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

[Casper The Soy Ghost]

Subtract the 2nd and deal

Done

 

[YP44]

If anyone's going to be moving to wing, it's probably Danault. He's played plenty of left wing thus far in his career. He's gifted offensively as a playmaker, although his bread and butter is his defense. Still, I would love to see this line in the future:

Danault - Kopitar - Iafallo

Good luck scoring on that.

I think he moves to wing when QB is ready for top 6 role

 

[bmr]

I think there is truth in both of these statements as Vilardi has made some of the most impressive passes we have seen as Kings fans in many years. However, Kopitar was a much more rounded, better player.

Agree. Vilardi also didn't pull a move in his first year like Kopitar did against Chris Pronger when they played the Ducks. Defining moment at an early age. He also had 61 points in 72 games as a 19 year old. Not too shabby.

That being said, I think Vilardi is very special and will have a great NHL career. Hopefully the back troubles are behind him (lol, sorry...)

 

[johnjm22]

I'm confident in Vilardi, and think he'll be good, but if he can't produce this year it's a red flag.

 

[bmr]

I love the player. Hate the contract.

On the surface it doesn't look good, but these types of players don't grow on trees. You can't always equate the scoring lead to top dollar. Danault brings so many intangibles to the table that you can't always quantify. It may end up looking worse toward the tail end of his contract, but it definitely isn't an albatross.

 

[bmr]

I'm confident in Vilardi, and think he'll be good, but if he can't produce this year it's a red flag.

I think last year was a big learning experience for him in terms of carrying through energy for the whole season and learning to roll with the ups and downs of the rigors of the NHL. He will take that experience and keep growing as a professional.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Why do all King jersey designs either all all grey scale, or all purple / gold schemes?
Why not try to combine both....you cannot have silver, black, white, gold, purple....but you could have silver (or grey) black and purple.
You could even try a black / white / gold...but that may be funky. I think if the one Matt Roy has on, the black was purple, or purple, with a black outline, around the purple,
would look great...possibly take the logo and make it the chevy one?

All grey scale is boring, but all purple / gold is a bit much. All purple / gold is okay. but would like to see black / grey / purple scheme.
I think the one with LOS ANGELES on the bottom design one, was a black / silver / blue-purple and was not bad, but but the sun and lion logo
was kinda meh.

This one below would look more interesting with purple in place of the black. Or a purple band within the black, with purple being predominant.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Kopitar also didn't have a 2021 Kopitar in front of him munching minutes every night. Belanger was traded to open a spot for Kopitar, and all that was left was Armstrong and Conroy. While 05-06 Conroy was good, 06-07 Conroy was not.

 

[apocalypse]

I hate to be a pessimist and look at the glass half full and everything, but it looks like the Kings are gonna crash and burn this season. I don't see them playing as a unit. I don't see them playing team defense. I don't see them keeping the puck out of our net. I see a huge game of musical chairs with the forwards, how many do we have? 27? That only bodes badly for team morale and chemistry. Up to this point, Blake has done a bad job managing the team. I like his drafting, but he gets a D- from me so far.

I hope; I really hope that this season proves me wrong. I hope that this team plays as a team and comes together and figures out how to play D and score at the same time. I really hope that I am proven wrong. I will be glad to eat crow if it means that we finish 3rd or even 4th in the division. I'm looking at this first game against Vegas and I can't help but think that we are just gonna get hammered. Something's gotta give. I hope we pull it off this year. Surprise me.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Sounds like Andersson is back in and Kaliyev demoted to the 4th....

 

[cyclones22]

I'm confident in Vilardi so long as TMc doesn't line blender him into oblivion. The one good thing is that there is more talent on this roster than last season and it lessons TMc's ability to pair him with garbage wingers who can't shoot or possess the puck. Couple that with easier matchups thanks to Danault and likely more o-zone starts and he should flourish. We know he can pass and his shot is so underrated. He's got a career 15% shooting percentage and it's not just puck luck. He can snipe it.

 

[johnjm22]

On the surface it doesn't look good, but these types of players don't grow on trees. You can't always equate the scoring lead to top dollar. Danault brings so many intangibles to the table that you can't always quantify. It may end up looking worse toward the tail end of his contract, but it definitely isn't an albatross.

I agree. For years I've advocated the Kings acquire a center of Danault's type (while everybody else seemed to be focused on a scoring winger).

I'm fine with the cap hit. It's his age and the number of years that I don't like. I understand that's part of overpayment it took to get him here.

 

[BringTheReign]

Sounds like Andersson is back in and Kaliyev demoted to the 4th....

Andersson has earned the spot next to Vilardi in camp. I suspect Kaliyev will still get PP time, and playing with Moore in softer minutes is a great fit for him, IMO.

 

[Schrute farms]

Well like I said, we’ll just see at the end of the season which center has the third most points. My skull is intact and I’m just out here shooting off my opinions just like you, RJ.

I guess i missed the Blake interview and Danault conference call that said PD was signed to bring scoring to the Kings and lead the team/centers in such. I mistakenly thought PD was signed to help take some of the defensive/PK minutes and responsibility from Kopi and not wear him out these next couple years as we transition to the up-in-coming young studs. All while also not burdening those young guys with such responsibilities so early on in their NHL career and at such an early development age. I really messed up that one....back to the farm i guess.

 

[KingsHockey24]

The LA Kings just tweeted that Jordan Nolan was returning to the team but then deleted the tweet?

 

[KingsHockey24]

 

[BringTheReign]

I agree. For years I've advocated the Kings acquire a center of Danault's type (while everybody else seemed to be focused on a scoring winger).

I'm fine with the cap hit. It's his age and the number of years that I don't like. I understand that's part of overpayment it took to get him here.

Here's some comparison data that I found useful when putting Danault's contract in perspective.

Jarret Stoll's first LAK contract: 4 years x 3.6M signed in summer 2008

• Age 26, Year 1: 3.6/56.7 = 6.3% of the cap
• Age 29, Year 4: 3.6/64.3 = 5.6% of the cap

Michal Handzus's first LAK contract: 4 years x 4M signed in summer 2007 with a NMC

• Age 30, Year 1: 4/50.3 = 8% of the cap
• Age 33, Year 4: 4/59.4 = 6.7% of the cap

Philip Danault's first LAK contract: 6 years x 5.5M signed in summer 2021 with a 3 year NMC & 3 year partial-NMC

• Age 28, Year 1: 5.5/81.5 = 6.8% of the cap
• Age 33, Year 6: 5.5/? = Less than 6.8% of the cap (Bill Daly estimated the cap would begin to rise again during year 4 of this deal)

I think Danualt is a better player than Stoll or Handzus (though both were excellent 3rd line centers at their peak). Danault is also being brought in to do a similar job as Stoll and Handzus were, which is to be our temporary 2C and eventually our shutdown 3C while helping the kids break in. I agree that we gave up a bit of length to your point, but I don't think it's that bad given that his deal will be around 5% as a percentage of the cap in years 4-6.

 

[FSL KINGS]

I hate to be a pessimist and look at the glass half full and everything, but it looks like the Kings are gonna crash and burn this season. I don't see them playing as a unit. I don't see them playing team defense. I don't see them keeping the puck out of our net. I see a huge game of musical chairs with the forwards, how many do we have? 27? That only bodes badly for team morale and chemistry. Up to this point, Blake has done a bad job managing the team. I like his drafting, but he gets a D- from me so far.

I hope; I really hope that this season proves me wrong. I hope that this team plays as a team and comes together and figures out how to play D and score at the same time. I really hope that I am proven wrong. I will be glad to eat crow if it means that we finish 3rd or even 4th in the division. I'm looking at this first game against Vegas and I can't help but think that we are just gonna get hammered. Something's gotta give. I hope we pull it off this year. Surprise me.

Blake has done a decent job of accumulating talent. Now it's time to put those players on the ice & see what happens. Agree that this team could face plant right from the start. Kings will get a better draft pick if that's the case.

They have to learn to win as a team. This is part of the building process.

 

[HookKing]

I agree. For years I've advocated the Kings acquire a center of Danault's type (while everybody else seemed to be focused on a scoring winger).

I'm fine with the cap hit. It's his age and the number of years that I don't like. I understand that's part of overpayment it took to get him here.

There is nothing wrong with the number of years on the contract. When it ends he will be the same age as Kopitar is now.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I like our bet with Andersson. I don't think there's a reason to go out and grab Kravtsov as well with Fagemo, Kaliyev, and Chromiak around plus all the centers who could shift to wing.

I can easily see that side of it as well.

My only rationale was we have excess Cs and a need for natural Ws, whereas NYR could use a C.

no biggie either way

Well like I said, we’ll just see at the end of the season which center has the third most points. My skull is intact and I’m just out here shooting off my opinions just like you, RJ.

So if the C scoring goes Kopitar-Vilardi-Byfield-Danault you'd see that as a failure rather than a success? And if Danault competes for the Selke in doing so, you'd be upset?

That's my problem with such a fixed metric for 'success', it doesn't seem you know what he truly brings, or if you know, you're not appreciating it.

 

[Steve Zissou]

He'll be out at least 7 days, per the league rules, but he can return to practice sooner than that.



I guess we'll have to wait and see tomorrow for opening night roster...

 

[funky]

Not a problem having to many centers. Half the league need top end centers.

if Vilardi thrives at center move Byfield to the wing. Could you imagine him blowing down the wing and crashing the net. The league got small and he would be difficult to corral or move from the front. Less defensive responsibility, less thinking. Just hunt pucks and use speed and size to create scoring.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I hate to be a pessimist and look at the glass half full and everything, but it looks like the Kings are gonna crash and burn this season. I don't see them playing as a unit. I don't see them playing team defense. I don't see them keeping the puck out of our net. I see a huge game of musical chairs with the forwards, how many do we have? 27? That only bodes badly for team morale and chemistry. Up to this point, Blake has done a bad job managing the team. I like his drafting, but he gets a D- from me so far.

I hope; I really hope that this season proves me wrong. I hope that this team plays as a team and comes together and figures out how to play D and score at the same time. I really hope that I am proven wrong. I will be glad to eat crow if it means that we finish 3rd or even 4th in the division. I'm looking at this first game against Vegas and I can't help but think that we are just gonna get hammered. Something's gotta give. I hope we pull it off this year. Surprise me.

Somewhat harsh assessment, but everyone has their own opinion. I think this will be a significant learning opportunity for several younger players. Playoffs? Maybe, if things work out good for the team. I hope in a couple of years they’ll be ready to compete for the Cup or have a deep playoff run. The experience earned this year will be invaluable for Anderson, Bjornfot, Villardi and Petersen. And depending on how long Arty and QB are up with LA - every game will help them.
This is the year for the younger players to learn what it takes to win games - doing the little things that don’t show up on the scoresheet, but are crucial to win games.
We need to give this team some time to gel. Lots of roster changeover in the past couple of years - and more coming in the next couple, but I’m expecting the players starts to grow into a team.
But, that’s why they play the games, right?

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I wonder if it’s just because they misspelled “ambassador” in the title.

 

[kilowatt]

Andersson's out with a groin injury still per Hoven, so Kaliyev looks to be staying put on the third line (and getting second power play looks) for now.