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

[Brodeur]

 

[kovacro]

Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 590 is reporting the Kings are close to signing Andreas Athanasiou.

 

[KopitarFAN]

Super weird.

 

[kovacro]

Perfectly fine with a 1-year deal for Athanasiou. If he performs, the Kings can always flip him at the deadline.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

A nice low risk, high reward signing with a former 30-goal scorer who is just 26 and can play any forward position. Could be the next Tobias Rieder, or Brad Richardson, which is alright if things work out for him and the team.

 

[Stimpythecat]

Edmonton gave up 2 2nd round picks for him not even a year ago. Ouch.

Low risk UFA signing - medium reward.

 

[tny760]

not really sure i understand why, but i'm not mad about it

just seems like another roadblock for the kids

 

[kingsboy11]

hmm that's interesting

 

[HookKing]

I wouldn't mind seeing a Wagner/Turcotte/Athanasiou line coming out of camp.

 

[BigKing]

not really sure i understand why, but i'm not mad about it

just seems like another roadblock for the kids

Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown
Kempe-Carter-AA
Wagner-Vilardi-Frk
Moore-Lizotte-Amadio
Grundstrom-Andersson extras

Wagner and then the bottom five guys can go in and out of the lineup, although Lizotte probably doesn't but it is hard to fit him in a C spot unless Carter moves to wing which pushes Wagner down. Regardless, I think these are the dudes. Maybe Fagemo blows the doors off and makes the team but, broken record time, I really think Blake wants these kids to marinate together down in Ontario.

AA signing gives you a legit NHL player/forward in an age range that the Kings don't really have on the roster. He's 26. Iafallo and Frk are 27. Outside of those two, we are looking at 25 and under or 33 and over with the 25 year old being Trevor Moore who is filler. The price is basically free for AA and he could be someone that surprises like Frk.

Blake hired the dude in Ontario purely for developing the group of prospects he has drafted. There will be injuries to the big club and the 4th line guys could play themselves off the team coupled with some guys in Ontario crushing it but, even then, I think it is a JAD type getting the call and not one of the prized prospects until maybe late in the season--much like what we saw with Vilardi and Anderson last year.

 

[Fat Elvis]

1 yr at less than 1.5 is a no brainer for this team. This season is not a road block and it adds more competition. Smart move

 

[Telos]

It's just a stopgap signing that could turn into something more. They are pretty adamant about not rushing any of the kids.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Yup, 1.2 million.

 

[riznat]

Just checked out his hockeydb page for the hell of it, had to do a triple take when I saw he was -45 with Detroit last year, in only 46 games

 

[Steve Zissou]

Just checked out his hockeydb page for the hell of it, had to do a triple take when I saw he was -45 with Detroit last year, in only 46 games

View attachment 380776

Did you... see how bad Detroit was last year!? I think they could have set off records with how many games they lost.

 

[tny760]

Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown
Kempe-Carter-AA
Wagner-Vilardi-Frk
Moore-Lizotte-Amadio
Grundstrom-Andersson extras

Wagner and then the bottom five guys can go in and out of the lineup, although Lizotte probably doesn't but it is hard to fit him in a C spot unless Carter moves to wing which pushes Wagner down. Regardless, I think these are the dudes. Maybe Fagemo blows the doors off and makes the team but, broken record time, I really think Blake wants these kids to marinate together down in Ontario.

AA signing gives you a legit NHL player/forward in an age range that the Kings don't really have on the roster. He's 26. Iafallo and Frk are 27. Outside of those two, we are looking at 25 and under or 33 and over with the 25 year old being Trevor Moore who is filler. The price is basically free for AA and he could be someone that surprises like Frk.

Blake hired the dude in Ontario purely for developing the group of prospects he has drafted. There will be injuries to the big club and the 4th line guys could play themselves off the team coupled with some guys in Ontario crushing it but, even then, I think it is a JAD type getting the call and not one of the prized prospects until maybe late in the season--much like what we saw with Vilardi and Anderson last year.

yeah, the reasoning is sound. to be honest i didn't expect the blue chips to be playing in the NHL, i know some people expect it but i'm not one of them. maybe kids get cycled up for cups of tea throughout the season. between frk, wagner and AA that's some good speed up the wings mid-lineup but not much defensive responsibility. just seems a bit counterproductive on some level

 

[fivehole32]

Waiting for the Jimmie Fox, oh and "Nice to see you too", four to five times a game.

 

[DAkings20]

Him and Wagner on the same line, like two fighter jets who can fly.

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

I’m known as an AA apologist on the Wings forum and thinks he is unfairly looked down upon as a player in a vacuum due to the eye test suggesting he should be much better than he is, but he can still be a great middle 6 complementary piece.

low risk, medium potential reward. And from an entertainment standpoint, he’s good for a few highlight reel goals. That said, he’ll leave you wanting more as some nights he will look like an absolute
Superstar to a casual viewer and then invisible
Next 5 games.

10 million dollar athleticism, 4 million dollar tools, ECHL level brain, JV coach’s level son work ethic/entitlement

 

[Yog S'loth]

OK, well, the Kings really needed to sign one veteran forward and one D.

Here's the forward. Not sure that's who I would have picked, but... one year, so low enough risk.

 

[Jericho111091]

Pretty low risk for a fairly intriguing player

 

[DoktorJeep]

I could see AA get a shot next to Kopitar and Iafallo if Brown gets off to a slow start. Playing Brown and Carter in the bottom six is a call coach Todd needs to make.

 

[LAKings88]

No expectations for AA#2.

A bit more competition at camp I guess.

 

[Oilers in NS]

Edmonton gave up 2 2nd round picks for him not even a year ago. Ouch.

Low risk UFA signing - medium reward.

We had him for 9 games. He scored the first game for us but was invisible after that. Holland has made some great moves but this one was the sketchy one.
Just curious, what is the long term goal for Byfield? I have watched every Team Canada Jr game and I expected much more from him. Will he be sent back to junior after LA camp?

 

[Hatter of the Beach]

Perhaps the best analogy I can think of for Athanasiou is he’s what happens in the NHL 2020 video game when you create a player with high stats (top 10 fastest player in the league, a hard shot, above average hands), but let him be played by your 7 year old Nephew.

Tools are there, but the game sense isn’t