Around the League 2018-2019 Part 3

[Ziggy Stardust]

Ah, so you can play the bash and brawn style of hockey and have success in the modern NHL, but need depth. Somebody should let those dinosaurs know the importance of depth.

They also have skill. What player can be compared to Tarasenko when it comes to talent and scoring ability? Robert Thomas was drafted in 2017 and already a full-time NHLer a year later. And O'Reilly posted career highs with 49 assists and 77 points. The Blues aren't some slow, plodding team that grinds down opponents in low scoring games, and the Kings haven't been this supposed physically intimidating team since 2014.

The Kings just got slower and older while every other team passed them by, because every other team that enjoyed success was just the "flavor of the month."

 

[BigKing]

You can already see the difference, especially in the guys we've drafted with Blake. How many times did we hear about the insane checklist that DL used to draft guys, good players who were passed up because they didn't meet his character check box. Would he have drafted Valardi and Anderson-Dolan or in this years draft Kaliyev? My guess is probably not. The man was very set in his ways and I really don't see him changing that much . Would he had fired Steven or just pass the buck onto the players and claim the loyalty card like with Sutter.

Both Vilardi and JAD are directly in DL's wheelhouse. AK is a different story, although Blake chose safe over him as well at 22.

DL also doesn't draft small players or fast players, yet he actually did draft small players as well as the current fastest player on the team.

Dean's problem with drafting wasn't his philosophy but rather straight missing too often from 2011 forward which was mostly a function of not having high picks. Drafting went pretty well when he was playing with multiple high picks like Blake currently is with the same scouting staff.

 

[King'sPawn]

#1 was Seabrook. Lucic was in the top 10 though.

Aside from 1 or 2, I had a really hard time agreeing with their list.

The inclusion of Doughty and using his career worst to project the rest of his career, as well as giving it such a low probability of returning a positive, seems pretty biased and silly.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Regular season style of play has definitely changed to be more open and focused on goal scoring over suppression. And the playoffs are still more defensive and tight checking, which favors teams with size and goaltending. The Kings lack of consistent regular season success the past 5 years has been the biggest indicator of the decline in usefulness of defense first hockey.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Regular season style of play has definitely changed to be more open and focused on goal scoring over suppression. And the playoffs are still more defensive and tight checking, which favors teams with size and goaltending. The Kings lack of consistent regular season success the past 5 years has been the biggest indicator of the decline in usefulness of defense first hockey.

Who's the best defensive forward? It's funny the Kings are considered a defense first team but lack defensive forwards or defensemen. The Kings USED to be a defense first team about 5 years ago, now they'e just a team that plays defense because almost the entire roster lack the skill, skating and creativity to play offense.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Who's the best defensive forward? It's funny the Kings are considered a defense first team but lack defensive forwards or defensemen. The Kings USED to be a defense first team about 5 years ago, now they'e just a team that plays defense because almost the entire roster lack the skill, skating and creativity to play offense.

Kings were a possession first team. Sutter didn't like that they were far too often willing to sit in their own zone and not push out.

 

[Choralone]

I'm not sure how much the vets were complacent versus burnt out / worn down. Not only did those playoff runs add more games for the Kings players and lessen recovery time, playoff games are more demanding than regular games. And most of all they played a very physical style. Dean valued the mental aspect of keeping players together, put the physical aspect favors switching players out for fresh bodies. I think focusing on the mental aspect (hungry vs complacent, lazy vs hard-working) allows us to beat up the players for "not caring" when the physical aspect really has taken a toll over the years.

As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the miles."

 

[BigKing]

I'm not sure how much the vets were complacent versus burnt out / worn down. Not only did those playoff runs add more games for the Kings players and lessen recovery time, playoff games are more demanding than regular games. And most of all they played a very physical style. Dean valued the mental aspect of keeping players together, put the physical aspect favors switching players out for fresh bodies. I think focusing on the mental aspect (hungry vs complacent, lazy vs hard-working) allows us to beat up the players for "not caring" when the physical aspect really has taken a toll over the years.

As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the miles."

2015 Bad Kopitar
2016 Good Kopitar
2017 Bad Kopitar
2018 Best Kopitar
2019 Bad Kopitar

The miles argument can be applied to 2015, if we want, but there aren't very many playoff miles on his body the past five seasons.

It is hyperbole when we scream that they don't care since they obviously do; however, it is a question of how much after winning it twice and being far removed from the roster makeup of those teams.

It's like Sean Connery in The Untouchables "What are you prepared to do!" Like, you need to win a f***ing board battle every once in awhile if you want to take down Capone.

This isn't just my opinion or that of the Board being hard on these guys we will forever be grateful for: it is Management saying that they are acting entitled. I'll love the guys from 2012-14 forever but there are no excuses for that steamy shit they dropped last year.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Dustin Brown quietly had a decent season. 51pts in 72 games.

 

[Kale Hulls]

2015 Bad Kopitar
2016 Good Kopitar
2017 Bad Kopitar
2018 Best Kopitar
2019 Bad Kopitar

It's probably the most frustrating thing to watch when you know how good he can be but takes entire seasons off.

 

[damacles1156]

kings also play a grinding type of hockey all these years that wears on a player...

The Kings haven't played that style of hockey for years.

 

[damacles1156]

That was the position that was held by Dean Lombardi, however, the press release makes no mention of him. I wonder if that means he is out in Philadelphia. Would be interesting to see what type of team he can assemble if he took on the expansion Seattle team. Maybe he can put together a highly successful squad like the winless U.S. team at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Or a team that won two cups ?

 

[damacles1156]

I don't think so either, but the difference was they kept their picks and actually drafted guys who could score as well as hit. Another thing both team saw was the league was evolving and moving towards a quicker, faster paced game. DL was in total denial until the day he got fired.

Every team in the league wants speed and skill since Hockey was invented. Can we stop with the nonsense that it's some new formula that teams just discovered the last three years.

 

[damacles1156]

You can hate Dean Lombardi all your want and lament that he is some Colossal idiot that shouldn't run a lemonade stand; but Dean Lombardi was the GM for the best postseason runs the Kings franchise has EVER HAD.

We are a bunch of keyboard jockeys that have never set foot in an NHL GM role or any minor position at that. Just chew on that for a bit.

The constant pop shots at Sutter/Lombardi is baffling. Two men that helped end DECADES of suffering as a Kings fan.

Both guys had their flaws, but they helped deliver the BIG prize.

 

[damacles1156]

2015 Bad Kopitar
2016 Good Kopitar
2017 Bad Kopitar
2018 Best Kopitar
2019 Bad Kopitar

The miles argument can be applied to 2015, if we want, but there aren't very many playoff miles on his body the past five seasons.

It is hyperbole when we scream that they don't care since they obviously do; however, it is a question of how much after winning it twice and being far removed from the roster makeup of those teams.

It's like Sean Connery in The Untouchables "What are you prepared to do!" Like, you need to win a ****ing board battle every once in awhile if you want to take down Capone.

This isn't just my opinion or that of the Board being hard on these guys we will forever be grateful for: it is Management saying that they are acting entitled. I'll love the guys from 2012-14 forever but there are no excuses for that steamy **** they dropped last year.

This Man gets it

 

[damacles1156]

Both Vilardi and JAD are directly in DL's wheelhouse. AK is a different story, although Blake chose safe over him as well at 22.

DL also doesn't draft small players or fast players, yet he actually did draft small players as well as the current fastest player on the team.

Dean's problem with drafting wasn't his philosophy but rather straight missing too often from 2011 forward which was mostly a function of not having high picks. Drafting went pretty well when he was playing with multiple high picks like Blake currently is with the same scouting staff.

This gets largely ignored around here. Futa is still largely in charge of drafting and player development along with Yanetti, has been since 2010. I highly doubt Lombardi even in 2010 was not listing to his scouts/Futa and overriding their recommendations.

Also here is a shocker, I bet Blake is also listening and allowing Futa/Yanetti to do their jobs (IE staying out of the way).

 

[damacles1156]

I will remind you how everyone freaked out here when Blake took Tobias Björnfot with the Kings 2nd first round pick, and one of the things Blake talked about was the kid's character.

To me, Vilardi is exactly the kind of player Dean would have drafted, big center with some skill who dropped down the board due to injury concerns.

Blake notices a problem with the current squad like the rest of us.

 

[raswilliam]

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Or a team that won two cups ?

Uh oh.

I'll prepare a scarlet letter for you.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

You know, out of all those guys, the one that weirds me out the most is Loui Eriksson.

Guy went from a perennial 70 point winger and even still had 30 goals 3 years ago....but came to Vancouver and completely fell apart. Visually, too, not just artificial production drop from a bad team or something.

The other 4, well, they're physical players in their 30s, to some degree, its' expected. Still yuck, but you can get it. Eriksson? What happened?

 

[kingsfan28]

#1 was Seabrook. Lucic was in the top 10 though.

which makes seeing doughty at #2 even more laughable. the dude is in his prime, yet that ranking makes it sound like he's 35 with 2 bad knees.

 

[kingsfan28]

I will remind you how everyone freaked out here when Blake took Tobias Björnfot with the Kings 2nd first round pick, and one of the things Blake talked about was the kid's character.

To me, Vilardi is exactly the kind of player Dean would have drafted, big center with some skill who dropped down the board due to injury concerns.

While this is very true about Vilardi, maybe his interview with DL's before the draft didn't quite check all the boxes. Say DL likes Voltron, while Vilardi is a Robotron fan.

 

[raswilliam]

While this is very true about Vilardi, maybe his interview with DL's before the draft didn't quite check all the boxes. Say DL likes Voltron, while Vilardi is a Robotron fan.

Robotech?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Robotech?

@kingsfan28 is DL confirmed

 

[kilowatt]

You know, out of all those guys, the one that weirds me out the most is Loui Eriksson.

Guy went from a perennial 70 point winger and even still had 30 goals 3 years ago....but came to Vancouver and completely fell apart. Visually, too, not just artificial production drop from a bad team or something.

The other 4, well, they're physical players in their 30s, to some degree, its' expected. Still yuck, but you can get it. Eriksson? What happened?

I’ve thought about this a lot. When he was with James Neal in Dallas, I was so jealous of their production. Then Dallas traded Neal to Pittsburgh and Eriksson to Boston and Neal trended up while Eriksson trended down. Now they’re both on terrible contracts.

Eriksson is a guy I would take on if we could get a first or a prospect coming back. $6 million for three more years, but only a no trade clause, so he wouldn’t need draft protection.