Speculation: 2021-21 LA Kings News, Rumors, Roster discussion part V

[kingsfan]

Agreed, but COL will need to re-sign or replace Burakovsky, Kadri, and Keumper after this season with an eye to a monster deal for MacKinnon one year later. Swapping Byram full-time on his ELC plus Walker at a lower cap hit could help them manage that transition, but yeah, Girard won't be cheap.

Agreed, it is probable someone would have to go and I'm not ruling out Girard. My thoughts are they are in win now mode, so they aren't going to downgrade a top 2-3 D-man until after the season. They'll also have the cap hits of those guys to resign/replace them, and I think all are getting $4+ million now. My bet is they package a 1st rounder with Erik Johnson to get some team to take him for the final year of his deal.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Well said. I still remember watching Kopitar's debut. I literally got "Kopitar #11" added to my blank jersey the day after.

I'm hoping that once Andersson is back we see the Tkachev-Vilardi line takeoff again. It's frustrating that both of them have struggled without Lias, but chemistry is tricky. It's only been 3 games, we'll see.

That's why I ordered my Byfield 55 this preseason

Re: Vilardi the more I watch the more I want him converted to wing. Maybe like above--Iafallo-Danault-Vilardi or something. A guy should NOT get crushed that hard in his minutes via possession but he's far too talented to be drowning.

 

[Rorschach]

How is Brown not earning his contract?

28g, 52pts pace last year. Lead the team in goals.

3pts in 3 games this year.

Cap hit is 5.8M.

I bet, depending on the time of the season, if we offered Brown for trade, he'd get more than a first rounder from playoff-bound teams...and maybe even more than one first if we offered reasonable retention too. Grit, goalscoring, playoff performer, leadership...heck the guy even can take faceoffs in a pinch when his center (usually Kopitar) is thrown out of the faceoff circle.

 

[Sol]

He's right though, you're arguing against a strawman.

There's a whole hell of a lot of grey area between "fire Todd McLellan into the ocean" and "Todd McLellan's immediate family" but I haven't seen any stronger endorsement than "we're stuck with him for now" this entire offseason.

I'm on your side here but you don't need to yell at an imaginary audience to make your point. Well, you can, but at least point out they're imaginary, since you can't argue with real posters.

They're not imaginary. Do a simple search and you will find them if you're curious rather than of accusing me of lying

 

[BringTheReign]

Agreed, it is probable someone would have to go and I'm not ruling out Girard. My thoughts are they are in win now mode, so they aren't going to downgrade a top 2-3 D-man until after the season. They'll also have the cap hits of those guys to resign/replace them, and I think all are getting $4+ million now. My bet is they package a 1st rounder with Erik Johnson to get some team to take him for the final year of his deal.

Yeah, I could see that. I think moving Erik Johnson would be questionable though given how absolutely soft their d-corps looked without him in the playoffs last year. I guess they could try to replace him with someone who could provide similar size and shutdown elements at a lower cap hit though.

 

[kingsfan]

Yeah, I could see that. I think moving Erik Johnson would be questionable though given how absolutely soft their d-corps looked without him in the playoffs last year. I guess they could try to replace him with someone who could provide similar size and shutdown elements at a lower cap hit though.

I assume MacDermid is part of the picture to address that softness.

 

[BringTheReign]

That's why I ordered my Byfield 55 this preseason

Re: Vilardi the more I watch the more I want him converted to wing. Maybe like above--Iafallo-Danault-Vilardi or something. A guy should NOT get crushed that hard in his minutes via possession but he's far too talented to be drowning.

I love the idea of him playing with Iafallo and Danault. His offensive skill is definitely more worthy of top 6 deployment than Kempe's is.

Also I am hoping to get Byfield #55 on a blank 90s chevron logo jersey soon. He played in it in his debut earlier this year, and I just so happened to have picked up a blank of it for like $40 on OfferUp. Soon!

 

[BringTheReign]

Solid article from Dooley about Danault's line versus Vilardi's with respect to chances for and against: https://lakingsinsider.com/2021/10/...0UMzTpbezbT-pK1cMHzX40EALYOyQhDsx9vbTN30Yxmic

Danault's line is controlling play and has been a bit unlucky finishing, whereas Vilardi's line is doing poorly there without Andersson as the eye test has shown.

 

[Rorschach]

The sucky thing is that the Kings are in purgatory. Guys like Iafallo and Kempe are excellent complementary players who cannot carry an offensive load by themselves; Kaliyev, Fagemo, et. al. are (arguably) excellent scorers who cannot carry play at an NHL level quite yet. In theory--you could roll out, say, Kempe-Iafallo-Fagemo (or as we saw Vilardi-Kalivey-Tkachev) and it would be an excellent balance, but we aren't there yet--instead of being good at both it's not-nhl-average at both. As of yet, that is.

I'd be all for an Iafallo-Danault-Kaliyev line to jam things up right now and turn that 3/4 of the shot and scoring attempts into 2/3 of the shot and scoring attempts but actual points.

The good news is that it's overall trending up on its own through development and hopefully keeps doing so.

 

[johnjm22]

Not to be too cynical, but I doubt Lias coming back will make much difference.

Preseason means pretty much nothing.

Bottom line is that Lias is a guy who's never done anything in the NHL. If we're pinning our hopes on him to get the Tkachev/Vilardi/Andersson line going, I think we'll be disappointed.

 

[BringTheReign]

@johnjm22, I get your point, but Lias also demonstrated real growth last year in how he dominated at the AHL level. Prior to then he'd never put up more than 0.67 PPG in Hartford, but he was over 1 PPG in Ontario. I'll admit I tend to be more optimistic than most, but Lias was still drafted near Vilardi comfortably in the top 10. The potential is still there.

 

[kilowatt]

I'll call myself out then.

Okay so we have one How big a fan are we talking? Are you claiming he's the best coach in Kings history? Or that he's made the best of a bad situation?

I'm not saying I hate TM, I'm not saying I love TM. But that claim is analogous to me saying "Time to send down Blake Lizotte. Sorry Lizotte fanboys! Hate to break it to the Blake Lizotte FANCLUB!". What fan club? There's a big difference between people saying "Yeah, Lizotte is a fourth liner, hopefully there are people better but he's doing okay" and saying "Lizotte should be our 1C!". It's just a false narrative here, that's all.

I see people arguing that our roster's poor play isn't entirely on TM. I think that's a fair assessment. I wouldn't say I'm in the TM fan club as a result. Usually, when coaches are fired, it's because the team is talented enough to make a splash in the playoffs and they're severely underperforming. But Blake and Luc had a plan, and the plan was to draft well and play the kigs, and many of the younger guys are getting their opportunities and aren't making much of it. The guys that are performing well are the veterans. Kopitar and Doughty are leading this team and they're head and shoulders above everyone else. Danault, Arvidsson, Brown, Iafallo, and Walker are looking pretty good too. I haven't seen a lot from anyone else, but I missed last game, so I don't have the full picture.

Byfield's really the first guy we've drafted since Doughty that came in and made a statement, and then he gets hurt. That really sucks. I wonder how different things would be if Byfield was playing on our third line generating real chances. What is there to do if Vilardi and Kaliyev can't play in the NHL now or ever? Is that on TM? Is that on the development staff? Is it on the players themselves? I just don't think I'd pin this all on one guy.

 

[kilowatt]

That's why I ordered my Byfield 55 this preseason

Re: Vilardi the more I watch the more I want him converted to wing. Maybe like above--Iafallo-Danault-Vilardi or something. A guy should NOT get crushed that hard in his minutes via possession but he's far too talented to be drowning.

All for this. I would love to see Vilardi play with Iafallo and Danault.

 

[Bandit]

RIP the last 2 days of posts. Neat.

 

[kilowatt]

RIP the last 2 days of posts. Neat.

We should expect nothing less from the DevOps team that brings us "Error: 503" every trade deadline and July 1st!

 

[Choralone]

I'd say give McLellan the year to see what he can do. This is his first year with a mediocre (as opposed to shit) roster available to him, and his first year with a full 82-game season. It's not any less rope than management is going to give him. If that makes me a "fan" - then lol.

He got a 5-year deal because he was going to have to eat a shit sandwich with a rebuilding team, and there were probably few takers out there that would come aboard when he did. The next coaching hire will come from a much wider pool because there will actually be a roster to build on. I mean, which coaches would be knocking down the door to join this team today?

 

[Bandit]

We should expect nothing less from the DevOps team that brings us "Error: 503" every trade deadline and July 1st!

To be fair, they probably get paid with a subscription to the jelly of the month club.

 

[AlphaBravo]

The Kings should call up Turcotte to play 3C and move Vilard to wing, either on the second line or third line. When Byfield comes back you will have a solid four lines.

 

[FSL KINGS]

How often does the Todd fan club meet & are there donuts & coffee?

It's frustrating that Todd can't fix the bottom 6. The top 2 lines are working so it's hard to justify breaking those up.

If the Kings suck this year, it'll put them in a position to get that scoring winger. Not too worried if Todd puts the team bus in the ditch this season.

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm giving Blake and McLellan till the end of the season to make the playoffs. If they can't make the playoffs, and the youth still can't take over, then yes, I think both Blake and McLellan need to be on the hot seat.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Not to be too cynical, but I doubt Lias coming back will make much difference.

Preseason means pretty much nothing.

Bottom line is that Lias is a guy who's never done anything in the NHL. If we're pinning our hopes on him to get the Tkachev/Vilardi/Andersson line going, I think we'll be disappointed.

The Rangers should have let him play in the SHL at 18 and probably 19. There's a reason he was Team Sweden's Capt (over Elias Petterson and Rasmus Dahlin) and had one of the best ever years, for an 18 year old in the SHL. 19 pts in 42 games and then was 3rd in goals in the playoffs. The Rangers ruined his development. When he went back to the SHL,. he found his game and confidence. He also improved his average skating to average + . He was 17 pts in 15 games, more than any other Reign (ppg) and then was also learning wing.

He was sharp in camp and games, best on the forecheck, heavy with speed and was winning battles and taking pucks and then keeping play alive. Better than anyone in camp.
Only Danault really was stronger on the puck. Lias and Vilardi looked awesome together every pre season game...yes, it's the preseason, but Lias was stellar. How about that
goal on Lehner? I recorded all games and watched that about 10 times. Sick hands and high skill...Lehner's entire 250 lbs are going the other way....as Lias moved opposite
and scored. Lias Andersson is a high pedigree player and just turned 23. No one is 'pinning our hopes on him', to make the Vilardi line go on fire, but he's going to help it more than Kaliyev can, at this time. but I expect him to be an important player that can play on any
line, center or wing, battle as hard as anyone on this team...even drop the gloves and be a pain to play against. 15 goals could be possible.

Sure, he never did anything in the NHL at 18 or 19 and should not have been in the NHL. The Kings have developed him well and he's worked very hard. What's not to like?

 

[HookKing]

I'd say give McLellan the year to see what he can do. This is his first year with a mediocre (as opposed to shit) roster available to him, and his first year with a full 82-game season. It's not any less rope than management is going to give him. If that makes me a "fan" - then lol.

He got a 5-year deal because he was going to have to eat a shit sandwich with a rebuilding team, and there were probably few takers out there that would come aboard when he did. The next coaching hire will come from a much wider pool because there will actually be a roster to build on. I mean, which coaches would be knocking down the door to join this team today?

What the hell are you talking about? Any new hire coach requires instant success.

 

[Sol]

Yeah I don't see why the Kings need to give Maclellan to the end of the season when he's been the Kings coach for a while at this point and... Nothings changed. Not even an identity he's preached.

Yeah fanclub was heavy handed, but there's people giving him rope still. I don't get it.

 

[johnjm22]

Jeff Carter's play since leaving the Kings is one of the biggest indictments of Todd IMO.

 

[King'sPawn]

Yeah I don't see why the Kings need to give Maclellan to the end of the season when he's been the Kings coach for a while at this point and... Nothings changed. Not even an identity he's preached.

Yeah fanclub was heavy handed, but there's people giving him rope still. I don't get it.

Okay. McLellan's fired. Who do you hire? What else do you do? What expectations do you set?