GDT: 2022-23 season game 15 LA Kings vs Minnesota Wild @7:30pm 11/8/22

[kingsboy11]

Minnesota Wild (5-5-1, 11pts, 5th in Central)@ Los Angeles Kings(7-6-1, 15pts, 3rd in Pacific)
Staples Center | Los Angeles, CA
TIME: 7:30pm PT | TV: ESPN+/ HULU RADIO: I Heart Radio App

REGULAR SEASON STATS

*Lines subject to change*
**The website I use to get these doesn't have all of our players yet**

Scratched: Quinton Byfield, Brandt Clarke, Jaret Anderson-Dolan
Covid: N/A
Injured: Alex Iafallo

Injuries: Ryan Hartman, Brandon Duhaime, Marcus Foligno
Covid: N/A


Full credit to NHL HUT Builder and Database for EA Sports Hockey Ultimate Team for supplying the HUT Cards
Full Credit to NHL Starting Goalies, Lines, News, Fantasy Tools - Daily Faceoff for the opposing lines


R.I.P
Jfont (Jesus Fontamillas)
HF member 2002-2022​

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[ibleedkings]

Clarke need to be in the lineup. I don’t care if playing Walker will get the Kings a second round pick instead of a third. Play our damn stud defenseman!!!!!

 

[kingsholygrail]

The Wild? ugghhh

 

[Reaper45]

Wild huh? Incoming bloodbath.

 

[Schmooley]

Clarke need to be in the lineup. I don’t care if playing Walker will get the Kings a second round pick instead of a third. Play our damn stud defenseman!!!!!

Its quite bizarre. Its not like Walker is a Doughty that brought two cups to LA and has been elite for over a decade.
Walker has been nothing but mediocre and when he has been in the lineup they were a lottery team.
Holding up development of future core members to keep him in the lineup doesnt make sense. Unless they want Clarke to just be around the team to get his feet wet and play half a season worth of games.
They are also holding up Spence for Walker and playing Durzi on his off side. Just strange to do.

 

[Lt Dan]

Wild huh? Incoming bloodbath.

Indeed. We are going to lose by 148 goals tonight

 

[JohnLennon]

Clarke need to be in the lineup. I don’t care if playing Walker will get the Kings a second round pick instead of a third. Play our damn stud defenseman!!!!!

Have they actually confirmed Clarke will stay past the 9 games though? Maybe they want him around the team, training with the team, watching games, etc before sending him back down and sliding his contract another year.

 

[lumbergh]

Have they actually confirmed Clarke will stay past the 9 games though? Maybe they want him around the team, training with the team, watching games, etc before sending him back down and sliding his contract another year.

I don't think so. It'll be confirmed when he plays another game or when he goes back to Juniors.

 

[bouncesonly]

23rd on the Power Play, yet 12th for GF/GP, at 3.43 and tied for first on even strength goals. This seasons been weird so far

 

[johnjm22]

We're above .500 now. I would like to see it stay that way.

 

[Sol]

I’d definitely rather see Clarke and Spence in this line up. Roy has been bad defensively that it’s amazing in a way. And Walker is dime a dozen. Don’t see why he’s even getting some time on the team.

 

[johnjm22]

My issue isn't Walker or Clarke. It's Durzi.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Seth Jones isn't much more money than Cal & Walker.


I want some exciting hockey tonight! Start Cal!

 

[AbsentMojo]

Its quite bizarre. Its not like Walker is a Doughty that brought two cups to LA and has been elite for over a decade.
Walker has been nothing but mediocre and when he has been in the lineup they were a lottery team.
Holding up development of future core members to keep him in the lineup doesnt make sense. Unless they want Clarke to just be around the team to get his feet wet and play half a season worth of games.
They are also holding up Spence for Walker and playing Durzi on his off side. Just strange to do.

The only thing that would make sense is showcase for a trade. The D situation is either piss poor planning or a trend in Blake's approach which is to delay all decisions to last possible minute. Having Durzi playing 2nd pair minutes on his wrong side - is wrong in 2 ways. How you end up with that as your best D lineup is an indictment of both the coach and the GM.

 

[lexlavender]

The real answer to most of our line-up questions is that Blake is INCREDIBLY RISK ADVERSE when it comes to any of LA's assets. He was shell shocked by Lombardi's trade fall-out, being educated under him and that time, and is going the complete opposite direction.

Lias Andersson? Sign him and keep him on the bench. Don't want to trade an asset for nothing.

Log Jam at RD? Well we don't want to get rid of good assets, lets keep them all on and play our clown car D core.

Clarke? Ah well, we don't know if he's staying or not, better just bench him while we decide. Don't want to burn that ELC, LOL!

We have 8 million players constantly vying for limited spots on our roster, and Blake refuses to make decisions on any of it. This also blows because Todd's instincts as a coach towards rookies are to constantly have them competing against each other for Ice time. So you have someone like Byfield, who on any other team in the league would be getting consistent minutes, in and out of the line-up. You have Kaliyev languishing on the bottom lines, low minutes, because you have no room for him on any other line that consistently sees time.

I don't fault Blake for being conservative, and I think this works when you are rebuilding. But he needs to make decisions and transition our wacky line-up into a solid core. And with all the clogs we have now, that requires TRADES.

 

[Sol]

The real answer to most of our line-up questions is that Blake is INCREDIBLY RISK ADVERSE when it comes to any of LA's assets. He was shell shocked by Lombardi's trade fall-out, being educated under him and that time, and is going the complete opposite direction.

Lias Andersson? Sign him and keep him on the bench. Don't want to trade an asset for nothing.

Log Jam at RD? Well we don't want to get rid of good assets, lets keep them all on and play our clown car D core.

Clarke? Ah well, we don't know if he's staying or not, better just bench him while we decide. Don't want to burn that ELC, LOL!

We have 8 million players constantly vying for limited spots on our roster, and Blake refuses to make decisions on any of it. This also blows because Todd's instincts as a coach towards rookies are to constantly have them competing against each other for Ice time. So you have someone like Byfield, who on any other team in the league would be getting consistent minutes, in and out of the line-up. You have Kaliyev languishing on the bottom lines, low minutes, because you have no room for him on any other line that consistently sees time.

I don't fault Blake for being conservative, and I think this works when you are rebuilding. But he needs to make decisions and transition our wacky line-up into a solid core. And with all the clogs we have now, that requires TRADES.

Yup. For instance I’d rather take a fat L on a Walker trade to open up a spot for Clarke. That seems more like a thinking ahead move. Walkers value is nothing worth holding onto. He wasn’t much to begin with.

 

[Matt13]

Indeed. We are going to lose by 148 goals tonight

Its a 149-1 league.

 

[Fishhead]

Walker would be easier to move than Roy, he's actually a pretty good value at 2.6. A week or two isn't going to make a big difference when it comes to making a move, so it doesn't bother me much. I just don't want to see it drag on into the new year if possible.

It's fairly obvious that three of our best 7 defensemen are a teenager and two guys in Ontario, not even taking into account LD/RD, so ideally that's all sorted out by the TDL.

 

[shuchukfan]

Time for some payback on Fiala. Oh wait...

 

[cyclones22]

Yup. For instance I’d rather take a fat L on a Walker trade to open up a spot for Clarke. That seems more like a thinking ahead move. Walkers value is nothing worth holding onto. He wasn’t much to begin with.

The lesson here is don't sign replacement level players to 3+ year deals just because they outperform their draft position.

 

[FSL KINGS]

The lesson here is don't sign replacement level players to 3+ year deals just because they outperform their draft position.

Um, Walker wasn't drafted?

 

[Fishhead]

Um, Walker wasn't drafted?

And, when he was signed he was starting to produce similar to a Durzi, but with better defense. Bjornfot and Spence were just recently drafted, Anderson was just starting to play, and Clarke couldn't have been predicted.

That was actually a smart contract to sign, had he not gotten a terrible injury he would likely have played above his value. Just because things have changed doesn't mean it was a bad move at the time.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Paying Walker $2.65M till ‘24 and Mikey $1M till next April is evidence that Blake has no real strategy for building a winner. He’s taken Kopitar’s leadership philosophy to heart as a manager. If every move is good, none have to be great.

 

[cyclones22]

Um, Walker wasn't drafted?

That's the point. A college FA is typically not expected to make a squad. Walker given a 4-year deal. Roy was drafted in the 7th round and has outperformed his draft position and given a 3-year deal. Free asset, Kings reward player with a good multiyear contract. Iafallo I like, but also college FA, he's better than replacement level IMO, signed a 4-year deal. Cal spurns the Sabres and signs here as a FA out of college, extended for three freaking years of looking like a $15M boat anchor. Lizotte also a college FA and was given a 2-year value deal. That one, perfect.

How many of those contracts look good right now? The Kings seriously didn't think they could draft/develop replacements for some of these guys or had no faith in their pipeline and signed these guys to longer term out of fear. The Kings aren't icing the best defense they can right now. They're icing the one they are right now because of contractual obligations. Get ready for that forward logjam and soon. Waiver exempt eligibility is about expire for some key prospects, including Kupari and Fagemo.

 

[unicornpig]

so what did byfield catch dudes been out more than a week