Confirmed with Link: Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kuapri, Gabe Vilardi + 2024 2nd round pick to Winnipeg for Pierre-Luc Dubois

[Sol]

PLD has a lot to do to prove he was worth Vilardi. Just watching vilardis highlights. God damn. So bummed. If Vilardi plays the whole season and continues to improve this is going to be such a short sighted trade. Vilardi alone is a tough sell then you add the other guys too. Man I feel like we could have gotten a better player for that package. Really wish we jumped on the Eichel train rather than offloading Vilardi for such uncertainty. There was no doubt that Vilardi was blossoming with all the skill he had.

 

[LAKings88]

Gabe still has a lot to prove.

I did love that feeling that he could come away with every puck with his stick skills.

I wish him the best.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Montreal media can't stop obsessing over French Canadian players.

 

[bmr]

PLD has a lot to do to prove he was worth Vilardi. Just watching vilardis highlights. God damn. So bummed. If Vilardi plays the whole season and continues to improve this is going to be such a short sighted trade. Vilardi alone is a tough sell then you add the other guys too. Man I feel like we could have gotten a better player for that package. Really wish we jumped on the Eichel train rather than offloading Vilardi for such uncertainty. There was no doubt that Vilardi was blossoming with all the skill he had.

I'm starting to get tired of agreeing with you Sol. It's been a couple of posts now.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Montreal media can't stop obsessing over French Canadian players.

Danault now Dubois, any other French connections Luc can work?

 

[Bandit]

Danault now Dubois, any other French connections Luc can work?

Jonathan Bernier, come on down!

 

[Telos]

Jonathan Bernier, come on down!

I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't penciled in as one of the last 'Oh shit, we gotta sign someone' options should they not figure something more clever out here shortly. Someone is gonna sign him this offseason.

 

[Bandit]

I wouldn't be surprised if he weren't penciled in as one of the last 'Oh shit, we gotta sign someone' options should they not figure something more clever out here shortly. Someone is gonna sign him this offseason.

Is his body even functional at this point? I dunno but even if it isn’t, I wouldn’t put it past Bleak.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

11-12 was worse, as that's what started the frauds getting paid by both DL and Blake. Should've been no miracle 13-14 run to keep them from being a one hit wonder. 17-18 was but a symptom of a deeper problem. Pietrangelo was the man to take in 2008. DL messed up everywhere, and sold the farm before winning a round. He never let that rebuild finish. Plus his central player in it was an emotional child, even during the Cup wins. Lasting success is not built that way.



They were the faces of a 2 time winner, so they were going to get paid for that.

Quick get the Tylenol he’s having another one of his fits

 

[KingsFan7824]

Quick get the Tylenol he’s having another one of his fits

Nevertheless, did DL make a lot of future costing moves before winning in the 1st rd?

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Nevertheless, did DL make a lot of future costing moves before winning in the 1st rd?

You’re not a dumb person. You know the answer to this, and where each regime has differed.

 

[FSL KINGS]

PLD snagged from MTL yesterday.
4C's go off the board before their pick.
That's got to sting.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Drouin, Comtois, Meloche are UFAs.

Start the colony, Luc!

 

[BigKing]

PLD has a lot to do to prove he was worth Vilardi. Just watching vilardis highlights. God damn. So bummed. If Vilardi plays the whole season and continues to improve this is going to be such a short sighted trade. Vilardi alone is a tough sell then you add the other guys too. Man I feel like we could have gotten a better player for that package. Really wish we jumped on the Eichel train rather than offloading Vilardi for such uncertainty. There was no doubt that Vilardi was blossoming with all the skill he had.

If Vilardi can stay healthy and not be a ~60 game max player while also being able to be effective with more minutes and more games then this could look bad. It's a lot of "ifs" for him. I don't think he has the stamina to eat big minutes over 82+ games. The 68 combined regular season/playoff games he put in last year are the most in his career so that is positive. He vanished after the hot start ("The Kopitar") but was looking real solid before the injury and then into the playoffs when he came back so maybe I'm wrong. Hope I am.

Cal Petersen. Trevor Moore. Big extensions based on one good "season" or ~80 games across two seasons. Vilardi couldn't stay up on the NHL team two seasons ago and then had his one good season last year, missing ~20 games along the way.

What was Vilardi's ask on this contract? Will be interesting to see what he takes in Winnipeg. If I'm him, I'm trying to get term based on injury history.

All of this is to say that PLD has proven he is worth Vilardi, hence additional pieces being needed to complete the deal. What PLD has to prove is that he is an 8 x $8.5MM guy. PLD has never played less than 70 games and is a legit NHL center. He has more value than Vilardi: I don't think that can be argued in good faith. Was it a good trade? That's a different debate.

 

[Sol]

If Vilardi can stay healthy and not be a ~60 game max player while also being able to be effective with more minutes and more games then this could look bad. It's a lot of "ifs" for him. I don't think he has the stamina to eat big minutes over 82+ games. The 68 combined regular season/playoff games he put in last year are the most in his career so that is positive. He vanished after the hot start ("The Kopitar") but was looking real solid before the injury and then into the playoffs when he came back so maybe I'm wrong. Hope I am.

Cal Petersen. Trevor Moore. Big extensions based on one good "season" or ~80 games across two seasons. Vilardi couldn't stay up on the NHL team two seasons ago and then had his one good season last year, missing ~20 games along the way.

What was Vilardi's ask on this contract? Will be interesting to see what he takes in Winnipeg. If I'm him, I'm trying to get term based on injury history.

All of this is to say that PLD has proven he is worth Vilardi, hence additional pieces being needed to complete the deal. What PLD has to prove is that he is an 8 x $8.5MM guy. PLD has never played less than 70 games and is a legit NHL center. He has more value than Vilardi: I don't think that can be argued in good faith. Was it a good trade? That's a different debate.

There’s a few ifs about Vilardi but it’s not about skill or ability. If Vilardi remains healthy he will absolutely be a force to be reckoned with. I don’t think that’s up for debate. Which king pick have you seen in recent history that has his hip key iq, shot, hand eye coordination, size, mixed in with ridiculous hands. He has all the makings of a superstar. I’m not exaggerating. He has A LOT of good tools in his game to top it off really good hockey IQ.

I know this is “one good year” debate but there’s very little reason to think he won’t break out. Only thing hindering him is health but if that is a small issue then there’s no reason to think that Vilardi will regress.

There’s a better chance that Kempe will fizzle out than Vilardi stagnating.

 

[KINGS17]

Buck Flake!!

...and Robitaille too!!

Fire these two jackhole refugees from Kings teams who never won a damn thing.

 

[KINGS17]

6 players from last year‘s roster already traded in the last two weeks with more to come most likely. This isn’t building, this is spinning your wheels.

...and just think of it last seasoon the Kings were contenders. WTF is Blake doing? LOL!!

 

[BigKing]

There’s a few ifs about Vilardi but it’s not about skill or ability. If Vilardi remains healthy he will absolutely be a force to be reckoned with. I don’t think that’s up for debate. Which king pick have you seen in recent history that has his hip key iq, shot, hand eye coordination, size, mixed in with ridiculous hands. He has all the makings of a superstar. I’m not exaggerating. He has A LOT of good tools in his game to top it off really good hockey IQ.

I know this is “one good year” debate but there’s very little reason to think he won’t break out. Only thing hindering him is health but if that is a small issue then there’s no reason to think that Vilardi will regress.

There’s a better chance that Kempe will fizzle out than Vilardi stagnating.

He's a sweet player. When you've done a poor job of drafting centers for six years and you are faced with handing a decent sized contract to an injury-prone winger--after giving out stupid contracts for one year wonders--you might want to take the "sure thing" which is what happened here. Is that "sure thing" an eight year sure thing at $8.5MM? That's the "if" coming back.

But sure: it has never been about skill or ability with Vilardi. Been calling him the most skilled of Blake's draft picks for years now. He was ranked Top 5 in his draft year but fell and it wasn't because of his skill or ability.

I really like Vilardi. I'm one of the only members of the Durzi fan club. Nobody "likes" PLD. This isn't fun for most of us on here. Blake has screwed up with his big draft picks so he took his first ever pick, his second ever first round pick, his best college FA signing and the pick he got for Durzi to fill the center spot--Kopitar's eventual replacement--that he truly doesn't feel he had on the roster or in the pipeline.

At least he didn't dump Vilardi before rehabbing his value. He also got to finally trade that 2018 1st round pick he never wanted to use anyways on a Brisson-repped player. The circle is complete.

 

[Sol]

He's a sweet player. When you've done a poor job of drafting centers for six years and you are faced with handing a decent sized contract to an injury-prone winger--after giving out stupid contracts for one year wonders--you might want to take the "sure thing" which is what happened here. Is that "sure thing" an eight year sure thing at $8.5MM? That's the "if" coming back.

But sure: it has never been about skill or ability with Vilardi. Been calling him the most skilled of Blake's draft picks for years now. He was ranked Top 5 in his draft year but fell and it wasn't because of his skill or ability.

I really like Vilardi. I'm one of the only members of the Durzi fan club. Nobody "likes" PLD. This isn't fun for most of us on here. Blake has screwed up with his big draft picks so he took his first ever pick, his second ever first round pick, his best college FA signing and the pick he got for Durzi to fill the center spot--Kopitar's eventual replacement--that he truly doesn't feel he had on the roster or in the pipeline.

At least he didn't dump Vilardi before rehabbing his value. He also got to finally trade that 2018 1st round pick he never wanted to use anyways on a Brisson-repped player. The circle is complete.

Do you see how your argument doesn’t logically track? How can you be of the mind that he is absolutely the most talented and best player from the farm but then insinuate that replicating or even out performing this recent season seem unlikely? How does that make sense? The only thing your argument has going for it is the unknown element that we don’t know how bad or if there is a real back issue with him still.

Because again, if there isn’t, there is no real way Vilardi stagnates. He has way too much going for him.

 

[Lt Dan]

Andrew dropping the truth hammer

 

[AbsentMojo]

Andrew dropping the truth hammer

This was a good one liner:
Just funny that before Blake was a stodgy, overly conservative curmudgeon and now he's a chimp with a platinum card.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I mean, both things are true

He was overly conservative and sat on several big problems that we called out...while just sitting on depreciating assets and not playing youth

seemingly suddenly he became aware of the problems and spent a premium to try to address them, blowing assets and overpaying just because they exist, and maybe being forced into finally playing 'youth' because of cap issues, waiver cockblocks, and trading everything not nailed down to erase problems of his own creation...that still exist by the way

 

[tny760]

i mean yeah, a chimp with a platinum card would go buy a hellcat then drain his account to split a happy meal with his wife and kids

still ain't got no goalie, no 6/7D or 12/13F under contract

 

[Telos]

Well, at least we signed him for less than Timo Meier I wouldn't be surprised if they used PLD at the end to justify the basis of that deal.

 

[KINGS17]

I mean, both things are true

He was overly conservative and sat on several big problems that we called out...while just sitting on depreciating assets and not playing youth

seemingly suddenly he became aware of the problems and spent a premium to try to address them, blowing assets and overpaying just because they exist

Making a big trade does not solve the deeper problem of failing to draft and develop low-cost, home grown talent.

This is a panic move by a GM trying to save his ass.