GDT: 2022-23 season game 11 LA Kings vs St. Louis Blues @5:00pm 10/31/22

[crassbonanza]

L-A-M-E

Do you mean LAMF? We talking Johnny Thunders tonight?

 

[kilowatt]

What do you need me to contribute? I'm also not here crying every time they lose a game and screaming for TM to get canned because of it. We have a good team, best state of the franchise we've seen in years...I've been vocal about that, I don't change my mind every other day like you and many others on this board. Today you love them, tomorrow when they lose, you will hate them. L-A-M-E

I'll definitely be questioning Todd if the Kings lose tomorrow because he reunited Fiala with Kopitar and Kempe, scratched Kupari, and played Kopitar 25 minutes.

On the flip side, Todd coached a great game tonight. Great time management, great line deployment, great win.

That's what most reasonable fans on here are saying, but every time anyone is slightly critical you try to make a it a meme and it's so annoying.

 

[kilowatt]

I don’t want to see Grundstrom and Kupari scratched or sent down ever again. Fast, score, and can hit. Too good to send down and scratch.

Send byfield down so he can fill out and get some weight. He looks too out of place. Love grundstrom and Kupari way too much right now

I really hate to say it, but Byfield and Clarke have in fact looked a little out of place. They've had flashes of brilliance, but on a shift-to-shift basis, they still look like kids. All they need is to just continue to work hard and grow, and if we didn't already have some great players on the roster, they'd be great. But they can't be sitting, and there really isn't anyone I'd bench for either of them right now.

 

[Cianide]

So who is the odd man out next year in the forward group? Arvidsson? Someone has got to go in order to clear up cap space to resign Vilardi, Moore, and Anderson. If our young guys keep up their strong play, they are going to either push out one or two of the vets, or they get traded to fill in holes. I can't picture QB or Vilardi getting traded, and I really hope they don't decide to part with Kaliyev or Kupari. RV may be playing his last season in LA, and perhaps Trevor Moore has made Iafallo expendable.

Resign Vilardi and Anderson. Everything else is inconsequential.

 

[redcard]

Byfield.

Why? I don't see how he's an example at all, in fact I'd argue the opposite. Again, I'm not talking about regretting rushing a prospect into the NHL, I'm asking for examples of a team regretting burning a year of an ELC solely because of the cap consequences. In Byfield's case, he has only this year and next year to drive up the cap hit of his second contract, where as had his ELC slid last year he'd have a 3rd year to develop and break out before we need to resign him. His production will be lower in a contract year because that contract year comes earlier in his development.

Byfield's underwhelming production in the first year of his ELC cost him money on his second contract, meaning cap wise, we likely benefited from burning the year. (Again, solely talking about the cap consequences of burning an ELC year and not about potential negatives of rushing the development of a player)

 

[King'sPawn]

What's happening tonight is like literally what a few of us have been asking for for over a year--putting kids in positions to succeed next to strong vets.

Vilardi is playing in the top six.
Kupari and Grundstrom get Fiala, Grundstrom got only 4 fewer minutes than Kopitar.

You think it's a gotcha, but it's actually exactly our wish come true, instead of just quarantining Vilardi-Kupari-Grundstrom together on the third line for 10 min This time last year Grundstrom got benched after three similar performances in a row...

Seriously. It's insane. These aren't gotchas. How many times have we said that players need opportunities? They're finally getting opportunities and they're excelling with them.

The time on ice spread between the highest and lowest forwards was eight minutes, and on defense, seven minutes. That's exactly what we were asking for. Play Kopitar and Doughty less. Play the kids more. Here we are and we look great doing it.

It's hilarious how, even though this is literally what we asked for and the overall performance is improved, yet some jackasses still try to start shit.

Depth is being used more. Ice time up front isn't necessarily tied to cap hit. Kopitar got less than 20 mins. Doughty only got 22.

 

[kilowatt]

Hey, don't look now, but Trevor Moore's got 48 points in 59 regular season games in 2022.

 

[YAYSAY]

What do you need me to contribute? I'm also not here crying every time they lose a game and screaming for TM to get canned because of it. We have a good team, best state of the franchise we've seen in years...I've been vocal about that, I don't change my mind every other day like you and many others on this board. Today you love them, tomorrow when they lose, you will hate them. L-A-M-E

I'm curious, what does your ideal discourse for this board look like? You mean to tell me people complain when they lose? I'm shocked. People are happy when they win? How is this possible? Wtf do you want people to talk about exactly? Would you prefer every thread to just be "good job kings" over and over again? Since the beginning of last season many of us have advocated for a team setup exactly like what's been happening the past two games and are happy about it

 

[Fishhead]

What's happening tonight is like literally what a few of us have been asking for for over a year--putting kids in positions to succeed next to strong vets.

Vilardi is playing in the top six.
Kupari and Grundstrom get Fiala, Grundstrom got only 4 fewer minutes than Kopitar.

You think it's a gotcha, but it's actually exactly our wish come true, instead of just quarantining Vilardi-Kupari-Grundstrom together on the third line for 10 min This time last year Grundstrom got benched after three similar performances in a row...

To be fair, at this time last year Vilardi looked like crap and Grundstrom looked good in spurts but nothing like he has this year with his confidence. It's all a timing thing. I've been banging the Vilardi drum with ya for a while and I would have thought TM crazy for putting him on the first line last year, or even on the second for fear he would have dragged them down and lost even more confidence.

We'd all have loved for some guys to break out sooner, but whatever they've done with these guys (Vilardi, Kupari, Grundstrom) worked so props to the org. They've all looked fantastic this year. There is a lot more evaluation that goes on (practices, etc) than just games so as frustrating as it was it looks like it's starting to reap dividends. Arty has also looked more like himself the last couple of games too, and while I don't expect him to stay stapled to Lizotte he's moving forward again.

Kinda eases any worries about Byfield too, or even Turcotte for that matter.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Best play of the night,
PP, cute passing at the offensive blue line, camera pans back, there is a king standing at the red line! Thank you Todd for getting sick of breakaways going the other way on the PP.

Seems like there's some room to cut down on high danger chances.

Are they really "high danger" chances of they don't end up in the net?

 

[Steve Zissou]

Posting a pic of Vilardi until he has a bad game.

 

[Statto]

QB… with Iaffalo looked great but since that injury he’s struggled but that was on what was effectively a kid line. He looked good with GV certainly. Before sending him down I’d like to see him get a couple of games with Fiala so a complete picture is there before any decisions get made.

It again becomes a question of the best thing thing term, not the best thing for this season. I don’t have the answer to that yet. Good to see the other guys emerging though.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Byfield's line was playing well early in the season, because it was a line the type so many of us wanted, a vet (in that case Iafallo) helping shoulder the burden for the skilled kids. When Iafallo went down and another kid took his place, that line struggled because it's basically the same issues the 3rd line had from last year. Fiala being moved to that line is what's helping Kupari succeed. IMO if Kupari was playing with JAD and Kaliyev, that line would be struggling and having their minutes taken away just like it did with Byfield (and that would not be Kupari's fault). Putting these kids in a position to succeed matters, let Byfield play with Fiala for a few games and lets see what happens

 

[ibleedkings]

Refreshing waking up and seeing 2 Kings (Vilardi, Fiala) in the top 10 NHL scoring. When's the last time we've seen that? Feels good!

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I'm curious, what does your ideal discourse for this board look like? You mean to tell me people complain when they lose? I'm shocked. People are happy when they win? How is this possible? Wtf do you want people to talk about exactly? Would you prefer every thread to just be "good job kings" over and over again? Since the beginning of last season many of us have advocated for a team setup exactly like what's been happening the past two games and are happy about it

Easy, eliminate the ignorant, drama-queen posts. THAT would be ideal.

 

[lumbergh]

Posting a pic of Vilardi until he has a bad game.

Gabe Vilardi has a serious case of Resting Vilardi Face right now. He looks like he's having so much fun out there.

Easy, eliminate the ignorant, drama-queen posts. THAT would be ideal.

You're not helping. Not every one of your posts has to be antagonistic. It's gotten pretty old. We're all cheering for the same team.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

What's happening tonight is like literally what a few of us have been asking for for over a year--putting kids in positions to succeed next to strong vets.

Vilardi is playing in the top six.
Kupari and Grundstrom get Fiala, Grundstrom got only 4 fewer minutes than Kopitar.

You think it's a gotcha, but it's actually exactly our wish come true, instead of just quarantining Vilardi-Kupari-Grundstrom together on the third line for 10 min This time last year Grundstrom got benched after three similar performances in a row...

I know you think Grundstrom was ready last year.....I slightly disagree, even now, he's got some mental errors to iron out...but I think he will get there....

But do you really truly think Vilardi was ready for top 6 minutes last year? Really?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

To be fair, at this time last year Vilardi looked like crap and Grundstrom looked good in spurts but nothing like he has this year with his confidence. It's all a timing thing. I've been banging the Vilardi drum with ya for a while and I would have thought TM crazy for putting him on the first line last year, or even on the second for fear he would have dragged them down and lost even more confidence.

We'd all have loved for some guys to break out sooner, but whatever they've done with these guys (Vilardi, Kupari, Grundstrom) worked so props to the org. They've all looked fantastic this year. There is a lot more evaluation that goes on (practices, etc) than just games so as frustrating as it was it looks like it's starting to reap dividends. Arty has also looked more like himself the last couple of games too, and while I don't expect him to stay stapled to Lizotte he's moving forward again.

Kinda eases any worries about Byfield too, or even Turcotte for that matter.

But again...that's not what we were saying. That's the red herring we were getting annoyed about. No one was asking for Byfield to get 20 minutes on the top line; we were simply asking to reduce the minute spread because it's detrimental for Kopitar to be getting 22+ with Byfield et all getting 8-10, and we were simply asking for vet insulation for the youth, ie this year's Iafallo-Byfield-Vilardi connection. There was zero problem with the kids being on the third line so long as the third line was actually playing.

I know you think Grundstrom was ready last year.....I slightly disagree, even now, he's got some mental errors to iron out...but I think he will get there....

But do you really truly think Vilardi was ready for top 6 minutes last year? Really?

See above.

Byfield's line was playing well early in the season, because it was a line the type so many of us wanted, a vet (in that case Iafallo) helping shoulder the burden for the skilled kids. When Iafallo went down and another kid took his place, that line struggled because it's basically the same issues the 3rd line had from last year. Fiala being moved to that line is what's helping Kupari succeed. IMO if Kupari was playing with JAD and Kaliyev, that line would be struggling and having their minutes taken away just like it did with Byfield (and that would not be Kupari's fault). Putting these kids in a position to succeed matters, let Byfield play with Fiala for a few games and lets see what happens

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Easy, eliminate the ignorant, drama-queen posts. THAT would be ideal.

So you want everyone to hit ignore on you?

The next time you post anything with evidence will be the first time.

You're not here for reasonable discussion, you're here for performative outrage for anyone that disagrees with every move the org makes.

 

[mysterman2]

Refreshing waking up and seeing 2 Kings (Vilardi, Fiala) in the top 10 NHL scoring. When's the last time we've seen that? Feels good!

Multiple Kings among league leaders in scoring but allowing a shit ton of goals...like 1989 all over again.

Fiala with 12 pts- if he is the guy to get Kupari to become full time NHLer this trade a double win.

 

[BringTheReign]

Hey, don't look now, but Trevor Moore's got 48 points in 59 regular season games in 2022.

I hope we let go of Iafallo and Arvidsson before we let Moore walk or trade him. I like both of those players, but Moore is just essential to this team in ways they aren’t. Iafallo kind of played that role for this team pre-playoff run, but Moore has assumed it now.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

But again...that's not what we were saying. That's the red herring we were getting annoyed about. No one was asking for Byfield to get 20 minutes on the top line; we were simply asking to reduce the minute spread because it's detrimental for Kopitar to be getting 22+ with Byfield et all getting 8-10, and we were simply asking for vet insulation for the youth, ie this year's Iafallo-Byfield-Vilardi connection. There was zero problem with the kids being on the third line so long as the third line was actually playing.




See above.

To be fair, you were losing your shit this year about Byfield getting 12 minutes...so....there is that....

After last night.....I dunno, I kinda wanna see Byfield go down to the AHL and dominate....get his swagger back, work out his body....get stronger sure, but just....get more comfortable in it.....I think the lineup we had last night, barring injuries of course....is probably one of the best once we can ice....

 

[kinghock]

Refreshing waking up and seeing 2 Kings (Vilardi, Fiala) in the top 10 NHL scoring. When's the last time we've seen that? Feels good!

I think we are all happy with current state of Kings when few big problems are still need to be addressed.

Team is still not able to handle physical intimidation especially on defense.

Edler is the only physical defensemen with size and he looks cooked to me.

One of our goalies is too old and another had one good game after number of really bad ones.

I think these issues needs to be addressed ASAP.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I hope we let go of Iafallo and Arvidsson before we let Moore walk or trade him. I like both of those players, but Moore is just essential to this team in ways they aren’t. Iafallo kind of played that role for this team pre-playoff run, but Moore has assumed it now.

I feel like Arvidsson is the easy odd man out. Has trade value and though he's an excellent scorer, it's easy to roll guys out next to Danault and Moore.

Iafallo is on a great deal, if Moore takes a good one to stay home, he has to stay. Then you can finally put Fagemo or Kupari or someone else up next to him.

But we aren't even in a money crunch yet so I think people are freaking out a little prematurely over Vilardi--there's cap coming off the books and spots inevitably filled by youth on ELCs/RFAs.

 

[bmr]

I really hate to say it, but Byfield and Clarke have in fact looked a little out of place. They've had flashes of brilliance, but on a shift-to-shift basis, they still look like kids. All they need is to just continue to work hard and grow, and if we didn't already have some great players on the roster, they'd be great. But they can't be sitting, and there really isn't anyone I'd bench for either of them right now.

It's not a terrible thing to say. If we're really being honest about it, they are 20 and 19. There's not a lot of prospects in the NHL who have a complete game at that point. Byfield and Clarke both need to figure out what they have to do as pros to sustain their flash of brilliance over the course of a game/season. I wouldn't be devastated if Byfield spent more time in the AHL and Clarke went back to the OHL. Although, I would probably want to keep Clarke up this season. All he needs to do is keep working on the physical aspects of his game and also improve the skating.

I feel like Arvidsson is the easy odd man out. Has trade value and though he's an excellent scorer, it's easy to roll guys out next to Danault and Moore.

Iafallo is on a great deal, if Moore takes a good one to stay home, he has to stay. Then you can finally put Fagemo or Kupari or someone else up next to him.

But we aren't even in a money crunch yet so I think people are freaking out a little prematurely over Vilardi--there's cap coming off the books and spots inevitably filled by youth on ELCs/RFAs.

Agree with you on Arvidsson. Anyone who plays next to Danault and Moore will reap the benefits, but Arvy is such a good fit there right now. Iafallo could slot in there and the line probably wouldn't skip a beat.

The big question for me is what happens when Kopitar's contract comes off the books. Does he sign here again on a 1 or 2 year deal for 5 mill? Will he just retire?

If Gabe doesn't slow down, he's going to have a pretty nice contract. Wonder if Blake will want to try to work a bridge deal with him.