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GDT: 2021-22 season WESTERN CONFERENCE QUARTER FINALS game 5 LA Kings vs Edmonton Oilers @7:00pm 5/10/22 Series tied 2-2

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LAKings88 said:
Danault is just such a smart player. Grateful to have him on the team.
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Danault was a polarizing signing, but everything that guy does is exactly what you’d want out of a core player of a winning team.

It’d be sure nice for the kings to maybe develop one of them here at some point.
 
Who was the last player the Kings developed offensively? Toffoli maybe?

Hopefully it’s Byfield and Vilardi
 
I don't remember Danault signing as being polarising. Just a bunch of people saying"hmmm, let's see what happens."
 
kingsfan28 said:
I swear I hate playoff "game management" by the officials. He watched the entire thing and had a perfect view, didn't jack about it, when he clearly hit him with his helmet with intent. Should've been a match penalty. Glad he got a game.

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The perfect view is from the side of the hit. I can understand how the ref missed it. Sneaky dirty by Nurse, but the camera from behind the net captured it perfectly. You can't get away with something like that with so many cameras around the rink.
 
Ollie Weeks said:
Couple reactionary folks said it was a “legit terrible signing,” as I recall.
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I disagreed with the signing at the time because I thought Danault was exactly the wrong type of player to sign for six years for this team. A defensive-minded center with limited offensive upside, averaging around 40-45 points per season. He was just going to be in the way of developing young players at a position the franchise was already stacked.

Obviously there was some offensive upside. 27 goals this season was at least twice above his typical output. He's already blown past his best point total in a playoff season this year with 5 points, already outscored his previous 38 games of playoffs with three goals in 5 games this year. Also shutting down Draisaitl at even strength. Everything about this season has been extraordinary for Danault.

Blake should be credited with seeing something in Danault that was not apparent in his first 8 seasons in the league. Great signing.
 
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I was team Danault when he became a UFA. There was some valid hope for offensive upside. Danault was getting a good number of points at even strength in Montreal, but he was also getting 42% ozone starts there, 36% last season. He was at 50% this season. I also have to think that role in Montreal had a significant impact on his offense. Watching him with the Kings he's got good offensive instincts with and without the puck. He's got second line skills and vision, certainly better than third line. Danault makes plays that grinders don't usually make.

It's not like Danault is sniping this season either. Many of his goals are of the greasy variety which are scored on effort and willingness to get into the hard areas. Danault is not a perimeter player and it's not surprising with how many puck battles he wins with quick hands that he can use them to score goals in tight when the puck is loose. Credit to Danault for burying pucks but I have to give the coaching staff credit too for deploying him differently offensively but still leveraging his defensive skills. Even if his shooting percentage drops back to his average, he's still scoring pretty close to 20 goals with similar deployment.

Blake had a killer offseason. It's too bad Edler got injured for such a long stretch because prior to injury he looked really good. Arvidsson was as advertised and Danault better than that. I hope he can follow it up with at least a good one this offseason. He's got some big decisions to make.
 
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Most of the critiques on the Danault signing were the length of the contract and that he would block all of these surefire center prospects.

Pretty sure I said it at the time but Blake doesn't do this if he is completely sold on said prospects. Looks like he was right to not be sold on them. Even then, none of the center prospects have the specific skill set Danault brings to the table.

They got their dicks punched in 5 v 5 last season. The fact that Danault was basically a ~50 point center all at even strength was reason enough. Toss in the defense and face-offs and it was a no-brainer. None of us expected 27 goals but the things I really didn't know about him was the leadership aspect. He's a guy you want on your team when the games get real. He wants the hardest defensive matchups in the league. That's some swagger type stuff that this team was lacking, the type of attitude Lombardi added to the team with Williams/Mitchell/Richards.

Many argue it was too early to add but Danault is the type of guy that is great for the young guys to be around. I don't follow all the puff piece Kings media but I'm pretty sure the prospect that has been closest with Danault is Durzi: not surprising if true.
 
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ScoreZeGoals said:
Some people's hot take against the narrative thinking is a joke . Like it was stated before, you want a Danault with McDavid, instead of a Draisaitl. McDavid is a generational talent in his prime, it's not his fault the Oilers GM doesn't have a clue how to build around him
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He cannot yet take the generational tag line. Yes, he’s elite and probably the best player in the league but that does not make him generational. The cheating on offence for the Stetcher goal, leaving him in acres of space with zero puck pressure to deal with demonstrates exactly why he isn’t generational. Putting up big numbers isn’t enough, he has to show he can put the team on his back for an entire series not just the odd period. He’s still figuring it out and has the talent to get there but it’s still a work in progress. I personally think he gets there but he’s not there yet. He needs to the dirty areas more, put his body on the line and do simple things like cover Stetcher rather than cheating in a game situation that didn’t warrant it.

Generational is thrown around far to often because by definition there is only going to be one generational player in the league at any one time. Gretzky and Lemieux the exception.
 
kingsfan28 said:
Dude, he saw the whole thing and had the best view other than Danault and chose "playoff game management" instead of making the right call. Maybe he was looking through them and checking out the hot girl along the glass.
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Again, you have NO idea what he was looking at, you are assuming because he was facing that way, that he saw it.....not as simple as that.
 
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