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Reclamation Project said:
Call me out of touch, whatever, but I feel the Kings will win another Cup. Quick, Kopitar, and Doughty is arguably the best goalie, center, defenseman combo in the league. I feel 2020-2022 will be the years they'll really go deep. Clean it up and reload last year and next year to get ready for a serious couple year run.
Click to expand...

I think they have a better chance this year than and next year than in 21 and 22. In 3-4 years I think it's a given that Carter is a significantly worse player, and Kopitar and Quick are beginning a fade as well. And that is where the lack of significant pieces added through the draft will really start to hit home, when there is no 23, 24, 25 year old guys entering their career primes to pick up for them.

But they can win it in the next couple of years, but they are going to need a couple of the following to happen

1. Kovalchuk is a legit 1st line LW
2. Vilardi is a plug and play 2nd line talent with first line upside.
3. Brown is 2018 Brown and not 2015-2017 Brown
4. Toffoli and/or Pearson play at 2nd line level for a full season.
 
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Herby said:
I think they have a better chance this year than and next year than in 21 and 22. In 3-4 years I think it's a given that Carter is a significantly worse player, and Kopitar and Quick are beginning a fade as well. And that is where the lack of significant pieces added through the draft will really start to hit home, when there is no 23, 24, 25 year old guys entering their career primes to pick up for them.

But they can win it in the next couple of years, but they are going to need a couple of the following to happen

1. Kovalchuk is a legit 1st line LW
2. Vilardi is a plug and play 2nd line talent with first line upside.
3. Brown is 2018 Brown and not 2015-2017 Brown
4. Toffoli and/or Pearson play at 2nd line level for a full season.
Click to expand...

Re: 4., more than one person in the organization has talked about those guys as almost-veterans, they're not 'the young guys' anymore, and that they're now expected to make players around them better and be secondary leadership. Stevens tonight in the athletic talked about it as well, like yeah they were fine, but we need more and they have more to give. I think most of us can agree with that--they were a bit of a letdown when it mattered most. I know NO ONE was producing in the playoffs, but Stevens took care to point out that it was the middle of the VGK lineup that was doing damage and ours that was getting damaged.

We definitely need a lot to go right, especially #4, because Kopitar can't be playing top-pairing defenseman minutes again.
 
Herby said:
I think they have a better chance this year than and next year than in 21 and 22. In 3-4 years I think it's a given that Carter is a significantly worse player, and Kopitar and Quick are beginning a fade as well. And that is where the lack of significant pieces added through the draft will really start to hit home, when there is no 23, 24, 25 year old guys entering their career primes to pick up for them.

But they can win it in the next couple of years, but they are going to need a couple of the following to happen

1. Kovalchuk is a legit 1st line LW
2. Vilardi is a plug and play 2nd line talent with first line upside.
3. Brown is 2018 Brown and not 2015-2017 Brown
4. Toffoli and/or Pearson play at 2nd line level for a full season.
Click to expand...
I’ll add a #5, which is that the team enters the playoffs healthy and stays healthy through the playoffs.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Re: 4., more than one person in the organization has talked about those guys as almost-veterans, they're not 'the young guys' anymore, and that they're now expected to make players around them better and be secondary leadership. Stevens tonight in the athletic talked about it as well, like yeah they were fine, but we need more and they have more to give. I think most of us can agree with that--they were a bit of a letdown when it mattered most. I know NO ONE was producing in the playoffs, but Stevens took care to point out that it was the middle of the VGK lineup that was doing damage and ours that was getting damaged.

We definitely need a lot to go right, especially #4, because Kopitar can't be playing top-pairing defenseman minutes again.
Click to expand...
I fear Toffoli and Pearson have pretty much topped out. I’m not counting on much more than 50-55 from Toffoli and 40-45 from Pearson. Toffoli may surprise and get 60.
 
lumbergh said:
I fear Toffoli and Pearson have pretty much topped out. I’m not counting on much more than 50-55 from Toffoli and 40-45 from Pearson. Toffoli may surprise and get 60.
Click to expand...

Right, I don't really expect much more than 5 points more from either of them, but it's the timeliness of things that are important as well, i.e. Toffoli suddenly forgetting his one great skill when alone in the slot. And doing the little things, which Toffoli struggled with all year. pearson's point totals were down directly but his GF was up, his net front presence was great. I think we see them refine their games with a few more points, that's all I'm asking. Toffoli can't be a ghost, Pearson's gotta dig on that forecheck, they have to HELP Kempe score a goal over the last 1/4 of the year or whatever, you know? here are other guys who need to pick it up but they're our main secondary scorers.
 
Pearson is a solid well rounded player who's easily worth his cap hit. Even when he's not scoring he's still contributing.

Toffoli on the other hand has to score in order to have value.

You have to accept that the vast majority of NHLer's (even the good ones) are inconsistent and have up and down seasons. It's the nature of the game.
 
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I don't think the window is closed on the Kings at all, but they have a smaller margin of error given the secondary pieces on the team.
 
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The Kovalchuk signing should help Pearson and Toffoli too. I think both of them were gripping their sticks at times last year, especially when Carter went down, when they were trying to make up for his absence. Less pressure to score to be sure. We've seen the success this team has had when guys were slotted in their proper roles and not trying to play above their heads, lets hope that repeats.
 
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Reclamation Project said:
Call me out of touch, whatever, but I feel the Kings will win another Cup. Quick, Kopitar, and Doughty is arguably the best goalie, center, defenseman combo in the league. I feel 2020-2022 will be the years they'll really go deep. Clean it up and reload last year and next year to get ready for a serious couple year run.
Click to expand...
Surely, you're out of touch.
 
Reclamation Project said:
Call me out of touch, whatever, but I feel the Kings will win another Cup. Quick, Kopitar, and Doughty is arguably the best goalie, center, defenseman combo in the league. I feel 2020-2022 will be the years they'll really go deep. Clean it up and reload last year and next year to get ready for a serious couple year run.
Click to expand...

JohnOates-300x300.jpg

:D
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:
We definitely need a lot to go right, especially #4, because Kopitar can't be playing top-pairing defenseman minutes again.
Click to expand...

This is something that doesn't get talked about nearly enough, in my ideal scenario Kopitar plays at most 20 minutes, Carter plays 17-18 and Kempe ~13, with Amadio/Thompson picking up the remaining ~10. I recognize that their are certain scenarios where guys might play together, particularly on the PP/PK. For example, a guy like Trevor Lewis would still find 12-13 minutes because of his role on the PK.
 
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Herby said:
I think they have a better chance this year than and next year than in 21 and 22. In 3-4 years I think it's a given that Carter is a significantly worse player, and Kopitar and Quick are beginning a fade as well. And that is where the lack of significant pieces added through the draft will really start to hit home, when there is no 23, 24, 25 year old guys entering their career primes to pick up for them.

But they can win it in the next couple of years, but they are going to need a couple of the following to happen

1. Kovalchuk is a legit 1st line LW
2. Vilardi is a plug and play 2nd line talent with first line upside.
3. Brown is 2018 Brown and not 2015-2017 Brown
4. Toffoli and/or Pearson play at 2nd line level for a full season.
Click to expand...
It's almost like you need your team to be firing on all cylinders to win in the NHL.
 
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Fishhead said:
The Kovalchuk signing should help Pearson and Toffoli too. I think both of them were gripping their sticks at times last year, especially when Carter went down, when they were trying to make up for his absence. Less pressure to score to be sure. We've seen the success this team has had when guys were slotted in their proper roles and not trying to play above their heads, lets hope that repeats.
Click to expand...
I agree. Not having Carter the majority of the season hurt Toffoli and Pearson. They were very inconsistent.
 
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