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

[bmr]

I like Petersen but hes having a shaky season. Even though I like him I never thought of him as the guy that will be the starter for the next contender they put together. More of a bridge between Quick and the next guy they develop. Finding a high end goalie prospect should be a top priority.

I think Cal will get better as the season progresses. If you look at his body of work, he has some really good seasons in there for Notre Dame and a respectable save percentage on the Kings.

 

[kings11]

Lucic deal too I understood. Top 6 LW at the ap hit he came with (50% retained) for a first and a backup.

It was a terrible trade then too..
Any realistic Kings fan knew we needed youth and talent to continue being a contender along with replacing vets that had moved on..
As our defense lost the talent, size, physicality and edge that made us special, the team sank into mediocrity.
Lucic
Sekera
Bishop
Were just plain bad trades

 

[Schmooley]

I think Cal will get better as the season progresses. If you look at his body of work, he has some really good seasons in there for Notre Dame and a respectable save percentage on the Kings.

Yea I think hell get better also.

 

[YP44]

It was a terrible trade then too..
Any realistic Kings fan knew we needed youth and talent to continue being a contender along with replacing vets that had moved on..
As our defense lost the talent, size, physicality and edge that made us special, the team sank into mediocrity.
Lucic
Sekera
Bishop
Were just plain bad trades

Didn't Kopitar produce his best offensive season with Lucic?
Sekera deal is hard to grade because he got injured right away. At the time I thought it was a lot to give up with knowing if he was going to be re-signed. League twiddling their thumbs and not having a stance on Voynov made re-signing him hard.
Bishop was weird. Moved up in the draft at the cost of Cernak for goaltending insurance. I was not as big on Cernak as others. Hurts now that is for sure.

 

[YP44]

Yea I think hell get better also.

He is below .900....he damn well better

 

[kings11]

Didn't Kopitar produce his best offensive season with Lucic?
Sekera deal is hard to grade because he got injured right away. At the time I thought it was a lot to give up with knowing if he was going to be re-signed. League twiddling their thumbs and not having a stance on Voynov made re-signing him hard.
Bishop was weird. Moved up in the draft at the cost of Cernak for goaltending insurance. I was not as big on Cernak as others. Hurts now that is for sure.

Kopi had his best season after, with Iafallo if I’m not mistaken.
Serena was brought in while we were sinking in the standings.. not that the pick became anything but that’s not the point
Bishop cost us Cernak who would have been our #3 and made our D much tougher

 

[unicornpig]

I still think the Kovalchuk "flop" was greatly exaggerated. It was pretty logical after the Kings got absolutely curbstomped by the Knights in the playoffs due to their lack of offense. I dont think a three year contract was a big commitment really.

it was, it also helped pushed the kings towards a rebuild.

 

[crassbonanza]

Dont know man. I think Zegras has definitely shown consistent flashes of elite talent. So has Byfield. After being a Kings fan for so long, I am not sold on any prospect until they show they can hang in the NHL.

Zegras has just more than just consistent flashes, he has 22 points in 25 games so far this season and holy shit his assist yesterday was out of this world. I like our prospects a lot, but he is on a different level at this point.

 

[Sol]

it was, it also helped pushed the kings towards a rebuild.

Dean Lombardi pushed the Kings in the rebuild fast lane when he sodomized the prospect pool

 

[Sol]

Zegras has just more than just consistent flashes, he has 22 points in 25 games so far this season and holy shit his assist yesterday was out of this world. I like our prospects a lot, but he is on a different level at this point.

I think he will be better than Byfield potentially.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I don't understand how people still act like that move was bad. It was just a signing for three years after the Kings got smoked by the Knights because of our lack of offense. I don't get why people still talk about it like it set the team back or something.

Not to mention I'm pretty sure Ilya Kovalchuk was a point per game player his first like 15 games with the team under John Stevens.

Then WD came in and screwed everything up.

 

[crassbonanza]

I think he will be better than Byfield potentially.

I think at this point that is likely the case. The Turcotte/Byfield/Clarke vs Zegras/Drysdale/McTavish is going to be a wild debate for the next few years and it appears that the Kings are already behind in that one.

 

[Sol]

I think at this point that is likely the case. The Turcotte/Byfield/Clarke vs Zegras/Drysdale/McTavish is going to be a wild debate for the next few years and it appears that the Kings are already behind in that one.

I'm thinking that our group will be better with the weakest link from our group being Clarke. If his skating doesn't improve to NHL level then all his other tools will become more muted.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Lucic deal too I understood. Top 6 LW at the ap hit he came with (50% retained) for a first and a backup.

That was horrible and ruined the next decade....there were 2 reports that said the Kings were taking : Barzal. Kyle Connor.
Had they taken either one, would have been making the playoffs every year since 2017...possibly close to contending now.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Also, it's not my place to tell anyone what to do, but Im going to make a suggestion. If you still go to Kings games, and don't care too much about the money, toss a jersey. That shit seems to work and sends a message.

Bonus points if it's a Blake #4 with the C cut out of the chest!

I still think the Kovalchuk "flop" was greatly exaggerated. It was pretty logical after the Kings got absolutely curbstomped by the Knights in the playoffs due to their lack of offense. I dont think a three year contract was a big commitment really.

I think the Kovy flop was even more symbolic than that--the signing itself, still absolutely fine in retrospect. The real problem? Just like now--HE WAS COMPLETELY MISUSED! Like kaliyev--they tried to turn Ilya mother f***ing Kovalchuk into a bottom six checker!

 

[Sol]

Bonus points if it's a Blake #4 with the C cut out of the chest!




I think the Kovy flop was even more symbolic than that--the signing itself, still absolutely fine in retrospect. The real problem? Just like now--HE WAS COMPLETELY MISUSED! Like kaliyev--they tried to turn Ilya mother f***ing Kovalchuk into a bottom six checker!

Kovalchuk was completely misused to the point you had to wonder if they did it on purpose.


They had Kovalchuk... Playing the f***ing deflection duty. Like what the f***? He's always been stapled near the blue line and sniping. His limited PP time was in front of the f***ing net FOR WHAT REASON

Kovalchuk performed well until they broke him. When they put him in a position to succeed, he did.

They're misusing Kaliyev still. Even Tkachev was doing good. I don't get it. I seriously don't. Why are these players not given a serious chance.

 

[BigKing]

I don't understand how people still act like that move was bad. It was just a signing for three years after the Kings got smoked by the Knights because of our lack of offense. I don't get why people still talk about it like it set the team back or something.

Well, the Kings immediately nose-dived and the player in question was sent home at one point and then eventually bought out. So it wasn't a good signing and was, in fact, a bad move. No other team was willing to give him the 3rd year because even the two years was risky. While sometimes the simplest answer is the solution, it is a move that doesn't appear to have much thought to it, i.e. "We can't score enough so sign a guy who is a great scorer" but it doesn't factor in how old he is (is he actually still a great scorer?), how he fits with the roster, system etc. You can still like Kovalchuk after his stint here but the move was a complete failure and is the avatar of Blake's complete failure to know what he had with this roster: he thought they were a player away but, instead, they were sending a letter out to the fans in January talking about how they are starting a rebuild.

It didn't cost the Kings a direct asset like the Lombardi trades but it did cost AEG a good amount of real dollars. When it comes to being able to buy a 1st round pick to eat Patrick Marleau's salary, the last-place and rebuilding Kings don't step up to the plate because AEG is sitting here paying John Stevens, Kovalchuk and Phaneuf to go away. If they aren't paying that Kovy money, maybe the Kings have an extra 1st round pick which is gold to a full-on rebuild. Instead, AEG is like "we aren't letting you spend any money for awhile here, Bowlby."

The reasoning argument is fine (we just need a goal scorer) but it was completely wrong. The reasoning for the Lucic trade was fine but it was completely wrong as well. Team won two Cups in three years and then missed the playoffs with a 95 point season from hell. 102 point season with Lucic but you had key injuries to Gaborik and Greene (3 games played total) with Martinez getting hurt before the playoffs being a real killer. If the Kings get the Gaborik they got in 2015 (27 goals) then that team would have been a legit contender. The reasoning was fine but the cost to acquire Lucic was the real issue on top of relying on Gaborik staying healthy and, really, near-perfect health since the depth wasn't there with Voynov gone.

DL should have kept the 1st round pick and sucked it up but, in all honesty, he sealed the "all-in" fate when he gave Gaborik the extension. The decisions to keep Richards and sign Gaborik meant that they were all-in from that point forward since the money was being spent and you really couldn't waste a healthy Gaborik season or know how many of them you were going to get. If they completely cratered in 2015 then maybe he chills out but they missed the playoffs by one point and were what felt like 2-80 in OT/SO. Very easy to believe in your guys that actually won two Cup for you and think that it was just a fluke season and everything is fine, just like it is very easy to keep the band together after the insane 2014 Cup: but he was wrong.

For Blake, it is extremely easy for a first time GM to inherit a core of dudes that won a Cup or two, do nothing and make it back it back to the playoffs to think that these guys aren't the 2015-2017 team but they are actually the guys that can still win a Cup. Like you are saying: it's not a big move or anything because he doesn't have to actually worry about "losing" a trade since he is just spending money. That is an easy move while actually taking over in 2017 and breaking up the band was the hard one. That 2018 team had a complete outlier year from Kopitar and the back-up goalies lost like one game which is super flukey as well. He bet on a dead cat bounce that, much like the 2016 team, lost a lot of momentum down the stretch and--exactly like the 2016 team--lost the final game of the season at home to put themselves in a spot to get smoked in the 1st round to the eventual Cup finalist. Vegas exposed them and they didn't lose because of a lack of a one-trick pony goal scorer: they couldn't even get the puck out of their own zone to be in a position to get the puck to someone like Kovalchuk. But, since Quick played out of his mind, Blake looks at it like "we were in these games and just need some more on the power play". He wanted to believe that just like DL wanted to believe that the 2016 team was still the 2014 team. Shit...Blake wanted to believe that the 2018 team he had his first year was that 2014 team and just needed a little help up front.

Neither of them wanted to do the difficult thing which was start moving "made men". Blake didn't do it until the whole thing was in shambles and invited one more guy on the Titanic with $18MM of AEG's money shortly after committing $88MM to Doughty so the Kings could be a bottom feeder for the next three seasons and counting. Doesn't matter if the reasoning can be supported since this is a results based business and the results for both of these moves are horrible. Is one worse than the other? Of course; however, the Lucic deal easily doing more damage than the Kovy signing doesn't mean that the latter wasn't a "bad move": spending $18MM of your bosses' money on something that immediately bombs has consequences...they just as aren't easy to see as a highlight of Barzal/Connor or whoever else someone wants to say the Kings would have taken with the Lucic pick.

 

[Sol]

Well, the Kings immediately nose-dived and the player in question was sent home at one point and then eventually bought out. So it wasn't a good signing and was, in fact, a bad move. No other team was willing to give him the 3rd year because even the two years was risky. While sometimes the simplest answer is the solution, it is a move that doesn't appear to have much thought to it, i.e. "We can't score enough so sign a guy who is a great scorer" but it doesn't factor in how old he is (is he actually still a great scorer?), how he fits with the roster, system etc. You can still like Kovalchuk after his stint here but the move was a complete failure and is the avatar of Blake's complete failure to know what he had with this roster: he thought they were a player away but, instead, they were sending a letter out to the fans in January talking about how they are starting a rebuild.

It didn't cost the Kings a direct asset like the Lombardi trades but it did cost AEG a good amount of real dollars. When it comes to being able to buy a 1st round pick to eat Patrick Marleau's salary, the last-place and rebuilding Kings don't step up to the plate because AEG is sitting here paying John Stevens, Kovalchuk and Phaneuf to go away. If they aren't paying that Kovy money, maybe the Kings have an extra 1st round pick which is gold to a full-on rebuild. Instead, AEG is like "we aren't letting you spend any money for awhile here, Bowlby."

The reasoning argument is fine (we just need a goal scorer) but it was completely wrong. The reasoning for the Lucic trade was fine but it was completely wrong as well. Team won two Cups in three years and then missed the playoffs with a 95 point season from hell. 102 point season with Lucic but you had key injuries to Gaborik and Greene (3 games played total) with Martinez getting hurt before the playoffs being a real killer. If the Kings get the Gaborik they got in 2015 (27 goals) then that team would have been a legit contender. The reasoning was fine but the cost to acquire Lucic was the real issue on top of relying on Gaborik staying healthy and, really, near-perfect health since the depth wasn't there with Voynov gone.

DL should have kept the 1st round pick and sucked it up but, in all honesty, he sealed the "all-in" fate when he gave Gaborik the extension. The decisions to keep Richards and sign Gaborik meant that they were all-in from that point forward since the money was being spent and you really couldn't waste a healthy Gaborik season or know how many of them you were going to get. If they completely cratered in 2015 then maybe he chills out but they missed the playoffs by one point and were what felt like 2-80 in OT/SO. Very easy to believe in your guys that actually won two Cup for you and think that it was just a fluke season and everything is fine, just like it is very easy to keep the band together after the insane 2014 Cup: but he was wrong.

For Blake, it is extremely easy for a first time GM to inherit a core of dudes that won a Cup or two, do nothing and make it back it back to the playoffs to think that these guys aren't the 2015-2017 team but they are actually the guys that can still win a Cup. Like you are saying: it's not a big move or anything because he doesn't have to actually worry about "losing" a trade since he is just spending money. That is an easy move while actually taking over in 2017 and breaking up the band was the hard one. That 2018 team had a complete outlier year from Kopitar and the back-up goalies lost like one game which is super flukey as well. He bet on a dead count bounce that, much like the 2016 team, lost a lot of momentum down the stretch and--exactly like the 2016 team--lost the final game of the season at home to put themselves in a spot to get smoked in the 1st round to the eventual Cup finalist. Vegas exposed them and they didn't lose because of a lack of a one-trick pony goal scorer: they couldn't even get the puck out of their own zone to be in a position to get the puck to someone like Kovalchuk. But, since Quick played out of his mind, Blake looks at it like "we were in these games and just need some more on the power play". He wanted to believe that just like DL wanted to believe that the 2016 team was still the 2014 team. Shit...Blake wanted to believe that the 2018 team he had his first year was that 2014 team and just needed a little help up front.

Neither of them wanted to do the difficult thing which was start moving "made men". Blake didn't do it until the whole thing was in shambles and invited one more guy on the Titanic with $18MM of AEG's money shortly after committing $88MM to Doughty so the Kings could be a bottom feeder for the next three seasons and counting. Doesn't matter if the reasoning can be supported since this is a results based business and the results for both of these moves are horrible. Is one worse than the other? Of course; however, the Lucic deal easily doing more damage than the Kovy signing doesn't mean that the latter wasn't a "bad move": spending $18MM of your bosses' money on something that immediately bombs has consequences...they just as aren't easy to see as a highlight of Barzal/Connor or whoever else someone wants to say the Kings would have taken with the Lucic pick.

Hold on, there's a couple things I want to address with what you said.

Do you think Kovalchuk was misused during his stint or not?

I agree with your overall assessment, and I do think Blake was delusional that the team was still competitive, they were falling apart fast.

You can argue that signing an aging goal scorer in full context on a failing team was a bad idea. But you can also understand they were desperate for a goal scorer and Were hoping to make a splash (which wouldn't have been likely)

I don't think you can honestly argue that the problem with the Kovalchuk signing itself was actually a Kovalchuk problem.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I think Cal will get better as the season progresses. If you look at his body of work, he has some really good seasons in there for Notre Dame and a respectable save percentage on the Kings.

I think Cal solidified his standing (and a good contract) with his play at the Worlds this past Summer...he was outstanding. Maybe not the best players in that tourny in the world, but he showed
well and was goalie of the tournament, if I recall. There were never any indications he would falter, going forward. I think he will get better, to where he was. Not too worried
However, the Kings should be looking to draft a top goalie round 2 this year and / or next. Thing is, you can always get decent NHL goalies in the trade market. There are always
good #2 goalies, ready for #1 spot and they can be had, without gving up major assets.

 

[AbsentMojo]

What u can always say about DL and DS is there was alignment w philosophy... so the stupidity on use of Kovy would never happen. With Blake and whoever he hires its bound to happen because he has no philosophy other than to get back to MB for drinks at shellbacks

 

[YP44]

That was horrible and ruined the next decade....there were 2 reports that said the Kings were taking : Barzal. Kyle Connor.
Had they taken either one, would have been making the playoffs every year since 2017...possibly close to contending now.

But had they won the cup that year who gives a shit. Easy to look back now and say they should not have done it, I agree that looking back they should not have. But getting a legit top line LW at the time, 50% retained during a cup window was a gamble I was up for. LA had it's best regular season in the history of the team that year. Did not work out, but still the gamble I understood, and was in favor of before the start of the year.

 

[yankeeking]

Hah, yeah I wish Zad and JDM would return, but I think they are done with us. But yeah, it is frustrating listening to the Kings media grasp and claw for inklings of positivity. Things are pretty bleak right now. Sure, there isn't much of a choice other than ride it out or watch Blake go nuclear, but you can at least level with us and meet us somewhere rational.

In the end, I don't see Blake or TMac going anywhere. Something is going to give in Ops and to the team first. Ops has too much of a leash left and the core of this team is on borrowed time.

 

[Matt13]

I still think the Kovalchuk "flop" was greatly exaggerated. It was pretty logical after the Kings got absolutely curbstomped by the Knights in the playoffs due to their lack of offense. I dont think a three year contract was a big commitment really.

Just curious if you get what the joke was?

This wasn’t about the basics of your post.

 

[Matt13]

LOL is this really Dean? Burner account? I can't imagine him trolling Blake like this. It's freakin hilarious though.

We wish it could be!

 

[Sol]

Just curious if you get what the joke was?

This wasn’t about the basics of your post.

Eh I guess in terms of a joke it was kind of weak to me contextually.