Speculation: 2021-21 LA Kings News/Rumors/Roster discussion

[funky]

in 2 months our team could be vastly different.

Jesse put it best in his podcast last week. Blake basically went into this season equating the players to lottery scratchers. He has now scratched of the playing area and revealed whats behind each one. he can now basically fill boxes from within and know where he has to supplement from outside the org.

looking back at the season there was lots of good. We moved out more players that will not contribute in a few years. We saw Anderson and Bjornfot look like they belong, even if they end up being in the second and third pairing thats win.

Kopitar and Doughty still have it.

JAD suprised and will be penciled in.

Vilardi showed life after Carter left and he was paired with Lias.

Moore became the new Trevor Lewis

Roy is a great 3



I also believe some guys disappointed. Grundstrom seemed to stall, Peterson will need to clean up some sloppy goals, Maatta biffed, MacDermid sucked,


then we had the rookie growth. guys called up to the bigs looked good and the AHL team grew leaps and bounds.

Time to put the proper players in the proper boxes

 

[Mats26]

I’m sorry but if Blake traded for a 27 year old RW on pace for 37 points and peddled him as a 1st line winger he would have been absolutely EXECUTED here

People are mad at our 40-50 point players that are younger and here we are begging for a sub-40 guy leaving his production and physical prime? Do you people pay attention to what these players actually are in comparison to ours or is it just ANY move other teams make that make you jealous?

No worries, heard all the same lame stories when we traded for an injured Williams. O'Sullivan was to be a PPG player etc etc...what is Lombardi thinking. Good GMs find gems in trades, but you got to have the intiuiton and confidence in your pro scouts to make them. This team is missing Futa more than any fan on this board knows.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

No worries, heard all the same lame stories when we traded for an injured Williams. O'Sullivan was to be a PPG player etc etc...what is Lombardi thinking. Good GMs find gems in trades, but you got to have the intiuiton and confidence in your pro scouts to make them. This team is missing Futa more than any fan on this board knows.

Like adding Alex Iafallo for free? Is that good intuition?

 

[Mats26]

Like adding Alex Iafallo for free? Is that good intuition?

Yes, maybe they should stay focused on the NCAA route because they can't find those Gems at the Pro level. We haven't traded for or developed a top 6 player since Toffoli, Carter something is broken there.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Yes, maybe they should stay focused on the NCAA route because they can't find those Gems at the Pro level. We haven't traded for or developed a top 6 player since Toffoli, Carter something is broke there.

Kempe? You know the guy who outscored your self proclaimed #1RW Anderson?

 

[Mats26]

Kempe? You know the guy who outscored your self proclaimed #1RW Anderson?

Kempe will get his chance once Brown is off the roster. But this year he played on all 4 lines and collected some nice pts on the PP. If you want to be a contender with Kempe as your 1st line winger, then all the power to you. He is a complimentary scorer better fitted for middle 6 duties. But I'll give you this, he'll break out next year, needs a new contract.

 

[funky]

The Kings have recently drafted Byfield, Turcotte, Kaliyev and Kupari and picked up Madden. Can we give them a year and see then if we have gotten some top 6 talent?

totally forgot about Vilardi and I am willing to bend on Kempe. Not his biggest fan but he still has a chance and getting a bit better or consistent

 

[Peter James Bond III]

The Kings have recently drafted Byfield, Turcotte, Kaliyev and Kupari and picked up Madden. Can we give them a year and see then if we have gotten some top 6 talent?

totally forgot about Vilardi and I am willing to bend on Kempe. Not his biggest fan but he still has a chance and getting a bit better or consistent

And don't forget Fagemo and Thomas. They both had good first year pro seasons...you may not have forgot them and consider them line 3 types, but either
could surprise to the upside. As far as Kempe goes, he's one that could go to another team and score 25 a year...just not here. Kind of like Carter shooting about 4 (of his 8?) goals (so many went off his body, or deflected, or empty net) with good shots and then he now rifles pucks past goalies again...how? why? He certainly did not score goals like that here the last 3 years. Confounding.

Maybe this Kings analytic guru they hired should watch all of Carters footage on the Kings and also watch all of his footage on the Pens and see WTF is so different. Is Carter going to other areas? It's not just playing with better talent, Jeff was not doing what he was here, that he is there.

 

[unicornpig]

in 2 months our team could be vastly different.

Jesse put it best in his podcast last week. Blake basically went into this season equating the players to lottery scratchers. He has now scratched of the playing area and revealed whats behind each one. he can now basically fill boxes from within and know where he has to supplement from outside the org.

looking back at the season there was lots of good. We moved out more players that will not contribute in a few years. We saw Anderson and Bjornfot look like they belong, even if they end up being in the second and third pairing thats win.

Kopitar and Doughty still have it.

JAD suprised and will be penciled in.

Vilardi showed life after Carter left and he was paired with Lias.

Moore became the new Trevor Lewis

Roy is a great 3



I also believe some guys disappointed. Grundstrom seemed to stall, Peterson will need to clean up some sloppy goals, Maatta biffed, MacDermid sucked,


then we had the rookie growth. guys called up to the bigs looked good and the AHL team grew leaps and bounds.

Time to put the proper players in the proper boxes

this is exaclty how i saw the season, any success is just icing. kind of bizarre that some people were expecting playoffs or wanting the team to have a pulse. some people need to temper their expectations. if the kings dont improve next year then i would understand the concern but the kings just gutted their team the last two years...

 

[Steve Zissou]

No worries, heard all the same lame stories when we traded for an injured Williams. O'Sullivan was to be a PPG player etc etc...what is Lombardi thinking. Good GMs find gems in trades, but you got to have the intiuiton and confidence in your pro scouts to make them. This team is missing Futa more than any fan on this board knows.

Ryan Graves on the Avs has been stellar this year and was even player of the game tonight against St. Louis.

What a fantastic trade for the Avs.

Ryan Graves, the one who got away

The February 26, 2018 trade was inconsequential. The New York Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche swapped minor league defensemen. The Avalanche gave up a 23-year old lefthanded shooting blueliner that they had drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The Rangers traded a 23-year old lefthanded shooting defenseman they had drafted in the fourth round the same year.

 

[kingsfan28]

Kempe will get his chance once Brown is off the roster. But this year he played on all 4 lines and collected some nice pts on the PP. If you want to be a contender with Kempe as your 1st line winger, then all the power to you. He is a complimentary scorer better fitted for middle 6 duties. But I'll give you this, he'll break out next year, needs a new contract.

Kempe is the biggest enigma on the team as far as talent goes. One game he looks like a top line guy, 4 games later he's taking another offensive zone penalty and you don't even notice him at all the next 2 weeks.

 

[Jason Squirties]

Kempe is the biggest enigma on the team as far as talent goes. One game he looks like a top line guy, 4 games later he's taking another offensive zone penalty and you don't even notice him at all the next 2 weeks.

Ya right, I'm constantly staring at his hair and the way he contorts his mouth everytime they go to break.

 

[kingsfan28]

And don't forget Fagemo and Thomas. They both had good first year pro seasons...you may not have forgot them and consider them line 3 types, but either
could surprise to the upside. As far as Kempe goes, he's one that could go to another team and score 25 a year...just not here. Kind of like Carter shooting about 4 (of his 8?) goals (so many went off his body, or deflected, or empty net) with good shots and then he now rifles pucks past goalies again...how? why? He certainly did not score goals like that here the last 3 years. Confounding.

Maybe this Kings analytic guru they hired should watch all of Carters footage on the Kings and also watch all of his footage on the Pens and see WTF is so different. Is Carter going to other areas? It's not just playing with better talent, Jeff was not doing what he was here, that he is there.

I think it's a bit of everything with Carter. He's playing with much better players, with more NHL experience. He playing with guys who not only can pass but skate into areas where they're suppose to be to open up lanes. Our team may be the worst passing team in the league, and in most games , the kids don't know where to be on rushes. He's also on a pretty good experienced team that wants to win , and know how to win, which may be one of the biggest factors. That part ended with us with the rebuild.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Because Todd gets ragged on so much, I did some research. During his tenure as head coach in San Jose his offense averaged 2.87 GF/PG and was ranked #8. His defense averaged 2.50 GA/GP and was ranked #6. Very impressive numbers. During that span the Kings were #24 and #2. Furthermore the Sharks power play was #2 only behind Washington at 21.4%. The penalty kill was #13 at 81.9%. The Kings were #13 and #8.

In Edmonton his offense was #23 and defense was second worst in the entire league behind the Sabres. During that span the Kings offense was #25 and had the BEST defense in the entire league exactly tied with Nashville.

Finally in LA he has had the #27 ranked offense in the league and #19 ranked defense. Wretched and below average. The power play was #23 and penalty kill was #13. Wretched and average. Detroit had the worst offense by far and last I heard the Kings scored only 5 more even strength goals than them this season.

tl;dr - the only way the Kings offense is fixed is if we nuke management from orbit and get rid of everyone. A new coach picked by this group won't fix anything, the offense has been pounded ass for 15+ years.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Also, the notion I see so many times is you pick or choose which can be good and which can be bad. Not true at all, my favorite team to watch is Vegas and they are elite everywhere. This season they had the best defense in the league, third best offense, and best penalty kill. Surprisingly their power play was the one outlier as it was #22.

 

[Docgonzo]

I do love the were aren’t an Eichel away at competing but we should’ve traded for Anderson and signed him to a 7 year 6.7mil contract. Or let’s sign Landeskog to an 7 year 9mil contract, because that’ll be what it takes to get him here. This moves don’t make the Kings contenders but they might be by the time those power forwards start to fall apart. Please name me a power forward other than Iginla that aged gracefully. Or do we all want more 33+ year old Browns that everybody seems to whine about so much.

 

[Docgonzo]

And the bemoaning of Blake not trading for Anderson or even Chandler Stephenson is ridiculous. Nobody knew they’d be good, and I’m waiting to see if they’re this good next season before I’ll agree that they are.

But it’s like if Ducks fans said, omg I can’t believe Murray didn’t trade for Williams, Gaborik, Mitchell, Scuderi etc etc.

I mean we complained we didn’t get Kovy when he went to the Devils and it worked out for us in the long run. Who knows if Anderson soon becomes an anchor. Maybe Columbus traded him before his value tanked.

 

[Reclamation Project]

I don't think Eichel makes the Kings a contender, not even close (Kings will be lucky if everything pans out and they're a contender in 4-5 years). Definitely a playoff team, but that isn't my goal either. I'm thinking once Kopitar is done, the Kings will have one of the best 1/2 punches down the middle with Eichel/Byfield. Then, most likely when Eichel is due for another extension, Byfield will be the #1 and he can drop to #2. It's a 5-10 year move for me, not a quick bandaid. The appeal of Eichel to me is his elite skill, established caliber of play on one of the worst teams in all of sports, young age, and remaining contract. Contingent on his health, everything else is a total win for me.

 

[Docgonzo]

Also I’ve heard a lot about Lombardi making 50 trades before winning the cup. So that means the only ones that were beneficial were Stoll/Greene, Fraser, Williams, Carter and Richards. So that means he failed a lot more than he succeeded.

Who can forget the great trades for
Cloutier
Jamie Lundmark
Denis Gauthier
Jamie Heyward
Rich Clune
Jeff Halpern
Fredrik Modin
Keaton Ellerby
Matt Frattin
Stefan Legein

Trades for the sake of trades aren’t the best thing either.

I should say, I loved Lombardi’s time here and have tons of respect for him. But they way some talk about him it’s like he’s a god whose infallible.

 

[SFKingshomer]

Josh Anderson, Bennett, Stephenson lol. We don’t know if LA tried for them or if they were available and at what cost. Bennett is the only 1 I’d want on the Kings. Anderson’s contract is horrible and Stephenson is a bottom 6 forward who found chemistry with 2 stud wingers.

 

[Mats26]

Also I’ve heard a lot about Lombardi making 50 trades before winning the cup. So that means the only ones that were beneficial were Stoll/Greene, Fraser, Williams, Carter and Richards. So that means he failed a lot more than he succeeded.

Who can forget the great trades for
Cloutier
Jamie Lundmark
Denis Gauthier
Jamie Heyward
Rich Clune
Jeff Halpern
Fredrik Modin
Keaton Ellerby
Matt Frattin
Stefan Legein

Trades for the sake of trades aren’t the best thing either.

I should say, I loved Lombardi’s time here and have tons of respect for him. But they way some talk about him it’s like he’s a god whose infallible.

Would be nice if you put some context on these trades.
I guess you forgot that Frattin also came with Scrivens and Frattin then got traded for Gaborik which lead to our 2nd cup. Not all trades need to be for Eichel to build a contender, you add pieces along the way and build up your asset pool. What Lombardi did after 2014 is another story. Seems to me that Blake is under pressure to swing for the fences this summer....lets's hope he doesn't strike out.

None of these trades costed a whole lot and most were fillers. Some even played well (i.e Modin).
You can say let's not make trades for the sake of it, but those early years for Lombardi, the whole organization was trash. We didn't even have a decent farm team or prospect pool.
Imagine, we had to play some of those players, that's how awful we were.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Would be nice if you put some context on these trades. I guess you forgot that Frattin also came with Scrivens and Frattin then got traded for Gaborik which lead to our 2nd cup. Not all trades need to be for Eichel to build a contender, you add pieces along the way and build up your asset pool. What Lombardi did after 2014 is another story. Seems to me that Blake is under pressure to swing for the fences this summer....lets's hope he doesn't strike out.

None of these trades costed a whole lot and most were fillers. Some even played well (i.e Modin).
You can say let's not make trades for the sake of it, but those early years for Lombardi, the whole organization was trash. We didn't even have a decent farm team or prospect pool.
Imagine, we had to play some of those players, that's how awful we were.

Yeah, sure, Frattin was an asset. He was traded "for" Gaborik for roster purposes. Same as when the Kings took Lundmark back in the deal for Conroy. The value in the trade going to Columbus were the draft picks. Wagner is essentially Frattin. Apparently the Kings already have a great asset in the pool.

I've grown to hate that logic train. They got this guy, and then turned him into that guy, and then turned that guy into another guy, and it all worked out great. Ok, but when you made the original move, you had no idea the ____ part of that series of events would ever take place.

Context is great. I love context. It defines every situation. DL's early years, Blake's early years. DL didn't have the calcified contracts of a long dead winner to deal with. Much easier to make all sort of little trades in that context. Every move he made also wasn't constantly compared to his predecessor(s). Or if they were, he had nowhere to go but up.

 

[Mats26]

Yeah, sure, Frattin was an asset. He was traded "for" Gaborik for roster purposes. Same as when the Kings took Lundmark back in the deal for Conroy. The value in the trade going to Columbus were the draft picks. Wagner is essentially Frattin. Apparently the Kings already have a great asset in the pool.

I've grown to hate that logic train. They got this guy, and then turned him into that guy, and then turned that guy into another guy, and it all worked out great. Ok, but when you made the original move, you had no idea the ____ part of that series of events would ever take place.

Context is great. I love context. It defines every situation. DL's early years, Blake's early years. DL didn't have the calcified contracts of a long dead winner to deal with. Much easier to make all sort of little trades in that context. Every move he made also wasn't constantly compared to his predecessor(s). Or if they were, he had nowhere to go but up.

I have never seen a GM with so many excuses. He was part of managment in the latter years of DL tenure which I think set this team back a decade. He publicly endorsed the Lucic trade, thank god we had no cap space to resign him. Muzzin, Martinez, Forbort, Lewis, Toffoli, Carter, Clifford, Campbell are all in the playoffs , ALL playing really well. When he took over, he should of first figured out what the hell was wrong with the culture, motivation, chemistry etc... before selling off and rebuilding so we don't rebuild on a rotten foundation. It's clear to me that the players recently traded still had the talent, just didn't care about the organization anymore. Why?

But he did well early on aquiring talent at the NCAA level, they should continue to focus on their strengths there. Like I said a few post ago without Futa this team is rudderless at the NHL Pro level. Need to fix that soon. Bring in players that want to play for the Kings....Starting to sound like Buffalo don't u think? and hopefully they rebuild on a solid core foundation. Wether that is 1 trade or 50 is not the point, the point is we need to move forward.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I have never seen a GM with so many excuses. He was part of managment in the latter years of DL tenure which I think set this team back a decade. He publicly endorsed the Lucic trade, thank god we had no cap space to resign him. Muzzin, Martinez, Forbort, Lewis, Toffoli, Carter, Clifford, Campbell are all in the playoffs , ALL playing really well. When he took over, he should of first figured out what the hell was wrong with the culture, motivation, chemistry etc... before selling off and rebuilding so we don't rebuild on a rotten foundation. It's clear to me that the players recently traded still had the talent, just didn't care about the organization anymore. Why?

But he did well early on aquiring talent at the NCAA level, they should continue to focus on their strengths there. Like I said a few post ago without Futa this team is rudderless at the NHL Pro level. Need to fix that soon. Bring in players that want to play for the Kings....Starting to sound like Buffalo don't u think? and hopefully they rebuild on a solid core foundation. Wether that is 1 trade or 50 is not the point, the point is we need to move forward.

If we are asking all of this, why aren't we asking or demanding to know why Lombardi was fired? Show me another example of a GM having shorter rope after winning championships the way LAK did.

MABYE the problem is BLuc....I NEVER thought Blake was a good option and will never think so until I see some playoff success behind him.

 

[BringTheReign]

Yes, maybe they should stay focused on the NCAA route because they can't find those Gems at the Pro level. We haven't traded for or developed a top 6 player since Toffoli, Carter something is broken there.

I'd say signing Athanasiou was finding a diamond in the rough at the pro level. He's probably middle 6 rather than top 6 eventually, but he's been great. Frk would've qualified last season as well, but he never got a shot in the pros this year after he got healthy. I know both of them are nothing to write home about, but it's not like it's easy to trade for or find top 6 talent on the UFA market. For every stroke of genius like Duclair or Verhaeghe in Florida, there's Dadonov not doing much in Ottawa.

I will add that I too am pretty shocked to see Carter suddenly playing like a top 6 scorer again, but he also now has the luxury of playing behind Sid & Geno with better wingers/centers depending on where he slots in on a given night.