GDT: 2023-24 season game 59 LA Kings vs Vancouver Canucks @7:00pm 2/29/24

[Nasti]

Before or after you declared him a BUST?

He admitted he was wrong. Learn something from that.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Every time Turcotte goes in to forecheck I'm nervous for him.

When Laff got rocked last night, all I saw was the '8' on the jersey and i thought it was Turcotte. I was like 'here we go....'.

 

[AbsentMojo]

His health was always the only thing holding him back from success.

He was behind Lewis, JAD, Grundstrum, Kaliyev, etc on the depth chart .. he only got a sniff because guys got hurt. The org has this possible gem and they didnt want to polish it. Again another data point in their inability to assess their own talent... like when Byfield was getting 13 TOI under the brain dead Koala.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Finally got to watch the whole game and god damn

hockey is so funny

bonus because it was a mouth smack to a group of mouthy canucks fans who have been motherf***ing us all year for literally no reason, calling us a fraud team etc. basically completely unsolicited

 

[Lt Dan]

Finally got to watch the whole game and god damn

hockey is so funny

Of course there is always the factor of did the Kings play well and dominate or did the the opponent play bad?

If we look at last night's game in a vacuum, it was a dominant 60 minute effort and Doughty was playing Norris caliber D.
Hiller's greatest test is coming up in getting the team to repeat that performance against the Devils on Sunday and then against a Vancouver team that is going to be looking for payback on Tuesday

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I'm not sure what JAD brings over Thomas. I'd much prefer giving Thomas a shot over JAD. Fagemo would be better as well due to the PP and RHS need -- but i can understand those are much different type players. But Thomas is more along the JAD side and he'd be much a better option. At least giving him a chance

How much better would the team be and Turcutte himself, if he had been allowed to make the team this year and given minutes all year. Heck, even going back a couple years and allowing him to grow as an NHL player. Instead of letting AHL goons make macaroni & cheese with his brain.

Or how much worse would the team be? Maybe going back a couple of years, he gets splattered in his first month playing pro hockey because he doesn't know how to protect himself and his career is Nolan Patrick esque.....

Going down what ifs, and imagning everything else done different would have turned rosy....seems....interesting at best...

 

[Little Psycho]

He admitted he was wrong. Learn something from that.

That’s call growth and recognizing mistakes . Something Axl is allergic to.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Of course there is always the factor of did the Kings play well and dominate or did the the opponent play bad?

If we look at last night's game in a vacuum, it was a dominant 60 minute effort and Doughty was playing Norris caliber D.
Hiller's greatest test is coming up in getting the team to repeat that performance against the Devils on Sunday and then against a Vancouver team that is going to be looking for payback on Tuesday

ALWAYS a combination of both,

 

[Little Psycho]

Finally got to watch the whole game and god damn

hockey is so funny

bonus because it was a mouth smack to a group of mouthy canucks fans who have been motherf***ing us all year for literally no reason, calling us a fraud team etc. basically completely unsolicited

View attachment 827675

There was a lot of shot posts. Inferiority complex man.

 

[Lt Dan]

ALWAYS a combination of both,

True, but what percentage?

it's never 50 /50

That’s call growth and recognizing mistakes . Something Axl is allergic to.

Side note- I still sing this in my head every time you post



and yes, that means post EVEN more

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

True, but what percentage?

it's never 50 /50


Side note- I still sing this in my head every time you post



and yes, that means post EVEN more

Varies game to game....and it typically balances out throughout the season, those who try and use that argument are always trying to belittle the accomplishment though I have found....

 

[tigermask48]

I'm gonna go ahead and say you're welcome for the win this game, since I watched the Calgary game, but then spent my night playing Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth instead of watching the game.

 

[lexlavender]

Finally got to watch the whole game and god damn

hockey is so funny

bonus because it was a mouth smack to a group of mouthy canucks fans who have been motherf***ing us all year for literally no reason, calling us a fraud team etc. basically completely unsolicited

View attachment 827675

Second only to the annoying Canadiens fans who constantly cry about us "deserving Dubois" because their dumb ass, franco-phile franchise didn't sell the the farm to pick him up.

 

[kingsfan28]

Every time Turcotte goes in to forecheck I'm nervous for him. He is playing very well, though. Sort of a JAD but faster, Lizotte but bigger. He made some nice plays last night. Nice to see him rewarded with ice time.

Much like Valardi, and if he was still here, it would be the same. There was always a collective " uh oh.." in the GDT whenever he went down or took a hard check. Tuc will carry worry with him as well.

 

[sinister6000]

He’s 100% being traded.

This will be another huge mistake by Blake. I know he's had a terrible year. But he's only 22, he doesn't make a lot of money. The last 2 seasons he showed he can score playing on the 4th line. I know people are down on him right now, but if he gets his confidence back. And has more time to mature, there's (potential) for him to develop into a sniper in the future.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's the Kings in a nutshell

We just acquired the best plumber in town

This plumber sucks at doing my taxes, get rid of him.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

This will be another huge mistake by Blake. I know he's had a terrible year. But he's only 22, he doesn't make a lot of money. The last 2 seasons he showed he can score playing on the 4th line. I know people are down on him right now, but if he gets his confidence back. And has more time to mature, there's (potential) for him to develop into a sniper in the future.

He has to do more than score......at a moderate level.....if he's a defensive liability, he won't play, no coach will play him.

 

[Bandit]

Thought Canada knew hockey.

Somebody's yaml file is outta date.

It's the Kings in a nutshell

We just acquired the best plumber in town

This plumber sucks at doing my taxes, get rid of him.

If only Bustfield could score like Strudel.

 

[sinister6000]

He has to do more than score......at a moderate level.....if he's a defensive liability, he won't play, no coach will play him.

They said the same thing about Ovechkin, and Hull. And no I'm not comparing Kalyiev to those 2. What I'm saying is you can teach defense. But you can't make an non goal scorer into a goal scorer.

 

[Herby]

I get the nervousness, but he looks to have changed his approach this season a little bit, at leas by what I can tell.

He is no longer barreling in like a crash test dummy, and seems to be taking a bit off the top to think about the situation he is blazing into. I’m extremely glad to see it.

If he can turn into a 40-60pt “culture” kinda guy who plays the game the right way, I’m then I’ll call that pick a success every day. Players like that are a lot more valuable that most stat geeks want to admit.

So now wanting to draft impact offensive players with Top 5 picks makes someone a "stat geek"?

So if those types of players are so much more valuable than "stat geeks" want to admit and make top 5 picks a success, why are teams continuing to try and draft elite scorers with picks like that when there are a lot more easier to project 40-50 point depth forwards? Are all the teams run by "stat geeks"?

Nobody is saying an Andrew Copp or even a Blake Lizotte type player is worthless, I actually like both players quite a bit for what they bring to a team, but wanting more than Andrew Copp out of a Top 5 pick in a loaded draft does not make someone a "stat geek", it's just a realistic expectation for a Top 5 pick.

 

[sinister6000]

There are some guys in this league that won't give any effort on the defensive side. Have you ever seen Anthony Duclair play?

 

[kinghock]

They said the same thing about Ovechkin, and Hull. And no I'm not comparing Kalyiev to those 2. What I'm saying is you can teach defense. But you can't make an non goal scorer into a goal scorer.

Problem with Kaliev that he needs mental help in the order to become goal scorer again.
He was totally ruined by former coach.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

They said the same thing about Ovechkin, and Hull. And no I'm not comparing Kalyiev to those 2. What I'm saying is you can teach defense. But you can't make an non goal scorer into a goal scorer.

They never said that about Ovechkin...and Hull....was different, but like I said, Kaliyev has to do more than score, he's not a generational talent.....not even close, so if you aren't that, then what?

 

[Live in the Now]

They said the same thing about Ovechkin, and Hull. And no I'm not comparing Kalyiev to those 2. What I'm saying is you can teach defense. But you can't make a non goal scorer into a goal scorer.

Thousand Oaks

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Byfield is just the kind of player you can win with, too. I f***ing love it. The guy is an absolute 200 foot force, we are spoiled to be able to transition from 15 years of Kopitar to 15 more of Byfield. Different players and I'm not at all saying QB is a hall of famer in waiting quite yet--but similar in that there will always be 'better' offensive players than Byfield as there were than Kopitar, yet in overall impact, they help close the gap in a way where you can still beat the better players.

I'm not convinced Clarke will be Doughty, but that's not an insult. He's more like diet Karlsson. Completely different player who can have a different type of transformative impact and with the Kings' propensity for developing checkers that might not be the worst thing. But its' nice to see a potential changing of the guard happening because before the last 2-3 years it just looked like iceberg dead ahead in terms of slotting a 1C and top pairing D.