Speculation: Another year of this Bluc **** (The 2024-25 season thread)
- Thread starter Lt Dan
- Start date
Schrute farms
LA Kings: new GM wanted -- inquire within
- Jul 7, 2020
- 2,549
- 4,617
soon we will go to an all 4 dman PK
maybe one day we'll get two goalies on the ice at once
maybe one day we'll get two goalies on the ice at once
AbsentMojo
F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
That got me thinking.. but its not legal to have more than one.. Can u imagine, they could lay sideways one on top of the other and block all 4x6
I like that Hiller has proven he's not afraid to get creative with his lineup decisions...... But I reallllllly think he overdoes/overthinks it sometimes.
Clarke is very good at manning the point on a powerplay- He knows how to get pucks through defenses and either on net or to the front of the net for rebound opportunities. It's honestly one of the biggest strengths to his game IMO. He's also just an exceptional playmaker in general who sees the ice really well. He's not the issue with your struggling powerplay.
TBH, it's probably not a personnel issue to begin with... I definitely understand trying to change things up a bit but you have a powerplay with Clarke, Kempe, Kopitar, Fiala, and Laferriere.... As an NHL coach, you should be able to get at least decent production out of that group. There's plenty of offensive ability among those 5 players.
Maybe instead of jumping to "lets try 5 forwards on the PP" they should take a look at "lets try to get these guys cycling around the ice so we can generate some different looks for different players instead of constantly setting up the same 2-3 shot attempts"??
We don't need 5 forwards on the PP - we need a PP that isn't completely and totally predictable.
Surf Nutz
Hockey Remote Viewer With A Frozen Finger
shuchukfan
Registered User
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
- Jul 1, 2003
- 22,894
- 23,429
My best guess (not defending) is they want a point shot/righty on the second unit.
AbsentMojo
F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
OK understood - but for my money Clarke is the best play maker on the team and Id want him playing the most time on the PP.. not get some chump change 30 seconds
funky
Build around Byfield, not the vets
- Mar 9, 2002
- 7,064
- 4,717
we had our dog fixed. Worked real well. It calmed him right down.
lumbergh
It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
Glad to see Turcotte back on the ice and evidently ready for game action and on the power play. Stay safe, buddy.
My guess with this power play alignment is that Hiller thinks Spence isn't doing a good job of generating offense on PP2.
Herby
How could Blake have known?
Happy to see Portillo get some NHL checks, and hopefully some game action.
Clarke off of the #1 PP is a puzzling decision, but par for the course.
Clarke off of the #1 PP is a puzzling decision, but par for the course.
A few good things from this year...
The Kings are the 8th youngest team and finally giving the kids a shot - Turcotte, Thomas, Lee, Clarke, and now Helenius and Portillo.
The Kings are tied with NJ for the league in fights - so they are finally not getting bullied.
The bad...
Danault, Byfield, and Spence look terrible.
Also, the Kings need a scorer to play with Kopitar/Kempe. I was going thru the league leaders in goals and a few guys intrigued me - McCann and Palmeri. Also, bummer the Kings didn't make a run at Jack Roslovic - he's having a great center and can play C/RW.
The D without Doughty has been a mess. Gavrikov and Anderson have been awesome, Clarke is having a solid year, Spence has been terrible and the rotation of Englund/Burroughs/Jones hasn't done much. Englund looks worse than last year, Jones is hurt and barely plays, even though he has the best Corsi of the three. I thought Burroughs was playing the best of the three, but he's out of the line up again.
The Kings are the 8th youngest team and finally giving the kids a shot - Turcotte, Thomas, Lee, Clarke, and now Helenius and Portillo.
The Kings are tied with NJ for the league in fights - so they are finally not getting bullied.
The bad...
Danault, Byfield, and Spence look terrible.
Also, the Kings need a scorer to play with Kopitar/Kempe. I was going thru the league leaders in goals and a few guys intrigued me - McCann and Palmeri. Also, bummer the Kings didn't make a run at Jack Roslovic - he's having a great center and can play C/RW.
The D without Doughty has been a mess. Gavrikov and Anderson have been awesome, Clarke is having a solid year, Spence has been terrible and the rotation of Englund/Burroughs/Jones hasn't done much. Englund looks worse than last year, Jones is hurt and barely plays, even though he has the best Corsi of the three. I thought Burroughs was playing the best of the three, but he's out of the line up again.
lumbergh
It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
Spence has been pretty good so far. Playing the role of Sean Walker. He's just not getting the job done on the power play. He may just end up being a solid 3rd pairing guy.
Byfield has also been okay, again, not on the scoreboard as much as we'd like. He's doing all the other good things, and is basically the Kings best penalty killer
Danault is also mostly invisible on offense, but playing decent defense. Net meh.
The players that have actually been bad are Kevin Fiala and Andre Lee. For some reason the Moore-Danault-Fiala line hasn't worked this year. He and Byfield are like oil and water. Andre Lee needs to go work on his game in all three zones in Ontario.
Last edited:
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
- Jul 1, 2003
- 22,894
- 23,429
I agree. Frankly I'd switch Fiala and Clarke, but that's my best guess of what they're looking for.
AbsentMojo
F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
For me its Kempe or Fiala.. Fiala more creative but also risky.. Kempe PP goal scoring only 5 last season - thats really bad. Only 1 this season.
One of the only positives from last game against Colorado was that Moore seemed to play pretty damn well with Kopi and Kempe. Would be amazing if that line continues to play well together. That could help get Moore going offensively too. If Moore doesn't stick on that top line, I'd really like to see Laferriere moved back up.
Laferriere was great initially with 9 and 11 - the only real reason he didn't stick on that first line is because they wanted to try to get Byfield going so they moved QB back to LW1 for a couple games. Then they move QB back to center and put him with a red hot Laferriere again, just to try to get him going. Now they're moving Clarke off PP1 again, mainly to try to get QB going.
I love QB and I really hope he still ends up figuring it out but at some point it starts to get a bit ridiculous - Constantly altering your lineup to try to get a player going. It's especially ridiculous when you're essentially punishing other young players (or at least decreasing their opportunities) in the process. Laf and Clarke have been great and have both exceeded expectations. Yet now because QB has been struggling 1 is on the 3rd line and the other is being kicked off the 1st PP unit??? Just because there's a 2nd OA pick who can't get his game together? That's frustrating.
Fiala also seems to be a bit of an issue in terms of line combinations. Currently most Kings fans would say Fiala doesn't work well on a line with either Byfield or Kopitar. Which means Fiala basically HAS to be on a line with Danault. The only problem: Fiala hasn't necessarily played amazingly with Danault either. So you have this winger who should be one of your best players but seemingly doesn't fit on any of your top 3 forward lines... What do you even do in that situation??
bland
Registered User
- Jul 1, 2004
- 7,917
- 12,117
I am absolutely certain that's why they acquired Kuemper - a cheaper buyout than Dubois.
Raccoon Jesus
We were right there
I'm not exactly high on Portillo but the guy has 0 NHL games and barely 40 pro games at all
Are you sure you're thinking of the right guy
The more I think about it. The more I think the Kings need to get Fiala and QB back together again and just deal with the 'growing pains' until those two figure out how to play together. That or take the same approach with Fiala and Kopitar.
Then you can turn the Danault line into a true shutdown/energy 3rd line.
Moore - Kopitar - Kempe
Fiala - Byfield - Laferriere
Turcotte/Thomas - Danault - Foegele
Or
Fiala - Kopitar - Kempe
Moore - Byfield - Laferriere
Turcotte/Thomas - Danault - Foegele
One thing I like about the above two options is that no one is playing too high/low in the lineup. When you look at the top 6 - each one of those forwards is legitimately a top 6 NHL forward. Whereas a lot of other options for the Kings right now have 1-2 players playing up in the lineup when they're ideally more suited for the 3rd line / bottom 6.
Or maybe Fiala would work well with Turcotte at center?? Turcotte's a player who is constantly involved in the play and constantly pushing pace up the ice. Fiala adds the creativity and offensive production?
Maybe a Fiala - Turcotte - Laferriere line could be pretty nasty? Then you just live with QB on the wing for the time being?
Byfield - Kopitar - Kempe
Fiala - Turcotte - Laferriere
Moore - Danault - Foegele
Idk man. Just trying to make sense of it all *rips cigarette*
Then you can turn the Danault line into a true shutdown/energy 3rd line.
Moore - Kopitar - Kempe
Fiala - Byfield - Laferriere
Turcotte/Thomas - Danault - Foegele
Or
Fiala - Kopitar - Kempe
Moore - Byfield - Laferriere
Turcotte/Thomas - Danault - Foegele
One thing I like about the above two options is that no one is playing too high/low in the lineup. When you look at the top 6 - each one of those forwards is legitimately a top 6 NHL forward. Whereas a lot of other options for the Kings right now have 1-2 players playing up in the lineup when they're ideally more suited for the 3rd line / bottom 6.
Or maybe Fiala would work well with Turcotte at center?? Turcotte's a player who is constantly involved in the play and constantly pushing pace up the ice. Fiala adds the creativity and offensive production?
Maybe a Fiala - Turcotte - Laferriere line could be pretty nasty? Then you just live with QB on the wing for the time being?
Byfield - Kopitar - Kempe
Fiala - Turcotte - Laferriere
Moore - Danault - Foegele
Idk man. Just trying to make sense of it all *rips cigarette*
AbsentMojo
F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
bland
Registered User
- Jul 1, 2004
- 7,917
- 12,117
This is how Dooley said they lined up...
(Turcotte) – Kopitar – Kempe – Thomas
Foegele – Byfield – Laferriere
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Lee – Helenius – Lewis – Jeannot
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Englund – Burroughs
(Turcotte) – Kopitar – Kempe – Thomas
Foegele – Byfield – Laferriere
Fiala – Danault – Moore
Lee – Helenius – Lewis – Jeannot
Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Englund – Burroughs
Ollie Weeks
the sea does not dream of you
- Feb 28, 2008
- 13,295
- 2,616
