Speculation: Another year of this Bluc **** (The 2024-25 season thread)

[Kudelski37]

Is your goal for byfield to be good or the team to be good? I feel like your more vested in the first one.

I don't deal with feelings. The fact is the team will only go as far as Byfield goes because the Kings haven't won anything in a decade of the Kopitar/Doughty show. Right now, Byfield is taking more pk time than Kopitar to save Kopitar''s old body. Patience with Byfield will allow him to get out of his offensive slump while not riding Kopitar into the ground. This is best...for the team.

 

[CowMix]

Damn checking in on the boards to see what people are saying while the Kings have been winning thinking maybe there would be some happiness but see a fellow fan being a racist piece of shit instead. I thought I was on Hfboards not Twitter.

 

[johnjm22]

I would've picked Byfield 1st OA.

 

[Surf Nutz]

Holy sheet ,

you guys are amazing.

During the holidays and everything.

This place needs an exorcism.

 

[Brownie to Pancakes]

One of the hallmarks of real altruism is not bragging about it. Sounds like some weird ego shit, not surprising for an old redass

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I would've picked Byfield 1st OA.

 

[Sol]

Byfields race has nothing to do with him being drafted. Why are we even talking about race? Let’s stick to hockey. Him sucking at that sport that is. Let’s be real the Kings drafted Byfield for three simple reasons.
1. Big
2. Fast
3. Center

They thought with these ingredients they can make the perfect center to replace Anze but instead got some tall dude who plays like a p***y with a shot worse than Lewis.

Unfortunately it truly be like that sometimes

I would've picked Byfield 1st OA.

I wouldn’t have picked him in the 1st round.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Byfields race has nothing to do with him being drafted. Why are we even talking about race? Let’s stick to hockey. Him sucking at that sport that is. Let’s be real the Kings drafted Byfield for three simple reasons.
1. Big
2. Fast
3. Center

They thought with these ingredients they can make the perfect center to replace Anze but instead got some tall dude who plays like a p***y with a shot worse than Lewis.

Unfortunately it truly be like that sometimes

I wouldn’t have picked him in the 1st round.

We just going to ignore that Byfield put Dillon on his butt a few days ago? Just need to get him to develop a bit of a mean streak. Greatest checking line center ever!!!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

We just going to ignore that Byfield put Dillon on his butt a few days ago? Just need to get him to develop a bit of a mean streak. Greatest checking line center ever!!!

yeah I loved that. He has these moments where he remembers he's gigantic...then the rest of the time he's just a rubber duck. It's maddening.

 

[Herby]

Byfields race has nothing to do with him being drafted. Why are we even talking about race?

It's just so dumb that it always has to get back to this, no matter which way it's coming from. I remember being told last year that it was basically off-limits to be critical of Byfield's game-sense/hockey IQ because he is black. Keep in mind that I have been posting on this forum for over twenty years and have discussed the hockey IQ/game sense of probably hundreds of different players over the years, including discussing criticisms of the game sense of guys like Matt Boldy, Adam Fantilli and even all the way back to Dustin Brown, who had his questioned as a potential flaw in his game coming out. Never once were any of those comments deemed to be offensive or disrespectful of the player for anything beyond hockey, it was just a criticism of a players hockey skillset.

It would be great if we just looked at him as a hockey player, and could discuss him as we do every other hockey player, but it seems some aren't ready for that.

 

[johnjm22]

PK called Byfield "Boy" on the broadcast last night.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

It's just so dumb that it always has to get back to this, no matter which way it's coming from. I remember being told last year that it was basically off-limits to be critical of Byfield's game-sense/hockey IQ because he is black. Keep in mind that I have been posting on this forum for over twenty years and have discussed the hockey IQ/game sense of probably hundreds of different players over the years, including discussing criticisms of the game sense of guys like Matt Boldy, Adam Fantilli and even all the way back to Dustin Brown, who had his questioned as a potential flaw in his game coming out. Never once were any of those comments deemed to be offensive or disrespectful of the player for anything beyond hockey, it was just a criticism of a players hockey skillset.

It would be great if we just looked at him as a hockey player, and could discuss him as we do every other hockey player, but it seems some aren't ready for that.

I mean.... the comment about race was hinting that the Kings have some agenda to "be an example to the world that minorities can be superior to slavers in the sport of hockey"

In the context of trying to prove that the Kings are too distracted by other goals/narratives to win the stanley cup. Basically hinting that the Kings are more interested in playing black players for social justice reasons as opposed to trying to win hockey games.... Which is just a flat out stupid assessment.

Some asshole in another thread referred to QB as "an affirmative action hire".

It's THOSE kinds of comments that DO have racist undertones that piss fans off because those comments are totally bullshit and unacceptable.

Idk who told you that you can't be critical of Byfield's game because he's black but that's obviously a bit silly. He's a professional athlete making millions of dollars - it's absolutely OK to criticize Byfield as a hockey player and discuss areas of his game that may be lacking. However, some of these comments do start to cross a line and I'm honestly glad we have people on these boards that speak up and call out fellow posters when they do cross that line.

 

[Sol]

PK called Byfield "Boy" on the broadcast last night.

Really?

I mean.... the comment about race was hinting that the Kings have some agenda to "be an example to the world that minorities can be superior to slavers in the sport of hockey"

In the context of trying to prove that the Kings are too distracted by other goals/narratives to win the stanley cup. Basically hinting that the Kings are more interested in playing black players for social justice reasons as opposed to trying to win hockey games.... Which is just a flat out stupid assessment.

Some asshole in another thread referred to QB as "an affirmative action hire".

It's THOSE kinds of comments that DO have racist undertones that piss fans off because those comments are totally bullshit and unacceptable.

Idk who told you that you can't be critical of Byfield's game because he's black but that's obviously a bit silly. He's a professional athlete making millions of dollars - it's absolutely OK to criticize Byfield as a hockey player and discuss areas of his game that may be lacking. However, some of these comments do start to cross a line and I'm honestly glad we have people on these boards that speak up and call out fellow posters when they do cross that line.

Yeah no to say he’s drafted because of race is stupid. My issue with the race thing was to imply he was a diversity draft is stupid.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

 

[King'sPawn]

It's just so dumb that it always has to get back to this, no matter which way it's coming from. I remember being told last year that it was basically off-limits to be critical of Byfield's game-sense/hockey IQ because he is black. Keep in mind that I have been posting on this forum for over twenty years and have discussed the hockey IQ/game sense of probably hundreds of different players over the years, including discussing criticisms of the game sense of guys like Matt Boldy, Adam Fantilli and even all the way back to Dustin Brown, who had his questioned as a potential flaw in his game coming out. Never once were any of those comments deemed to be offensive or disrespectful of the player for anything beyond hockey, it was just a criticism of a players hockey skillset.

It would be great if we just looked at him as a hockey player, and could discuss him as we do every other hockey player, but it seems some aren't ready for that.

It apparently needs to keep being said of why the Byfield low IQ commentary is a touchy subject, and nobody said that it was off-limits. Just lazy commentary with very little evidence to cite the reason, or the evidence provided has been refuted.

For hopefully the last time:
- when an independent scouting service was putting up pre-draft reports, they wrote glowing reviews about every top-10 prospect. Except Byfield. They said all that was wrong, which included low IQ - even players ranked below him. So, even on the main boards, which is a cesspool, a lot of people were picking up on the racial undertones of praise being heaped on everyone but the black guy.
- the criticisms of Byfield's "low IQ" with evidence provided largely stems from "he only scores off the rush" which is one of the two most common ways for any player to score. The other big common reason is on the powerplay. You don't see a large number of 5-on-5 grind it out goals in junior hockey.

So, if you want to criticize Byfield (or anyone) for low IQ, provide substantive observations rather than a nebulous term. It's not complicated. And when people are comfortably spouting racist shit like "affirmative action hire," understand there's little tolerance for borderline perjoratives which could have more subtext.

This isn't accusing you of being racist, but since some people can't help themselves, understand why you might get pushback.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It apparently needs to keep being said of why the Byfield low IQ commentary is a touchy subject, and nobody said that it was off-limits. Just lazy commentary with very little evidence to cite the reason, or the evidence provided has been refuted.

For hopefully the last time:
- when an independent scouting service was putting up pre-draft reports, they wrote glowing reviews about every top-10 prospect. Except Byfield. They said all that was wrong, which included low IQ - even players ranked below him. So, even on the main boards, which is a cesspool, a lot of people were picking up on the racial undertones of praise being heaped on everyone but the black guy.
- the criticisms of Byfield's "low IQ" with evidence provided largely stems from "he only scores off the rush" which is one of the two most common ways for any player to score. The other big common reason is on the powerplay. You don't see a large number of 5-on-5 grind it out goals in junior hockey.

So, if you want to criticize Byfield (or anyone) for low IQ, provide substantive observations rather than a nebulous term. It's not complicated. And when people are comfortably spouting racist shit like "affirmative action hire," understand there's little tolerance for borderline perjoratives which could have more subtext.

This isn't accusing you of being racist, but since some people can't help themselves, understand why you might get pushback.

Right. I get the sentiment that "but that doesn't apply to ME" which I think is true in Herby's case absolutely. But the general non-Kings forum dialogue around QB has been pretty bad since before his draft so I think it would help people to understand that when you and others say so, there's a reason we're a bit more sensitive to some of the claims that lean that direction.

I don't think anyone HERE means anything leaning that direction so I'm trying to give people the benefit of the doubt...but it would also help everyone meet in the middle if those people would exercise a similar understanding of why some are looking a little deeper. There IS subtext there whether intended or not and it may not be a POSTER's fault but context is context.

 

[Jericho111091]

While we're on the subject; it's also kind of hard to remove the racial aspect from discussions of IQ in general, given its roots in eugenics.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I really just want Byfield to do whatever offseason Clockwork Orange-ing Kempe did with his shot. That affects everything. If he can at least somehow dial in a shot and release like that, everything else starts to fall into place, imo, much like it did for Adrian. For both players, the other parts of the game are so natural--puck control, skating, defensive awareness.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Jeannot, Foegele, and Edmundson all looking good.

 

[lumbergh]

Guess which team has given up the fewest goals in the NHL?

I had my doubts about Hiller, but he has turned this team into something of a contender. Defense wins. This mini run has been nothing short of awesome.

 

[Bandit]

Guess which team has given up the fewest goals in the NHL?

I had my doubts about Hiller, but he has turned this team into something of a contender. Defense wins. This mini run has been nothing short of awesome.

Hell, Lumbergh f***ed her.

 

[Lt Dan]

I had my doubts about Hiller, but he has turned this team into something of a contender.

Dare we say that Adolf Hiller has the trains running on time?

 

[Sol]

I have no idea why the conversation of Byfields hockey IQ suddenly became race related. I do think Byfield has low hockey IQ because of his lack of consistency and for everything having to do with his at best mediocre performance so far with the Kings. If any one of you guys think that my comments have anything to do with race, shame on you. I do think he is a low ceiling player who gets over hyped unjustly, and it all has to do with ability. I think players like Celebrini for example came out and are already playing better than him in their rookie year and Byfield was a 2nd overall pick. Every criticism I have of him has to do with his ability as a player and where he was drafted. I feel that most people who think there’s this unfounded high ceiling is strictly based on the fact that he was drafted so high, and not based on his ability as a player. And those same people who factor this into the equation for some reason ignore the fact that yeah he was drafted very high and has been extremely disappointing. It’s like you want to control one point of the narrative and completely neglect the entirety of the story.

 

[Schmooley]

I have no idea why the conversation of Byfields hockey IQ suddenly became race related. I do think Byfield has low hockey IQ because of his lack of consistency and for everything having to do with his at best mediocre performance so far with the Kings. If any one of you guys think that my comments have anything to do with race, shame on you. I do think he is a low ceiling player who gets over hyped unjustly, and it all has to do with ability. I think players like Celebrini for example came out and are already playing better than him in their rookie year and Byfield was a 2nd overall pick. Every criticism I have of him has to do with his ability as a player and where he was drafted. I feel that most people who think there’s this unfounded high ceiling is strictly based on the fact that he was drafted so high, and not based on his ability as a player. And those same people who factor this into the equation for some reason ignore the fact that yeah he was drafted very high and has been extremely disappointing. It’s like you want to control one point of the narrative and completely neglect the entirety of the story.

Low IQ isnt the best description for his lack of consistency. He actually has good sense. Hes really good defensively (outside the first couple weeks of this season) and has made some really heady passes especially to Kopitar and Kempe last year. He sees the ice well. I think youd have a better argument questioning his desire to be the best and his desire to win at all cost.
He has a high ceiling because of his size, speed, and finesse that he actually has shown. You know he is not low ceiling as you became a believer in him at points last season.
Whether he becomes the best player he can be is up in the air but you are constantly dishonest about this player for what reason? You do not gain anything from it even if he busts out of the league in 2 years.

 

[Trash Panda]

Jeannot, Foegele, and Edmundson all looking good.

I’ve gotta eat crow on the Foegele signing for sure.

I thought he was a lateral move from Arvidsson, but god damn have I been proven wrong.

He has been exactly what the roster needs.