GDT: 2020-21 season Game 11 LA Kings vs Vegas Golden Knights @12:00pm 2/7/21

[DoktorJeep]

In all honesty I keep Amadio for his Defense the rest I'd package...Wags has great speed but that's it,Lizotte is too small,Moore is good on the boards but that's it,Luff,meh

If VAN continues to lose, I’d take a shot at Virtanen.

 

[pepperjack]

Crapping on Amadio is a waste of time. He is clearly a replaceable player. Until there is a someone is ready to take his spot, the Kings are going to let it play out. Patients is a virtue.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

If VAN continues to lose, I’d take a shot at Virtanen.

There's no way Van gives up on Virtanen,besides their problem stems from the Back-End,same as the Kings

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

I've been saying it for a while, but our lines are just brutal. Vilardi should be playing wing right now. Let him gain some confidence playing with Kopitar. It's not like Vilardi's crushing it at center, and playing the third line with Andersson and Brown certainly isn't helping his playmaking skills. Let's try this:

Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Athanasiou - Carter - Iafallo
Andersson - Lizotte - Brown
Grundstrom - Anderson-Dolan - Moore

To play RWing in the NHL,Vilardi needs to gain some more strength for the board-work,not his forte! He looked fast at the beginning of the season!Nowadays he's barely noticeable actually

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Been saying it for a couple years we need to find a Drew replacement now before its to late

Not disagreeing but how do you just find a replacement for Doughty unless you are drafting near the top. Nobody is trading those guys. Norris Trophy level guys are unicorns in the NHL.

Unless the Kings get a high draft pick this year, chances are low that they will be finding a Doughty replacement.

If the Kings are looking to get that guy, this is probably the year since there are several high quality Defenseman.

Thing is, there's not a Doughty in every draft. He's generational. There are more swings in this draft than usual, but even then, finding an all situations guy who can excel 25+ minutes a game is a unicorn.

All you can do is HOPE a guy turns up his game like that, and get as many swings at potential as you can.

We're fortunate that Matt Roy may be able to function as a full time #1, but he's still no prime Doughty.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

It is a miracle Brown is even playing at age 36? and has 4 goals/assists.

I do not think he is the person to cry about right now.

 

[Mats26]

Trying to rebuild the 2012/2014 teams will never happen. We need to play team defense with a 5 man unit. 6 capable d men who buy into the system and play smart. Right now we have 2.(Doughty\Roy) . With Walker being a tier below and prospects getting developed. Hoping to land a generational talent is not a plan, it's lottery luck.

 

[kingsfan28]

Absolutely this. Brown could still be a useful player if he wasn’t asked to play on the top line.

The problem is, there is nobody to fill that spot. They've tried and nobody can get the job done. Until one of the kids comes up and can produce on the top line, he'll be there. Brown is the least of our problems right now.

 

[BigBrown]

The problem is, there is nobody to fill that spot. They've tried and nobody can get the job done. Until one of the kids comes up and can produce on the top line, he'll be there. Brown is the least of our problems right now.

Exactly. Brown is miscast in a top line role but none of the younger guys are doing it any better than him. I think the most disappointing part is that for all of the young inexperienced guys on the roster, very few are having a positive impact. Vilardi is especially disappointing.

 

[Sol]

Pros: Owen
Cons: Watching this team

 

[KingTech]

The problem is, there is nobody to fill that spot. They've tried and nobody can get the job done. Until one of the kids comes up and can produce on the top line, he'll be there. Brown is the least of our problems right now.

Have they really given anyone a real shot ? Yes they do start the games with brown away from Kopitar but with in a period or so Brown always seems to go back to him. I would love to see player get multiple games with Kopitar before I would say they aren't any better.

 

[Fat Elvis]

My prediction that they'd make the playoffs this season looks pretty weak right now.

 

[head eyes]

To be fair, I doubt you could score a goal on Jeff Zatkoff in a beer league game. No offense, but if it were so easy he wouldn’t be leading the team.

To be fair, your ad hominem didn't address the fact that I said his 4 goals were from him handling the puck for less than a second. Kempe is tied with him in goals, and Kempe has had a few goals taken away after doing all the work (one by Brown even). Put MacD where Brown plays on the powerplay and he'd have 4 too. My original point was that he's terrible with the puck and makes awful plays. You're the one that brought goals into this.

 

[lumbergh]

Have they really given anyone a real shot ? Yes they do start the games with brown away from Kopitar but with in a period or so Brown always seems to go back to him. I would love to see player get multiple games with Kopitar before I would say they aren't any better.

I'll keep banging this drum, but the top line should be Iafallo-Kopitar-Carter. I have no idea why, but Kopitar and Carter are magic together. Carter is pretty much trash with anyone else right now.

The Kings have one functional center (Kopitar), two rookies (JAD & Vilardi), and Amadio, who should be in the AHL. Not pretty.

 

[kingsholygrail]

They played a lot better than on Friday.

 

[Bandit]

To be fair, your ad hominem didn't address the fact that I said his 4 goals were from him handling the puck for less than a second. Kempe is tied with him in goals, and Kempe has had a few goals taken away after doing all the work (one by Brown even). Put MacD where Brown plays on the powerplay and he'd have 4 too. My original point was that he's terrible with the puck and makes awful plays. You're the one that brought goals into this.

Goals are "plays" whether you like it or not. Also, you literally said "I could do it" to which I responded that you most certainly could not. If you didn't want to be talked about, don't mention yourself. And no MacDermid could not score those goal either. I would have thought all the years of watching <insert plug here> on the Kings' power would have made that obvious, but believe whatever you want, I don't care.

 

[head eyes]

Goals are "plays" whether you like it or not. Also, you literally said "I could do it" to which I responded that you most certainly could not. If you didn't want to be talked about, don't mention yourself. And no MacDermid could not score those goal either. I would have thought all the years of watching <insert plug here> on the Kings' power would have made that obvious, but believe whatever you want, I don't care.

You're arguing over a point I didn't make. I said plays are dying on his stick, and no, tapping the puck that's on the goal line into an open net isn't a play. A play (in terms of offense) is the process that leads up to a goal. You inserting that "well he has 4 goals in other games" is irrelevant to the fact that he was killing offensive plays multiple times yesterday. A player isn't immune to criticism because he scored in other games.

 

[apocalypse]

Trying to rebuild the 2012/2014 teams will never happen. We need to play team defense with a 5 man unit. 6 capable d men who buy into the system and play smart. Right now we have 2.(Doughty\Roy) . With Walker being a tier below and prospects getting developed. Hoping to land a generational talent is not a plan, it's lottery luck.

I think Walker's been just about as good as Roy. he's quick and smart with the puck. It's a shame he's still out.

 

[Herby]

My prediction that they'd make the playoffs this season looks pretty weak right now.

I was hoping for something similar to 2008-2009 where you could clearly see improvement from the team and a future star stepped in and gave us hope. This season has been disappointing on a lot of levels.

 

[BigKing]

I was hoping for something similar to 2008-2009 where you could clearly see improvement from the team and a future star stepped in and gave us hope. This season has been disappointing on a lot of levels.

I was hoping for this too but a blueline this thin can't lose two of its Top 3 defenseman and not wind up looking like complete shit. I'm not a huge Walker guy but he probably is the 3rd best defenseman on the roster. Breakouts are suffering greatly and the whole thing is a mess.

You'd like to see someone elevate above the mess so that part is disappointing. I'm mainly looking at Vilardi. It's not that he isn't scoring but the flashes are few and far between.

It's still early so we might see progress. I was encouraged by the early start but now we've had three games in a row without Roy/Walker and it has been as bad as expected--possibly worse.

The Maata move has really proven to be an airball so far. Stakes are real low with this move but, again, Blake has pretty much zero positives when it comes to acquiring NHL players. I'm on board with the drafting and how the prospects are being handled but holy shit is it a giant leap of faith that he will make the right moves when it is time to augment the youth with proven talent.

 

[Lt Dan]

I was hoping for something similar to 2008-2009 where you could clearly see improvement from the team and a future star stepped in and gave us hope. This season has been disappointing on a lot of levels.

Indeed

But Covid and Minny cheap shots and slap shots have derailed any progress this team could have made.

Mikey Anderson has been the big bright spot so far and Clague has been better than I expected

 

[lumbergh]

Indeed

But Covid and Minny cheap shots and slap shots have derailed any progress this team could have made.

Mikey Anderson has been the big bright spot so far and Clague has been better than I expected

Oof. Mikey Anderson, in my opinion, has not handled the high pressure minutes well so far, being outscored badly when he's on the ice. He isn't obviously bad, but he and Doughty aren't anywhere near good. He needs to be on the second or third pairing right now, but the Kings don't have a better option.

Clague isn't much better, but at least he's extremely high event. Lots of goals scored when he's on the ice, both for and against, so that's fun. 4.1 GA/60 5vs5. Yikes.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I was hoping for this too but a blueline this thin can't lose two of its Top 3 defenseman and not wind up looking like complete shit. I'm not a huge Walker guy but he probably is the 3rd best defenseman on the roster. Breakouts are suffering greatly and the whole thing is a mess.

You'd like to see someone elevate above the mess so that part is disappointing. I'm mainly looking at Vilardi. It's not that he isn't scoring but the flashes are few and far between.

It's still early so we might see progress. I was encouraged by the early start but now we've had three games in a row without Roy/Walker and it has been as bad as expected--possibly worse.

The Maata move has really proven to be an airball so far. Stakes are real low with this move but, again, Blake has pretty much zero positives when it comes to acquiring NHL players. I'm on board with the drafting and how the prospects are being handled but holy shit is it a giant leap of faith that he will make the right moves when it is time to augment the youth with proven talent.

I see it as kind of a plus and minus--we see how good and important Roy and Walker our, and also just how impotent our defense is without them. Dudes are gonna get paid. Roy deserves it, Walker may be gone with the expansion draft.

To the last point I kind of disagree. Kovalchuk was an unmitigated fiasco, for sure. But all the little signings since are mostly simply bullshit seat warmers. I have to believe when he starts slinging actual assets to go for it instead of signing budget UFAs we'll be targeting more significant players with established history. But I think it's fair to be concerned.

 

[Herby]

I was hoping for this too but a blueline this thin can't lose two of its Top 3 defenseman and not wind up looking like complete shit. I'm not a huge Walker guy but he probably is the 3rd best defenseman on the roster. Breakouts are suffering greatly and the whole thing is a mess.

You'd like to see someone elevate above the mess so that part is disappointing. I'm mainly looking at Vilardi. It's not that he isn't scoring but the flashes are few and far between.

It's still early so we might see progress. I was encouraged by the early start but now we've had three games in a row without Roy/Walker and it has been as bad as expected--possibly worse.

The Maata move has really proven to be an airball so far. Stakes are real low with this move but, again, Blake has pretty much zero positives when it comes to acquiring NHL players. I'm on board with the drafting and how the prospects are being handled but holy shit is it a giant leap of faith that he will make the right moves when it is time to augment the youth with proven talent.

I agree, the loss of those two was devastating to the Kings, especially Roy.

I am more concerned with the fact that the Kings still don't have anything close to resembling the next Doughty and there are still question marks about someone being the next Kopitar, despite the Kings using the #5 and #2 picks back to back years on centers. I'm still waiting to see anything that screams star from any of the three of them, you knew right away that Doughty and Kopitar were going to be stars. The Kings have a very deep farm system but I worry about the very top. I still think that should the right player become available this offseason that the Kings are going to be all over it, even if the cost is higher than many here might like. They won't win the next time around without another Kopitar/Doughty type.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I agree, the loss of those two was devastating to the Kings, especially Roy.

I am more concerned with the fact that the Kings still don't have anything close to resembling the next Doughty and there are still question marks about someone being the next Kopitar, despite the Kings using the #5 and #2 picks back to back years on centers. I'm still waiting to see anything that screams star from any of the three of them, you knew right away that Doughty and Kopitar were going to be stars. The Kings have a very deep farm system but I worry about the very top. I still think that should the right player become available this offseason that the Kings are going to be all over it, even if the cost is higher than many here might like. They won't win the next time around without another Kopitar/Doughty type.

Imo, this is premature worrying, though.

Re: the next Kopitar--he played in the Swedish league after his draft. No one knew he was going to be a star until the following year. And there were plenty of questions until then, hence being drafted at 11 instead of right after Crosby where he belongs. Might be a little early to be shutting the door on byfield or our next 2021 pick, and Turcotte isn't Kopitar but he looks excellent.

But even more so, re: the next Doughty--No one since has looked like the next Doughty right away. Byram and Makar didn't. Not Ekblad, not even Dahlin. We were spoiled by a dude walking in at 18 and doing what he did. Look how long it took Keith and Karlsson to be the guys they were. Look how long it took Hedman!

I get what you're saying and I think we all share the worry because for once we have every other base covered in our system, but I think you have to let these guys play out a few years to see what they become before trading them, otherwise you're filling holes you think you have by possibly opening other holes in trading them.