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

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The Lukeman said:


Lots of conflicting info out there regarding Kings and Eichel. Hoven says LA is out of the running. Friedman backed him. Now LeBurn just posted this article stating LA is still having the conversation along with Minnesota, Anaheim, Columbus, Philadelphia and the Rangers. Dreger also said LA is still circling back with Buffalo.
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Doesn’t make a lot of sense acquiring Eichel when we have Kopitar/Byfield/Turcotte.

I’m all for it if it is the first domino to fall to revamp the top 6, but I don’t see Blake being that radical/risky.
 
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I think people put to much faith in what media members or bloggers say.

LeBrun (or his sources) have been wrong on a lot of things over the years. I agree with him that Eichel makes a ton of sense for LA (age, prospect capital, need for a 2nd star to join QB), but what he is hearing could easily be Buffalo using LA to try and drum up better offers from other teams.

Hoven, it's as if people forget he was spectacularly wrong on Iafallo only a few short months ago but now want to believe him because they want him to be right.

If LeBrun says he is hearing the Kings are in on it and Hoven is hearing they aren't, well it's obvious someone is getting BS information.

So how confident are you in trusting either guy?
 
Herby said:
I think people put to much faith in what media members or bloggers say.

LeBrun (or his sources) have been wrong on a lot of things over the years. I agree with him that Eichel makes a ton of sense for LA (age, prospect capital, need for a 2nd star to join QB), but what he is hearing could easily be Buffalo using LA to try and drum up better offers from other teams.

Hoven, it's as if people forget he was spectacularly wrong on Iafallo only a few short months ago but now want to believe him because they want him to be right.

If LeBrun says he is hearing the Kings are in on it and Hoven is hearing they aren't, well it's obvious someone is getting BS information.

So how confident are you in trusting either guy?
Click to expand...

Well the Kings would be dumb to not kick the tires, hold conversations even if they weren’t completely interested. You just never know.
 
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DryIslandBartender said:
Doesn’t make a lot of sense acquiring Eichel when we have Kopitar/Byfield/Turcotte.

I’m all for it if it is the first domino to fall to revamp the top 6, but I don’t see Blake being that radical/risky.
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Kopitar is old and well on the back-nine of his career and Turcotte would almost surely be going the other way.

I think there is some merit to Blake possibly thinking. "I think the kid we drafted is going to be a star, let me trade for another young star and that is what I build around". If Byfield ends up a Barkov caliber player and Eichel is Eichel that is a pretty tempting foundation for a GM that obviously places a huge emphasis on centers. If Byfield turned into a Barkov caliber there probably wouldn't be a team in the league that could top the 1-2 C punch that the Kings would have, and both are still very young.
 
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Herby said:
Kopitar is old and well on the back-nine of his career and Turcotte would almost surely be going the other way.

I think there is some merit to Blake possibly thinking. "I think the kid we drafted is going to be a star, let me trade for another young star and that is what I build around". If Byfield ends up a Barkov caliber player and Eichel is Eichel that is a pretty tempting foundation for a GM that obviously places a huge emphasis on centers. If Byfield turned into Barkov there probably wouldn't be a team in the league that could top the 1-2 C punch that the Kings would have.
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Im beating a dead horse here but Eichel/Byfield/Kopitar down the line for three years is a lot. Maybe it works with Byfield or Kopitar on the third line centering with Moore/Brown?
 
lumbergh said:
Lebrun is saying that LA is a team "that makes sense" for a trade involving Eichel. I mean, yeah, the Kings make sense in the fact that the Kings have the cap space and a ton of prospects to trade. I imagine Kevyn Adams asking for Byfield, and Blake saying "Nope", and that being pretty much the end of that.

If the price drops, the Kings could get back in it, but Byfield has to be considered untouchable.
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Ziggy Stardust said:
LeBrun didn't state that. He speculated that given what they are after. Here is the full quote.

Teams I believe make sense: Los Angeles, Minnesota, Anaheim, Columbus, Philadelphia and the Rangers, among others.

The Kings want to make a splashy move for a top-6 forward, the Wild could use another top center, and the Jackets (who have three first-round picks this year) of course really, really need a No. 1 center.
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This is my bad, I read it too quickly and posted false info on this. Sorry.

kinghock said:
Can you please provide direct quote where LeBurn stating LA is still having the conversation?
LeBrun did not say LA is in it.
He said it makes sense for LA, but that is all.
Also where is Dreger saying LA is still circling back with Buffalo?
I cannot find it.
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Dreger said it on radio spot a couple weeks ago, let me try and find it. This was before Hoven posted his, so it could outdated information
 
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DryIslandBartender said:
Im beating a dead horse here but Eichel/Byfield/Kopitar down the line for three years is a lot. Maybe it works with Byfield or Kopitar on the third line centering with Moore/Brown?
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I think if Blake did trade for Eichel they would have QB either on the wing this year or more likely having an on the job training type year centering a third line with as you said, someone like Brown and Moore. They wouldn't have to score a ton and wouldn't be expected to do much heavy lifting defensively. Brown provides veteran leadership, physicality and can pop in maybe 15 goals, Moore just made everyone he played with better last year, so you hope that he does the same with QB.

As Kopitar begins to wind down even more after this season you probably move QB up to a line with scorers and then hope that AK's unbelievable game sense, especially in the defensive zone lets him be able to still check other teams top lines.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
Of the top 10 point producers in the playoffs, only one of them was acquired via trade (Jean-Gabriel Pageau).

The top 10 goal scorers during the season were all forwards drafted by their respective clubs, with one exception, Tyler Toffoli. Top 10 point producers during the season, all drafted by their respective teams, and all but one was a first round pick. The lone exception, Brad Marchand, taken in the third round.

Look throughout the league, most of the players leading their teams offensively are homegrown talent, and teams aren't willingly giving away productive players. The ones who end up being moved usually tend to be upcoming free agents, and/or players on bad teams.

If finding offensive players were so easy, what's taken the Kings so long to acquire some? They tried and failed with Kovalchuk, and besides Iafallo, what free agent signing in the past decade-plus has had any offensive impact or role in the top six?

Even if you look at trades, who are the productive, top six forwards this team has acquired over the years? Lucic in 2016? Gaborik in 2014 and Jeff Carter in 2012. Doesn't seem like the Kings have had any success acquiring offensive talent since those examples. Blake came close to landing one in 2018 with Pacioretty, but judging by the comments made around here, that would've been viewed as an unpopular move by the masses.

Luckily, the Kings may have some options to trade for this summer as bad teams will be looking to move disgruntled players. In terms of free agents, there are probably only a handful of names who can be inserted into the top six, so their options are limited there, and those players who can produce won't come with a cheap price tag.
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Ryan Smyth. Justin Williams. Mike Richards. Nothing since Lucic but they haven't really tried since then on the trade front.

I think it is tough to base it off of the Top 10 goal scorers though. We are talking about Top 6 players. Let's acknowledge that being a Top 6 on a garbage team like the Kings isn't necessarily special so let's just use Top 3 forwards across all teams. That's 93 players. There's going to be some of those available every year: it's just getting the impact ones that is difficult because why do teams want to give up impact players?
 
If the Kings can get a healthy Eichel while not giving up Byfield, I don't get complaints about having those two and Kopitar. You can easily make that work with all 3 playing the position they should be playing. Kopitar is what he is. Throw him out there every 3rd shift, decrease his stupidly heavy workload due to zero depth for half a decade, and he will do whatever the coach wants him to. We know Doughty opens his mouth. If Kopitar is worried about playing in important games again too, then you do whatever the team needs you to do, which, again, I have zero doubt on Kopitar doing that.

That's some actual depth down the middle. Been a long time since that was the case.
 
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Anyone try the Naugles at the beach? Is it legit? Oh and just to keep it on topic, it's all about the price for Eichel. If Buffalo is asking for Byfield, Turcotte, AK and a 1st, then F NO. I have no doubt that all these "insiders" have heard varying amounts of bits and pieces of which at the time of hearing it was accurate. But we all know things can change in a hurry. I highly doubt that the Kings are 100% against trading for Eichel. Now maybe Buffalo hasn't wavered in their ask and the Kings are like fine, move on then. Buffalo could cave eventually.
 
Bandit said:
About as confident in people's opinion that there's such a thing as a "good" Del Taco.
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The quality of Del Taco is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol in one's system.

If the Kings are trading 8OA, Turcotte, Madden, and Clague for Eichel, that's about as much as I'd be willing to give, and even that might be too much.
 
KingsFan7824 said:
If the Kings can get a healthy Eichel while not giving up Byfield, I don't get complaints about having those two and Kopitar. You can easily make that work with all 3 playing the position they should be playing. Kopitar is what he is. Throw him out there every 3rd shift, decrease his stupidly heavy workload due to zero depth for half a decade, and he will do whatever the coach wants him to. We know Doughty opens his mouth. If Kopitar is worried about playing in important games again too, then you do whatever the team needs you to do, which, again, I have zero doubt on Kopitar doing that.

That's some actual depth down the middle. Been a long time since that was the case.
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Almost every major player the Kings have been rumored to be interested in is met with negativity here, why does Eichel surprise you?

Prospect adoration is a real thing, you have been here long enough, you know that.

Watch how much the attitude changes when a pick turns into a player. People will be cool to trade the #8 pick, the second that pick is made and a name is attached to it the willingness to move the asset goes way way down. I don't know why that is, maybe someone with a psychology background can better explain, but it is certainly true.
 
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kilowatt said:
If the Kings are trading 8OA, Turcotte, Madden, and Clague for Eichel, that's about as much as I'd be willing to give, and even that might be too much.
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Too much for my blood.

That's why I'd be more willing to kick the tires for Reinhart and an extension, unless Vancouver wants to overpay for him. <---- This is such a Benning move right here.
 
DryIslandBartender said:
Doesn’t make a lot of sense acquiring Eichel when we have Kopitar/Byfield/Turcotte.

I’m all for it if it is the first domino to fall to revamp the top 6, but I don’t see Blake being that radical/risky.
Click to expand...

It makes a lot of sense when you consider the fact that from those players you've listed Eichel would be the best.


As I said, if Hoven says the Kings are out then they are most certainly in.
 
Herby said:
Almost every major player the Kings have been rumored to be interested in is met with negativity here, why does Eichel surprise you?

Prospect adoration is a real thing, you have been here long enough, you know that.

Watch how much the attitude changes when a pick turns into a player. People will be cool to trade the #8 pick, the second that pick is made and a name is attached to it the willingness to move the asset goes way way down. I don't know why that is, maybe someone with a psychology background can better explain, but it is certainly true.
Click to expand...


It's much more nuanced than that, though.

Even leaving prospect adoration/acquisition price out of it, there are very real concerns about

1. Eichel's general durability/surgery and recovery options;
2. Philosophies on team building, i.e. making the kind of trade it takes to get Eichel leaves us with no one to support him, like in Buffalo;
3. The idea that he's not enough of a difference maker to take this team anywhere but the black hole, ie closer to the playoffs, further from the Cup.

There are plenty of real concerns that aren't just "lol you're just a bunch of prospect homers."
 
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Herby said:
I think people put to much faith in what media members or bloggers say.

LeBrun (or his sources) have been wrong on a lot of things over the years. I agree with him that Eichel makes a ton of sense for LA (age, prospect capital, need for a 2nd star to join QB), but what he is hearing could easily be Buffalo using LA to try and drum up better offers from other teams.

Hoven, it's as if people forget he was spectacularly wrong on Iafallo only a few short months ago but now want to believe him because they want him to be right.

If LeBrun says he is hearing the Kings are in on it and Hoven is hearing they aren't, well it's obvious someone is getting BS information.

So how confident are you in trusting either guy?
Click to expand...

All I can say is there are different sources with different agendas.

First of all, Lebrun is saying what makes sense. Not what he heard. But it has happened recently with Eichel.

Who do you think is telling national media there are teams interested? The Sabres and Eichel's agent. Why?
- the Sabres want to drum up interest for a bidding war
- the agent wants to create a stir to get his boss, the player, out.
- it's true that teams, including the Kings, are showing interest.

Hoven has not said the Kings were never interested in Eichel. He said there's not much interest given some factors. He specifically says he's spoken to sources in the organization. Why?
- it's true and there's not much interest
- or they are trying to reduce the asking price.

I write for Hoven, so you know I trust him. I don't ask him to reveal the specific sources who give him information. But I think it's fair to say the answer is always in the middle:

The Kings showed interest in Eichel, because that's what competent GMs do. He's available and they followed up. However, more information has developed, and the Kings aren't interested in Eichel. Most notably because the asking price is too high.

Of course, if Buffalo were to offer him to LA for a 7th round pick, of course the Kings would take him. But that's not going to happen.

Regarding Iafallo: Latest on Kings Situation With Trade Deadline Approaching, Including Iafallo Updates

Long story short, the idea was that Iafallo's asking price of 4 x $5 million wouldn't work, and they wouldn't want a bridge deal. He re-signed for $4 million.

That said, there are absolutely some misses. Many of these things are very fluid. You either hear information as it comes in and accept changes happen, or he only reports what's already finalized and at that point, who cares?

Not saying you have to trust him. But I do think you're oversimplifying a fluid situation by asserting ONE source is wrong/full of BS.
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:
It's much more nuanced than that, though.

Even leaving prospect adoration/acquisition price out of it, there are very real concerns about

1. Eichel's general durability/surgery and recovery options;
2. Philosophies on team building, i.e. making the kind of trade it takes to get Eichel leaves us with no one to support him, like in Buffalo;
3. The idea that he's not enough of a difference maker to take this team anywhere but the black hole, ie closer to the playoffs, further from the Cup.

There are plenty of real concerns that aren't just "lol you're just a bunch of prospect homers."
Click to expand...

1. It's not just Eichel. It's everyone.

2. I think that is quite a reach. If the Kings trade Turcotte, Madden, #8 and Clague (as an example someone mentioned) there is no one left to support him? Man, you must think much less of our youth than I do. Byfield, Kaliyev, Bjornfot, Faber, Vilardi, Iafallo, Fagemo, Moore, Thomas, Cal P as youth or in prime. Still have Doughty and Kopitar for 3 years. The Kings have enough depth where trading a few pieces is not going to "kill the depth". If trading 3 or 4 non-elite assets is going to destroy the Kings prospect pool than the prospect pool might not be that good.

3. It's not just a trade for now. You don't think it's much easier to build a team when you have (assuming QB is as good as expected) two centers that good who happen to be 19 and 25 when next season starts?
 
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They're probably both right. The Kings aren't very interested while the bidding war has begun and obviously Buffalo's asking price is going to be the moon; however, the Kings may become interested as time goes on if that price comes back down to Earth.
 
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