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

[Axl Rhoadz]

Oh Axl, you mean when he had a hidden medical condition that was kept hidden since he kept missing time? I’ve been wrong a few times but boy oh boy I don’t have years to type out all the times you’ve been wrong. OOF.

A ‘hidden medical condition’? lol.

Ok, Vilardi is everything I thought he’d be as a player. It was an awful trade and was high questionable, ant best, even if we got the best version of PLD.

I agree. Blake’s worst move by far.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Ok, Vilardi is everything I thought he’d be as a player. It was an awful trade and was high questionable, ant best, even if we got the best version of PLD.

IF we got the best version of PLD....then a few things, A. PLD wouldn't have been for trade, and B. he would blow the socks off of Vilardi....he just would.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

thats all his fault now too, is it?

Definitely not.

 

[Schrute farms]

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

Well you know what they say -- "You were right there".

 

[Johnny Utah]

I would rather have Jeannot, Edmundson and Foegle over PLD - which is basically what all three of their salaries add up to and two of them were free.

 

[bland]

thats all his fault now too, is it?

Well, yeah - indirectly.

Kopitar should have been traded almost a decade ago. The last ten years have seen guaranteed, locked on mediocrity due to over commitments to players whose style of play is built for playoff success on stacked teams and not for leading from the front. Dominant defensive awareness and transitional play is a terrific quality for a winner - but it just isn't enough on a roster that doesn't have top notch offense or dripping with depth. That was readily apparent in 2015 and has proven to be accurate over time.

Its only a knock on Kopitar if you choose to read it that way - he is not the kind of player that puts a team on his back and carries them further than they would have gone without him. He is a specialist that offers virtually everything you would want from a supporting player - plus a very good but not great offensive game. You just can't rightfully expect him to be a dominant #1 center, he is a boat on a tide that rises with a deep roster, not the ocean itself. Unfortunately the organization paid him a massive longterm deal (that his play deserved) that meant that the team wouldn't bottom out far enough to recoup top prospects. Couple that with strip mining of the asset list to get the Cups and chase later unwinnable ones, and you have a recipe for a self-imposed glass ceiling.

If they had dealt Kopitar back then, Anze would be a good bet to have his name engraved on that Cup a few more times. Instead, we have a feel good story and a stat watch that emphasizes remarkable longevity over any period of peak excellence.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Well, yeah - indirectly.

Kopitar should have been traded almost a decade ago. The last ten years have seen guaranteed, locked on mediocrity due to over commitments to players whose style of play is built for playoff success on stacked teams and not for leading from the front. Dominant defensive awareness and transitional play is a terrific quality for a winner - but it just isn't enough on a roster that doesn't have top notch offense or dripping with depth. That was readily apparent in 2015 and has proven to be accurate over time.

Its only a knock on Kopitar if you choose to read it that way - he is not the kind of player that puts a team on his back and carries them further than they would have gone without him. He is a specialist that offers virtually everything you would want from a supporting player - plus a very good but not great offensive game. You just can't rightfully expect him to be a dominant #1 center, he is a boat on a tide that rises with a deep roster, not the ocean itself. Unfortunately the organization paid him a massive longterm deal (that his play deserved) that meant that the team wouldn't bottom out far enough to recoup top prospects. Couple that with strip mining of the asset list to get the Cups and chase later unwinnable ones, and you have a recipe for a self-imposed glass ceiling.

If they had dealt Kopitar back then, Anze would be a good bet to have his name engraved on that Cup a few more times. Instead, we have a feel good story and a stat watch that emphasizes remarkable longevity over any period of peak excellence.

'almost a decade ago' Kopitar was in his prime and had just won a 2nd Stanley Cup with the team that had drafted him - not to mention, probably the most popular player among fans (still is, btw). No franchise, NONE, would be trading a player like that and to imply differently is just outrageously ignorant.

 

[Statto]

IF we got the best version of PLD....then a few things, A. PLD wouldn't have been for trade, and B. he would blow the socks off of Vilardi....he just would.

I said trade. I’m including the pick… the other two I’m not worried about.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I said trade. I’m including the pick… the other two I’m not worried about.

Still doesn't hold water, if we got the BEST version of PLD....then Kupari and Iafallo don't matter at all, and PLD outplays Vilardi every day of the week.....

But we didn't. so it's that.

 

[Sol]

A ‘hidden medical condition’? lol.


I agree. Blake’s worst move by far.

I think you were too busy fantasizing about Todd Mclellan that you forgot about the roster lmaoooo

 

[BigKing]

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.

Some may call it semantics, but Vilardi is not a player from the rebuild. The first prospects of the rebuild were Durzi and Grundstrom. The first draft pick of the rebuild was Turcotte.

If Vilardi wasn't injured, he would have been on the NHL roster with Kovalchuk in October of 2018. He just seems like a player from the rebuild since he didn't do anything for LA until the 2023 season.

Of course, the whole idea of "rebuilding" can be argued as well since the plug was pulled after only two seasons of tanking: the Turcotte pick was earned on accident.

 

[Sol]

Some may call it semantics, but Vilardi is not a player from the rebuild. The first prospects of the rebuild were Durzi and Grundstrom. The first draft pick of the rebuild was Turcotte.

If Vilardi wasn't injured, he would have been on the NHL roster with Kovalchuk in October of 2018. He just seems like a player from the rebuild since he didn't do anything for LA until the 2023 season.

Of course, the whole idea of "rebuilding" can be argued as well since the plug was pulled after only two seasons of tanking: the Turcotte pick was earned on accident.

I would say semantics since the Kings pretty much started rebuilding in 2018 when he was drafted. 11th isn’t a low pick by any stretch. And the Kings continued to tank thereafter so yeah I’d qualify him personally. I don’t think rebuilding has to be exclusively bottom of the barrel. There’s a point at where it starts and gets worse. That’s how it works.

 

[Statto]

Still doesn't hold water, if we got the BEST version of PLD....then Kupari and Iafallo don't matter at all, and PLD outplays Vilardi every day of the week.....

But we didn't. so it's that

If we are talking about what PLD has the potential to be then I agree, but the guy has never consistently put it together in any meaningful way. So when I say best version, I mean the best version of him the NHL has seen. Vilardi, if he stays fit (which granted he has yet to do), will be more productive than PLD ever has been.

 

[crassbonanza]

I would say semantics since the Kings pretty much started rebuilding in 2018 when he was drafted. 11th isn’t a low pick by any stretch. And the Kings continued to tank thereafter so yeah I’d qualify him personally. I don’t think rebuilding has to be exclusively bottom of the barrel. There’s a point at where it starts and gets worse. That’s how it works.

The rebuild didn't start until 2019 though. Vilardi was drafted in 2017, 2017-2018 was the season when Kopitar should have won the Hart and Bluc took over from Dean. The next offseason the Kings signed Kovalchuk to a 3 year deal, after the season started poorly there was some rearranging of the deck chairs until it fully went off the rails with Desjardins. The towel was finally thrown in January 2019 with the Muzzin trade.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

If we are talking about what PLD has the potential to be then I agree, but the guy has never consistently put it together in any meaningful way. So when I say best version, I mean the best version of him the NHL has seen. Vilardi, if he stays fit (which granted he has yet to do), will be more productive than PLD ever has been.

Fair enough I took it as best version of the potential etc.

 

[BigKing]

I would say semantics since the Kings pretty much started rebuilding in 2018 when he was drafted. 11th isn’t a low pick by any stretch. And the Kings continued to tank thereafter so yeah I’d qualify him personally. I don’t think rebuilding has to be exclusively bottom of the barrel. There’s a point at where it starts and gets worse. That’s how it works.

What @crassbonanza said above.

I am a dog with a bone when it comes to crucifying Bluc for the rebuild timeline bullshit they tried to put on us fans. He inherited DL's roster, did practically nothing to it and then added Kovalchuk. Whenever I get a chance to bring up the actual start of the rebuild(?), I take it. I'm petty that way.

The Kings drafted in the early 20s the year after they drafted Vilardi. What he is notable for was being their first round one pick in three years.

Looking now at the Kings draft history, it is wild that Blake's 1C is a Dave Taylor draft pick, the presumptive 1D is a DL pick, as is arguably the best player on the team in Kempe. Dave Taylor!!