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

[Statto]

You're probably right but man that's frustrating.

They used an early 2nd round draft pick on this guy and there's still some potential there and this coaching/management group is just going to let him rot simply because he doesn't play their system perfectly. Like if for no other reason than to try to create some sort of trade value, it should be in their best interest to at least give him a few games and see how he looks - Especially with Lewis still out for a couple weeks with injury.

Also, I agree Kaliyev needs to play with energetic, hard-checking linemates to be successful - But the thing is, the Kings have a lottttttt of forwards that hit that mold. IMO they could easily find a line that sets Arty up for success, it just seems like they're almost determined not to do that... Which is weird.

Turcotte - Helenius - Kaliyev
Moore - Danault - Kaliyev
Foegele - Byfield - Kaliyev
Turcotte - Danault - Kaliyev
Turcotte - Byfield - Kaliyev

Honestly there's a ton of potential line combinations that would pair Kaliyev up with two tight checking linemates with good motors. Kings could use the finishing ability and the help on the PP too. It just seems like a no brainer to at least give it a try for a few games.

We actually have no idea what they have asked him to do, or how he’s responded to that. Maybe they have been reasonable in expectation and he’s not playing ball, maybe the opposite is true. It’s all conjecture, heavily influenced by the fact that most of us want BLuc gone. Personally I’m happy to wait and see how things go, given his clean start and that Hiller has shown he will give the less experienced guys opportunities.

 

[Statto]

I find it problematic when the heir apparent who was touted as the future #1 center of the team and Kopitar's replacement is less productive than Bryan Smolinski was.

I wouldn't be as concerned if that stat line is for a lesser player, but f***ing Blake Lizotte has 6 goals in 13 games, and Byfield has 3 goals in 27, and is barely capable of getting pucks on net.

The Kings are winning due to their defensive play, which is what is more impressive given they're doing this without Doughty.

Byfield has been a big part of that defensive play so he is contributing.

We’ve seen this with him settling into playing W. He focuses on the details, the D and his positioning…. then the better play offense happened. Perhaps/hopefully he is still adjusting, particularly as his D has been great.

I think there is a confidence issue certainly but the ‘process’ seems solid. It must improve, I’m not saying it shouldn’t, but I’m a long way from writing him off. The skills is there, he’s shown enough for us to know he is capable. He just needs to get his head right and put it back together.

 

[Statto]

3 consecutive 100-point seasons is not a dynasty, but it's a lot more than half the other teams in the league have.

True. But they have been wasteful with assets, plus if they’d have been more patient they’d have accumulated more assets that could have:
A) provided more blue chip ELC talent
B) make big moves to fill caps
C) allowed them to be contenders for a 5-6 year window.

Instead the cupboards are bare, we are over dependent on Kopitar (nobody could reasonably have planned for him being so good at this point), have huge questions in G and need another scoring winger.

They had a huge opportunity to have built a period of sustained success but for whatever reason pushed too hard too soon. So if you want to call what we’ve seen so far ‘success’ then great, but it’s well, short of what we should be looking forward to. The fact other teams are worse doesn’t make it ok.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Kopi will be 38 when his contract ends after next season. Byfield needs to focus on getting up to speed defensively & ready to go up against teams top lines before Kopi runs out of steam. Points don't matter at this time.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

 

[Schrute farms]

3 consecutive 100-point seasons

I'm sorry, what team are we talking about here?

 

[FSL KINGS]

View attachment 943000

Blake needs to man up & trade Kaliyev for a 5th. His value isn't going to increase on this team.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I'm sorry, what team are we talking about here?

The one that you seem to hate?

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

Blake needs to man up & trade Kaliyev for a 5th. His value isn't going to increase on this team.

Pretttttttty sure he'd take that deal in a heartbeat if someone offered.

Wasn't the word on the street a few months ago that there wasn't much interest around the league in Kaliyev?

Personally, I'd think a rebuilding team would/should jump at the chance to trade a 4th-6th round pick to the Kings for Arthur Kaliyev (23 year old forward with 20-30 goal potential) but something tells me that kind of offer hasn't been presented. Or maybe you're right... Maybe Blake is trying to get too much in return for Arty and just needs to bite the bullet and get something done.

 

[Lt Dan]

Blake needs to man up & trade Kaliyev for a 5th. His value isn't going to increase on this team.

Russel "the Love Muscle" Morgan was saying that they tried and the draft and asked for about that and there were no takers.

The Arty situation is going to go one of two ways.
Arty comes in and dominates and has an NHL career
or
More of the same and he is off to Europe

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Personally, I'd think a rebuilding team would/should jump at the chance to trade a 4th-6th round pick to the Kings for Arthur Kaliyev (23 year old forward with 20-30 goal potential) but something tells me that kind of offer hasn't been presented. Or maybe you're right... Maybe Blake is trying to get too much in return for Arty and just needs to bite the bullet and get something done.

Sure, but the reality is (and I want this to be better as much as anyone), he's only a 15-goal per season player.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

Sure, but the reality is (and I want this to be better as much as anyone), he's only a 15-goal per season player.

He's a 15 goal per season player if he's being deployed incorrectly.

His rookie year he had 14 goals in 80 games while getting 12 mins of ice time playing with grinders on the 4th line. The following year he puts up 13 goals in 56 games again playing with grinders on the 4th line. Sure, they give him a little PP2 time but for the first 2 years he's deployed in a role at 5 on 5 that he's clearly not suited for (yet still performs relatively well tbh).

Edit: For added context, Kaliyev is also 20 years old the year he plays 80 games and 21 years old the year he plays 56 games. My point: He was crazy young (on top of being deployed incorrectly) when he was putting up ~15 goal seasons. There's more to this player than what we've seen to date.​

Then at the start of last season they finallllllly seem ready to give him a shot in a top 9 role with linemates that can actually make plays to set him up to score at a decent rate and he actually performs pretty damn well to start.

Kaliyev had 7 points in his first 10 games last year - That's a very respectable 57 point pace over an 82 game season. Hell, he even had 12 points through his first 20 games if you want a larger sample size - that's still 50 point pace. Then the Kings start to shift things around and Arty starts to struggle a little bit and he's ultimately moved down to the 4th line, then starts to be scratched, then the rest is history.

If you ask me.... I'd say the Kings killed Kaliyev's confidence last year with the way they handled him.

You're welcome to disagree - But I reallllllllllly hope they give him another shot because I reallllllllly think the Kings have a pretty good player in Kaliyev if they just set him up for success (aka if they just put him on a line with hard-checking, high energy linemates and don't expect him to play a perfect defensive game). If you let Kaliyev play freely offensively, the offense will outweigh the defensive deficiencies.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

Man looking back at Kaliyev it's actually so insane that the Kings played him in 80 games mostly on the 4th line as a 20 year old winger. It's especially insane when they already KNEW this was a player who needed to grow defensively.

He played in the AHL as a 19 year old and was honestly VERY good.

40 games

14 goals

17 assists

31 points

If he had just stayed in Ontario for the 2021/22 season he almost surely would've been around a point/game while playing in a top 6 role and getting time on the 1st PP unit. He also would've been able to work on his defensive awareness while in the AHL where it's a lot less pressure. Then think about working him into the lineup in 2022/23 if there's an injury / spot open in the top 9.

Instead they forced him to play a 4th line checking role at the NHL level and likely killed his confidence. Big yikes #RobBlakeDisasterClass

 

[theMajor]

And what success LA has seen in these last four years!

thats all his fault now too, is it?

 

[Schrute farms]

The one that you seem to hate?

I love the LA Kings.

Can you tell me the NHL hockey team with three straight 100 point seasons? I'm curious what team you were talking about.

 

[theMajor]

I love the LA Kings.

Can you tell me the NHL hockey team with three straight 100 point seasons? I'm curious what team you were talking about.

99/104/99...aaaaalmost there

 

[FSL KINGS]

99/104/99...aaaaalmost there

Just think how good this team would be if they had an actual GM!

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I love the LA Kings.

Can you tell me the NHL hockey team with three straight 100 point seasons? I'm curious what team you were talking about.

Sorry bud, my bad….i tend to over exaggerate stats. I’ll work on that.

 

[theMajor]

Sure, but the reality is (and I want this to be better as much as anyone), he's only a 15-goal per season player.

with even a modicum of powerplay time he could score 25 ish IMO, maybe more if his confidence wasnt in the bottom of BLUC's wine cellar. it'll be interesting to see what Hiller does with him if anything. he's got a better pulse on this team than TMac seemed to have and also seems to be more open minded

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

If the standings remain as is for the rest of the season, the Kings will wind up facing the Edmonton Oilers yet again in the opening round.

Can’t wait for April.

 

[Sol]

Man Vilardi is such a dream. And his top line is killing it. Schiefele, Connor, and Vilardi are solid.

Vilardi has 22 points in 30 games. Legit traded the best player from the entire rebuild for Kuemper essentially. What a disappointment.

 

[The Butcher]

99/104/99...aaaaalmost there

Right dere

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Man Vilardi is such a dream. And his top line is killing it. Schiefele, Connor, and Vilardi are solid.

Vilardi has 22 points in 30 games. Legit traded the best player from the entire rebuild for Kuemper essentially. What a disappointment.

Sometimes you just HAVE to look at the bright side. I mean think about it, YOU predicted Vilardi would never even play a game in the NHL...so are you really missing out on anything?