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

[Maynard]

Where did the name "Juice" originate from? I keep wondering when Kempe got the nickname Juice.

He tosses a ton of yarn. After he’s done it looks like Spider-Man had a seizure. Kid is an absolute rope thrower.

 

[apocalypse]

He tosses a ton of yarn. After he’s done it looks like Spider-Man had a seizure. Kid is an absolute rope thrower.

So that's where it came from. That explains it.

 

[Trash Panda]

He tosses a ton of yarn. After he’s done it looks like Spider-Man had a seizure. Kid is an absolute rope thrower.

Well, that’s enough internet for today.

Happy birthday Jesus.

 

[johnjm22]

Certainly there's nepotism league-wide, but the Kings seem to be run more so by ex-Kings than I can ever remember before. Obviously I don't follow other organizations as closely, but it's hard to imagine many have as many former players on the payroll as LA does.

L.A. can be a great place to live if you have money (as former players often do), so it's not a surprise former Kings live here after retirement. And since they're in town might as well give Luc a call so he can hook you up with a kush job.

 

[johnjm22]

Dude, their entire hierarchy is just former players:

President - Luc Robitaille
GM - Rob Blake
Director of Player Personnel - Nelson Emerson
Director of Player Development - Glen Murray

That's pretty much 90% of decision making there.

Then their entire development staff is just former players: Mike Donnelly, Sean O'Donnell, Jartet Stoll, Matt Greene. The lone exception being Jeremy Clark who is a conditioning/fitness guy.

They even have Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the Reign. And there's probably more, that I can't be bothered to check out right now.

None of these guys have any NHL staff experience outside of the Kings. Not a single one has worked in an NHL staff capacity outside LA. Not one, not for a single season.

And also our assistant coach Marco Sturm. A former King with no prior NHL coaching experience.

 

[kilowatt]

I picked a couple teams at random and browsed their Hockey Operations staff.

Minnesota Wild

GM: Bill Guerin
Executive Advisor: Mike Modano
Assistant Coach: Brett McLean
Director of Player Development: Brad Bombardir
Assistant Director of Player Development: Matt Hendricks
Pro Scout: Richard Park

All former players, a few with the Wild.

Detroit Red Wings

EVP/GM: Steve Yzerman
Assistant GM: Pat Verbeek
European Player Development: Niklas Kronwall
Associate Director of Player Personnel: Jiri Fischer
Director of Player Development: Shawn Horcoff
Assistant Director of Player Development: Dan Cleary
Assistant Coach: Alex Tanguay
Pro Scout: Kirk Maltby
Director of Amateur Scouting: Kris Draper

Loyalty or nepotism?

I don't feel like writing out too many more, but the Blues have guys like Ryan Miller, Al MacInnis, Dave Taylor, Steve Ott, Jan Vopat, Glen Wesley, Keith Tkachuk, and Troy Brouwer in their organization. The Rangers have Chris Drury, Tanner Glass, Antti Miettinen, Matt Hunwick, Mike Grier, Adam Graves, and Mikko Eloranta.

This isn't some issue central to the Kings. The better question might be: Are there any good teams whose staff is filled with former players?

The Lightning have a few: Dave Andreychuk, Phil Esposito, Mathieu Garon, Jeff Halpern, Stephen Gionta, Jeff Tambellini.

Pittsburgh too: Mario Lemieux, Ron Hextall, Brian Burke, Mike Sullivan, Tom Kostopoulos, Trevor Daley, Matt Cullen, Kevin Stevens.

(And these are all just the ones I recognize at a glance.)

I don't think it's necessarily a broad strokes problem. Maybe our guys are bad, but not all are. I'm just not sure we've identified much of anything except a common pattern league-wide.

 

[Statto]

Dude, their entire hierarchy is just former players:

President - Luc Robitaille
GM - Rob Blake
Director of Player Personnel - Nelson Emerson
Director of Player Development - Glen Murray

That's pretty much 90% of decision making there.

Then their entire development staff is just former players: Mike Donnelly, Sean O'Donnell, Jartet Stoll, Matt Greene. The lone exception being Jeremy Clark who is a conditioning/fitness guy.

They even have Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the Reign. And there's probably more, that I can't be bothered to check out right now.

None of these guys have any NHL staff experience outside of the Kings. Not a single one has worked in an NHL staff capacity outside LA. Not one, not for a single season.

When Lombardi came in, his top guys were Hextall, O'Connell, Ferreira, Solomon...maybe I'm forgetting someone. Hextall had years as scout and director of player personnel in Philly, O'Connell was GM in Boston, Ferreira was GM in Minnesota, Anaheim, San Jose and Solomon looks like was a new find.

I'm not even saying you need experience, I'd be happy if they hire someone who hasn't played here. How do you expect to get an independent voice/mind out of this group?

I take your point but as I’m a pedantic arse I’ll point out that Wrobo is very much a key part of player development in the organisation. Granted he’s not got any NHL experience but he certainly has a lot of experience in player development and seemed to be doing a great job. Johnson went for the job of Reign coach and didn’t get it, so it’s not a completely closed shop.

I understand the advantages of having people you know and are familiar with and if you think things are on track it’s probably a good thing. However there is absolutely also a benefit of having new voices with different thoughts and backgrounds to bring new ideas and drive creative conflict. This will be one of those debates we come back to once we determine how the ‘rebuild’ and development of our prospect pool has gone. It’s still very early days.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Dude, their entire hierarchy is just former players:

President - Luc Robitaille
GM - Rob Blake
Director of Player Personnel - Nelson Emerson
Director of Player Development - Glen Murray

That's pretty much 90% of decision making there.

Then their entire development staff is just former players: Mike Donnelly, Sean O'Donnell, Jartet Stoll, Matt Greene. The lone exception being Jeremy Clark who is a conditioning/fitness guy.

They even have Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the Reign. And there's probably more, that I can't be bothered to check out right now.

None of these guys have any NHL staff experience outside of the Kings. Not a single one has worked in an NHL staff capacity outside LA. Not one, not for a single season.

When Lombardi came in, his top guys were Hextall, O'Connell, Ferreira, Solomon...maybe I'm forgetting someone. Hextall had years as scout and director of player personnel in Philly, O'Connell was GM in Boston, Ferreira was GM in Minnesota, Anaheim, San Jose and Solomon looks like was a new find.

I'm not even saying you need experience, I'd be happy if they hire someone who hasn't played here. How do you expect to get an independent voice/mind out of this group?

And where did Hextall play the majority of his career? The Flyers are famous for bringing in former players. Although maybe that's why they don't have a Cup since the mid-70's.

 

[KINGS17]

Dude, their entire hierarchy is just former players:

President - Luc Robitaille
GM - Rob Blake
Director of Player Personnel - Nelson Emerson
Director of Player Development - Glen Murray

That's pretty much 90% of decision making there.

Then their entire development staff is just former players: Mike Donnelly, Sean O'Donnell, Jartet Stoll, Matt Greene. The lone exception being Jeremy Clark who is a conditioning/fitness guy.

They even have Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the Reign. And there's probably more, that I can't be bothered to check out right now.

None of these guys have any NHL staff experience outside of the Kings. Not a single one has worked in an NHL staff capacity outside LA. Not one, not for a single season.

When Lombardi came in, his top guys were Hextall, O'Connell, Ferreira, Solomon...maybe I'm forgetting someone. Hextall had years as scout and director of player personnel in Philly, O'Connell was GM in Boston, Ferreira was GM in Minnesota, Anaheim, San Jose and Solomon looks like was a new find.

I'm not even saying you need experience, I'd be happy if they hire someone who hasn't played here. How do you expect to get an independent voice/mind out of this group?

Also, other than Stoll and Greene, none of those guys won jack when they played for LA, so it is hard to understand this organization's boundless love for these guys, especially Robitaille and Blake.

Recent Kings history would suggest the Kings will only win again when they find an intelligent President/GM from outside the organization who is not associated with the 40 years of failure prior to Lombardi's tenure.

I suppose we should be grateful Gretzky was never offered a job in LA.

 

[yankeeking]

The main problem we have now is there is no defining team trait that we can see developing , we are not building a defence first team , we are not building a hard to play against team, we are not going to try and out score you, and if we are planning any of these we haven't been shown any of the plan. DL was great with his boxes and where the team was going and shared it with the STH's and with the press so we knew there was a direction, I believe BLuc has this because that was what Danult shared with us when he signed , that they laid out a plan for the future he could get behind , but nothing for us, the closest we get now is the kids apparently have to earn their spots by starting out grinding on the third/fourth lines here and in ontario. the pandemic has changed a few things and the guys in the "A" would normally be dominating 16/17byr olds in the CHL , which doesn't make alot of sense either , always thought and have seen that when you practice/play against better talent you get better, so it doesn't seem like they will lose alot of development time but the development should be with some better direction and reward guys for getting IT sooner . I guess my point is we seem to be if we were a ship heading down a river we are bouncing off both shores and the rutter needs some duct tape and we neded to promote the leadership up and get a captain that at least has a map in his pocket , if you think about the people on this site are probably among the most loyal, long term kings fans and they have at the very least have disillusioned us to the point of frustration. The season is not lost completely and lets hope that we have turned the corner and can now slot in a prospect or two to help the PP and and that we can start to see the future unfolding

 

[LAKings88]

Also, other than Stoll and Greene, none of those guys won jack when they played for LA, so it is hard to understand this organization's boundless love for these guys, especially Robitaille and Blake.

Recent Kings history would suggest the Kings will only win again when they find an intelligent President/GM from outside the organization who is not associated with the 40 years of failure prior to Lombardi's tenure.

I suppose we should be grateful Gretzky was never offered a job in LA.

I mean Luc and Blake are HOFers who both won cups, albeit with different orgs. But us armchair gms know way more than those two bums.

 

[Piston]

I mean Luc and Blake are HOFers who both won cups, albeit with different orgs. But us armchair gms know way more than those two bums.

I bet half the posters here have a higher IQ than Luc. Does he know some things about the game? Sure, he had a long and succesful career. Does he know anything about management, spreadsheets, decision trees, etc? Please. He is clearly outmatched by the position.

 

[LAKings88]

I bet half the posters here have a higher IQ than Luc. Does he know some things about the game? Sure, he had a long and succesful career. Does he know anything about management, spreadsheets, decision trees, etc? Please. He is clearly outmatched by the position.

This is conjecture. It also has become the norm on here when talking about Luc. I don’t know the man. I’m not in the office with him. Because a handful say it’s so doesn’t mean it is.

 

[apocalypse]

Dude, their entire hierarchy is just former players:

President - Luc Robitaille
GM - Rob Blake
Director of Player Personnel - Nelson Emerson
Director of Player Development - Glen Murray

That's pretty much 90% of decision making there.

Then their entire development staff is just former players: Mike Donnelly, Sean O'Donnell, Jartet Stoll, Matt Greene. The lone exception being Jeremy Clark who is a conditioning/fitness guy.

They even have Craig Johnson as an assistant coach for the Reign. And there's probably more, that I can't be bothered to check out right now.

None of these guys have any NHL staff experience outside of the Kings. Not a single one has worked in an NHL staff capacity outside LA. Not one, not for a single season.

When Lombardi came in, his top guys were Hextall, O'Connell, Ferreira, Solomon...maybe I'm forgetting someone. Hextall had years as scout and director of player personnel in Philly, O'Connell was GM in Boston, Ferreira was GM in Minnesota, Anaheim, San Jose and Solomon looks like was a new find.

I'm not even saying you need experience, I'd be happy if they hire someone who hasn't played here. How do you expect to get an independent voice/mind out of this group?

You make a good point here, but how many prospects did Lombardi and Co. churn out? That administration wasn't really known for developing prospects. Winning trades? Absolutely. Lombardi won every trade he made, but they were not known for development.

 

[apocalypse]

we are not building a hard to play against team

That was Lombardi speak. My stance was and still is, we need a middle six physical presence on this team to go along with Lemieux. Acquiring Lemieux has made a world of difference, but we're gonna get chewed up in the playoffs, cough, if we don't have that middle six physical presence. I think getting a guy like Antoine Roussel, Marcus Foligno, Wayne simmonds or somebody that can be that physical presence.

 

[Steve Zissou]

 

[FSL KINGS]

Y'all wanted Brown off the top line.

 

[Schmooley]

Y'all wanted Brown off the top line.

I wonder if they call up Vilardi or Turcotte to play top line wing with Kempe and Kopitar.
Also wonder if they call up Moverare to get a look while Maatta is out. Always thought hed be a good steady dman in the NHL. Kings seems to develop this type of defenseman best.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Literally takes a worldwide pandemic and accordant resulting NHL mandated action to get Brown off the top line and Maatta off the D.

 

[King'sPawn]

Y'all wanted Brown off the top line.

Yep. We gave Brown COVID.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I wonder if they call up Vilardi or Turcotte to play top line wing with Kempe and Kopitar.
Also wonder if they call up Moverare to get a look while Maatta is out. Always thought hed be a good steady dman in the NHL. Kings seems to develop this type of defenseman best.

I heard Turcotte is getting called up might play next game.

edit:

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

What a shitshow of a game this is gonna be, and I'm going to it



Pretty wild lineup vs VGK.

 

[Stimpythecat]

I would love to see Turcotte and Vilardi back up with the team and given a legit shot to succeed.

 

[Schmooley]

What a shitshow of a game this is gonna be, and I'm going to it



Pretty wild lineup vs VGK.

I really hope Turcotte comes in and plays amazing. Or at least well enough to never get sent down again. Stop this whole website from calling him a bust.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I really hope Turcotte comes in and plays amazing. Or at least well enough to never get sent down again. Stop this whole website from calling him a bust.

It won't stop, don't worry. It'll either be zero points and "see, bust' or 1-infinity points and "well it's just one game."

I'm more hoping he just comes in confident to play his own game so people can see what he's all about because the amount of misguided takes on what he brings to the table are what really drive me crazy.