Around the League '16-'17 Other Teams' Free Agent Frenzy

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This has been the most predictable first round I can ever remember but it’s going to lead to some epic 2nd round matchups.

The only division that’s not going to have a marquee matchup in the 2nd is the lousy Pacific division.

Yep home ice won 7 of 8, SJ being the lone exception.
 
Toronto's D is such a joke :laugh:

I love these guys that act like Drew wouldn't be a difference maker there.

Andersen being the playoff Andersen we all know and love too though

Toronto fans are delusional. Even if they trade a major package like Marner and Liligren for Doughty, he instantly transforms them into a legitimate Cup contender. They’re too f***ing dense to realize it.
 
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Great time for Blakey to set up some time to catch up and play some beach volleyball with his hhof friend Shanny
 
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Haven't lurked on the Leafs' board yet, but my guess is there will be a lot of Andersen/Gardiner/Matthews salt over there.
 
The top five teams in the NHL (IMHO) are moving on to the 2nd round:

Tampa
Boston
Winnipeg
Nashville
Pittsburgh
 
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I think the one thing most of us are seeing is just how far away the Kings current roster is from contending, and just adding Vilardi isn't going to be enough.

This Bruins and Leafs team has youth, speed, and skill up and down the lineup that the Kings aren't close to matching. Every year that goes by is another year wasted of Doughty's prime, and I think we just saw Kopitar's career season.

Of course the Leafs have youth and speed. While the Kings were on their run from 12-14, the Leafs were sucking, getting high picks including Mathews. Now their picks are in the NHL and showing promise. Our problem was our GM and coach at the time didn't see the train coming down the tracks and brushed it off as a fad, and continued to play a slow style. The writing is on the wall where the league is going and Blake sees it clearly.
 
The game is so much different now from even 15 years ago. I think it was @GoldenBearHockey who said that teams now run a top nine forwards rather than the traditional top and bottom six and that is 100% correct.

The days of having two skilled lines and two lines that grind it out are over for most teams, but apparently not the Kings. Blake better address the talent level throughout the lineup or it's going to be continued repeats of 2015-2018, no matter how good 11-8-32 play. Need a ton of speed and skill, and ideally from players on ELC's that is the recipe for success right now, not having guys like Thompson, Clifford, Reider, Mitchell who aren't young, aren't fast (Reider is) and aren't skilled but somehow combine to make over $6m a year.

Correct, they have to build upon what they have, not dismantle it.

I would keep Reider, if he resigns for less, don't qualify him, give him 1.5 million and let him go, he's a solid 7th-9th Forward, who is young, fast, and can kill penalties, makes no sense to run him out of town because he didn't score 20 goals when he got here.

I think you keep Thompson and Clifford unless you need their spot for a Brodzinski etc, I think you keep Lewis around, I think you trade Toffoli, change of scenery, you get a faster more rounded player, won't be as pure as a sniper, but may be a better fit.

Then in 2019-2020, same thing, the team is still competitive, but some people here will throw out the baby with the bath water, it's mind boggling.
 
The “style” didn’t fail us. You guys gotta stop with that ****. The 2012 Kings would have murdered the Knights.

Bleeding depth, and core players getting older, did us in.
I agree.

I also hate hearing that the Kings are "slow". They're not. They're just not hungry and don't have enough talent.

When you're outplaying your opponent you look fast. When your opponent is outplaying you, you look slow.
 
JR end of the 2nd: Boston looks gassed, worn out .
JR end of the 3rd: Boston was the fresher team just full of jump all 3rd long.

:huh:

He wasn't wrong Bruins were a step slow in the 2nd, But then adrenaline kicked in during the 3rd, once they got the tying goal Leafs were done.
 
I think the one thing most of us are seeing is just how far away the Kings current roster is from contending, and just adding Vilardi isn't going to be enough.

This Bruins and Leafs team has youth, speed, and skill up and down the lineup that the Kings aren't close to matching. Every year that goes by is another year wasted of Doughty's prime, and I think we just saw Kopitar's career season.


My thoughts exactly.
 
I agree.

I also hate hearing that the Kings are "slow". They're not. They're just not hungry and don't have enough talent.

When you're outplaying your opponent you look fast. When your opponent is outplaying you, you look slow.

Also having a clean breakout pass increases your speed. That's something they didn't do well at all during the series, and when they did, they got their best scoring chances.
 
The “style” didn’t fail us. You guys gotta stop with that ****. The 2012 Kings would have murdered the Knights.

Bleeding depth, and core players getting older, did us in.

Poor drafting to fill the void had a lot to do with it too. Our drafting character guys over skilled guys is biting us in the ass right now. So many guys are just the same and aside from Kempe, there is no real scoring threat that's NHL ready.
 
The “style” didn’t fail us. You guys gotta stop with that ****. The 2012 Kings would have murdered the Knights.

Bleeding depth, and core players getting older, did us in.


Yeah, which is why DL takes so much heat for his 'flavor of the month' quote, but I think he's right. Players win. Not systems. Systems augment.

On that note, I kind of agree with this take, and I think you can even extend it back to the 2014 Kings:

 
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Poor drafting to fill the void had a lot to do with it too. Our drafting character guys over skilled guys is biting us in the ass right now. So many guys are just the same and aside from Kempe, there is no real scoring threat that's NHL ready.
I don't think our drafting has been poor. The problem is we haven't had many good picks to work with.

2011 - No First Round Pick
2012 - 30th Overall (Pearson)
2013 - No 1st round pick
2014 - 29th Overall (Kempe)
2015 - No 1st round pick
2016 - No 1st round pick

So before this last draft we went 6 straight years with out a pick higher than 29th. That would deplete any teams' pipeline.

Consider this, our last 3 1st round picks are Vilardi, Kempe and Pearson. All will be solid NHLers. That's pretty good.

Dean also traded away a 22 year old future 30 goal scorer, and one the top prospects in the game for a guy who only had two years of good hockey left in him. That's also contributed to our current situation.
 
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I don't think our drafting has been poor. The problem is we haven't had many good picks to work with.

2011 - No First Round Pick
2012 - 30th Overall (Pearson)
2013 - No 1st round pick
2014 - 29th Overall (Kempe)
2015 - No 1st round pick
2016 - No 1st round pick

So before this last draft we went 6 straight years with out a pick higher than 29th. That would deplete any teams' pipeline.

Consider this, our last 3 1st round picks are Vilardi, Kempe and Pearson. All will be solid NHLers. That's pretty good.

Dean also traded away a 22 year old future 30 goal scorer, and one the top prospects in the game for a guy who only had two years of good hockey left in him. That's also contributed to our current situation.

Refresh my memory, who did he trade?
 
No way of knowing that Richards who was 26 at the time of the trade was going to cease being an NHL player after two seasons.

There is a ton to criticize Lombardi for, and his run from June 2014 to his firing in 2017 is up there as the worst 3 year run in NHL history, but expecting him to anticipate MR’s collapse is a bit of a stretch.
 
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No way of knowing that Richards who was 26 at the time of the trade was going to cease being an NHL player after two seasons.

There is a ton to criticize Lombardi for, and his run from June 2014 to his firing in 2017 is up there as the worst 3 year run in NHL history, but expecting him to anticipate MR’s collapse is a bit of a stretch.
It wasn't a criticism. It was in response to someone blaming our current situation on bad drafting. I'm pointing out that we haven't had many high picks to work with, and some of the good picks we did have (Schenn and Simmonds) were traded. So it's not fair to blame our current situation on drafting.

Lost another good pick in Voynov as well.
 
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