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

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Sol said:
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.
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I think the player was compromised once he made it to LA so that the proper use for him was almost what you are seeing from Kaliyev at this point but with a little more ES time: limited minutes but put him on the power play. Washington liked him at 14 minutes a game on average but they were a good team that didn't need him to score. The Kings paid him to be 18-20 minutes a night and he simply couldn't perform at a high level with those minutes: not for long anyways. This was the major concern with him since he hadn't been playing in the NHL and was old as shit. That's why nobody else wanted to give the third year poison pill.

He needed to be a specialist on a good team at that point but he was brought in here as a key piece. You want to run him out there for 20 minutes on the roster they had in LA and you are going to see the minuses pile up as the season progresses. He'd generally start well with us and would tail off. You could argue that it was because he was misused but he starts to get "misused" because he wasn't cutting it in the role he was signed for He gets that nice pop in Montreal but he didn't play for two months so it was basically like stepping on to October ice again for him which was when he looked his best.

It's very easy to not blame Kovalchuk for anything during his Kings tenure and I'm fine with that: he simply wasn't the player he once was. It's also easy to say "f*** Desjardin" and romanticize about Kovy's time here since the team--much like now--was so boring and it was still exciting to see the puck float over to Kovy for a one-timer or have something like his OT winner against San Jose and have it make you feel like it was 2007 if you squint hard enough. He was a liability out there though.

He was 2020-21 Andreas Athanasiou. It's just that AA never used to be Ilya Kovalchuk.
 
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With how poorly he handled replacing Lombardi, I don’t have faith that Beckerman will hire a good replacement for BLuc. It pains me to say it, but Lieweke was a better AEG steward for the Kings.

I think the big money players will continue to regress and flop at a steady pace. It takes being slapped in the face with repeated losses, but Blake eventually comes out and admits he over estimated the current day talent level of the players who get the most ice time.

Something has to give here. Blake should be able to go to Doughty and Kopitar and say that it’s time to change things up. If you can’t win more than two games in a row consistently after spending to the cap in one offseason, your moves have failed.

Blake owes it to the players, fans and coaches to change direction and dictate putting prospects into key situations. Acknowledge the kids will make mistakes and that will cost the team wins, but they’ll grow and learn how to handle tough assignments at the nhl level.

A losing team feels rudderless when there is no vision for where things are heading. The clearest picture is being painted by teams like Detroit, Anaheim, and even NJ and Buffalo. They are giving heavy minutes to blue chippers and seeing a real future compared to 3 months ago.

If Blake resets the agenda he can take the pressure off on multiple fronts. Instead of a vague objective of “improving” you can focus on a single area. Come out and state that the two rookies will get extended auditions in the top six. If you do that, you can also say you’re giving Quick three of every four games to give the team the best chance to win while you’re experimenting on how to score more goals moving forward.

It takes some creativity and shrewdness to navigate the Kings situation. Blake has every power, resource and tool at his disposal to push the team in the right direction. I just hope he doesn’t continue to sit on his hands 90% of the time or take a weak half measure when his back is against the wall.
 
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DoktorJeep said:
With how poorly he handled replacing Lombardi, I don’t have faith that Beckerman will hire a good replacement for BLuc. It pains me to say it, but Lieweke was a better AEG steward for the Kings.

I think the big money players will continue to regress and flop at a steady pace. It takes being slapped in the face with repeated losses, but Blake eventually comes out and admits he over estimated the current day talent level of the players who get the most ice time.

Something has to give here. Blake should be able to go to Doughty and Kopitar and say that it’s time to change things up. If you can’t win more than two games in a row consistently after spending to the cap in one offseason, your moves have failed.

Blake owes it to the players, fans and coaches to change direction and dictate putting prospects into key situations. Acknowledge the kids will make mistakes and that will cost the team wins, but they’ll grow and learn how to handle tough assignments at the nhl level.

A losing team feels rudderless when there is no vision for where things are heading. The clearest picture is being painted by teams like Detroit, Anaheim, and even NJ and Buffalo. They are giving heavy minutes to blue chippers and seeing a real future compared to 3 months ago.

If Blake resets the agenda he can take the pressure off on multiple fronts. Instead of a vague objective of “improving” you can focus on a single area. Come out and state that the two rookies will get extended auditions in the top six. If you do that, you can also say you’re giving Quick three of every four games to give the team the best chance to win while you’re experimenting on how to score more goals moving forward.

It takes some creativity and shrewdness to navigate the Kings situation. Blake has every power, resource and tool at his disposal to push the team in the right direction. I just hope he doesn’t continue to sit on his hands 90% of the time or take a weak half measure when his back is against the wall.
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I think you can put "blue chippers" in key roles while keeping Doughty and Kopitar. May need to move out the likes of Athansiou, Moore, Grundstrom, Lizotte and Andersson.

Unfortunately by waiving Clague instead of Maatta it was a signal that Blake does not see this as the path forward.
 
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BigKing said:
I think the player was compromised once he made it to LA so that the proper use for him was almost what you are seeing from Kaliyev at this point but with a little more ES time: limited minutes but put him on the power play. Washington liked him at 14 minutes a game on average but they were a good team that didn't need him to score. The Kings paid him to be 18-20 minutes a night and he simply couldn't perform at a high level with those minutes: not for long anyways. This was the major concern with him since he hadn't been playing in the NHL and was old as shit. That's why nobody else wanted to give the third year poison pill.

He needed to be a specialist on a good team at that point but he was brought in here as a key piece. You want to run him out there for 20 minutes on the roster they had in LA and you are going to see the minuses pile up as the season progresses. He'd generally start well with us and would tail off. You could argue that it was because he was misused but he starts to get "misused" because he wasn't cutting it in the role he was signed for He gets that nice pop in Montreal but he didn't play for two months so it was basically like stepping on to October ice again for him which was when he looked his best.

It's very easy to not blame Kovalchuk for anything during his Kings tenure and I'm fine with that: he simply wasn't the player he once was. It's also easy to say "f*** Desjardin" and romanticize about Kovy's time here since the team--much like now--was so boring and it was still exciting to see the puck float over to Kovy for a one-timer or have something like his OT winner against San Jose and have it make you feel like it was 2007 if you squint hard enough. He was a liability out there though.

He was 2020-21 Andreas Athanasiou. It's just that AA never used to be Ilya Kovalchuk.
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I mean I'm not NOT blaming Kovalchuk, but it's pretty clear we're having the same disconnect in vision between GM and coach, misuse of players, and frankly same issues.

You don't bring in IK to not play him on the PP and wonder why he's a defensive liability. I mean christ that's a fireable offense for SOME department, whether its pro scouting, coaching, or GM. or ALL. Not like they didn't have decades of game tape.

It's the same conversations with interchangeable names and I want to flush it all. No point in trying to save the toilet water.
 
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YP44 said:
I think you can put "blue chippers" in key roles while keeping Doughty and Kopitar. May need to move out the likes of Athansiou, Moore, Grundstrom, Lizotte and Andersson.

Unfortunately by waiving Clague instead of Maatta it was a signal that Blake does not see this as the path forward.
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100% you keep Kopitar and Doughty at the top of the food chain. But everything else is based on meritocracy not how expensive your car is.
 
Sol said:
Eh I guess in terms of a joke it was kind of weak to me contextually.
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Dean Lombardi tried to sign Kovy. Kovy eventually signed with NJ. Kovy stated that one of the reasons he did not sign with LA is that upon his meeting with Dean in LA, he threw his feet up on the desk and Kovy felt disrespected by the sight of looking at Deans soles.....

So that is why that tweet is funny.

Also, for context from the other day, I do not actually believe the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

 
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Sol said:
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.
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This is total bullshit. Kovalchuk was no better in Montreal and a disaster in Washington. The guy was done, plain and simple.
 
Are we seriously still talking about Kovy the player? Please make it stop.
 
YP44 said:
Really?
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Yup. Before the season, maybe the youth can come in & we can see a Ducks like resurgence. Now? Outside of warm fuzzy feelings & showing kid's how to put work in outside of the game, what's the point?

Turcotte & Byfield should both be up by the end of the season. Where does everyone play? That might be wishful thinking.
 
Sol said:
Same, my entire issue is that I have a problem with him getting a job for being King Alumni, as well as Luc. Even Marco Sturm. Like the f***?


And he hired Todd.. former coach. Dont like all the nepotism in this franchise. Makes me sick and tired.

the only way that I see the Kings being good is by bringing Byfield to the Kings and him resurrecting the lifeless corpse of the LA kings.
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DL turned to many people he knew, and didn't win anything with.

AlphaBravo said:
I have a lot of respect for Lombardi. I know he made crazy mistakes while pushing for a 3rd cup, but I would still like to not fire him. Instead, I would have preferred if management talked to him and made it clear that the direction of the team is rebuild now so that we are better in the long term. Once expectations are aligned, Lombardi could build this team back up and wouldn't make those risky moves he made from 2015-2017.
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He's coming off 2 cups in 3 years. He's not rebuilding. The team wasn't going to rebuild. They were more than ready, up until the whole roster quit in the 18-19 training camp, to just keep trying to be competitive, because you never knew with the era Kings team. Just get in was the mantra from the day Sutter got the job.

kings11 said:
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
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They were on like a 9 game winning streak or whatever it was when they traded for Sekera. Less than a year from probably the craziest run to a Cup anyone has seen.
 
KingsFan7824 said:
DL turned to many people he knew, and didn't win anything with.



He's coming off 2 cups in 3 years. He's not rebuilding. The team wasn't going to rebuild. They were more than ready, up until the whole roster quit in the 18-19 training camp, to just keep trying to be competitive, because you never knew with the era Kings team. Just get in was the mantra from the day Sutter got the job.



They were on like a 9 game winning streak or whatever it was when they traded for Sekera. Less than a year from probably the craziest run to a Cup anyone has seen.
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Maybe I’m misremembering but even with that streak, weren’t we like 8-10 points out of the WC?
 
HookKing said:
This is total bullshit. Kovalchuk was no better in Montreal and a disaster in Washington. The guy was done, plain and simple.
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You're on crack if you think Kovalchuk didn't show promise and was randomly demoted for no reason.
 
Reclamation Project said:
The ship -

Sinking-of-HMBS-Yellow-Elder-1068x588.png
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So you think the team is sinking?
 
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