GDT: 2024-25 season game 56 LA Kings vs Vancouver Canucks @7:00 pm 2/26/25

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Has a goaltender ever been in contention for the Jennings Trophy with a sub .890?

Enough of big sieve Dave. He hasn't had a good game in 2 months. A defensive-centric team like the Kings and numbers like that. He's a fraud, always has been. Copley or Portillo even, can handle 1 game a week from here on out

It's hard to believe but the entire season is riding on Kuemper. Not Byfield. Not Fiala. Not Kopitar but Darcy Kuemper.
Came here to say I wonder if the Kings should make a move for an insurance goalie.

Kuemper is about to turn 35. He's one small injury away from ruining LA's entire season.
 
Hey I gotta a better name for the 3 Amigos(Kempe,Fiala and Byfield)...Thunder,Lightning and Reign!!!


Thing about Brandt is he should have worked on his strength(upper body and Legs especially) not sure about him he's not going to be the heir apparent as Blake envisioned
How about that FQKing line
 
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That’s what sucks for young guys on a middling first round exit playoff team.

Every mistake is amplified
I don't think you guys are as mediocre as your saying.
I said it in the main thread earlier that both teams play a very good defensive system with active sticks and taking away time and space. That's playoff style hockey.
However both teams need to find another gear offensively and while I think the nucks have two game breakers only one is playing like it.
You guys need that piece imo and If Rantanan does become available Blake should be doing everything he can to get him.
He likely would be very receptive to extending in LA
 
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At this point let's just move Clarke and a 1st for Rakell and Toffoli and get it over with. It's just easier to accept that these kids aren't going to make it here and move on from it.

Fiala - Byfield - Kempe
Rakell - Kopitar - Toffoli
Moore - Danault - Laferriere
Jeannot - Turcotte - Foegele

Anderson - Gavrikov
Edmundson - Doughty
Moverare - Spence

Kuemper
A better backup?
The NHL has a salary cap
 
Danny boy has played better lately but in all reality is a third line center. Seems to play best with his buddy Moore who is looking better.

Kopitar looks gassed, even after the lay off. He is on pace the last few months to be a third line center.

We now have the makings of a true number one offensive line in Fiala, Byfield, Kempe. (This should be the core of PP1)

We can not PP, we cannot sustain scoring.

Our backup goalie sucks.

We are carrying a million dollar dman as a 8th dman, that gets 5 minutes a game and is as useful as a 70 year olds, ball sack.

Our coach has to tinker with everything even when it’s good and working. Does this guy have super high levels of ADHD or what? If something’s working leave it. I’m not sure if he’s trying to cow tow to Kopitar or what but he has cost us critical points with his decisions.

Solutions

Fire the PP coach. Brown has brought nothing

Get Kopi off of PP1 and Byfield on. Kopi slows everything down and lets defense and goalies re-set. We need people that can play fast and shoot that is polar opposite of Kopitar game.

Byfield, Kempe, Laf, Fiala, Clarke - PP1.

Kopi, Turcotte, Moore, Doughty, Spence - PP2

- land a guy like Boeser, or Rantanen and load up PP1 and drop Laf to PP2

What would we add to Danny boy to get Boeser? Contacts have similar AAV.

Is Jake Evan’s capable of filling 3C role?

Clarke looked crappy last night. Kid usually over oozes confidence but I am not seeing that right now. Need early season Clarke back. Hope the kid plays out the season with his head up, keeps learning the defensive side on the fly then try and add 10 to 15 pounds over the offseason. Come back next year and force the coaches to play him more.

Can anyone that watches the Reign comment in Portillo. Is he ready for a cup of coffee. Have no faith in Dave.
 
Good news: team gets to get right back at it vs. high level team in dallas

Bad news: you think Kopitar looks tired now, wait till the end of this 7 games in 12 nights with travel

Good that they get to drink from the fire hose with game after game while playing relatively well but the 11-7 is going to murder these guys' health

Also last note in defense of Clarke

he's just on the yearly 'under 25' journey:

  • can't play the kids, its early in the season and they're not ready, have to have veterans set the tone
  • can't play the kids, we're getting buried right now, need the vets to steady the ship before we let them loose
  • cant play the kids, too many injuries, they'll be exposed higher in the lineup
  • can't play the kids, these games are meaningful now, we need every point <--you are here, Brandt, Akil, Turc. watch Trevor Lewis and see how it's done...yes that's him picking up his stick in the corner after missing a check on an opponent standing still BUT YOU KNOW WHAT
  • can't play the kids, literally every point counts, these are essentially playoff games
  • can't play the kids, it's the playoffs and they've barely got any games, so how can we trust them? They're not ready.
 
Danny boy has played better lately but in all reality is a third line center. Seems to play best with his buddy Moore who is looking better.

Kopitar looks gassed, even after the lay off. He is on pace the last few months to be a third line center.

We now have the makings of a true number one offensive line in Fiala, Byfield, Kempe. (This should be the core of PP1)

We can not PP, we cannot sustain scoring.

Our backup goalie sucks.

We are carrying a million dollar dman as a 8th dman, that gets 5 minutes a game and is as useful as a 70 year olds, ball sack.

Our coach has to tinker with everything even when it’s good and working. Does this guy have super high levels of ADHD or what? If something’s working leave it. I’m not sure if he’s trying to cow tow to Kopitar or what but he has cost us critical points with his decisions.

Solutions

Fire the PP coach. Brown has brought nothing

Get Kopi off of PP1 and Byfield on. Kopi slows everything down and lets defense and goalies re-set. We need people that can play fast and shoot that is polar opposite of Kopitar game.

Byfield, Kempe, Laf, Fiala, Clarke - PP1.

Kopi, Turcotte, Moore, Doughty, Spence - PP2

- land a guy like Boeser, or Rantanen and load up PP1 and drop Laf to PP2

What would we add to Danny boy to get Boeser? Contacts have similar AAV.

Is Jake Evan’s capable of filling 3C role?

Clarke looked crappy last night. Kid usually over oozes confidence but I am not seeing that right now. Need early season Clarke back. Hope the kid plays out the season with his head up, keeps learning the defensive side on the fly then try and add 10 to 15 pounds over the offseason. Come back next year and force the coaches to play him more.

Can anyone that watches the Reign comment in Portillo. Is he ready for a cup of coffee. Have no faith in Dave.

Portillo and Rittich are the same dude right now. Portillo is a headcase. You can see when he's not feeling it.

Call up Copley if you're not going to make a trade. He has earned his job back, BSD has lost it.
 
They will never take Kopitar off the first line or the first unit. I love Kopi but at this point it’s becoming a bit of an issue. You can tell that management won’t do this to him out of principle which is insane. Theres no shame in being a second line center at his age.
It's becoming undeniable with Kopi.

He's probably my favorite player of all time and I've defended him pretty aggressively at times and he's still the GOAT and everything but it's pretty damn clear the guy is just completely out of gas.

I think they see it too - I just think they're reluctant to admit he's hit a wall.

My guess is we'll see Byfield as the full time 1C by the end of next week (if not sooner). It's just too obvious at this point. A couple weeks ago you could still make the argument that maybe it was just a bad slump in January... At this point it's been 2 months of slumping and the last couple weeks especially it's been clear he just doesn't have the same game we're used to seeing from him.

Like you said, nothing wrong with being a 2nd line center at this point. I think we'll start to see him rebound a bit once he settles into that new role and the minutes come down a bit.
 
I dunno man

If they're not willing to reduce Trevor Lewis' icetime and insist on burying kids when he's at 16.67 CF% and 30% xgf while on the ice for the only 5v5 goal against I have little hope that they'll manage Anze Kopitar's icetime.

Yes you read that correctly

in a game in which the Kings were at 61% CF% Lewis was at 17%, and the Kings were at 72% xGF and trevor lewis 30%, the Kings were at 54% actual shots for...Lewis was at ZERO. And was on for the only actual goal against. All without a single defensive zone start. Kind of impressive really.

But please tell me again how Clarke made a mistake and Byfield isn't meeting your standards.
 
I dunno man

If they're not willing to reduce Trevor Lewis' icetime and insist on burying kids when he's at 16.67 CF% and 30% xgf while on the ice for the only 5v5 goal against I have little hope that they'll manage Anze Kopitar's icetime.
Ffffff****kkkkkk

You may be right. At this point, nothing would surprise me with these guys.

Hopefully the they treat the two situations differently.

With Lewis, he's a 4th line grinder anyways - So while I don't agree with it at all, you can kind of understand the Kings' mindset of basically - "oh he's a heart & soul, culture guy, and veteran presence who's good on the PK. We can live with him staying in our lineup especially cuz he's only playing ~8 mins a night anyways".

With Kopi, he's your 1C. If he's not pulling his weight (not his fault, just an unfortunate fact at the moment)... You're screwed. You don't have the luxury of being able to keep him in that role because it's too crucial to team success.
 
It's becoming undeniable with Kopi.

He's probably my favorite player of all time and I've defended him pretty aggressively at times and he's still the GOAT and everything but it's pretty damn clear the guy is just completely out of gas.

I think they see it too - I just think they're reluctant to admit he's hit a wall.

My guess is we'll see Byfield as the full time 1C by the end of next week (if not sooner). It's just too obvious at this point. A couple weeks ago you could still make the argument that maybe it was just a bad slump in January... At this point it's been 2 months of slumping and the last couple weeks especially it's been clear he just doesn't have the same game we're used to seeing from him.

Like you said, nothing wrong with being a 2nd line center at this point. I think we'll start to see him rebound a bit once he settles into that new role and the minutes come down a bit.
Byfield has been the #1 center by minutes since January 1 anyway. It’s slowly but surely happening.
IMG_2475.jpeg
 
I dunno man

If they're not willing to reduce Trevor Lewis' icetime and insist on burying kids when he's at 16.67 CF% and 30% xgf while on the ice for the only 5v5 goal against I have little hope that they'll manage Anze Kopitar's icetime.

Yes you read that correctly

in a game in which the Kings were at 61% CF% Lewis was at 17%, and the Kings were at 72% xGF and trevor lewis 30%, the Kings were at 54% actual shots for...Lewis was at ZERO. And was on for the only actual goal against. All without a single defensive zone start. Kind of impressive really.

But please tell me again how Clarke made a mistake and Byfield isn't meeting your standards.
Worth noting that Hiller did cut Lewis's TOI last night. 6:55. Lowest on the team other than Burroughs.

Lewis has a near team worst -3 now.
 
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I didn't watch the replay, so please forgive me if all the facts aren't straight. I totally understand not wanting to give points away to a division rival, but Kopitar keeping Byfield from stirring things up after Kopitar got boarded really pissed me off. Tell me that wouldn't have fired up the team and the crowd. Yeah, there's a chance Byfield gets the extra penalty, but so what? Some of these young guys need to start taking ownership of the team, even if that means going against your captain. Quit being pushovers and play with some attitude.
 
I didn't watch the replay, so please forgive me if all the facts aren't straight. I totally understand not wanting to give points away to a division rival, but Kopitar keeping Byfield from stirring things up after Kopitar got boarded really pissed me off. Tell me that wouldn't have fired up the team and the crowd. Yeah, there's a chance Byfield gets the extra penalty, but so what? Some of these young guys need to start taking ownership of the team, even if that means going against your captain. Quit being pushovers and play with some attitude.
Byfield already stirred it up earlier in the game when he reacted to a late hit on Spence by doing a half-assed "oops, i kind of hit you on accident while not looking at you" and then proceeded to get punched in the face and then cry to the ref about it.

He is a giant tampon. He wasn't going to do a thing that wouldn't have been, at max, something with the gloves on that would go on long enough for the refs to come in before it actually became something.

I'm not attacking his game, but he is a total p***y. Yard sale whenever he gets high sticked. Gets hit last night and takes an hour to skate back to the bench, totally milking it. He always has a "Oh, look someone hurt me" move. Real slow skate to the bench, skate over to the refs to say he got hurt.
 
Worth noting that Hiller did cut Lewis's TOI last night. 6:55. Lowest on the team other than Burroughs.

Lewis has a near team worst -3 now.
Jeannot, at an even zero, is the only Kings 4th liner not a minus. Lewis, Thomas, Lee, Helenius all minuses. That stat means nothing.
 
Man I totally forgot we had Lee and Helenius, those 2 guys were great on the 4th line together. They added some much needed size and youth, but once Lewis came back you just knew it was over for them.
 
Jeannot, at an even zero, is the only Kings 4th liner not a minus. Lewis, Thomas, Lee, Helenius all minuses. That stat means nothing.
Maybe not comparing a player on one team to a player on another, but it has some relevance when you’re comparing players on the same team, particularly when the minus players are the ones who get the easiest matchups.
 
Good game, got a point.

Hiller sucks.

Clark with 16:50 ice time!!!! Someone do a wellness check on the coach. Can't play Clarke because he might make a mistake, but we can flush points with horrific special teams. 0 for 4 on PP.

Burroughs Breakdowns!!!
2:42!!!! Four shifts without being on ice for a goal!!! He did in true fashion get completely lost in the Dzone. Just nonchalantly taking a lap while Meyer ripped a clean shot off the post. He almost found someone to cover.

Hope Meyer is ok. Scary.
 

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