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

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Raccoon Jesus said:


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Really hoping Turcotte and Kaliyev do well in this tournament after last years debacle, especially Turcotte. Not that these World Juniors is the determining factor for his career but I really like this kid. I think a new coach and a year older will help. Go USA...and all of our prospects.
 
ru4reals said:
Really hoping Turcotte and Kaliyev do well in this tournament after last years debacle, especially Turcotte. Not that these World Juniors is the determining factor for his career but I really like this kid. I think a new coach and a year older will help. Go USA...and all of our prospects.
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I think Turcotte is gonna turn some heads this year. I bet he doesn't produce like a madman at the tourney, though, and that will further sour people on him (then again, if they STICk with Zegras-Turcotte-Kaliyev, everyone in socal will be happy). But by the end of the year he won't be denied an NHL roster spot, dude is just all fire.
 
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Axl Rhoadz said:
I read somewhere yesterday, Byfield not impressing in WJC camp thus far....
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He has been start/stop this entire camp. Had to sit out a few games because he was waiting for covid results, then camp got shutdown, then he had another 2 scrimmages. Some of his teammates raved about him. It's camp, lets wait for a game or 2 of the WJC before we start make some analysis on his play and how much/little he has progressed over the past 9 months.
 
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This tickles me in a good way.

I’m pretty sure most will be laser focused on Byfield, but I’m all in on seeing this trio light it up.

Arty mentioned in an interview that they have all been training together, golfing and whatnot.
 
Doesn't matter, whole hockey world has a Zegras boner and is down on Turcotte, no matter what happens in the tourney it'll be because of Zegras and in spite of Turcotte.
 
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The Lukeman said:
He has been start/stop this entire camp. Had to sit out a few games because he was waiting for covid results, then camp got shutdown, then he had another 2 scrimmages. Some of his teammates raved about him. It's camp, lets wait for a game or 2 of the WJC before we start make some analysis on his play and how much/little he has progressed over the past 9 months.
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Doesn't mean that you can't analyze what's already occurred. Byfield is a longterm project of the highest caliber, but no, he is not ready for the NHL yet. He IS struggling to make an impression in that camp, whether we like it or not. No shame in admitting the truth.

He would be eligible for next years WJCs too if I am not mistaken. Yes, it would be a bummer if Byfield lays another egg this year. But does that really have an impact on anything that matters? Its foolish to think he could step into the NHL while this raw. He is a couple of years away from his man body. The only hassle would be having to read and listen to folks call him a bust or question the Kings choice. None of that matters, its just noise not worth taking personally. Byfield has a damn good chance at reaching his peak if not rushed.

He had a poor Team Canada camp. Lets hope he turns it around in actual games. If not, its going to get awfully defensive around here. And it won't matter one bit. Nothing that happens over the next few weeks will have any real impact over what happens in 2022, just whatever weight we assign to a fun, prestigious tourney.
 
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bland said:
Doesn't mean that you can't analyze what's already occurred. Byfield is a longterm project of the highest caliber, but no, he is not ready for the NHL yet. He IS struggling to make an impression in that camp, whether we like it or not. No shame in admitting the truth.

He would be eligible for next years WJCs too if I am not mistaken. Yes, it would be a bummer if Byfield lays another egg this year. But does that really have an impact on anything that matters? Its foolish to think he could step into the NHL while this raw. He is a couple of years away from his man body. The only hassle would be having to read and listen to folks call him a bust or question the Kings choice. None of that matters, its just noise not worth taking personally. Byfield has a damn good chance at reaching his peak if not rushed.

He had a poor Team Canada camp. Lets hope he turns it around in actual games. If not, its going to get awfully defensive around here. And it won't matter one bit. Nothing that happens over the next few weeks will have any real impact over what happens in 2022, just whatever weight we assign to a fun, prestigious tourney.
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I agree with your points. We have to remember he's still the youngest player on Team Canada. I've been saying all along on the Insider Board that I don't believe he's in the Kings plans this year, other than maybe a peak or an oversized roster COVID addition NHL roster. When you hear Blake's words he's saying the same thing without saying it. You don't want to burn a year off his ELC at 18 years old on a shortened season with so much uncertainty about NHL games and format for return to play. September is right around the corner already for the 21-22 season. And one of the biggest factor's for Blake is roster and CAP management down the road. If Byfield's ELC slides this season, when he's finished he 3rd NHL season of his ELC, Kopitar's $10 million CAP hit will come off the books at the end of that year. Perfect opportunity to sign Byfield long-term if he lives up to projections, and depending on how Kopitar is holding up, he could return for a year or two at a much reduced pay rate.
 
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bland said:
Doesn't mean that you can't analyze what's already occurred. Byfield is a longterm project of the highest caliber, but no, he is not ready for the NHL yet. He IS struggling to make an impression in that camp, whether we like it or not. No shame in admitting the truth.

He would be eligible for next years WJCs too if I am not mistaken. Yes, it would be a bummer if Byfield lays another egg this year. But does that really have an impact on anything that matters? Its foolish to think he could step into the NHL while this raw. He is a couple of years away from his man body. The only hassle would be having to read and listen to folks call him a bust or question the Kings choice. None of that matters, its just noise not worth taking personally. Byfield has a damn good chance at reaching his peak if not rushed.

He had a poor Team Canada camp. Lets hope he turns it around in actual games. If not, its going to get awfully defensive around here. And it won't matter one bit. Nothing that happens over the next few weeks will have any real impact over what happens in 2022, just whatever weight we assign to a fun, prestigious tourney.
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He hasn't had a poor camp, though. This is getting ridiculous. This isn't about showing how not-a-homer you are by offering criticism. "poor" is hyperbole of the highest order. I agree with you that this should all be future-oriented but that doesn't mean he needs to be unnecessarily crapped on in the meantime. As you point out, around these boards, the moment any prospect gets drafted by the Kings, his stock falls. See any prospect thread from the last few years for examples, except from the Europeans who give us fair updates. Byfield sucks. Turcotte sucks. kaliyev sucks, overrated. Fagemo? might have led the WJC in scoring but he's opportunistic and old, sucks. Vilardi is okay but he has one foot in the grave and is one stick check away from losing an appendage. I'm fine with all that, but we don't need to feed it either.

As an aside--really wild fun fact: Byfield was the youngest player on last year's team AND this year's team.
 
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I see we’re still talking about practice. But seriously, QBs performance at this WJC, great, good or bad, isn’t a predictor of career success. Same for all the kings prospects in the tournament. I’m just going to enjoy watching them compete for their countries.
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:
He hasn't had a poor camp, though. This is getting ridiculous. This isn't about showing how not-a-homer you are by offering criticism. "poor" is hyperbole of the highest order. I agree with you that this should all be future-oriented but that doesn't mean he needs to be unnecessarily crapped on in the meantime. As you point out, around these boards, the moment any prospect gets drafted by the Kings, his stock falls. See any prospect thread from the last few years for examples, except from the Europeans who give us fair updates. Byfield sucks. Turcotte sucks. kaliyev sucks, overrated. Fagemo? might have led the WJC in scoring but he's opportunistic and old, sucks. Vilardi is okay but he has one foot in the grave and is one stick check away from losing an appendage. I'm fine with all that, but we don't need to feed it either.

As an aside--really wild fun fact: Byfield was the youngest player on last year's team AND this year's team.
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Good lord dude, you were already whining about Turcotte not getting appreciated for a hypothetical great performance in a tournament that hasn't even happened yet. Maximum butt hurt on display.

Give it a rest, its childish. Nobody is insulting your mother here.

Byfield did have a poor camp - lie to yourself all you want, accuse me of what, trying to be... what exactly by pointing that out? He didn't produce and according to reasonable reports he only showed spurts of what makes him so valuable. He had the same set of circumstances as the rest of the invitees and just didn't impress.

This post just proved my point. It doesn't matter what Byfield does to some people, only how the completely irrelevant talk surrounding him is presented.
 
I think, as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Byfield did join camp late relative to the rest of the roster, so he had a bit of catching up to do. However, he also has yet to meet the high expectations out of him as far as production. You COULD argue Byfield played against the better goalies, considering two from Team White were taken (Levi and Garand) while only Gauthier on his team was added to the roster, but then it honestly sounds like grasping at straws to defend him.

I'm sure there will be detractors and doomsayers who will use Byfield's camp as evidence that he's a bust. I've seen it already. I think the more appropriate category in "he's done well, perhaps even well enough for a project forward, but not well enough for what we expect out of the second overall pick". I know I was hoping to see him have more scoring opportunities.

But that's okay. He's still adjusting.
 
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I watched the two intersquad scrimmage live streams and it seemed like he really struggled with entering the offensive zone. He'd either lose the puck from mishandling it or he'd just dump it in. He did have a few really nice passes that the shooters didnt convert but that was about it. I cant recall him ever getting a shot off other than when he kicked in a goal.

Hopefully it's just rust but I dnt think you can fault someone for suggesting concern. Byfield was criticized for being a no-show in big stage games and he's not exactly standing out in camp.
 
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I didn’t get to see any games. My only question on Byfield is ..... Did he use a longer stick?
 
bland said:
Good lord dude, you were already whining about Turcotte not getting appreciated for a hypothetical great performance in a tournament that hasn't even happened yet. Maximum butt hurt on display.

Give it a rest, its childish. Nobody is insulting your mother here.

Byfield did have a poor camp - lie to yourself all you want, accuse me of what, trying to be... what exactly by pointing that out? He didn't produce and according to reasonable reports he only showed spurts of what makes him so valuable. He had the same set of circumstances as the rest of the invitees and just didn't impress.

This post just proved my point. It doesn't matter what Byfield does to some people, only how the completely irrelevant talk surrounding him is presented.
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You might be the biggest 'can dish it out but can't take it' on these boards lately when someone comes for your opinion.

We're talking about stuff that happened literally weeks ago at this point, and retroactively downgrading performance in a couple of skates and intrasquad scrimmages from "wish we could have had more" to "poor camp" is an opinion you're certainly entitled to but a pretty garbage one.

You can drop the holier than thou bullshit. What I'm saying I'm 'accusing' you of is swinging too hard to the criticism end to prove you're not a homer just so you can accuse others of being homers when they criticize you. It's silly.

Yes, it DOES matter what Byfield does, we're not blinded by the Kings jersey, it's just that 'poor' is a garbage adjective for his performance. especially given he spent most of those scrimmages lined up against combinations of Dach/Byram and Cozens and was still generating.

As an aside but related--both full scrimmages are available on youtube for your support of the above and to quench the hockey boredom.
 
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