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

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I think we should call up Jordan Spence. Give him Walkers ice time at ES & on the powerplay. Gives him a shot to make the NHL before guys like Clarke, Faber, & Grans are are knocking on the door.
 
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bland said:
The team is what matters, not the players. We will all miss Kopitar when he is gone, but he really should have been dealt before his last extension for the health of the organization. The Kings haven't benefited one bit from that deal, they were never in position to succeed in the first half and the second half of it - which admittedly I thought would see his play suffer but was dead wrong - saw the inevitable rebuild delayed by chasing playoffs.

There is a very good chance that the Kings will not have won a single playoff game in the entire duration of his max extension. Had they traded him to jump start the rebuild years ago it is likely that they are already well ahead of where they are now. Sure its conjecture, but what we do know is that not trading him has no tangible positive results.

Who is better off for him being here? Vilardi hasn't set the world on fire. None of the other young forwards have succeeded, much less overachieved. Hopefully Byfield will be the one to actually learn something from Anze.

Brown and Kopitar are model citizens, but can anybody point to anything positive that they have done to help anybody grow?
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Before Kopitar's extension, the Kings had acquired Lucic, and were sitting in 1st place in the Pacific, and in the top 5 overall. Not only was DL not rebuilding, but the team was actually winning games. They were a year removed from the Cup. No team in that position is smart enough to trade their two time Cup winning 1C.
 
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kingsfan said:
How would you know who helps who grow exactly?

No one, absolutely no one, would see the Kings possibly not winning a playoff game during Kopitar's contract. Nor was it an overpayment, then or now. Brown's was and I can see the argument against that one, but Kopi and Quick's deals were solid investments at the time that haven't panned out in terms of playoff success. Since winning the cup last we've had a true number one centre, a true number one defenseman and what we thought would be a true number one goalie, so three of the biggest foundational blocks to build around quickly. The fact management has messed that up -both DL and Blake- doesn't take away the fact we could have put together a good team around them if management wasn't imploding the team around them for various reasons over the years.
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By seeing somebody actually grow, and yes, this was very much discussed here and elsewhere for 2 years leading up to his extension. It has all unfolded as described, with the noted exception that Anze's play hasn't tailed off. But the team's struggles during that deal? Yeah, that was easily predicted and happened exactly as warned.
 
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bland said:
By seeing somebody actually grow, and yes, this was very much discussed here and elsewhere for 2 years leading up to his extension. It has all unfolded as described, with the noted exception that Anze's play hasn't tailed off. But the team's struggles during that deal? Yeah, that was easily predicted and happened exactly as warned.
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So you know who helped someone grow because they grow... ok bud.
 
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Any news on Walker yet? Seems like he's going to be out a while. Not even being able to bend it doesn't bode well.
 
J Smoove said:
Any news on Walker yet? Seems like he's going to be out a while. Not even being able to bend it doesn't bode well.
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The latest I can find is still last night's stuff that says, basically like Drew, they won't know in full until they get home (but TM basically said he expected the worst).
 
KingsFan7824 said:
Before Kopitar's extension, the Kings had acquired Lucic, and were sitting in 1st place in the Pacific, and in the top 5 overall. Not only was DL not rebuilding, but the team was actually winning games. They were a year removed from the Cup. No team in that position is smart enough to trade their two time Cup winning 1C.
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On paper its easy to be naive. Fans want to be happy, they don't want to see heroes leave.

A closer look revealed a team with no cap space, no prospects, no cost-controlled talent and a ridiculous amount of retirement contracts to non-leaders who were guaranteed to have more say than any coach.

This isn't in retrospect either, it was all clearly laid out in advance and unraveled exactly as described.

Hope is not a plan. They hoped the core would learn from the real leaders and they didn't. They hoped players would take big discounts to stay and they didn't. They hoped the core would rebound under Stevens and they quit on him after one year. They hoped the core was still good enough to compete by adding Kovalchuk and they weren't.

Hope is easy, work is hard. They hoped instead of making the tough unpopular decisions. The correct move was always trading Anze and time bore that out.
 
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man, i'm onboard with trashing this current team product/culture and all that, but saying it was "obvious" that kopi should've been traded 6 years ago is some legendary 20-20 hindsight

the contract's up in a few years, he's >PPG right now and he is still the best player on the team by a longshot. what could we possibly have gotten in return that would be paying such incredible dividends right now? that would somehow make us not be in the same pit we're in right now? even if he rides out this contract as the 2C with like .5PPG (doubtful), so what?
 
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bland said:
On paper its easy to be naive. Fans want to be happy, they don't want to see heroes leave.

A closer look revealed a team with no cap space, no prospects, no cost-controlled talent and a ridiculous amount of retirement contracts to non-leaders who were guaranteed to have more say than any coach.

This isn't in retrospect either, it was all clearly laid out in advance and unraveled exactly as described.

Hope is not a plan. They hoped the core would learn from the real leaders and they didn't. They hoped players would take big discounts to stay and they didn't. They hoped the core would rebound under Stevens and they quit on him after one year. They hoped the core was still good enough to compete by adding Kovalchuk and they weren't.

Hope is easy, work is hard. They hoped instead of making the tough unpopular decisions. The correct move was always trading Anze and time bore that out.
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Rebellions are built on hope. - @LT Dan probably
 
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Bandit said:
Rebellions are built on hope. - @LT Dan probably
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I got you fam! And... it's two for Tuesday!

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rebellions-built-hope-rogue-one.gif
 
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KingsHockey24 said:
It makes me sad seeing how good Erik Cernak has become.

God I'd love to have him on our blueline.
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One reason for that is he went to a good team with veteran players with a wealth of experience winning. It’s the same thing with Muzzin. He was jettisoned, given away for free, but put him on a Kings team with saavy, talented vets and he learned how to maximize his talents.

If Cernak wasn’t traded, there is zero guarantee he’d be as good as he is now. The reason the Kings had so many picks seemingly panning out around the cup wins is because of who they were learning from. Without that on the roster tossing young guys into the league isn’t effective. Only the true elite guys will develop no matter who they are around on a day to day basis. All those years many bitched about how DL always drafted character guys. He probably overdid it, but that’s how you win. Talent doesn’t mean shit without heart, we are seeing that right now.
 
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I think what's frustrating about all this, is that hockey itself can be fickle in terms of figuring what makes a team good.

In basketball, one great player can take a team from the cellar to the playoffs. Football, a great QB will make everyone look good.

The analytics also work much better in other sports.

The big complaint around here is "they're not playing with emotion". But this isn't quantitative. The organization as a whole feels stale. People will say it's because of reasons X, Y and Z, but the truth is no one really knows.
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:


el oh f***ing el

Could be Lemieux and Andersson back which is good but RIP any remaining reason I had to watch these clowns get dummied
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I don't really have a problem with it. They got a taste of NHL play, now they can work on their game more in the AHL. It's part of the development process.

I just don't understand why Vilardi gets the free pass. Why is he immune to being sent down?
 
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This team sorely misses the likes of a Williams, Mitchell, Greene, Regehr and I'm sure a few others. The "core" has never been the true leaders as the those that led this team in 12 and 14 sans Quick.
I'm expecting this team to compete for a playoff spot, but others need to step up and take charge. Until that happens, they are what they are. A non playoff team.
 
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i mean f***, at this rate they were probably both due for ACLs any day now with the big club..

just gives me more incentive to watch reign games i guess
 
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bland said:
It doesn't take a genius to see the obvious, pal.
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Exactly, and it's not obvious. Exactly who is helping who? You don't see shit because development and growth is 9/10th away from any game action. Ask any NHLer and they'd tell you that.
 
kingsfan said:
Exactly, and it's not obvious. Exactly who is helping who? You don't see shit because development and growth is 9/10th away from any game action. Ask any NHLer and they'd tell you that.
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What the hell are you rambling on about?

If nobody is improving you can see it with your own eyes. Is that too complicated?

Name one forward, just one, who has been drafted and developed by this team in the last 5-6 years who has lived up to or surpassed their potential.

You can't. So keep supposing all you want, its obvious stuff.
 
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