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

[bland]

The one thing that caught my attention from all the PLD trade interviews was that he said, "he stills needs to learn the 200 foot game and grow as a player" . I don't know much about the other teams bidding on him other than Montreal, but if I'm a young center entering his prime, I would much rather be mentored by Kopi and Danault that any other player(s) in the league. It was setup to fail for him in Montreal and he knows that.

Sure has worked for Byfield, Turcotte, Vilardi and Kupari.

 

[Surf Nutz]

Sure has worked for Byfield, Turcotte, Vilardi and Kupari.

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[FSL KINGS]

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[FrozenKing18]

Sure has worked for Byfield, Turcotte, Vilardi and Kupari.

It does makes me wonder how Kopitar and Doughty handles the mentoring of the younger players. I’ve never seen them interact on-ice ala Sean O’Donell and Doughty

 

[BringTheReign]

It does makes me wonder how Kopitar and Doughty handles the mentoring of the younger players. I’ve never seen them interact on-ice ala Sean O’Donell and Doughty

The broadcast has shown Kopitar and Doughty doing this a ton. Kopi in Iafallo’s rookie year was always showing him stuff or talking to him on the bench. Doughty I’ve seen do this for both Bjornfot and Mikey, not to mention Forbort in the past.

Turcotte and Kupari never got the chance to play on a line with Kopi (maybe Turcotte still will). Byfield has and it’s clearly given him a bit of jump as he played well the second half of the season. Vilardi got to play with all of them on PP1 at least if not on their lines.

I think development is way more on management and coaching putting these guys in positions to succeed where they can be mentored on-ice. There’s a difference between Kopi and Drew teaching guys what it takes off-ice to be an NHLer versus playing directly with them on-ice (which is mostly a coaching decision). We’ve done that well with younger defenseman, but we’ve sucked ass at it with any forward younger than 22/23.

 

[Surf Nutz]

MSN

www.msn.com

On the PLD trade.

 

[Trash Panda]

It does makes me wonder how Kopitar and Doughty handles the mentoring of the younger players. I’ve never seen them interact on-ice ala Sean O’Donell and Doughty

I will eat my plate of crow and say out loud how much I hated the OD acquisition at the time, and how f***ing wrong I was.

Dude was magic for Drew.

 

[Mats26]

Sure has worked for Byfield, Turcotte, Vilardi and Kupari.

Turcotte and Vilardi needed doctors more than needing Kopi and Danault.

Kupari was playing some good hockey with Danault on the PK and starting to carve a role on the team. Coaching was the problem, especially the PK, not mentoring.

Jury is still out on Byfield.

 

[Trash Panda]

Turcotte and Vilardi needed doctors more than needing Kopi and Danault.

Kupari was playing some good hockey with Danault on the PK and starting to carve a role on the team. Coaching was the problem, especially the PK, not mentoring.

Jury is still out on Byfield.

No matter how you slice it, the tutelage has an 0/4 record.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Vilardi is going to file for arbitration, which is something the Jets probably want to avoid.

 

[Johnny Utah]

It's funny how everyone keeps saying the Kings committed so much money to PLD.

It's 8.5 million - AI was making 4 million, Vilardi was going to get anywhere from 3.5-4.5 million and Kupari 1 million, so that's about the same salary.

The Kings were in a crunch before the trade.

 

[YP44]

It's funny how everyone keeps saying the Kings committed so much money to PLD.

It's 8.5 million - AI was making 4 million, Vilardi was going to get anywhere from 3.5-4.5 million and Kupari 1 million, so that's about the same salary.

The Kings were in a crunch before the trade.

yes they were, difference is pretty obvious in paying $8.5M to one guy or to three which would then allow you to spend on Goaltending. Where is the savings, by not now having to pay another 2 guys. LA was definitely hard against it before hand, just made it worse off if you believe the main need was in net.

 

[Herby]

Vilardi performed well above his $950k or whatever it was he made last year. He has a history of injuries and this was his only good season in the NHL, for all anyone knows this could be his best chance to get paid. It never made sense for him to accept a cap friendly bridge deal like many fans here (and apparently Winnipeg) wanted. Either go to arbitration and get max value in the short term or sign a longer term deal for less.

 

[King'sPawn]

It's funny how everyone keeps saying the Kings committed so much money to PLD.

It's 8.5 million - AI was making 4 million, Vilardi was going to get anywhere from 3.5-4.5 million and Kupari 1 million, so that's about the same salary.

The Kings were in a crunch before the trade.

It's 8.5 million for 8 years.

His cap hit is $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has outscored PLD's career high 11 times and put up Selke-caliber seasons as well.

 

[Sol]

It seems Vilardi is fairly confident in his health. Judging by what he gets it done outside of arbitration will be determined by how healthy he is deemed to be. If Vilardi gets fat stacks then I think the injury issue is behind him fully.

 

[YP44]

It seems Vilardi is fairly confident in his health. Judging by what he gets it done outside of arbitration will be determined by how healthy he is deemed to be. If Vilardi gets fat stacks then I think the injury issue is behind him fully.

Not really, maybe a GM just is banking in it being behind him.

It's 8.5 million for 8 years.

His cap hit is $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has outscored PLD's career high 11 times and put up Selke-caliber seasons as well.

PLD is worth $8.5M IMO, especially when cap goes up after COVID loan or whatever it is called is paid off.

 

[Sol]

Not really, maybe a GM just is banking in it being behind him.


PLD is worth $8.5M IMO, especially when cap goes up after COVID loan or whatever it is called is paid off.

We will if he gets fat stacks outside of arbitration. No Gm would pay up the wazoo if theres still an issue with him. If theres still concern then you bet your leprechaun ass that this goes to arbitration.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Dubois and his 63 points were ahead of the following centers this past season:
Patrice Bergeron
Jonathan Huberdeau
Evgeny Kuznetsov
Matthew Barzal
Tyler Seguin

And if you were to compare him to other wingers, he finished ahead of:
Chris Kreider
Patrik Laine
Patrick Kane

I think those numbers might indicate that he's a top line player.

 

[Sol]

Dubois and his 63 points were ahead of the following centers this past season:
Patrice Bergeron
Jonathan Huberdeau
Evgeny Kuznetsov
Matthew Barzal
Tyler Seguin

And if you were to compare him to other wingers, he finished ahead of:
Chris Kreider
Patrik Laine
Patrick Kane

I think those numbers might indicate that he's a top line player.

If this is the case then I nominate Ryan Nugent the God King of the NHL with his 104 points.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

If this is the case then I nominate Ryan Nugent the God King of the NHL with his 104 points.

Sure, let's take an outlier who busted out playing with the two best players in the NHL to a player in a completely different situation. So are you suggesting Dubois isn't good enough to produce 63+ points again, or that he's not a top line player?

 

[Sol]

Sure, let's take an outlier who busted out playing with the two best players in the NHL to a player in a completely different situation. So are you suggesting Dubois isn't good enough to produce 63+ points again?

I'm saying you should temper your expectations when it comes to scoring in the current scoring era when everyone and their mom is scoring abnormally.

The same people who say that Vilardi had one good season, I am saying that PLD only had 2 good seasons. Players are scoring bizarrely. If points was all there is to it Id love to know why the Kings have a 5 goal scorer on their top line who can't score goals with the Kings most storied center of all time.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'm saying you should temper your expectations when it comes to scoring in the current scoring era when everyone and their mom is scoring abnormally.

The same people who say that Vilardi had one good season, I am saying that PLD only had 2 good seasons. Players are scoring bizarrely. If points was all there is to it Id love to know why the Kings have a 5 goal scorer on their top line who can't score goals with the Kings most storied center of all time.

He's had three 60+ point seasons before turning 25, and just had his best points per game production at .86 points per game. I think he'll produce just fine.

 

[bland]

It's 8.5 million for 8 years.

His cap hit is $1.5 million less than Kopitar, who has outscored PLD's career high 11 times and put up Selke-caliber seasons as well.

As far as the supposed discount and free cap-space-alooza folks are hoping for with a potential Kopitar extension, can you see this management group paying Kopitar less than Dubois next year?

 

[bland]

Dubois and his 63 points were ahead of the following centers this past season:
Patrice Bergeron
Jonathan Huberdeau
Evgeny Kuznetsov
Matthew Barzal
Tyler Seguin

And if you were to compare him to other wingers, he finished ahead of:
Chris Kreider
Patrik Laine
Patrick Kane

I think those numbers might indicate that he's a top line player.

Dubois is a 2nd liner until proven otherwise. Doesn't make much sense to count the numbers seeing as he played both center and wing last year. If he was exclusively a center, he would have been 35th in scoring among actual centers, which are 2nd line numbers. I would bet the farm on a career year if he is with Fiala all season, so all this is likely moot summer conversation.

Kopitar was 21st. Tough to compete when your best offensive center finishes in the bottom third of top line pivots.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Dubois is a 2nd liner until proven otherwise. Doesn't make much sense to count the numbers seeing as he played both center and wing last year. If he was exclusively a center, he would have been 35th in scoring among actual centers, which are 2nd line numbers. I would bet the farm on a career year if he is with Fiala all season, so all this is likely moot summer conversation.

Kopitar was 21st. Tough to compete when your best offensive center finishes in the bottom third of top line pivots.

That’s a fair assessment. I just view Dubois to be on a similar trajectory as Fiala, who broke out offensively at 25. I think Dubois is going to solidify his spot as a top line center, and that’s exactly why the Kings paid a premium to get him.

There are others, like Huberdeau, and the guy he was just dealt for, Matthew Tkachuk, who blew up offensively in their mid-20s. I think those with low expectations are going to be pleasantly surprised and satisfied with his production. How he’ll perform defensively is to be determined, but he’s definitely going to be a center who will be difficult to defend against.

His critics like to point to the video of him back to his low effort shift back when he was with Columbus, but here’s a more recent example showing some of little things he’s capable of.


Quite reminiscent of Jason Allison when it comes to protecting the puck, and he’s another big forward who took a few years to develop into a top line center.