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

[Fishhead]

I don't think anyone thinks Trevor Moore is fine right now.

Andersson is a mixed bag but between injuries and constant movement between ontario and LA it's understandable. When he gets a few games in a row he gets in a good rhthym. However yes, he has been mostly 3rd/4th line.

Clague, maybe I seem higher on him than I am, I think he's a #4-#6 guy on a good team, probably #5-7 on a good playoff team. My problem with Clague is the organizations evaluation of him and constantly jerking him around. He's also a different skillset than the guys we've had the last few years and is an excellent puck mover and good at wheeling it around. I'd like more goals, sure, but he puts up good points with his playmaking and skating. And also--keep in mind he's done all this with 1. an organization that clearly has no faith in him; 2. rarely gets put in positions to succeed--his most common partners have been MacDermid (ON THE 2ND f***ING PAIRING) and Maatta. This year, with Maatta, he's 44% CF and 33% GF; without he is 52% CF and 50% GF despite harder minutes. Tell me what you think is really up there. Doesn't matter though, guess which one they kept?

Durzi--I've constantly said I don't think he's an NHLer and if anything he's showing he can be a Marc-Andre Bergeron type. Good for him. But if anything he's a different look than the 7 clone two-way 6 foot dmen we have. Im starting to be convinced if TM could have 7 Olli Maattas he would.

Kupari--again I'm not high on him and yeah he needs some NHL time but a once-highly-thought of guy who led the AHL team in scoring is now being used as a checker.

You're also ignoring the KEY players--

Kaliyev--they're doing their best to turn him into Dwight King. Don't be surprised if he turns out to be a 'responsible' middling 20 goal guy to make TM happy instead of being used as a f***ing weapon.
Vilardi--turns out 4C was a bad option for him. Who knew? Oh, f***ing everyone else.
Turcotte--think they just straight up forgot him.
Byfield--sure sure he made the team but they were going to start him at 4C...look at how our 4Cs have been deployed this year.
JAD--playing waiver games with him like they were with Clague.

Not to mention Fagemo et. al.

I think it's an absolutely legitimate concern to see how all of the above are used, deployed, and evaluated and worry about the next (more important) wave. When no one is exceeding expectations...are you going to blame all the prospects and say hey we overrated every single f***ing one of them? OR at some point are we going to hold coaching, development accountable.

I was naive to think the Danault signing would actually be used to alleviate kopitars usage and insulate kids. I also thought maybe kids outplaying vets would mean the spots were theirs--nope. Zero accountability for the skating pianos on the team, but kids get absolutely trashed for a turnover. They have 100% gone against verbalized philosophy and maybe I made too many inferences and had too much faith. This is some of the worst mismanagement of vision I have seen in the NHL maybe ever. Are we going to keep punishing Byfield for trying creative things until he's just an up and down on rails bubble hockey player like everyone else?

Let me just say I think Maatta sucks as much as anyone else on the board.

I absolutely agree on the key guys. I don't think where Kaliyev is right now is best for his arc, but really he does poorly with tough matchups. He's learning, getting key PP time, is out at end of games, and so on. So I'm not that worried. I don't think they are trying to turn him into Dwight, just having him focus on things he needs to. Right now he's not finishing regardless so his 4th line deployment isn't that far off. But he's not an energy guy and wilts against strong competition right now, so the top 3 lines might be counter productive. I also agree they've been missing the obvious with Gabe, but his production and COVID warrated some AHL time anyways. JAD should be up, no question to me. Turcotte needs to get a look too, it might make decisions a lot easier if he shows what he can do.

This is why I don't worry about those middling guys that will be waived, they aren't long for the organization anyways. I can see spots for Kaliyev, Grundy, Turcotte, Byfield, Vilardi, and JAD when the team starts to make noise. The other guys, not so much.

 

[FSL KINGS]

All right, let's lighten the mood around here! When Byfield is healthy & makes the NHL, hopefully soon, who do you want to see play on his wings & who do you expect to see?

 

[kings11]

Stats don't tell the whole story. He's really ineffective most of the time.

He’s being easily neutralized by opponents because he’s the only threat. Just look at Brown’s gaffes last night. It’s a constant 4 v 5..

 

[DoktorJeep]

I agree. Basically everything this organization has touched has turned to **** since Martinez scored to win the 2nd cup, but this season is a new low.

This is worse than the mid 90's or mid 2000's. I'd love to know the structure of the Kings within AEG, specifically who Robitaille reports to. We know Luc will never fire his Al Cowlings, so who fires Luc?

The Kings have let Luc, Blake and their surfing and beach volleyball buddies who all never won crap with this organization completely crater it.

If you are Luc and Blake and you are called before some mythical executive board with AEG and they ask you what you have accomplished what do you say, honestly?

Failed coaching hires
Failed free agent signings
Failed trades
0 playoff wins

The glorious rebuild ? Rob Blake took over as GM before the 2017 draft. Since then he has had six 1st round picks (including a couple in the top 5) and eight 2nd round picks. Out of all his picks total (36) he has four players currently on the active roster and not a single one of those 36 picks has shown any flashes of any kind of stardom thus far at the NHL level. With the best players so far being a couple of defensive minded defenseman (because of course that is what the Kings can develop). Meanwhile down the 5 freeway in that same time span the Ducks are seeing their 1st round picks from 2018, 2019 and 2020 all playing key roles for the NHL team, and their 2021 1st rounder showing he can play in the league at 18 and should be right up next year or at the end of this year as an NHL player. Who knows whats going on with Comtois, but he has shown he can score at the NHL level too.

Maybe the Kings wouldn't have such issues getting high end prospects to take the next step to actually being really good NHL'ers if there were actually qualified development coaches as opposed to Blake's beach buddies. Even Wrobo, who everyone loves is winning at the AHL level because of AAAA players like Frk, Tynan and Tkachev are doing all the scoring. Those guys aren't going to score at the NHL level, so it doesn't really help anything out if the Reign are going to use the Chicago Wolves model.

We are living in another McMaster era, we just don't completely realize it, and won't until these clowns are gone and we can step back and see how much damage they truly did.

Dan “No Neck” Beckerman is the AEG bean counter who is Luc’s boss. He was given the job after Liewiecke left. He’s also the clown who woke up one day and signed off on the palace coup that got rid of DL.

 

[kings11]

All right, let's lighten the mood around here! When Byfield is healthy & makes the NHL, hopefully soon, who do you want to see play on his wings & who do you expect to see?

I’d love to see him on Kopi’s wing

 

[Schmooley]

Unfortunately, the kids that need to take over have been injured… shit, if we didn’t have bad luck we’d have no luck right…
Byfield - looks the part of a franchise center and earned himself a spot on the team and then….
Turcotte - Looks like a Richars/Toews clone..
respiratory issue followed by a belly ache
Brandt- Caught f***en Mono..
you can’t make this shit up!

Yea they have had some bad luck. Though Byfield was set to be the 4th line center. Turcotte will likely get a look at 3c. Clarke will be on the second pair right side if he makes it next year cause the first pair right side is not available no questions asked.
None of these guys are being put into anything other than depth roles then have to shoulder the blame and get demoted when the losses pile up.

 

[tny760]

i do feel like kaliyev has been getting a bit more slack lately and i think he's more visible for the length of the game than he was at first callup, so he might actually be learning something

maybe that's why he's been getting rewarded with more PP time as the shooter, i just wish those guy would actually utilize him as the shooter and makes plays for him rather than just dishing him lazy passes that he can't do anything with. never happened with kovy though either so i probably shouldn't be surprised. gotta use the weapons you're given though.

 

[NikF]

Oh and lest I forget, since this is related to Kings. I rated Lias Andersson's upside as a good third liner and had him ranked 7th...in Europe. He went 7th overall. That being said, Andersson always at least had a ballsy component to his game even as a prospect, the pace and skating were just never there and I think despite the odd flashy moment, his skill game is/was overrated. Think he went 7th overall because he seemed like a ballsy competitor and thats like catnip for NA scouts, dont know how you can justify a top 10 pick on Andersson based on his actual upside.

I did like Bjornfot and I think that was a reasonable pick. I think he has a little more offense than he has shown so far too.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Is there a tough 7 D out there that the Kings can add instead of Maata?

Kurtis MacDermid, Luke Schenn, Jared Tinordi, Jani Hakanpaa, Zach Bogosian, Brendan Smith, Nathan Beaulieu.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Stats don't tell the whole story. He's really ineffective most of the time.

Agreed, but I'd argue he's only been ineffective the last 8 games or so, and as he's prone to annual slumps, I'm going to need more time before making a broad judgement. Being a PPG player while going through a slump AND being tied to the Brown boat anchor the majority of the year isn't too bad. Kopi isn't good enough to elevate Brown, that might be an impossible task

 

[tny760]

Oh and lest I forget, since this is related to Kings. I rated Lias Andersson's upside as a good third liner and had him ranked 7th...in Europe. He went 7th overall. That being said, Andersson always at least had a ballsy component to his game even as a prospect, the pace and skating were just never there and I think despite the odd flashy moment, his skill game is/was overrated. Think he went 7th overall because he seemed like a ballsy competitor and thats like catnip for NA scouts, dont know how you can justify a top 10 pick on Andersson based on his actual upside.

I did like Bjornfot and I think that was a reasonable pick. I think he has a little more offense than he has shown so far too.

i hope we see more from lias when vilardi climbs back into the lineup, they had instant chemistry. seems very streaky though, maybe he's just prone to getting down on himself or something

bjornfot imo has his best games when he tries to get involved offensively, i forget who it was against but earlier this season he had a game where he pinched down the slot and made a really nice play to open space for his shot and those flashes are pretty genuine looking. dunno if there's more there but i think he'll settle into being a pretty decent defenseman going forward

 

[Schmooley]

All right, let's lighten the mood around here! When Byfield is healthy & makes the NHL, hopefully soon, who do you want to see play on his wings & who do you expect to see?

Want to see him center Guentzel and Laine.
Will expect to see him center Moore and one of Lemieux or Grundstrom.
Should have been looking to the future to see where him, Kaliyev and Turcotte slide in and who they can surround them with instead of seeing who they could surround Kopitar and Brown with yet again.

 

[deaderhead28]

The hate for Brown is still at a alltime epic level I see.Its mind boggling why some of you aren't coache's with your vision of talent and experience. Why the NHL isn't hiring coaches from HFBOARDS is beyond me.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

You brought in Danault to not keep playing Kopi 20+ min.. Obviously that hasn’t happened but it seems you don’t see the point of spreading out responsibilities.
Our top 6 is a top 4 maybe a top5
Rotation - Kopitar - Anchor
Iafallo - Danault - rotation
Brown alone negates Kopitar’s effectiveness since he has to cover for Brown, much like Doughty’s effectiveness is limited if he is paired with a guy like Durzi who can’t defend his own shadow and now we’ve literally neutered our main two offensive weapons and best players… and that my friend, is very easy to see

there's a difference between spreading responsibilities via roster building for the sake of a team vs adding players to compensate Kopitar

 

[KingPuckChoo]

The hate for Brown is still at a alltime epic level I see.Its mind boggling why some of you aren't coache's with your vision of talent and experience.

if there's ONE player this past decade on the Kings that doesn't deserve ANY blame, it's DUSTIN BROWN

we really milked the hell out of this player

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

The Kings only have 6 regulation wins this season....the Kraken have 8.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

There is zero defense for Brown's play this season, zero. Calling a spade a spade doesn't mean you hate Brown, it means Brown is not good anymore

 

[cyclones22]

I was at the damn game last night and watched Brown fumble passes and misplay pucks repeatedly. All we are doing is pointing out he is 37 freaking years old now. I love the guy I have his autograph in my 2012 Cup commemorative book on the page he authored. It doesn't mean he's still a useful hockey player.

 

[FSL KINGS]

We all love Brown I'm sure. His body just won't play hockey at an NHL level anymore. Sucks.

 

[Matt13]

The hate for Brown is still at a alltime epic level I see.Its mind boggling why some of you aren't coache's with your vision of talent and experience. Why the NHL isn't hiring coaches from HFBOARDS is beyond me.

I am filing out an application now. Can I use you as a reference?

 

[Schmooley]

The hate for Brown is still at a alltime epic level I see.Its mind boggling why some of you aren't coache's with your vision of talent and experience. Why the NHL isn't hiring coaches from HFBOARDS is beyond me.

It doesnt take a coach or hockey savant to see it. Watch a game or just google standings or stats if you cant watch.
Or if you have a chance go to a game in person. See how the pace of the game moves at a faster speed than he can keep up with.
Hes not mailing it in he just doesnt have much juice left.
It would be nice see him rested and join a team for the playoffs and have one last run to leave it all on the ice.

 

[King'sPawn]

My BIGGEST issue with the development of forwards has been the instability, which inadvertently sabotages them.

Vilardi, Kupari, and Kaliyev were all top-6 forwards in the AHL and expected to score. Once promoted to the NHL, they are put in bottom-6 roles and playing a checking/grinding/two-way role.

Vilardi then gets demoted to the AHL, and where does he play? Top-6, expected to score, etc.

It's why you see an easier transition for defensemen (even though it should take longer and be a steeper learning curve). Their role of defending is largely unchanged. Offensive contributions are still rocky, but Durzi was put on the top powerplay unit with Doughty out, where he thrives, and he put up points.

But it's maddening to see Kaliyev put in a particular role in the AHL, put him in a different role in the NHL while still attuning his game, then just knowing in my gut he'll be sent down to play in the top line of the AHL again.

Which, let's not forget, is also going to happen to Byfield. He'll be the top center in the AHL, and getting the top linemates. Then he'll be "promoted" to the NHL, get third liners, and either expected to score and fail, or expected to be a defensive forward and have the top-end talent grinded away.

 

[HookKing]

Instead of stating an obvious player or the even more obvious answer that I would advise (correctly) against LA picking Kupari in 1st round, I will make a controversial statement. If you forced me to pick a Europe-based player, I would rather choose Arizona's 3rd round pick Jan Jenik over Kupari. Not in hindsight either, I had Jenik rated higher than Kupari in that draft year. We will see how it turns out. I think I've had pretty good luck with controversial statements so far (Brannstrom outside 1st round, Seider in top 10, I even pumped his tires as an option for the Kings, Jacob Peterson as a sleeper midround pick and so forth, all verifiable online). Of course, I am not 100% correct but generally the controversial statements tend to go my way.

LOL.

 

[Herby]

My BIGGEST issue with the development of forwards has been the instability, which inadvertently sabotages them.

Vilardi, Kupari, and Kaliyev were all top-6 forwards in the AHL and expected to score. Once promoted to the NHL, they are put in bottom-6 roles and playing a checking/grinding/two-way role.

Vilardi then gets demoted to the AHL, and where does he play? Top-6, expected to score, etc.

It's why you see an easier transition for defensemen (even though it should take longer and be a steeper learning curve). Their role of defending is largely unchanged. Offensive contributions are still rocky, but Durzi was put on the top powerplay unit with Doughty out, where he thrives, and he put up points.

But it's maddening to see Kaliyev put in a particular role in the AHL, put him in a different role in the NHL while still attuning his game, then just knowing in my gut he'll be sent down to play in the top line of the AHL again.

Which, let's not forget, is also going to happen to Byfield. He'll be the top center in the AHL, and getting the top linemates. Then he'll be "promoted" to the NHL, get third liners, and either expected to score and fail, or expected to be a defensive forward and have the top-end talent grinded away.

The Kings development of skilled players is inept, I still think some of it has to do with poor evaluation, but it's not all poor evaluation, even if these guys maybe aren't who the scouts should have taken, they should have still been able to develop these guys into scorers at the NHL level by now. Other teams have been able to, why can't the Kings? Perhaps because development jobs and promotions within this organization are not a meritocracy but are simply handed out to Blake's friends. What are Glen Murray and Nelson Emerson's qualifications as development coaches or whatever title Emerson's unwarranted promotion gave him?

That is another reason I didn't want Turcotte signed after 1 year, these guys have not developed a single scoring line player since they took over, so why did we want one of our best offensive prospects under their tutelage sooner than they needed to be. I have way more faith in college and major junior coaches than I do Emerson and Murray.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

My BIGGEST issue with the development of forwards has been the instability, which inadvertently sabotages them.

Vilardi, Kupari, and Kaliyev were all top-6 forwards in the AHL and expected to score. Once promoted to the NHL, they are put in bottom-6 roles and playing a checking/grinding/two-way role.

Vilardi then gets demoted to the AHL, and where does he play? Top-6, expected to score, etc.

In all fairness though, isn't that the usual pattern when trying to integrate prospects? There are good arguments to not have them immediately playing in top lines as well...

Wasn't Vilardi given the opportunity to be the 2nd-line center last year but kinda flopped? And then the argument was, 'oh, well he needs to play wing'. Kaliyev has had plenty of opportunities this season to prove he belongs in the top 6, and he hasn't made very good on them.

I'm pissed at the Kings right now, but not buying what you're selling.