Speculation: 2021-22 LA Kings News, Rumors, Roster Thread Part VI

[Raccoon Jesus]

McClellan is infamous for his inability to make mid-game, mid-series adjustments. Last night's loss was the result of refusing to read his team and sticking with a preconceived notion that the kids weren't going to be able to handle the best team in the league.

That may have been a good theory, but it was the ridiculous over-playing of what really were the worst players on the ice instead of reading the flow of the game in the third period. His post game presser was poor, citing the first three goals as his main issue then saying the vets - who he over-played - didn't have a good night.

And followed it up with a post game interview that confirmed his confirmation bias about the youth, too.

Edit: derp had the 2nd paragraph in my head when writing

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Not sure why everyon eis railin gon Doughty, he's been norris caliber all year minus the last two games. It's no surprise the Kings go often as he goes.

Especially with how bad this forum collectively thinks Anderson is, if Doughty sucks too, exactly who on our defense is making it so good? Solely Matt Roy?

 

[Eagle Fang]

I give you, Sean Durzi.

Durzi was a point producing machine this season in ONT. It's his defense that was suspect but he's surprisingly holding up pretty ok on that end in the NHL. Not surprising he's putting up points and doing well running the PP. It is surprising he hasn't been abused in his own zone.

On that note, Turcotte isn't ready for the NHL this season and I still maintain he needs to get bigger and stronger. He's been getting knocked around in the NHL and it was the same in ONT. Tries hard, competes and the effort is there though which is indicative of what is to come.

Kupari has sucked. I don't know what his future will be but he's kind of starting to trend in that 'Good AHL player, can't cut it in the NHL' direction. Seems to make really bad decisions with and without the puck but of course he is still very young.

Fagemo probably has been the most surprising forward in his very brief stint. Looks very assertive and confident in his decisions. I've really liked his game so far.

Byfield is ready for the NHL, no question.

Vilardi... probably can be back but my confidence in him becoming a top 6 forward is fading.

Spence looks real good. It wouldn't surprise me if he got some NHL games next season (if not sooner depending on injuries). Hands down he's ONT's best defenseman right now.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I know Doughty hasn't been great the past two games, but here's some great stuff on his resurgence this season and what it's meant for the Kings. I'm just hoping that the Kings being in contention for a playoff spot is enough to keep him motivated now that the NHL isn't going to the Olympics. It'd be nice to get a World Cup of Hockey announced soon for players to look forward to...

16 Stats: Doughty's dominance, Panthers purring, and actual All-Stars

Holy shit, that's a Dom written article too.

You KNOW DD has been good if Dom writes an article with Drew as the headliner and admitting how wrong he was. THat's a sign of the apocalypse.

 

[YP44]

Holy shit, that's a Dom written article too.

You KNOW DD has been good if Dom writes an article with Drew as the headliner and admitting how wrong he was. THat's a sign of the apocalypse.

gotta give Dom credit for pointing out this one. I shit on him enough that i should give him props

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Re Turcotte I don't know for sure that he's ready to produce but we won't know that until we see him with some offensive talent. He's a distributor that isn't getting offensive deployment at either level. I can tell you how he's NOT going to produce: playing with Kupari and Brown. He's set up a tap-in per game so far at least and nothing happening. Last night he toe dragged tightly around hedman and put the puck right on one of their sticks right above the crease and they just f***ing flubbed it into the corner.

 

[YP44]

May I suggest Lemieux in Brown's spot. He and Durzi seem to pair off and practice tipping point shots during warm ups.

sure better than what we have still

 

[lexlavender]

Kupari really needs to be sent down for Byfield, two losses where we should have competed at least are enough. Bring up Byfield

 

[lexlavender]

Holy shit, that's a Dom written article too.

You KNOW DD has been good if Dom writes an article with Drew as the headliner and admitting how wrong he was. THat's a sign of the apocalypse.

He only had to post relative career highs in every stat to be noticed a little bit :/

 

[Eagle Fang]

Re Turcotte I don't know for sure that he's ready to produce but we won't know that until we see him with some offensive talent. He's a distributor that isn't getting offensive deployment at either level. I can tell you how he's NOT going to produce: playing with Kupari and Brown. He's set up a tap-in per game so far at least and nothing happening. Last night he toe dragged tightly around hedman and put the puck right on one of their sticks right above the crease and they just f***ing flubbed it into the corner.

That line is almost like... we don't know where to put any of you so we'll stick you all together and see what happens

 

[tbrown33]

And followed it up with a post game interview that confirmed his confirmation bias about the youth, too.

Edit: derp had the 2nd paragraph in my head when writing

Eh, it seemed to be pretty even-handed from what I'm reading.

Kings 'young and old' make mistakes vs. Lightning, plus what they're missing from Adrian Kempe

“We’re making some mistakes right now that we didn’t make a week ago,” he said. “So progress would mean cleaning that up. If you’re led to the water, eventually you’ve got to know when to drink and there’s some that continually get to the water and they’re not quite drinking yet.

“They’re making the same mistake at that spot, over and over again.”

McLellan prefaced those remarks by saying the mistakes were coming from “young and old.”

“These are the grow-up moments for some of our players,” he said. “I didn’t think the veterans were very good tonight and the kids have to grow up. They have to learn these moments or these situations and it’s a combination of everybody in the team tonight, not just old or young.”

I mean is he wrong? Kupari was bad, Bjornfot was bad, and we all know which veterans were bad too.

 

[Eagle Fang]

Kupari really needs to be sent down for Byfield, two losses where we should have competed at least are enough. Bring up Byfield

It's really just a matter of time as everyone already figures. I don't know how quickly his play will translate in the NHL, but just from how he looks vs the AHL he's ready.

 

[redcard]

The Grammy trip starts after tomorrow's game (even though there are no Grammys) then the all star break. We still have some games to be reschedule, but as of now our next home game won't be until 2/26.

Reign have 9 road games and only 1 home game in February themselves, so we might see some tough taxi squad stretches and so I wouldn't actually be surprised if we did see a Tynan/Strand getting a game or two on the road and some thin lineups for Ontario.

 

[lumbergh]

Turcotte & Fagemo collectively 11 games, 0 points, -2.

 

[Mats26]

____

Iafallo

Kaliyev Kempe

Durzi Kopitar


How much ballz does TMac have to deploy this as our PP1?...I already know the answer.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Turcotte & Fagemo collectively 11 games, 0 points, -2.

Brown & Maatta & Kopitar collectively 11 games, 2 points, -5.

What's the point of this

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Eh, it seemed to be pretty even-handed from what I'm reading.

Kings 'young and old' make mistakes vs. Lightning, plus what they're missing from Adrian Kempe

I mean is he wrong? Kupari was bad, Bjornfot was bad, and we all know which veterans were bad too.

He was like shaking with anger at that point lol. The emphasis was definitely on the youth. "oh and the vets were bad too" isn't much of a deflection especially considering he gave some vets literally nearly triple the playing time.

 

[Statto]

Turcotte & Fagemo collectively 11 games, 0 points, -2.

The -2 is a complete ‘so what’ but the lack of points indicates they would both benefit from top 6 minutes in the AHL. That said they’ve not been put in position to rack up points, either by virtue of the lines they’ve been put on or the form of their line mates. Brown and Kopitar are not at their best right now so aren’t going to be able to nurture the young guys effectively right now. I’m confident Kopitar will get going again and be able to do that and Brown doesn’t need further discussion. Quality AHL minutes are needed especially for Turcotte, to allow him to dominate and work on getting stronger which is possible with the lighter AHL schedule. I’d happy see him get another call up post TDL as he’s earned it and he’s the type to have really learned from it.

I’d call up Byfield soon but the fact Kupari hasn’t been sent down makes me think they want him in the shop window. He has a skill set where you’d think he’d benefit from a stint in the AHL to help nurture his offensive game, so I don’t quite get why he doesn’t get a short spell down other than they expect to move him. So when Kempe is back I’d send Fagemo, Kupari and Turcotte down to the AHL to tear it up and bring Byfield up to stay and give Vilardi a shot to see what he’s learned… but that’s just me.

I’m fine with Grundström being back in play but they really need to end the AA experiment ASAP. However, I’m sure they will want to have him show he’s healthy for any opportunity there may be to move him so I expect he will get a few games at least. I think Blakes been either a genius or just lucky (I think he has been shrewd personally) with the extra insurance policy he had by signing so many guys, but it’s time to trim the numbers by at least a couple of bodies. What we have learned though is that the kids in Ontario are capable of covering for injury and illness for short stints. In that sense recent Covid isolations have proved very beneficial but Insurance policies are no longer needed.

 

[DoktorJeep]

The team is playing well enough to be considered in the mix come the trade deadline. If QB can stay hot on the Reign through the rest of January, he could be an internal upgrade on the third line that you “acquire” early to give him time to integrate. Putting him together with Kupari and maybe Grundstrom could be a nice 4th/3rd line. You can play them behind Lizotte’s line by a couple minutes or elevate their shifts if you’ve got the matchups. And it doesn’t require clearing cap space. Brown is the biggest blocker to putting together the best forward lineup.

The Kings look like they’ll have just under $5.5M in available cap space at the trade deadline. That’s from Edler and Walker mostly, neither of whom are likely to return before the playoffs, with Walker a near certainty. So upgrading on D makes the most sense from a couple of perspectives. The injuries have hurt the depth on the D more than up front. And the Kings are pretty good defensively.

They’re #11 in GA and third in the division in goal differential. So improving the defense probably is the best way to smooth out the inconsistency and generate more points. They were competitive against Tampa last night, but couldn’t find a way to take a tied game in the third period to OT.

Chycrun is a bit of a moon shot, when you look at cost and the high number of bidders. Chiarot or maybe Soucy brings size but may be a flop in this system. Neither seem like a guy who can play in all situations in a pinch, like Edler. Right D looks like a lock with Doughty, Roy and Durzi; who nicely fills in for Walker. It’s left D where there are red flags like Maata. And there is no one from Ontario who can / could fill in like Durzi or Byfield.

So I’m intrigued about Giodarno, a left D who should definitely be available. And he shouldn’t cost multiple major pieces. He’s having a productive year and is a UFA, like Edler. His cap hit is $6.75M, so maybe he could be had for free agents like AA and Lias for salary purposes. To land him could be a decent prospect on top of that. Maybe one of Fagemo, Grans, or a 22 second round pick. Which I believe the Kings still have one of for the upcoming draft.

 

[Mats26]

Turcotte & Fagemo collectively 11 games, 0 points, -2.

Last 11 games
Kupari 3 Apples +/- 0
Kaliyev 1G 2 Apples +/- -1

None of the kids are really producing, even the ones that are getting the Pro games under their belt. It's not a prospect problem, it's a coaching structure, deployment, development problem when all the kids are struggling.
D men seem to be doing fine for now.

 

[DoktorJeep]

The Kupari/ Turcotte line is the fourth line by a mile. No one should consider them a third line if you’ve glanced at ice times. If they’re playing close to even and the Kings are getting points then that’s ok in my books regardless the individual production.

 

[Herby]

Would you be shocked if I told you he had a similarly slow start to his College career?

Yes, because he didn't. He had 8 points in his first 4 games.

 

[Steve Zissou]

In case you need a break from constantly arguing with each other...

 

[unicornpig]

Not sure why everyon eis railin gon Doughty, he's been norris caliber all year minus the last two games. It's no surprise the Kings go often as he goes.

Especially with how bad this forum collectively thinks Anderson is, if Doughty sucks too, exactly who on our defense is making it so good? Solely Matt Roy?

cause hes one of the highest paid players. and hes not playing anywhere near his paid grade.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

cause hes one of the highest paid players. and hes not playing anywhere near his paid grade.

The last 2-3 games? Sure.

Saying he's having a bad season when he's PPG with literally the best metrics of his career despite a non playoff team around him? Completely wrong by facts and eye test.