GDT: 2022-23 season game 3 LA Kings vs Minnesota Wild @5:00pm 10/15/22

[Statto]

How abouts that Kempe regression, eh?

It’s a big early to crow about that, which I say as someone that has stated more than once that he won’t take a step back.

Equally (this isn’t to you) its too early to have a Vilardi coming out party even though I backed him throughout his injury problems since day one.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

It’s a big early to crow about that, which I say as someone that has stated more than once that he won’t take a step back.

Equally (this isn’t to you) its too early to have a Vilardi coming out party even though I backed him throughout his injury problems since day one.

Agree…crowing about it is as about as ridiculous as all the gloom and doom predictions before the season even gets rolling. Just trying to fit in with all the dramatics.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Cal Petersen is elite.

 

[Sol]

Cal Petersen is terrible lol

 

[Mats26]

Cal is struggling, no doubt, but he got the win so hopefully that will boost his confidence and get him back on track. We got 10 million tied up in goalies, I rather make moves right now to support our LD core.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kings being the second most penalized team in the NHL will hurt minutes. When they can keep out of the box the minutes will even out more.

Sure but they also had enough PP time to give Kempe, Kopitar, Fiala 6.5 minute s of PP time.

Kaliyev played barely more than that total...and 1:44 of PP time.

I honestly have no idea how a guy with Byfield's size and hands is kept off both powerplay units.

Especially if their strategy is to overload the net down low.

Byfield: 20 seconds PP time.




Don't get me wrong, they're mostly managing the middle of the lineup better, and I'm going to try not to read too much into last night's shit show....yet these are the early patterns. Luckily they recognize Gabe beasting out so it tempers my bitching, but they're mismanaging Byfield and Kaliyev pretty heavily. However outside last night most everyone is rolling 14-19 minutes which is beautiful (outside of the outliers I mentioned).

 

[johnjm22]

Vilardi playing well is helping Byfield. Both players have the potential to be possession monsters. We all wanted QB to play with a good winger, and it looks like he's got one.

Many around here were critical of Vilardi being sent down and converted to wing, but it looks like it was the right move.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Fiala was straight beasting last night. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder against his former team.

Kings always have ex-players come in and score against them so this was nice to see the opposite for a change.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Vilardi playing well is helping Byfield. Both players have the potential to be possession monsters. We all wanted QB to play with a good winger, and it looks like he's got one.

Many around here were critical of Vilardi being sent down and converted to wing, but it looks like it was the right move.

I didn't see many people complaining solely about the conversion.

I saw plenty complaining about why he was buried and that he stayed there.

Fiala was straight beasting last night. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder against his former team.

Kings always have ex-players come in and score against them so this was nice to see the opposite for a change.

He was on an absolute mission last night. Was nice to see.

Can definitely see the Minnesota criticisms about his inconsistency game-to-game though. One night, like last night, he can look like the best player in the league, beating anyone to any loose puck and winning every puck battle, generating danger shift after shift--other nights, he merely exists, maybe making one big play.

But last night, wow. I mentioned in the GDT that he must be built like a brick shithouse to absorb the amount of checks he does when he uses his entire back as a shield, once he has the puck the only King I've ever seen better at shielding it is Kopitar.

 

[HookKing]

Cal is struggling, no doubt, but he got the win so hopefully that will boost his confidence and get him back on track. We got 10 million tied up in goalies, I rather make moves right now to support our LD core.

So does he get Detroit or Nashville? I think Todd will put JQ in for Detroit so things could get a lot worse for Cal if he doesn't get his mind right.

 

[Mats26]

Fiala was straight beasting last night. He definitely had a chip on his shoulder against his former team.

Kings always have ex-players come in and score against them so this was nice to see the opposite for a change.

For Fiala, one play stood out for me. When he hustled back in the neutral zone to back check Kiprizov who had the puck about to take on Anderson one on one. Stole the puck from him and went off for a change. He was motivated, nice to see some D work from him too.

 

[KINGS17]

Sure but they also had enough PP time to give Kempe, Kopitar, Fiala 6.5 minute s of PP time.

Kaliyev played barely more than that total...and 1:44 of PP time.



Byfield: 20 seconds PP time.




Don't get me wrong, they're mostly managing the middle of the lineup better, and I'm going to try not to read too much into last night's shit show....yet these are the early patterns. Luckily they recognize Gabe beasting out so it tempers my bitching, but they're mismanaging Byfield and Kaliyev pretty heavily. However outside last night most everyone is rolling 14-19 minutes which is beautiful (outside of the outliers I mentioned).

Vilardi's shot, hockey sense and goal scoring touch demand a coach's attention. He is never going to be a great skater, but he is a very good passer and his shot is extremely effective.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Cal Petersen is elite.

As Ive said for the last 2 season, Kings need to stick to a low-Cal diet... cant platoon with a guy this bad.. maybe give him 20 starts. His contract is going to hurt. Like MJones did to SJ.. they just let him play out the string with an .897 save percentage for 3 straight years. Id say maybe give him this year to figure it out, and buy out his last 2 seasons if he stays atrocious.

 

[mysterman2]

As Ive said for the last 2 season, Kings need to stick to a low-Cal diet... cant platoon with a guy this bad.. maybe give him 20 starts. His contract is going to hurt. Like MJones did to SJ.. they just let him play out the string with an .897 save percentage for 3 straight years. Id say maybe give him this year to figure it out, and buy out his last 2 seasons if he stays atrocious.

hope Copley has a major leap in development and can steal a job.

 

[Jason Squirties]

It’s a big early to crow about that, which I say as someone that has stated more than once that he won’t take a step back.

Equally (this isn’t to you) its too early to have a Vilardi coming out party even though I backed him throughout his injury problems since day one.

You would think this would be common sense now, especially as a king fan but alas, it isn't.

 

[All The Kings Men]

hope Copley has a major leap in development and can steal a job.

Copley turns 31 in January
Petersen turns 28 in three days

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Copley turns 31 in January
Petersen turns 28 in three days

So you're saying there's a chance!

 

[Rick Knickleback]

hope Copley has a major leap in development and can steal a job.

Copley? Copley isn't going to be a solution to any problem.

In regards to Peterson, it helps to just blow through the denial and bargaining stages and accept that Blake made a below replacement journeyman the 7th highest paid player on the team through 2025.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Copley? Copley isn't going to be a solution to any problem.

In regards to Peterson, it helps to just blow through the denial and bargaining stages and accept that Blake made a below replacement journeyman the 7th highest paid player on the team through 2025.

If we're playing that game, you have to look at when they signed him. They had recently gotten rid of Campbell, had a cheap Petersen for a couple more years, he was a soon to be UFA with nobody left except Quick, and in the 54 games before signing his current deal, he had a .916 sv%. And that was for some bad teams between 18-19 and 20-21.

If Petersen is a below replacement journeyman, he probably wasn't considered that when they signed him. Blake took a chance, and it may be another Cloutier, but he wasn't as bad as he's looked in his last 38 games prior to the signing.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Nice to see the Kings come out on the right side of a shootout. I think last night makes up for the Vegas game. If healthy, this team should put up goals. From that perspective, I can appreciate Todd’s comments about needing to find an identity.

I also liked his post game comment about it being good to put up 7 goals. And it was great that the goals came without having to put up a ton of shots. Being a team that can reliably score 3.5 goals a game makes this a great team with guys like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, Doughty and Quick logging major minutes.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Nice to see the Kings come out on the right side of a shootout. I think last night makes up for the Vegas game. If healthy, this team should put up goals. From that perspective, I can appreciate Todd’s comments about needing to find an identity.

I also liked his post game comment about it being good to put up 7 goals. And it was great that the goals came without having to put up a ton of shots. Being a team that can reliably score 3.5 goals a game makes this a great team with guys like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, Doughty and Quick logging major minutes.

Yeah, many of those goals were hard-earned, only one I can recall where the bed was just absolutely shit was Iafallo's slap shot. It's definitely good to have a team that can usually score and a PP that at least usually generates momentum if they're not scoring.

Although of course it's hard to take anything away from this early in the season with what a circus it's been thus far, it's probably good that they were 20 seconds away from at least 3 out of 6 possible points anyway.

 

[Cianide]

I mean he pretty much was considered a top 3 or top 5 pick by everyone headed into the draft.

His skating is why he fell so far.

 

[Sol]

Nice to see the Kings come out on the right side of a shootout. I think last night makes up for the Vegas game. If healthy, this team should put up goals. From that perspective, I can appreciate Todd’s comments about needing to find an identity.

I also liked his post game comment about it being good to put up 7 goals. And it was great that the goals came without having to put up a ton of shots. Being a team that can reliably score 3.5 goals a game makes this a great team with guys like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, Doughty and Quick logging major minutes.

I don’t know man. Yeah they won a shoot out but they didn’t particularly do well. The high scoring wasn’t offensive prowess. It was bad goaltending for the most part. The Kings at no point were really dominant to suggest to me that they were playing a high octane offensive game. I don’t particularly feel comfortable with Todd talking about identity. He’s been at the helm of the team for 3 years now and the Kings honestly don’t even have 5 percent of an identity.I have no idea how to describe them. They have no forecheck, no toughness, major trouble scoring, okay defense, and shit goaltending now. It’s up to the coach and the GM to establish an identity. And to be honest, coaches with lesser rosters have established an identity. How come Todd keeps failing to do so? He’s has the talent believe it or not to instill a team wide mentality. But I still don’t see it. In fact, I think that I can’t really Todd ever having a team wide identity. Only that of choking which he established as the head coach of the sharks.

You can like Todd as a person but he’s far from being the coach the team needs. At least Terry Murray established an identity and people couldn’t stand him. Why does Todd get a pass? Haven’t won a series, haven’t established a thing. What makes him a good coach? We’re legitimately unimpressive in all aspects.

 

[Steve Zissou]

It's still early but this is a tad concerning regarding our defensive play.

 

[King'sPawn]

Nice to see the Kings come out on the right side of a shootout. I think last night makes up for the Vegas game. If healthy, this team should put up goals. From that perspective, I can appreciate Todd’s comments about needing to find an identity.

I also liked his post game comment about it being good to put up 7 goals. And it was great that the goals came without having to put up a ton of shots. Being a team that can reliably score 3.5 goals a game makes this a great team with guys like Kopitar, Doughty, Danault, Doughty and Quick logging major minutes.

I dunno if it makes up for the Vegas game. They were very sloppy in this game as well. Minnesota was just a tire fire. Not sure that absolves their own terrible play.