Around the League 2019-20

[crassbonanza]

this is the best start they've had in a long time, not for the last 7 years anyhow

I think I heard Coatsey say that this was the most points through December in 20 years which I can believe.

It's more Hexys' solid drafting , Konecky, Lindblom, Ghost, Sandheim, Haag, and Myers, who is gonna be a stud, to have that size and speed, physical and IQ, is insane. He's a top pairing d in the making. Nobody drafted him and Hexy took a shot. And of course, Frost and Farabee, (thanks to St Louis, Brayden Schenn, the gift that keeps on giving) who are really skilled. Frost is a really smart two way player with a lot of offensive upside.

Yeah, I feel bad for Hexy. I don't think he needed to be moved out as fast and all the subtle jabs at him on his exit seemed like Comcast saving face. He may have been a bit too slow transitioning, but he built the team fantastically.

Finally all that talent Hexy grew on the farm (and more coming, Radcliffe, a 6'4 winger) I hope , as soon as they can unload Voracek, who is proving (salary and otherwise) to be a huge obstacle to move.

Are you that down on Jake? I know he has a decent size contract, but he doesn't seem like a detriment to the team.

Provorov I think is going to develop into one of the top D's in the league.

I think he is already there and Nisky seems like a fantastic partner for him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

He's so in demand that he’s joining his 6th team over the past three years.

It's not the demand that's funny, it's the folks who are going "I don't think about Nick Shore at all but check out what Nick Shore is doing" before anyone else even knows that is, and the fact that such a player has apparently rustled so many jimmies simply by daring to exist on the Kings' bottom six for a small time period.

 

[tny760]

i thought nick shore did his job on the kings well, was paid accordingly and i wish him the best

not sure why we argue about him all the time

 

[deeshamrock]

I think I heard Coatsey say that this was the most points through December in 20 years which I can believe.



Yeah, I feel bad for Hexy. I don't think he needed to be moved out as fast and all the subtle jabs at him on his exit seemed like Comcast saving face. He may have been a bit too slow transitioning, but he built the team fantastically.



Are you that down on Jake? I know he has a decent size contract, but he doesn't seem like a detriment to the team.



I think he is already there and Nisky seems like a fantastic partner for him.

On Hexy- He's not flexible at all, his 'my way or the highway' on every decision, cost him his job. Management wanted certain things done, and he wouldn't even listen. Not willing to fire Hakstol, was the last straw. Something they wanted done prior to the season starting. They also wanted to offer Quenville a job, which is why they needed Haks finally gone and he said he wouldn't hire Q, because Q wanted a say in personal moves, and drafting and Hexy said no, his decision alone. Some of the staff (and reporters) said the oppressive atmosphere he created (in the locker room, the offices, etc) became his undoing, he had to control everything and that created a toxic atmosphere that did affect team His arrogance got in the way, maybe he'll learn from this experience. he's got a good eye for talent and the team will be reaping the benefits for that for a long time.

Voracek- He's stealing a salary. Jake 'drop pass to nobody' Voracek who rode the Giroux gravy train for years. His decision making is awful, he's slow, he turns the puck over. And he's lazy on too many shifts. They have been trying to move him for a year now . Nobody is taking 8.5 M for a player whose best years are behind him and every team has scouts who've seen him play. Fletcher wants a top 6 winger, and Ghost is on the block (and has been for awhile) . And I'm hoping he'll overpay for somebody to take Voracek, even it means eating part of the salary.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It's not the demand that's funny, it's the folks who are going "I don't think about Nick Shore at all but check out what Nick Shore is doing" before anyone else even knows that is, and the fact that such a player has apparently rustled so many jimmies simply by daring to exist on the Kings' bottom six for a small time period.

You tend to overthink exactly how much time is spent on discussing Nick Shore. You've probably spent more time trying to defend him. But hey, some people love vanilla ice cream.

 

[redcard]

Everyone is allowed 3 Nick Shore mentions per quarter. Your unused Nick Shore mentions are able to be accrued only so long as your Nick Shore accrual does not exceed 12 (1 full Nick Shore year).

 

[crassbonanza]

On Hexy- He's not flexible at all, his 'my way or the highway' on every decision, cost him his job. Management wanted certain things done, and he wouldn't even listen. Not willing to fire Hakstol, was the last straw. Something they wanted done prior to the season starting. They also wanted to offer Quenville a job, which is why they needed Haks finally gone and he said he wouldn't hire Q, because Q wanted a say in personal moves, and drafting and Hexy said no, his decision alone. Some of the staff (and reporters) said the oppressive atmosphere he created (in the locker room, the offices, etc) became his undoing, he had to control everything and that created a toxic atmosphere that did affect team His arrogance got in the way, maybe he'll learn from this experience. he's got a good eye for talent and the team will be reaping the benefits for that for a long time.

The Hakstol situation is so odd to me, did we ever find out what actually happened? Because after Hexy was fired they kept Hak on and there were rumors that Hexy actually had wanted to fire Hak and management rebuffed him. As for decision making, I tend to lean towards too many cooks in the kitchen is a bad thing, management shouldn't be making calls above the GM's head in my opinion. I think Comcast is too involved, but we will see.

Voracek- He's stealing a salary. Jake 'drop pass to nobody' Voracek who rode the Giroux gravy train for years. His decision making is awful, he's slow, he turns the puck over. And he's lazy on too many shifts. They have been trying to move him for a year now . Nobody is taking 8.5 M for a player whose best years are behind him and every team has scouts who've seen him play. Fletcher wants a top 6 winger, and Ghost is on the block (and has been for awhile) . And I'm hoping he'll overpay for somebody to take Voracek, even it means eating part of the salary.

Yeah, I have only caught about half the Flyers games this season, so I'll take your word for it. I hadn't realized that he has been so bad this season and it's too bad. I always kind of liked Jake and Ghost, and it seems neither are doing well.

 

[crassbonanza]

So, during one of the pride nights a few years ago the Kings care foundation was selling the practice stick of every King from that shoot around. For fun I was watching all of the bids and noticed that no one had bid on Shore yet, I thought he was an interesting prospect so I threw a bid out and won. Now I have a sweet Nick Shore stick with a rainbow tape job in my garage and ever since then I have been a fan of his.

 

[lumbergh]

Nolan was a strange case. Some games he could show somewhat high end skill while being a tough competitor. Other games he was a ghost with very little hockey intelligence. I liked him for the most part. He played his role well for that era of kings hockey

I bolded the key part for you.

 

[lumbergh]

Kyle Clifford-Nick Shore-Trevor Lewis

Guaranteed that nothing will happen for 30 full seconds.

 

[Herby]

It's just complete and alltime offensive ineptness.

His Leaf career ends with 7 shots in 21 games. I try and think of Kings players of the past who were as inept offensively.

Compare to some of these alltime greats

Stu Grimson had 26 shots in 72 games
Raitis Ivanans had 91 shots in 210 games
Steve McKenna had 74 shots in 138 games
Jim Thomson had 32 shots in 65 games

I realize he wins defensive zone draws and that's why he is still barely hanging on in the league, but there comes a point where you just can't be that big an offensive blackhole and be on an NHL roster. Ottawa realized it after 9 games, Calgary after 6 games and Toronto after 21 games and the Kings, well it took 175 games. Will he last 15 games in Winnipeg?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's just complete and alltime offensive ineptness.

His Leaf career ends with 7 shots in 21 games. I try and think of Kings players of the past who were as inept offensively.

Compare to some of these alltime greats

Stu Grimson had 26 shots in 72 games
Raitis Ivanans had 91 shots in 210 games
Steve McKenna had 74 shots in 138 games
Jim Thomson had 32 shots in 65 games

I realize he wins defensive zone draws and that's why he is still barely hanging on in the league, but there comes a point where you just can't be that big an offensive blackhole and be on an NHL roster. Ottawa realized it after 9 games, Calgary after 6 games and Toronto after 21 games and the Kings, well it took 175 games. Will he last 15 games in Winnipeg?

I'm not worried about looking it up because I'm sure you'll tell us.

 

[Herby]

I'm not worried about looking it up because I'm sure you'll tell us.

Was anything I said incorrect?

If he had as much value as you thought why have now three teams pulled the plug so quickly?

 

[crassbonanza]

Was anything I said incorrect?

If he had as much value as you thought why have now three teams pulled the plug so quickly?

Conversely he is still getting opportunities. He is definitely a tweener with defensive upside. His shot totals can be explained by his deployment, no forward who has played more than 1 game has a lower ozone start rate. He has a start rate of 1.72/60 which is 2 less than Gauthier who is second among regulars(coincidentally a line mate of his). Babcock liked to utilize the 4th for defensive zone draws and load up the Matthews line with offensive zone draws.

 

[ru4reals]

Kyle Clifford-Nick Shore-Trevor Lewis

Guaranteed that nothing will happen for 30 full MINUTES.

There you go fixed it for ya.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Was anything I said incorrect?

If he had as much value as you thought why have now three teams pulled the plug so quickly?

Nothing you said was incorrect.

I never said he had a ton of value.

I've only wondered aloud why he bothers five people here so freaking much that they follow him around and update us on his failures as if he did something wrong.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Tough to see anyone touching Voracek's contract. Toronto retained 15% on Kessel with 7 years left on the contract, and he was 28 when he got dealt. Voracek is 30, and has 4 years remaining. And he doesn't really score goals. Career high of 23. Not that Kessel is scoring many goals these days.

Don't look now, but in points%, Arizona sits 1st in the Pacific after last night. Despite some early season success, the Pacific is still sort of crappy. The Central takes up the top 3 spots in the conference. The Pacific, 4 of the bottom 5.

i thought nick shore did his job on the kings well, was paid accordingly and i wish him the best

not sure why we argue about him all the time

Because there's nothing to talk about with the Kings until the deadline?

 

[deeshamrock]

Elliotte Friedman's 31 thoughts column today is about the Bill Peters situation and how the NHL is going to implement changes so that racial incidents, hazings and other nonsense will be handled quickly and prevent the fear of retaliation that has caused players not to report it. It is a pretty good read.

31 Thoughts: A 'Code of Conduct' is coming to the NHL - Sportsnet.ca
"Guys just live with it,” said one ex-coach who asked his name not be used. “You can deal with it two ways: internalize it — but it bothers you — or if you act out at the time… you can be labelled. Look at Akim. The first time (when Aliu was targeted in junior for refusing to be hazed) he acted out, was suspended and traded. (At AHL Rockford), he internalized, held it in, and it tormented him for 10 years.

“Either way it’s pretty hard.”

There needs to be a third way: a severe, swift and clear punishment. It’s coming, and it is about time.

Also in there

Note
7. Discusses teams interested in Taylor Hall
12. A Mart was almost a Hab until he got hurt

Revamping/reseeding and NHL playoffs, etc.

20. There was an interesting story a couple of weeks ago by ESPN’s Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski about a radical schedule idea being discussed by the NBA. It would see a reduction of regular-season games, the addition of both an in-season tournament and a playoff play-in, and re-seeding the Conference Finals based on regular-season standings.
I asked around to see how much of this the NHL has looked at. The answer is: a lot. The re-seeding of the Stanley Cup semifinals was originally part of the last divisional/playoff re-alignment. The league wanted it, but teams and players pushed back because of travel worries. Not enough people wanted to risk, say, a Montreal-San Jose third round. We know the commissioner hates the play-in, and a player texted me this season to stop “with that stupid idea.” In-season tournament? Let’s see if a World Cup gets done for February 2021, and how everyone feels about that.

24. Other than Dewey and Kopi, Kings situation could change.

 

[Bandit]

Unfortunate timing on Martinez, wonder what they were offering.

 

[Master Yoda]

Unfortunate timing on Martinez, wonder what they were offering.

He escaped a more serious injury and was supposed to be out about 4-6 weeks. Hopefully trade talks also return soon after that.

 

[YP44]

He escaped a more serious injury and was supposed to be out about 4-6 weeks. Hopefully trade talks also return soon after that.

pretty weak market for d this year. hopefully causes someone to overpay.

 

[The Tikkanen]

The bright side:if it wasn't for Nick Shore I wouldn't know there is somebody who is tracking faceoffs taken in the defensive zone. Nick Shore has made me a more intelligent hockey fan.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Nick Shore is symbolic of the dreadfully boring and offensively inept Los Angeles Kings. He was the embodiment of the type of player this organization would be prone to draft, along with the likes of Andy Andreoff who go on to appear in 100+ games (all with the Kings), then fail to land another full-time NHL gig thereafter. And it isn't exclusive to just those two. Look at Dwight King and Jordan Nolan after leaving the Kings. Kevin Gravel, Mike Mersch, etc. These are players the Kings continuously rolled out from the minors for years. Low talent, unskilled grinders.

If you want to have some fun, take a look at the 2011 draft and the selections made after the Kings' top three picks. Christopher Gibson selected ahead of William Karlsson and Nikita Kucherov. Then you see the winning duo of Andreoff and Shore selected with the 80th and 82nd picks, ahead of the likes of John Gaudreau, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Jordan Binnington. That 2011 draft is a disaster, but the Kings have spun it as a successful draft because they played two useless players for over 100 games each.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Shore made it 36 NHL games after the Kings trailing only Alex Frolov (43) of players the Kings held onto way too long and no other NHL team wanted. Shore made it twice as long as Dwight King, so notify the statue maker, he's going up outside Staples.

 

[Master Yoda]

Nick Shore is symbolic of the dreadfully boring and offensively inept Los Angeles Kings. He was the embodiment of the type of player this organization would be prone to draft, along with the likes of Andy Andreoff who go on to appear in 100+ games (all with the Kings), then fail to land another full-time NHL gig thereafter. And it isn't exclusive to just those two. Look at Dwight King and Jordan Nolan after leaving the Kings. Kevin Gravel, Mike Mersch, etc. These are players the Kings continuously rolled out from the minors for years. Low talent, unskilled grinders.

If you want to have some fun, take a look at the 2011 draft and the selections made after the Kings' top three picks. Christopher Gibson selected ahead of William Karlsson and Nikita Kucherov. Then you see the winning duo of Andreoff and Shore selected with the 80th and 82nd picks, ahead of the likes of John Gaudreau, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Jordan Binnington. That 2011 draft is a disaster, but the Kings have spun it as a successful draft because they played two useless players for over 100 games each.

2013 draft was arguably worse. Kubalik is the only guy still in the league, and he may not last more than a couple years.
Failures in these two drafts are a big part of the reason the Kings are where they are.
And 2014 doesn't look all that great either. They had 10 picks and only Kempe and Amadio are in the NHL.