Pre-Game Talk: 2021 Rookie Faceoff 9/17-20

[kingsfan]

I’ve been on record that this team won’t sniff playoffs till ‘23 at the soonest. So I’m not unhappy with the kids. But I get why fans who aren’t patient are worried.

And Jason Robertson put up 45 points last year. Vilardi has a legitimate excuse due to his back injury. Excuses about deployment ignore the fact that a bunch of players the Kings passed on were more consistent last year than Vilardi. Feel free to ignore this flimsy evidence.

Gabe Vilardi 54gm 10g 13a 23pts
Jason Robertson 51gm 17g 28a 45pts
John Norris 56gm 17g 18a 35pts
Nick Suzuki 56gm 15g 26a 41pts
Martin Necas 53gm 14g 27a 41pts
Max Comtois 55gm 16g 17a 33pts
Filip Chytil 42gm 8g 14a 22pts
Drake Batherson 56gm 17g 17a 34pts
Eeli Tolvanen 40gm 11g 11a 22pts
Robert Thomas 33gm 3g 9a 12pt
Alex Texier 49gm 4g 11a 15pt

Several of those players were second rounders, including Robertson, so almost every team passed on them at least once. Find me a draft where a team picked what was arguably the best player on the board with every pick and I'll give you a cookie. It's easy to cherry pick results after the fact, if a team winds up with two regular players -one being a core player- in a draft, that's pretty much breaking even. Above that is a bonus, so if we get Vilardi, Anderson and Jaret Dolan-Anderson all becoming regulars and Vilardi is a top six, I'm more than happy with that haul.

 

[kingsfan]

He missed the majority of the 20-21 Season, only playing in 6 games.

I guess 32 games in the minors don't count?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

He also didn't show up to my half birthday party.

But did his teammates come to HIS birthday party

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

I guess 32 games in the minors don't count?

 

[Matt13]

I guess 32 games in the minors don't count?

Yeah, out of a 40 game season....... He missed 8 games! That's 20% of the season.

 

[ricardfromage]

I surely hope that our budding superstars have a shit tonne more to give then what they showed against the dirt dogs last weekend. Utterly embarrassing. Sure we won the game but the dogs aren't touted at having the best or one of the very best prospect systems in the game. We should have embarrassed those guys and we looked like we were giving a half assed performance. Play hard for gosh sakes. Results matter sure, but our kids didn't look like anything special. They need to pick it up.

 

[Fishhead]

Yeah, the Yotes aren’t anything special prospect wise, but I did think there was a pretty noticeable gap in talent. We looked far more skilled and had the ability to actually make plays, which Arizona couldn’t do. They were a lot more chaotic in the zone while the Kings were much more organized. We moved the puck out of the zone at will and had a really good counterattack going. They were definitely confident in the fact that they could push forward after turnovers. I was really impressed with the transition, I actually started seeing what TM was talking about with turning the play around quickly. The younger guys seem to be picking it up at any rate.

Finishing is where the problem was. Kaliyev should have had 2, same with Pinelli. Just from watching it was really apparent how much higher danger the Kings were, but the finish just wasn’t there. Their goalie was playing pretty well but we really missed the net a lot. That’s a concern if it continues, but small sample size and all.

 

[cyclones22]

The Kings prospects were noticeably more talented than all three of their opponents in this tournament regardless of score line.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Yeah, the Yotes aren’t anything special prospect wise, but I did think there was a pretty noticeable gap in talent. We looked far more skilled and had the ability to actually make plays, which Arizona couldn’t do. They were a lot more chaotic in the zone while the Kings were much more organized. We moved the puck out of the zone at will and had a really good counterattack going. They were definitely confident in the fact that they could push forward after turnovers. I was really impressed with the transition, I actually started seeing what TM was talking about with turning the play around quickly. The younger guys seem to be picking it up at any rate.

Finishing is where the problem was. Kaliyev should have had 2, same with Pinelli. Just from watching it was really apparent how much higher danger the Kings were, but the finish just wasn’t there. Their goalie was playing pretty well but we really missed the net a lot. That’s a concern if it continues, but small sample size and all.

yeah the final score wasn't flattering but the coyotes were just a yarn ball to the kings angry cat all game, I'm not sure I was watching the same game as anyone that has anything negative to say outside of the 'score' of that one. Play like that consistently and you'll win an absurd amount of games. Byfield could have had 5 assists if scorers like Kaliyev and Pinelli would have buried literal open nets, it was weirder that they didn't.