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

[tny760]

You could scheme it up with Frk and Kaliyev both out there on their off wings as trigger men. Doughty up top quarterbacking with Kopitar and Kempe down low.

i'd probably buy a ticket to watch that

no joke

 

[kingsfan28]

another solid game by Quick. It's pretty obvious who the number 1 guy is now, lets hope he starts against the wild and not Petersen. It's time for the 50/50 split thing to end.

 

[kilowatt]

Fun little Kovalchuk fact: since 2018-19, his first season with the Kings, and despite playing only 81 games with LA, he ranks 9th in goals scored with 19.

 

[The Butcher]

Kovalchuk was a Leiweke/AEG big ticket name to sign.

Edit: personally, he made an offhanded exasperated comment to me and a friend where he seemed less than interested in signing Kovalchuk but that he needed to go through the process.

It's some tea leaf reading. But here's an article to help discuss his mood: Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi talks about missing out on Ilya Kovalchuk

OK, so yeah... Bland was reading "tea leaves".

Absolute speculation about AEG forcing him to deal with Kovalchuk, nothing more.

 

[Lt Dan]

OK, so yeah... Bland was reading "tea leaves".

Absolute speculation about AEG forcing him to deal with Kovalchuk, nothing more.

Are you kidding me with this.

There is no question that Lie-weekly was pushing DL to sign big name UFAs. Remember timing this was shortly after the Galaxy signed Beckham and threw all kinds of side AEG money at him and his spice girl wife

Do you not remember Lie-weekly flying to Toronto to court Brad Richards?
Kings optimistic after 'all-in' presentation to Brad Richards
There was also plenty in the press about AEG helping IK's wife's music career


It's bad business to publicly slam your employee but the writing is all over the wall that DL didn't have the same hard on for IK that Lie-weekly did .
Look up old articles from that IK complained that DL made him feel like a rookie again with question he asked about off-season workouts, dedication, etc


Lol I found something. I forgot about this article

There’s a widespread perception that Leiweke wanted Kovalchuk more than Lombardi did and that Kovalchuk was forced on Lombardi. Lombardi, saying he liked Kovalchuk after interviewing him in person last week, wouldn’t bite.

Kings gamble big and lose big on Ilya Kovalchuk

 

[bland]

OK, so yeah... Bland was reading "tea leaves".

Absolute speculation about AEG forcing him to deal with Kovalchuk, nothing more.

No, I told you to take it or leave it. I know what I know. Move on.

 

[Matt13]

Are you kidding me with this.

There is no question that Lie-weekly was pushing DL to sign big name UFAs. Remember timing this was shortly after the Galaxy signed Beckham and threw all kinds of side AEG money at him and his spice girl wife

Do you not remember Lie-weekly flying to Toronto to court Brad Richards?
Kings optimistic after 'all-in' presentation to Brad Richards
There was also plenty in the press about AEG helping IK's wife's music career


It's bad business to publicly slam your employee but the writing is all over the wall that DL didn't have the same hard on for IK that Lie-weekly did .
Look up old articles from that IK complained that DL made him feel like a rookie again with question he asked about off-season workouts, dedication, etc


Lol I found something. I forgot about this article


Kings gamble big and lose big on Ilya Kovalchuk

No, I told you to take it or leave it. I know what I know. Move on.

Yea, I'm gonna need more evidence..........

 

[bland]

another solid game by Quick. It's pretty obvious who the number 1 guy is now, lets hope he starts against the wild and not Petersen. It's time for the 50/50 split thing to end.

Not necessarily, I would think that Quick's play has been better because he hasn't played as much.

I also think Peterson would play better with more consecutive games under his belt. But he is in a poor run of form and Quick is dialed in right now. Fear is that both may suffer if Quick is given the clear cut #1 job, but what point is there in delaying Peterson's path by over playing an older vet on a team that won't sniff the playoffs past next month?

They made the investment in Peterson, and while his play hasn't been at his best it doesn't mean that this is all there is to him. He needs to be nurtured if he is their guy.

It's time for this organization to stop hedging all of their bets and commit to something for once.

 

[bland]

Yea, I'm gonna need more evidence..........

Sure, that's fair enough.

Asking for something like that to be documented online is a bit disingenuous, nobody is going to report a story like that because it cannot be verified. But, it doesn't mean that it didn't happen and I have no interest in discussing how I know. I don't want to be a blogger or influence people beyond chatting on a message board, my reputation online means nothing to anybody. I am just a dude who has loved the Kings since 75 and was priviliged enough to know some people that allowed me to have some conversations with prominent Kings figures from time to time. There are multiple folks like this on this board, none of whom claim to be an insider, just at the right place at the right time to learn some things. That's all it is. Hockey in LA is a relatively small community. No need to take anything that seriously.

 

[KINGS17]

There is no doubt in my mind Dean sabotaged any real chances of signing Kovalchuk the first time around.

 

[YP44]

He was good his first 15-20 games with us; excellent in Montreal, and poor in Washington. It is what it is. Glad I got to witness one of my all-time fav's in a Kings uni.

Kovalchuk, Iginla and Lecavlier should all have a legends night on the same night

 

[Lt Dan]

Ok so back to this

No, Lombardi wanted NO part of Kovalchuk. Lieweke desperately wanted him - Dean used the experience to see how far ownership was willing to go to sign a major free agent and sabotaged the deal to prevent it from happening.

He did want Brad Richards and pursued him heavily, Chara too - but most definitely not Kovalchuk.

Sure, that's fair enough.

Asking for something like that to be documented online is a bit disingenuous, nobody is going to report a story like that because it cannot be verified. But, it doesn't mean that it didn't happen and I have no interest in discussing how I know. I don't want to be a blogger or influence people beyond chatting on a message board, my reputation online means nothing to anybody. I am just a dude who has loved the Kings since 75 and was priviliged enough to know some people that allowed me to have some conversations with prominent Kings figures from time to time. There are multiple folks like this on this board, none of whom claim to be an insider, just at the right place at the right time to learn some things. That's all it is. Hockey in LA is a relatively small community. No need to take anything that seriously.

I don't have sources, i hear an occasional tidbit that is likely months old and was passed around more than a doobie in a high school bathroom, but.. Bland is 100% right here. There is plenty of evidence still out there and not just anecdotal . You just have to do a little googling . It is still very much out there.


I'll just throw a few facts out there that qualify all of what bland said.

None of this infor was info that was not published on the internet that the average Joe who follows this team shouldn't know.
DL's first big target was Chara. I'll always remember this day because I had two Kings fan friends over working on my house. I checked the TSN homepage and it was "King Chara" and that Z was about to sign with the Kings. We all celebrated and cracked open beers and next thing we know he was in Boston.
It was published that the deal was agreed to and at the last minute Borque and Neely talked to Z about how bad LA's facilities were, their history with players etc and chose Boston.

After this , we all saw TL in the paper much more talking about how they are going to land the big Free agents, Richards and Kovalchuk were referenced in my last post.

When Doughty's ELC was up and was nearing a hold out....
More from Tim Leiweke on stalemate with Drew Doughty

“The difference of opinion here is that Drew may see this as disrespect, and it’s not at all. We have offered to make him the fourth-highest-paid defenseman in the NHL and equal the highest-paid King in our history. When I look at that, I think there either has to be a miscommunication or Drew’s a 21-year-old and probably hasn’t done what he may need to do here, which is stand up and take charge of the decision.”
The Kings' offer, believed to be for six to eight years, would put him on par with the team-high salary of center Anze Kopitar. Doughty is believed to be seeking over $7 million per season.
"We love Drew. I love Drew personally. I think he’s a great kid and I think he’s going to be a great player in the league long-term," Leiweke. "That said, what Dean’s offered him we’re 100% supportive and in fact, I think Dean was aggressive. And if our mistake is we offered it too quick, then Drew needs to take a step back and understand it’s not about a lack of negotiation. The fact is we offered it quickly because we didn’t want to negotiate.
"We had other things going on this summer. And so I support Dean 100%. If someone’s whispering in Drew’s ear that ownership is going to get impatient and blink, they’re wrong."

For the people that don't believe that bland said. It is your right and I get that bland's posting style might rub people the wrong way at times, but that doesn't mean he is wrong.
As the X-Files said, The truth is out there, if you paid attention during those days you know it already.
if you don't google. I very quickly found reporter quotes qualifying what bland said about TL pushing IK on DL


and since we are talking about DL and we have all talked about what he gave up and that very wasteful push for cup #3 , it is very very safe to assume that ownership was pushing for him to use any resource and take from the future for a third cup.

 

[AlphaBravo]

Start Quick for the majority of the games. When Peterson is in net, we are bound to lose. He has been absolutely awful this season. I don't know what happened to him. He was pretty solid last year. Not sure if we are past sending him down to the AHL, but I wouldn't mind calling up someone from Ontario to get a look if anyone is performing well down there.

 

[tbrown33]

good news if our prospects ever pan out

 

[YP44]

good news if our prospects ever pan out

If i am a player that is the year I want to be a UFA

 

[johnjm22]

Start Quick for the majority of the games. When Peterson is in net, we are bound to lose. He has been absolutely awful this season. I don't know what happened to him. He was pretty solid last year. Not sure if we are past sending him down to the AHL, but I wouldn't mind calling up someone from Ontario to get a look if anyone is performing well down there.

I don't think Petersen has been awful, I think he's been average.

He hasn't been making goal stealing saves, but he's had a lot of bad luck honestly. A lot like Quick was in the previous few seasons.

 

[KingsFan7824]

DL sabotaged the things that people above him wanted? Is that how an army works? No wonder the culture DL was trying to build lasted such a short while. Stretched to its limits by 2014, but paper thin. Once it went, it was gone and gone quickly.

 

[Sybil227]

If i am a player that is the year I want to be a UFA

Well, start practicing now. You have 3 years.

 

[bland]

DL sabotaged the things that people above him wanted? Is that how an army works? No wonder the culture DL was trying to build lasted such a short while. Stretched to its limits by 2014, but paper thin. Once it went, it was gone and gone quickly.

Or, you could decide to view it as Lombardi knowing that his boss was making a massive mistake and used what was at his disposal to do the right thing for the organization.

I'll keep believing that the guy who brought two Cups was smarter than the guy who wanted a big name to sell tickets.

 

[YP44]

I don't think Petersen has been awful, I think he's been average.

He hasn't been making goal stealing saves, but he's had a lot of bad luck honestly. A lot like Quick was in the previous few seasons.

I don't think he has been awful but has been below average. Needs to get that save percent over .905

 

[tbrown33]

Our PK this year:

By comparison, here's what the shot chart looked like when they were good at the PK:

Adds up with what we've been seeing...they are so hyper focused on defending the high slot (and SO passive at pressuring the puck) that they're completely abandoning every other high danger area. I really don't get it.

 

[tbrown33]

As a bonus, here's the Kings' hilarious finishing chart:

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I trust Quick a lot more directly in front of the net than I do with the high tip plays that ripped us apart--but yeah there's gotta be a happy medium, the passsive setup when you have quick, aggressive personnel doesn't make much sense

 

[johnjm22]

I don't think he has been awful but has been below average. Needs to get that save percent over .905

But SV% doesn't tell the whole story.

It's the same thing Quick went through the previous few years where he wouldn't nessisailly play bad, but the stats would look awful.

So many games for Quick in recent seasons where it'd be like 25 shots against and 4 goals. Two of the goals being deflections, and the other two would be one timers or perfect shots.

 

[kingsfan28]

So, the Kings PK is 27th in the league, and if you watch the structure of it...it is no surprise.

It seems like they are keeping one guy in the middle of the ice to defend against anything coming into the slot, but they are willing to let the puck go to the top of the circles and the side of the net without much pressure. Almost like an I-formation, with the top of the I strafing between points depending on where the puck is. Very passive and not a lot of pressure on the puck. They've been doing this all season and it doesn't work.

That 27th is a product of the beginning of the season.They gave up I think 9 on that 1st roadtrip, 4 against the Blues alone. It had skewed the entire pct . They gave up 2 the other night [ Petersen of course in net] and 5 total in the last 5 games. They were good last night though.