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GDT: 2024-25 season game 62 LA Kings vs Vegas Golden Knights @5:00pm 3/9/25

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This Kings lineup is it... Hopefully those late Vegas goals don't cause the Kings coaching staff to think twice about it because they absolutely need to stay with these lines/pairings.

If Kuemper is in net, that game ends 6-2 or 6-3.

Kuzmenko seems to play pretty well with Kopi and Kempe and the powerplay already looks a lot more dangerous. Byfield, Fiala, and Laferriere continue to play great together. Moore-Danault-Foegele is a near perfect 3rd line. And Turcotte / Helenius replacing Lewis on the 4th line has been a huge positive.

The D pairings also look much better (Although Edmundson still ended up somehow playing over 21 minutes last night).

Need to keep this group rolling moving forward - they can do some serious damage.
 
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Omni Owl said:
Yea I'm thinking Copper might be cooked after his injury, but I'm almost positive Portillo is an upgrade over Big Sieve Dave. Shades of Stephan Fiset out there, or Jason Labarbera 🤮
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You didnt need to reach that far back for an example - how about Cal Pete with his .868 save pct.. bad reads, slow reactions..I looked what he doing now - at Philly AHL Lehigh 3.28 and .880 .. man he smellin up the place everywhere he goes
 
Finally got to watch the game in full, holy clenched buttcheeks that was fun and unexpected

Byfield was absolutely EATING Eichel-Stone last night, my god...85% of the scoring chances, 100% of the high danger chances, over 70% of the shots for...all for a friggin 97% xgf%. and of course 100% of the goals for. Not sure I've ever seen anything like that for a 1C vs. 1C matchup. Bonkers. Yeah the question is his consistency of course but no one can ever question whether Byfield "can".

This will be unpopular because I know Mitchell is rightfully a folk hero around here but Mikey Anderson is growing into those shoes. No he'll never be as ferocious as Willie Mitchell but he's a much, much closer approximation than I ever thought we'd see in a Kings jersey again.

Kuzmenko is on the verge of being really, really lethal. Him being slippery and Kempe being burst speed is already helping carry Kopitar around. I like that line more than I thought I would.

Trevor Moore...good lord. On a night full of nasty goals that was the nastiest. He's been looking much better much more frequently lately and him getting going is key to our playoff depth...on paper a healthy full steam Foegele-Danault-Moore is a sick third line.

Rittich LOL jesus tittie f***ing christ bring back Petersen at this point...they apparently call him BSD because he makes one huge save he has no business making then cashes that check in for two bullshit softies

Helenius--I know people probably didn't like the timing of the fight but I love that he didn't even hesitate...I'll take a guy making eager aggressive mistakes over one checking the phase of the moon and if a guy is actually injured before even thinking of dropping his gloves.

Something that's a big deal--look at this glorious shot chart. Do that and you win every time.

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Clarke...what more needs to be said? You can't roll out 5 guys who can't move the puck every night. Yeah having 5-6 defensive dman means you can defend...but you can't defend full time and your best play vs. good players is to make THEM defend, which Clarke does since he can move the puck and be dynamic. This chart holds true again:



and finally...sorry Lewie but you hit 1000 games, time to ride off into the sunset. I don't think this is fully accurate, I think it's more like 12 wins, but it's very, very telling how good we are with a functional 4th line and NOT TL as an 11th forward. I hope they sat him down before the deadline and laid that out for him.

 
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Clarke AND Spence were both sat for the ends of each of the last two games, its not due to one play but needing to solidify their defensive games in general before they can get prime situational minutes. Its not a problem it's a coach trying to get into the playoffs. The kids have plenty of time to earn that trust.
 
bland said:
Clarke AND Spence were both sat for the ends of each of the last two games, its not due to one play but needing to solidify their defensive games in general before they can get prime situational minutes. Its not a problem it's a coach trying to get into the playoffs. The kids have plenty of time to earn that trust.
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I have no problem with it and I dont see too much complaining about it. This is the best way to integrate them both in the lineup at the same time. Though Spence was good in the playoffs last year and they dont really have to be worried about him as much.
 
The final adjustment Hiller & co need to make is on the powerplay. According to daily faceoff, the Kings went with the following powerplay units yesterday:

PP1: Kuzmenko, Kopitar, Fiala, Kempe, Doughty
PP2: Byfield, Danault, Moore, Foegele, Clarke

Would love to see a few changes to that 2nd unit. Danault and Foegele both have 0 powerplay points all season. Love those guys 5 on 5, but they really don't bring a ton of threat/offense to a powerplay. If you replace those two with Laferriere and Spence, I think you'd see a much more dangerous PP2.

I also personally like the idea of swapping Byfield and Kopitar - But I'm not holding my breath for that one and Kopitar has proven he can still be effective on the powerplay so it's not a huge deal leaving him there. Then Byfield can essentially run the 2nd unit. Still solid.
 
Must really be killing him to compliment Clarke at all.. this is about as positive a thing Ive seen from this guy re Clarke. He must be one of those guys where nothing came easy to him and was always pissed off at talented people that cruised right by him most of his life
 
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AbsentMojo said:
Must really be killing him to compliment Clarke at all.. this is about as positive a thing Ive seen from this guy re Clarke. He must be one of those guys where nothing came easy to him and was always pissed off at talented people that cruised right by him most of his life
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He leaves out the rest of the quote in the screenshot. “…and he made a great finish. I loved the finish. You can get there and get the opportunity, but Clarkie has that ability to just be poised in that area. Just a nice finish.”.

Intentional I imagine.
 
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Statto said:
He leaves out the rest of the quote in the screenshot. “…and he made a great finish. I loved the finish. You can get there and get the opportunity, but Clarkie has that ability to just be poised in that area. Just a nice finish.”.

Intentional I imagine.
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Ya I saw the rest of it.. It does sound better at the end. Still it seems like Hiller does try to minimize Clarke's accomplishments and highlight his flaws. I agree that this may not be the most cut and dried example like the one earlier in the season.
 
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AbsentMojo said:
Ya I saw the rest of it.. It does sound better at the end. Still it seems like Hiller does try to minimize Clarke's accomplishments and highlight his flaws. I agree that this may not be the most cut and dried example like the one earlier in the season.
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Because the ones earlier in the season came from situations where he was the high man and left the team vulnerable. Clarke was pinching on everything, regardless of time and score. When it works its spectacular, when it doesn't its putting the team in a bad spot. You need your defensemen to have a higher threshold for safety than your forwards.

The reason for putting the shackles on him is to have him learn how to play NHL defense and then incorporate his skill into those situations. Its the right thing to do here. We know he has the skills, but be he clearly was having some issues knowing when and how to apply them.
 
bland said:
Because the ones earlier in the season came from situations where he was the high man and left the team vulnerable. Clarke was pinching on everything, regardless of time and score. When it works its spectacular, when it doesn't its putting the team in a bad spot. You need your defensemen to have a higher threshold for safety than your forwards.

The reason for putting the shackles on him is to have him learn how to play NHL defense and then incorporate his skill into those situations. Its the right thing to do here. We know he has the skills, but be he clearly was having some issues knowing when and how to apply them.
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Now hold his nearly 32-year-old partner to the same accountability standard, including blasting him in the media, and I'm on board.
 
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bland said:
Because the ones earlier in the season came from situations where he was the high man and left the team vulnerable. Clarke was pinching on everything, regardless of time and score. When it works its spectacular, when it doesn't its putting the team in a bad spot. You need your defensemen to have a higher threshold for safety than your forwards.

The reason for putting the shackles on him is to have him learn how to play NHL defense and then incorporate his skill into those situations. Its the right thing to do here. We know he has the skills, but be he clearly was having some issues knowing when and how to apply them.
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From my perspective, Hiller overvalues defense vs offense thats my problem with him... thats his style. I dont like it, I think he's too 1-dimensional as a coach... I get what he's trying to do with Clarke but the general mentality of this org - e.g. not featuring Byfield 3 on 3 til this season.. putting the shackles on Clarke after he got a little wild. I think his and the orgs approach is way too conservative. They need to let players play to their strengths and get more out of the younger guys.. they are way too quick to sit the younger guys and let the vets slide for the same play.
 
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One other thing Ill point out - is this may not all be on Hiller. I read somewhere recently that DD has been influencing personnel decisions.. My guess is Hiller doesnt have full control of the team and we've seen that before when Todd admitted the 1-3-1 came from above. Wish I had a links for those things but I dont.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Now hold his nearly 32-year-old partner to the same accountability standard, including blasting him in the media, and I'm on board.
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Generally, the coach doesn't want to go out & criticize the GM's big off-season move. That's a good way to get yourself fired.

AbsentMojo said:
From my perspective, Hiller overvalues defense vs offense thats my problem with him... thats his style. I dont like it, I think he's too 1-dimensional as a coach... I get what he's trying to do with Clarke but the general mentality of this org - e.g. not featuring Byfield 3 on 3 til this season.. putting the shackles on Clarke after he got a little wild. I think his and the orgs approach is way too conservative. They need to let players play to their strengths and get more out of the younger guys.. they are way too quick to sit the younger guys and let the vets slide for the same play.
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But we might get bumped out of the playoffs or lose in the first round if we let Clarke play.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Now hold his nearly 32-year-old partner to the same accountability standard, including blasting him in the media, and I'm on board.
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Edmundson has been fantastic this season, there is no reason to criticize him for anything.

A 22 year old that you want to learn basic defense? Yeah, that's the guy that needs to be held accountable.

Sorry such a simple thing is getting lost on some of you.
 
bland said:
Edmundson has been fantastic this season, there is no reason to criticize him for anything.

A 22 year old that you want to learn basic defense? Yeah, that's the guy that needs to be held accountable.

Sorry such a simple thing is getting lost on some of you.
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Just for fun, Edmundson is second worst on the team among defensemen with more than 100 minutes at 5 on 5 in the following categories:

-xGA/60
-scoring chances against/60
-high-danger chances against/60

Seems bad for a guy who’s supposed to be good at defending.
 
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AbsentMojo said:
One other thing Ill point out - is this may not all be on Hiller. I read somewhere recently that DD has been influencing personnel decisions.. My guess is Hiller doesnt have full control of the team and we've seen that before when Todd admitted the 1-3-1 came from above. Wish I had a links for those things but I dont.
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You saw an article saying Doughty decides lineup decisions? That would be something.
Todd is coaching the Wings completely different from how he coached the Kings. Its weird that Blake insisted on the 1-3-1.
 
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