GDT: 2021-22 season game 68 LA Kings vs Seattle Kraken @7:30pm 3/28/22

[AbsentMojo]

I understand but I don't agree. On March 21 (the TDL) the Kings were at 76 points compared to Edmonton (75), St Louis (77), Minnesota (78), Nashville (78), Vegas (72), and Dallas (71). If they don't have to play Colorado or Calgary in round 1, they have a very good chance to win at least one round. That would be a big win for the organization IMO. For a GM who stated the goal for this year was to make the playoffs, it seems ultraconservative not to make any moves even if you have to slightly overpay.

I get your side 100%.. the thinking is, if you can get in, you can win - look at Montreal they almost pulled it off last year.. but really that does not happen very often. If Im in Blake's shoes, I see my goaltending is average, Ive got a lot of key players injured esp DD with an iffy return date and its a sellers market - based on the Chi/TB deal. Those things scare me away and focus on developing and evaluating the talent that is on the current roster. The injuries giving a good view into who is worth keeping and creating value for trades. If they make a run, so much the better it was done with draftees vs some mercenaries.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I just don't see what perpetual depth players like Kulak or Leddy or Dermott brings that any of our youth don't and each of our players returning to health is clearly better. Each of those guys is available because of their inconsistencies if I'm being generous or because they're turnover machines or because that can't establish a spot on a playoff team if I'm being more critical.

Let's say one of them 'hits' and we win a playoff round because we picked up Kulak instead of Stetcher--I can't indulge that fantasy as reality but in this pretend world 8 games of Brett f***ing Kulak isn't more valuable to the future than 4 games of, say, Jordan Spence.

I mean, looking back over the last few games, where would Leddy have willed us to victory? Does Dermott equal a 5-goal delta over Seattle instead of Moverare? Does Kulak somehow stop the 5 goals against in Vegas? Most of these games we've just been run over and been outscored by 4-5 goals, one mediocre depth d-man doesn't turn those into sudden two-point games, and we're not rallying to victory behind big hits/fights from any of those guys. I get the sentiment that blake should have done more at the deadline and I'm clearly biased because I disagree with it but I have yet to see a convincing argument that any of these guys is better than what's currently available, never mind what's SOON available, especially for the stupidly inflated deadline prices. Stetcher for a 7th is an absolute steal in comparison. And this should mean something coming from me at this point in time, I've spent plenty of this season as a pessimist.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think, in short, a lot of this is we're riding the roller coaster of youthful inconsistencies. This game in particular, just being rolled over physically, is a learning experience and one they'd better understand quickly because it's a blueprint for other teams.

Then again, as has been as consistent as the california sunshine since January, it was Kopitar getting run over defensively and setting the tone, so...

Edit: right now it's a very, VERY stark difference at 5v5 between Kopitars 35GF, 43GA and Danault's 44GF, 29GA. We're not going anywhere with the first line dead in the water unless the third line suddenly explodes.

Though I will say that Bjornfot-Durzi pairing is basically a new era Martinez-Muzzin deal, get those two away from each other ASAP.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's still the same laundry list of concerns night after night; when they go right, we break big, like the Nashville 6-1 victory; when they break bad, like they did last night, we get romped:

Shitty special teams, borderline league worst (league worst in combination next to AZ and MTL);
No physicality;
Overplaying older vets;
Youth scoring isn't coming thru yet;
Bottom-third goaltending;
league worst shooting by a significant amount

There's not a simple deadline trade that would have fixed these things, and Blake has his work cut out for him in the offseason. Could we get all of the above and go on a miracle run like 2012? Sure--the underlying metrics are there particularly at 5v5--this is a monster possession and forechecking team that gives everyone in the league hell, they're not an easy beat until the special teams get involved. But the nightly inconsistencies and losses are always, ALWAYS based on the above. It doesn't matter what seed we finish with if that's the case, giving McJesus and Draisaitl any PP time means they auto-win the series if all of the above holds true.

It's why this team could go anywhere from falling out of the playoffs altogether to a SCF run and nothing would really surprise me. I can get the positivity because the pieces are generally there; but I can get the negativity because they also are their own worst enemies because of the above. And until TM proves otherwise, he's still the choke artist with an inability to adjust, as evidenced by games we play back-to-back vs ANY opponent, including Seattle. Edit: actually going to audit this, hold on

Seattle B2b: 4-2 win, 5-1 loss.
Sharks b2b: 4-3 OTL, 5-0 loss.

Last season:
Col: 6-0 L, 5-1 L
Col: 3-2 L, 3-2 L
AZ: 3-2 W, 4-2W (yay)
Ana 4 in a row: 4-1 W, 3-2 L, 2-1 W, 6-2 L
VGK: 4-2 L, 6-2 L

You get the idea. TM has grown on me a lot more than it probably seems, but I don't know how many more illustrations of bad adjustments and mishandling of minutes there could possibly be, this is bad coaching. The system is an example of good coaching; the inability to do anything positive to the gameplan once we hit the ice is the issue and there are YEARS of documentation of that being TM's major issue to prove it. Believe me, I HOPE he pulls through and this is the franchise that gets the benefit of his 'breakthrough' but there are many more signs that he's the guy to bring us close before history repeats itself.

 

[kingsfan28]

I don't think the reason we lost this game was because of anything technical, like rookie dmen getting exposed or whatever.

It was simple matter of one team coming out and playing with more energy/buzz than the other team. There's been so many games this season where the Kings have come out flat and lethargic at home. This was one of those games.

This game reminded me of the Canucks game right after they changed coaches. They had every chance in the world to comeback and win and just didn't want to try and get over the mental hump. They ended up getting smoked too!