like Kempe and Wagner should improve their scoring, but you never know. One things for sure is that Kempe has stop going 30-35 games without scoring a goal. That's not good enough for a player with his talent. And then other guys like Vilardi, Frk and Carter are wild cards. A full healthy season with those 3 could be great, but Carter is coming off a serious injury so you can't expect him to bounce back and score 20+ goals again. And you can't count on Vilardi and Frk to carry some of the offensive load for most of the year.

But a lot of other things have to go our way with regards to our division and its hard to predict how Calgary, Arizona, Ducks, Sharks are going to perform.
 
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Doesn't matter what Quick does. You want Petersen to continue keeping his cool. Whatever he was doing in the small sample size, you hope he can do it in more games. But he's going to be 26 in a few weeks, so not really a kid anymore.

I expect nothing from Doughty until the rest of the roster is able to force him to give a damn. Walker/Roy need to keep Walkering/Roying. Maatta can really be nothing but a pleasant surprise. MacD is what he is, and we know what to expect. Bring someone else in, let a young guy play, either way works.

Kopitar will be Kopitar. Brown and Carter will or won't do whatever. A good year from Iafallo either makes him expensive, or a good asset. Vilardi again will be the most interesting forward to keep up with, just now hopefully in a Kings jersey every night. We'll see what happens at #2.

Unless there are moves made which are substantial, some improvement in the standings I would think is the expectation. We're talking a very young and/or inexperienced roster. Other than the dinosaurs. Whether they're in the wild card race, they'll probably need some above and beyond production from at least a couple guys to get that far.
 
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