GDT: 2022-23 season game 5 LA Kings vs Nashville Predators @6:30pm 10/18/22

[Raccoon Jesus]

3 in a row in 4 days with injuries and questionable goaltending. That is pretty remarkable.

REminiscent of last year really.

So much to clean up in 2022--bottom of the barrel special teams, sub .900 goaltending, minute spreads of 15 minutes--yet here they are at nearly 100 points

But I think that's why some of us are so critical--there are some eminently fixable issues that turn them from playoff team to absolute powerhouse. Obv. don't expect that before 10 or so games in, but the base is there, and Blake's prospective moves and TM's adjustments should be very, very clear.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

REminiscent of last year really.

So much to clean up in 2022--bottom of the barrel special teams, sub .900 goaltending, minute spreads of 15 minutes--yet here they are at nearly 100 points

But I think that's why some of us are so critical--there are some eminently fixable issues that turn them from playoff team to absolute powerhouse. Obv. don't expect that before 10 or so games in, but the base is there, and Blake's prospective moves and TM's adjustments should be very, very clear.

It's getting there....last night excluded etc, what are we now....6 games in? Kopitar NOT LEADING FORWARDS IN AVERAGE ICE TIME....just wanted to you know...point that out lmao, Vilardi, 16 min, Byfield 12 (in agreement that needs to bump up still, but he's working his way there) Kaliyev 9 min (no idea what thats about, be it hurt, lost, whatever, but you have to believe he will work it out)

PP, we have one stellar unit, and one unit that everyone went..meh...f*** it....like Jigsaw put it together.....

The whole PK scheme, can someone explain that to me, it's like a 1-1-2, with the top 1 having to cover both points.....

 

[Rick Knickleback]

The idea to play Byfield and Clarke more on the PP at the expense of some of Kopitar's and Doughty's massive minutes has to have occurred to T-Mac by now, right? Doughty was just terrible on it and Kopi looked tentative.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's getting there....last night excluded etc, what are we now....6 games in? Kopitar NOT LEADING FORWARDS IN AVERAGE ICE TIME....just wanted to you know...point that out lmao, Vilardi, 16 min, Byfield 12 (in agreement that needs to bump up still, but he's working his way there) Kaliyev 9 min (no idea what thats about, be it hurt, lost, whatever, but you have to believe he will work it out)

PP, we have one stellar unit, and one unit that everyone went..meh...f*** it....like Jigsaw put it together.....

The whole PK scheme, can someone explain that to me, it's like a 1-1-2, with the top 1 having to cover both points.....

Yeah it seems like they're still figuring it out too, but it seems designed to use the front 1 to push the puck to the outside point for a shot the other 3 try to front/block as well as clog the slot from cross passes and push the bumper higher. It's the only thing I can assume based on how open they're leaving the points. That has to be an intentional choice.

I DO like how aggressive it is on loose pucks though.

 

[Trash Panda]

The idea to play Byfield and Clarke more on the PP at the expense of some of Kopitar's and Doughty's massive minutes has to have occurred to T-Mac by now, right? Doughty was just terrible on it and Kopi looked tentative.

Can’t possibly hurt the feelings of two future statue models, even if it is for the benefit of the team now and into the future.

It’s the unfortunate side effect of holding on to old war heroes.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Yeah it seems like they're still figuring it out too, but it seems designed to use the front 1 to push the puck to the outside point for a shot the other 3 try to front/block as well as clog the slot from cross passes and push the bumper higher. It's the only thing I can assume based on how open they're leaving the points. That has to be an intentional choice.

I DO like how aggressive it is on loose pucks though.

Agreed, I just don't see it working as intended, too many options for one time shots on both sides, ESPN nailed it last night, those cross ice passes, make it hell on the goaltender....and they are getting through...

 

[Rick Knickleback]

Can’t possibly hurt the feelings of two future statue models, even if it is for the benefit of the team now and into the future.

It’s the unfortunate side effect of holding on to old war heroes.

Feel like that narrative is withering a bit. But special teams remains an issue., although I thought Anze looked fine on the PK.

 

[cyclones22]

QB had a pretty decent game, all things considered. He did not have a bad game even though his possession numbers were poor. His impact chart shows his positive impact which has been pretty consistently on the plus side so far this season. Keep in mind that for the season he is under 50% oZone starts and was at 33% and 43% oZone starts the last 2 games with zero PP time. He's also getting better at draws. Positive impact with pretty crap deployment is a good sign. We'll see if QB and Gabe can work in some chemistry with Grundstrom if TMc is determined to keep Arty with LIzotte and Lemieux while AI is out.

Still ridiculous that QB gets zero PP time considering the net front presence he can provide. Right now, our best PP players in moving the puck around are Gabe, Arty, Durzi and Fiala. Arty is super underappreciated in that regard. Watch him move the puck with deceptive no-look short passes, including last night's assist. What makes all the difference is deception. Making the pass quickly when the defender isn't expecting it and those guys make it happen. That is what puts the defense off balance. The first unit telegraphs a lot passes and that's part of why it struggles even if it has good finishers. Buying the shooter a split second more time makes all the difference.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

QB had a pretty decent game, all things considered. He did not have a bad game even though his possession numbers were poor. His impact chart shows his positive impact which has been pretty consistently on the plus side so far this season. Keep in mind that for the season he is under 50% oZone starts and was at 33% and 43% oZone starts the last 2 games with zero PP time. He's also getting better at draws. Positive impact with pretty crap deployment is a good sign. We'll see if QB and Gabe can work in some chemistry with Grundstrom if TMc is determined to keep Arty with LIzotte and Lemieux while AI is out.

Still ridiculous that QB gets zero PP time considering the net front presence he can provide. Right now, our best PP players in moving the puck around are Gabe, Arty, Durzi and Fiala. Arty is super underappreciated in that regard. Watch him move the puck with deceptive no-look short passes, including last night's assist. What makes all the difference is deception. Making the pass quickly when the defender isn't expecting it and those guys make it happen. That is what puts the defense off balance. The first unit telegraphs a lot passes and that's part of why it struggles even if it has good finishers. Buying the shooter a split second more time makes all the difference.

On QB net presence on PP.....I don't see it....his hands aren't there....not that I've seen. Vilardi is light years better with his hands right in front.....you want QB kind of where Kopitar is (on the right side vs his stick etc) he has the vision and playmaking skills to be there.....I'd swap Danault with QB and let QB play patty cake with Durzi until a seam opens up for Kaliyev...

 

[King'sPawn]

Arty is super underappreciated in that regard. Watch him move the puck with deceptive no-look short passes, including last night's assist. What makes all the difference is deception. Making the pass quickly when the defender isn't expecting it and those guys make it happen. That is what puts the defense off balance.

This is all clearly false. I read on here that Kaliyev is a one-trick pony

 

[seamore]

Hell yeah!! what a game. And would you believe this? From the Los Angeles Kings team?

 

[cyclones22]

This is all clearly false. I read on here that Kaliyev is a one-trick pony

It was clearly a no-look SHOT that Gabe got in the way of

 

[lumbergh]

Was more talking about Kopitar. That being said last year is last year. There are some great options on the power play that deserve more time both at forward and defense. A more equitable division of minutes isn't a bad idea. Especially with his wrist still being swollen according to the Kings announcers. That's got to have some impact on passing and shooting. I'm a big Drew Doughty fan and defended him when folks thought he was cooked. So this isn't some hating.

Kopitar led the Kings forwards last season in points per 60 minutes on the power play. By a wide margin.

Doughty had the 9th best P/60 on the powerplay last season among defensemen with at least 100 minutes last season.

How dare you bring data into this board!

 

[bmr]

I think it's pretty telling when you hear guys like Vilardi raving about Hiller and what he has done with the PP in just a short time. Nashville is a high pressure/high risk team on the PK, but you can still see the movement and the intent by the Kings. I really expect them to be above 20% this year.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

If Vilardi was at this level back in January or so, Kings would have beat the Oil in round 1. Good times ahead....(if the Kings can keep pucks out of the net)

 

[fivehole32]

Hell yeah!! what a game. And would you believe this? From the Los Angeles Kings team?

View attachment 595909

The time to trade Vilardi is now, his value will never be higher!!!! HFboards 101

 

[seamore]

The time to trade Vilardi is now, his value will never be higher!!!! HFboards 101

Vilardi for Chychrun straight up!

i kid, i kid!!

 

[Fat Elvis]

Great comeback win.

Seeing DD8 at over 30 minutes is not a positive. He is tits on a bull on the PP. ESPN guys even stated that if given the choice, Doughty prefers playing on the PK over PP. I think it's time to slowly transition him off of the PP. Manage his minutes better, even though he won't like it.

 

[Fishhead]

This is all clearly false. I read on here that Kaliyev is a one-trick pony

Kaliyev looked light years better than he did the first few games on the defensive side of the puck.

Maybe that scratch of him that had a bunch of folks in an uproar actually paid some dividends.

How dare you bring data into this board!

The narrative that Drew isn't good on the PP comes from the fact that he looked so dominant on it early in his career, but really the numbers haven't changed all that much. He's not as flashy as he was so it's more quietly getting points.

 

[onlyalad]

I

Will also say that was Clarke's worst game, but his potential is there.

He really needs to be on the Powerplay regularly. He has that attacking mindset - note he was the one in front of the net for Roy's second goal; the only one who didn't get a point on the play.

when he was in the sin bin they showed him without his helmet. My wife asked “are kings are playing 12 year old kids now?”

 

[Fishhead]

Great comeback win.

Seeing DD8 at over 30 minutes is not a positive. He is tits on a bull on the PP. ESPN guys even stated that if given the choice, Doughty prefers playing on the PK over PP. I think it's time to slowly transition him off of the PP. Manage his minutes better, even though he won't like it.

Not going to argue that he looks like he's ineffective most of the time, but there is this...

From 12-13 to 22-23 among defensmen playing over 500 games, Drew is 14th in powerplay points per 60 minutes at 4.6. He's right below Karlsson and Weber, which are both at 4.76, so he's in absolutely elite company.

Combining last year and this year so far, he's at 5.7, which is substantially above his average. Better than Burns, Shattenkirk, Seider, Klingberg, and others who are known as excellent PP players. Not only that, over this season and last among regular power play defensemen (50 minutes minimum) he's third in PPG/60, right behind Fowler and Josi. He scores PPG at a rate higher than Makar, Ekblad, Carlson, etc.

So there's a sizable gap between what we perceive and what he's actually producing.

 

[King'sPawn]

Kaliyev looked light years better than he did the first few games on the defensive side of the puck.

Maybe that scratch of him that had a bunch of folks in an uproar actually paid some dividends.

I'd agree if, say, he was the only one who looked bad. But the entire team has looked pretty sloppy defensively.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

QB had a pretty decent game, all things considered. He did not have a bad game even though his possession numbers were poor. His impact chart shows his positive impact which has been pretty consistently on the plus side so far this season. Keep in mind that for the season he is under 50% oZone starts and was at 33% and 43% oZone starts the last 2 games with zero PP time. He's also getting better at draws. Positive impact with pretty crap deployment is a good sign. We'll see if QB and Gabe can work in some chemistry with Grundstrom if TMc is determined to keep Arty with LIzotte and Lemieux while AI is out.

Still ridiculous that QB gets zero PP time considering the net front presence he can provide. Right now, our best PP players in moving the puck around are Gabe, Arty, Durzi and Fiala. Arty is super underappreciated in that regard. Watch him move the puck with deceptive no-look short passes, including last night's assist. What makes all the difference is deception. Making the pass quickly when the defender isn't expecting it and those guys make it happen. That is what puts the defense off balance. The first unit telegraphs a lot passes and that's part of why it struggles even if it has good finishers. Buying the shooter a split second more time makes all the difference.

An assist and 63% on faceoffs and broke even +/- is pretty damn good considering his starts and lack of offensive time. Only Kopitar had a lower zone start %. Not sure what was with his usage this game other than the special teams circus maybe.

QB had excellent chemistry with Grundstrom last season, will see what dividends that pays with a hot Vilardi rather than Brown/AA.

 

[Docgonzo]

Like RJ and GBH were saying I don’t understand this 1-1-2 PK. The highest forward just spends the whole time skating around the point. The low forward either leaves a point shot wide open or the man in the middle. Maybe it’s lack of defensive awareness on our team but someone always seems to be open on the back door.

Just change back to the small box for crying out loud and tell the forwards to be aggressive and have the defense be slightly passive so they aren’t leaving people wide open.

 

[cyclones22]

An assist and 63% on faceoffs and broke even +/- is pretty damn good considering his starts and lack of offensive time. Only Kopitar had a lower zone start %. Not sure what was with his usage this game other than the special teams circus maybe.

Danault was absolutely dreadful from the dot last night. Really out of character for him. Maybe that played a part in starting QB in the dzone more than not. That poor face-off percentage also hurts the power play.

Like RJ and GBH were saying I don’t understand this 1-1-2 PK. The highest forward just spends the whole time skating around the point. The low forward either leaves a point shot wide open or the man in the middle. Maybe it’s lack of defensive awareness on our team but someone always seems to be open on the back door.

Just change back to the small box for crying out loud and tell the forwards to be aggressive and have the defense be slightly passive so they aren’t leaving people wide open.

I don't like that formation either. It seems super dependent on blocked shots and the goaltender making saves. They must have some fancy stats somewhere that show effectiveness for it. Now executing it effectively is another story.