Hiller is dumb! Clarke is such an offensive weapon from the back end but Hiller doesn't want him opening things up because it goes against his defensive structure coaching mindset.
At least Lewis was on the wing tonight. When he was playing center it was worse.
If anyone noticed in the shootout, both Blues players who scored used variations to keep Kuemper moving/guessing a bit. Kempe didn't, Fiala did, Moore didn't. This coaching staff are morons teaching offense on how to beat goalies! You want to go five-hole, then you have to open up goalie, get him moving laterally a bit!
Opening offense from the blue line clashes with Hiller's coaching philosophy. I have said it before, Doughty has some offensive jam and Clarke is the best at it. You become more of a threat offensively from the back end, then your opponent has to respect it, which opens up some opportunities for the forwards if they are creative enough. Doughty, Clarke and Spence need to be in the lineup with proper coaching to do that.
Agree with all that. Whats ridiculous is they have these offensively inept guys like 6, 44 and 84 trying to make plays in the o-zone - the play always die on their sticks. And all these guys are prone to pinch at the wrong time... 25 minutes to those guys and 10 to Clarke.
Simple, you traded away Vilardi, then they didn't know how to use PLD(sorry but it's true) to be a weapon on the PP(for that matter a good weapon all around). I know some of you gonna trash me about PLD, but guess what he's the 2nd point leader on the Caps right now behind Strome, and he's there best 2-way center as well! If the Caps coaches found a way to get the best out of PLD, what does that say about the Kings coaching staff!
PLD plays when he wants to play. There's no secret formula. If the Kings were wrong on PLD, so was Winnipeg and Columbus. He's a mediocre player and the Kings never should have acquired him.
Maybe the Kings can get David Carle after Denver’s season is over.
Falls on Hiller. Get a better GM and Coach, and even with this lineup they would flourish offensively. Too much wasted offensive talent. The next coach should be prioritizing getting the best out of Byfield, which Hiller is not.
They needed a veteran coach who had the balls to put 11 and 8 in their place. Ive been hearing things like 8/11 makes personnel decisions. Hiller is a rookie HC with no cache and is taking orders from players. Anyone w a brain can see that 8 and 11 are the major problem with PP1. You know he doesnt have the balls to do anything about it. Its starts at the top with a corrupt and inept front office that is more concerned about changing a players agent to a buddy than thinking what is best for the team moving fwd. Its a shitshow from top to bottom.
Got to stop with this Mantra that he plays when wants to! It's over. He shows no signs of that with the Caps. He can put up points or play well without the puck. Yes, the Jets and CBJ's were wrong too! All three of his previous teams did not have the best situation going for those teams. I will say it again. The Caps have a way of getting new players on their team to have far better success than the players previous teams. They did it with Dowd and PLD. They have also done it with Strome and past years with Eller. Caps have arguably one of the best coaching staffs in the league, while they also have a very strong farm system with Hershey.
Something else I see with the Kings, is they still don't have an identity of what kind of team they want to be, and that starts with Blake. He just strings along does some things that don't direct this team right. Give me a GM that knows exactly what he wants to do. Then that said GM hires a coach that best fits the young core players on the roster, and not hire yes coaches and only coaches he's familiar with. Then that new GM could jettison some of the players that should not be on this roster. For crying out loud change the philosophy to be a better offensive team even strength and on the PP! This sort of defense first Sutter Hockey doesn't work anymore! I don't like how they are coaching Byfield. I think he's too conscious of how he has to play like Kopitar, who has been the Kings set standard for how a center plays. Byfield needs to be his own good player for what he's strong at, while having good coaches to help improve on areas of weakness. I think his game is too inconsistent because he's thinking too much. I feel with better coaching Byfield can still be an 80 pt 1C. Until Blake/Hiller are fired, very little will change.
Doesn't necessarily have to be a vet coach, but in general a coach that is assertive no matter who is on the roster. With a vet coach, there is still the chance that coach leans on 11/8's vet leadership. In Hiller's case, he's a yes coach for Blake and will most definitely not step on 11/8's toes so to speak. Hiller reminds me of a coach the Caps had after winning the Cup with Trotz. Todd Reirden was his name. I use to call him Todd RearEnd(Also Kevin like the clumsy big oaf guy from The Office show). Was a good assistant coach, but horrible overall skills to be a head coach, as that is the case with Hiller. Hiller aint a players coach, which might be exactly what the majority of this Kings roster needs.
