GDT: 2021-22 season game 63 LA Kings vs San Jose Sharks @7:00pm 3/17/22

[GoldenBearHockey]

Fagemo has low skills for sure and very low hockey IQ.

Did you watch him playing in AHL?

I do not care how many goals he scored there.

JAD scored a lot of goals in AHL as well, but he proved recently that he cannot play in NHL.

And....Durzi sucked in the AHL...and look at what he's doing....

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Villardi skating improved by wide margin comparing to prior years

I guess you and I see the same player very differently.

Very possibly, I don't see him as a good FIT for that line....particularly, I never said he couldn't play in the NHL...just, if they expect him to keep up with those two....good luck....

 

[kinghock]

And....Durzi sucked in the AHL...and look at what he's doing....

Fagemo already had few games in NHL as well and I remember how poorly he was doing there.

He simply do not have same talent level and same IQ level Vilardi has.

 

[mysterman2]

wasnt able to watch the game but looking at the box score.....

Durzi with 2 assists and over 26 minutes in Ice Time....thanks Toronto!

Danault with more ice time then Kopi....smart move- lets see more if it to save wear and tear on Kopi.

Trevor Moore pacing for almost a 50 pts season....once again thanks Toronto!

Spence with close to 20 minutes....Kings D is so stacked; maybe thickest depth in Franchise history.

Overall good, much needed win for team confidence heading into Pivotal Vegas Game.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Fagemo already had few games in NHL as well and I remember how poorly he was doing there.

He simply do not have same talent level and same IQ level Vilardi has.

Fagemo is a straight north south player, he's a shooter, Villardi isn't, Villardi needs that talent and IQ level....

Fagemo had 2-3 games, and was playing with Kopitar and Kempe, you know, the center that everyone on this board bitches and moans about, and Kempe, who is hot and cold....as scorers normally are.

And again, in the NHL, on that line, I want to see Fagemo out there on that line vs Vilardi, because Vilairdi can't keep up, and that line can't sustain pressure in the offensive zone, so it's a north-south line to begin with....

 

[kinghock]

Fagemo is a straight north south player, he's a shooter, Villardi isn't, Villardi needs that talent and IQ level....

Fagemo had 2-3 games, and was playing with Kopitar and Kempe, you know, the center that everyone on this board bitches and moans about, and Kempe, who is hot and cold....as scorers normally are.

And again, in the NHL, on that line, I want to see Fagemo out there on that line vs Vilardi, because Vilairdi can't keep up, and that line can't sustain pressure in the offensive zone, so it's a north-south line to begin with....

Fagemo is a shooter and Villardi isn't?

Vilardi has much better shooting ability comparing to Fagemo

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Fagemo is a shooter and Villardi isn't?

Vilardi has much better shooting ability comparing to Fagemo

Pure shooting, Fagemo is better....Vilardi is best uptight and personal....but not off the rush....

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Fagemo is a shooter and Villardi isn't?

Vilardi has much better shooting ability comparing to Fagemo

You realize they are two completely different players, with two completely different sets of tools...right?

And again, I go back to what I said..it was for THAT LINE SPECIFIC.....I want to see Fagemo on it, instead of Vilardi, and it was mainly...due to his skating.

 

[kinghock]

Pure shooting, Fagemo is better....Vilardi is best uptight and personal....but not off the rush....

When Vilardi shoots he knows exactly where to shoot.

When Fagemo shoots it is without purpose (maybe he will get lucky to avoid goalie).

 

[kingsfan28]

Gonna tighten that up for you.... Villardi opportunities to show what he has >>>>>>>>>> Fagemo's opportunities to show what he has,

That's the major difference.....Villardi can not keep up with Byfield OR Kupari, he just can't, he has skill for sure, but if you can't skate, it's 10x more difficult to play....

Did you ever see Toffoli try and keep up with Carter and Pearson? They're the same type of skater. Valardi in his second stint this year looks way better and probably will get better. You don't have to have blazing speed in the NHL to succeed.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Very possibly, I don't see him as a good FIT for that line....particularly, I never said he couldn't play in the NHL...just, if they expect him to keep up with those two....good luck....

Vilardi makes breakout pass to Byfield or Kupari. They learn to execute the Kopi Swoop. The one around the outside, around the net & back out to point. Around the faceoff dot, Vilardi should be streaking into the zone! Perfect.

 

[kingsfan28]

In case anyone missed it before the game.

Everyone missed it, it was on ESPN +!
Their coverage wasn't very good either. Poor Linda Cohn, they let her speak like 5 times the entire game in between the glass.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Everyone missed it, it was on ESPN +!
Their coverage wasn't very good either. Poor Linda Cohn, they let her speak like 5 times the entire game in between the glass.

You could see a splint on Brown's right pinky. I was right, when I mentioned his pinky looked all crooked in that photo, that showed the towel around his hand and it was partially uncovered a second to see his hand.

 

[kingsfan28]

Ok, this made me laugh!

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Their coverage wasn't very good either. Poor Linda Cohn, they let her speak like 5 times the entire game in between the glass.

That's not a bad thing.

 

[Trash Panda]

When Vilardi shoots he knows exactly where to shoot.

When Fagemo shoots it is without purpose (maybe he will get lucky to avoid goalie).

I cannot see who you’re bashing your head against the wall arguing with, and that tells me all I need to know.

Don’t feed the troll man, your time is more well spent elsewhere.

 

[Trash Panda]

Did you ever see Toffoli try and keep up with Carter and Pearson? They're the same type of skater. Valardi in his second stint this year looks way better and probably will get better. You don't have to have blazing speed in the NHL to succeed.

Kaliyev is prime example of how reads are 10x more important than speed.

Wagner is prime example of how speed without brains is near worthless.

 

[BigKing]

How can anyone say people aren't being critical of Byfield, there's literally 3 full pages of posts complaining about him in this thread alone never mind all over the god damn forum

"byfield is getting a free pass" lmao you're hard pressed to find anyone say anything good about him

Hell I've given up on it because even giving him a compliment results in 5 angry responses and a PM

I guess it is if you look at it as critiquing his game good or bad v. just bashing him and calling him a bust? Some are doing the latter so, sure, people are being critical.

I do think he is getting a free pass from many on here because they want it to happen so badly but we've got a good sample size so far and the bottom line is that he is a bad NHL player at the moment. Doesn't mean he will be a bust but to not be concerned about how things are going is, in my opinion, ignorance. I suppose others will call it faith but it is ugly to watch right now and, to be fair, mostly has been at the NHL level.

Vilardi too. I've been all about his skill set but, man, that doesn't look good either. Kupari is carrying that line and I say that as someone who prefers Byfield and Vilardi over Kupari.

Said it all the time while Blake lost on purpose and accumulated these prospects: very easy to do. The big thing is picking the right players, developing them properly and then cutting bait on them early enough to get proven talent back. He's looking very Deanish in the 1st round and pretty damn good in the later rounds which I guess is no surprise since it is the same effing scouting staff. The big difference so far is that Dean got to pick Doughty with his 2OA while Blake has a question mark on his hands with his 2OA. Blake has five drafts under his belt and hasn't traded one of his prospects for NHL help. Understandable and the proper move but he's at a point now where he's holding depreciated assets and there is risk of them becoming distressed assets. Going to be interesting to see if he O'Sullivans and Schenns some of these guys or if he just goes full Hickey on them.

Reminder again that DL built a Top 5 ranked prospect pool for a few seasons based on tanking. Doughty only counted once toward the ranking: it was Hickey/Bernier/Purcell/Teubert etc...pushing the ranking. He did so well with the later round picks though and I've said that's probably what is going to happen here because there is no way all of Blake's 1st round picks pan out at their draft night ceilings. He's getting NHL players in Anderson/Bjornfot/Kaliyev/Durzi. Spence looks good and Faber seems like a lock. Need that gamebreaker though and I'm starting to worry that it isn't going to be Byfield and all the pressure will now be on Clarke to be the superstar. Even with that, where are the forwards? Pretty funny for a prospect pool ranked so highly on the strength of its forwards that it is the defense that is leading the way.

 

[johnjm22]

Both Kaliyev and Vilardi have excellent offensive skill sets, but they rarely find themselves in position to actually use them.

It always feels like they're F3.

People will blame coaches, or linemates, or deployment or whatever, but there's just something missing there.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I guess it is if you look at it as critiquing his game good or bad v. just bashing him and calling him a bust? Some are doing the latter so, sure, people are being critical.

I do think he is getting a free pass from many on here because they want it to happen so badly but we've got a good sample size so far and the bottom line is that he is a bad NHL player at the moment. Doesn't mean he will be a bust but to not be concerned about how things are going is, in my opinion, ignorance. I suppose others will call it faith but it is ugly to watch right now and, to be fair, mostly has been at the NHL level.

Vilardi too. I've been all about his skill set but, man, that doesn't look good either. Kupari is carrying that line and I say that as someone who prefers Byfield and Vilardi over Kupari.

Said it all the time while Blake lost on purpose and accumulated these prospects: very easy to do. The big thing is picking the right players, developing them properly and then cutting bait on them early enough to get proven talent back. He's looking very Deanish in the 1st round and pretty damn good in the later rounds which I guess is no surprise since it is the same effing scouting staff. The big difference so far is that Dean got to pick Doughty with his 2OA while Blake has a question mark on his hands with his 2OA. Blake has five drafts under his belt and hasn't traded one of his prospects for NHL help. Understandable and the proper move but he's at a point now where he's holding depreciated assets and there is risk of them becoming distressed assets. Going to be interesting to see if he O'Sullivans and Schenns some of these guys or if he just goes full Hickey on them.

Reminder again that DL built a Top 5 ranked prospect pool for a few seasons based on tanking. Doughty only counted once toward the ranking: it was Hickey/Bernier/Purcell/Teubert etc...pushing the ranking. He did so well with the later round picks though and I've said that's probably what is going to happen here because there is no way all of Blake's 1st round picks pan out at their draft night ceilings. He's getting NHL players in Anderson/Bjornfot/Kaliyev/Durzi. Spence looks good and Faber seems like a lock. Need that gamebreaker though and I'm starting to worry that it isn't going to be Byfield and all the pressure will now be on Clarke to be the superstar. Even with that, where are the forwards? Pretty funny for a prospect pool ranked so highly on the strength of its forwards that it is the defense that is leading the way.

The comment was, verbatim, "Why is Byfield getting a free pass?"

My response was--at that time--there were literally 3 of 9 pages of GDT with some form of "Byfield is [struggling/sucks/busting]".

My point is, literally, you're going to have a lot harder time finding someone saying something good about QB than something bad. Not an evaluation of anything at all--literally just a fact in response to the laughable idea that this forum--or anyone anywhere--is letting him skate criticism-free.

 

[YAYSAY]

I thought Villardi has looked good so far. I think it's only a matter of time before he and Kupari start burying more of their chances. This is the most exciting the 3rd line has looked all season.

 

[johnjm22]

If the Kings make the playoffs, I really wonder how Todd will handle QB.

 

[tny760]

i'm one of those guys that really wants byfield to happen but the dude flat can't handle a puck right now, i struggle to even think of one good thing he's done since he scored his first or that little dangle he made at the blue line a week or two ago... that's really not good for a 2OA

i think there's some element of learning what he can and can't do at this level but i've lost count of how many pucks have just bounced off his stick or he's given away cheaply.. lots of serious work to be done with that kid and i'm starting to worry a bit. maybe i'll reserve my criticism until next season but i don't think it's out of line to say his play is ugly. i'm not sure he's getting a free pass, but he hasn't really looked any better without the boat anchors on his wing either..

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

i'm one of those guys that really wants byfield to happen but the dude flat can't handle a puck right now, i struggle to even think of one good thing he's done since he scored his first or that little dangle he made at the blue line a week or two ago... that's really not good for a 2OA

i think there's some element of learning what he can and can't do at this level but i've lost count of how many pucks have just bounced off his stick or he's given away cheaply.. lots of serious work to be done with that kid and i'm starting to worry a bit. maybe i'll reserve my criticism until next season but i don't think it's out of line to say his play is ugly. i'm not sure he's getting a free pass, but he hasn't really looked any better without the boat anchors on his wing either..

I saw a few good 'learning moments' for him last night:

on BOTH sides of the rink, forehand and backhand, he received a puck in stride and tried to just skate the boards on someone, only to have the puck just straight stripped. He learned he can't just fastmode outskate people in the NHL; he's gonna have to learn to use his body, puck protection, and some deception to make that work. Reminiscent of early Kempe.

I saw a couple of forechecking flybys that won't remain in his game if he hopes to stick--on several occasions, he kept his speed up away from the forecheck even though he was F1 (at least he's not just constantly F3) but gave the Sharks space to make a play. To their credit, the Sharks are some of the best in the league at this with Burns and Karlsson, but he should learn that, even if he doesn't full on bodycheck them, getting his body and stick in their space is one of his greatest advantages and has typically been one of his best tools at all levels (excellent forechecker taking up space with size, speed, reach). I don't ever expect him to F1 like Grundstrom or Brown, blasting a guy off the puck (I wish), but he can still be super disruptive and he always has been until recently.

One positive I think with his new linemates is his sense of where to be for puck support seems to be better. He had what could have been an open shot in front but overthought and made one extra move. He's been much better on the cycle and in the zone with the puck--sense-wise, anyway--than ever before. And his puck protection with his body on the wall is getting better, at least his positioning is, just somehow his puckhandling is sketchy instead (see below).

The weird thing that's crept into his game more and more is just fumbling the crap out of the puck for no reason and while that 'worries' me temporarily that's not something that will stay. It also makes him look worse than he actually is, just like Durzi handing the puck to Hertl for an easy breakaway does.

 

[Little Psycho]