I'm not sure what people expected. He was done here. He was done in Vegas. He'll be done in New York. Probably his last year.
Around the league part 2
- Thread starter Bandit
- Start date
- Status
KingsHockey24
Registered User
- Aug 1, 2013
- 14,551
- 13,376
I don't even think he'll make it past November.
Like whatever happened with Marty when he decided to sign in St. Louis.
with the brown gloves they are sweet. would be awesome if the pant shells matched the gloves though
Didn't marty get injured though?
Steve Zissou
I'll order you a red cap and a Speedo.
johnjm22
Pseudo Intellectual
- Aug 2, 2005
- 20,997
- 17,923
Hey, that PBP sounds familar.
I've been saying for awhile Bussi is someone the Kings should target in a trade. Bruins already Swayman and Ullmark.
Nickster
Hockey is coming
Vilardi and Kupari playing right now against Bakersfield condors on ESPN+. Vilardi on line with Scheifele and Connor. Peterson/Walker/Grans playing for Philly against NJD getting blown out already. PhillyStream
Steve Zissou
I'll order you a red cap and a Speedo.
Refresh! Refresh!
Vilardi with a no look behind the back pass to Connor for a wide open PP goal.
SettlementRichie10
Registered User
- May 6, 2012
- 10,198
- 8,403
If Vilardi has a better season than PLD holy shit will this board go nuclear.
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
- Jul 1, 2003
- 22,921
- 23,483
A few (including me) think it's very possible
Raccoon Jesus
We were right there
I thought we voted on that and the majority was pending health Vilardi would do it
I'm not looking forward to hearing "but but but, how many PLAYOFF points did Vilardi have???" after the Jets miss by 1 point and PLD has a goal and an assist in 5 games in the 1st round.
SettlementRichie10
Registered User
- May 6, 2012
- 10,198
- 8,403
Agreed. It’s fair to say Vilardi carries risk, but his pedigree is every bit of PLD’s.
kingskring
Registered User
- Dec 3, 2012
- 3,621
- 1,907
KingsHockey24
Registered User
- Aug 1, 2013
- 14,551
- 13,376
Vilardi handles the puck in tight quarters as well as any player ive ever seen. The pld/vilardi scoring race will be cool
KingsHockey24
Registered User
- Aug 1, 2013
- 14,551
- 13,376
Bandit
Registered User
If by cool you mean a backdoor plowing with no lube then yeah... cool. Vilardi has a chip on his shoulder and if he stays healthy I don't think we'll be happy.
I never wanted that deal. I watched alot of the jets since they had byfuglien and that great d corps. Saw alot of pld and he is the poster boy for the the old adage about people with the least talent have themost drive and people with the most talent have the leastdrive. Guy is a malcontent born into nhl privilige and his acquisition is further proof that blake is an asshole and will be taken advantage of at every turn. Pld after taxes makes pretty close to $116,000/WEEK
Last edited:
Herby
How could Blake have known?
The deal happened because none of the players the Kings drafted with 1st round picks to play C could effectively play as top-6 C's in the NHL, not even ones they used top 5 picks on. And it seems Vilardi is back at wing in Winnipeg, despite some Jets fans and media saying he was going to be given a shot at C. Byfield was moved to wing because he was ineffective at C and Turcotte isn't skilled enough to be a scoring line center.
It was Blake fixing his own huge mistakes at the draft table and in not getting a deal done for Eichel, so in that sense he deserves a lot of blame, but they weren't winning the SC with 36 year old Kopi and Phil Danault as the 1-2 centers and had to act to fix it.
If any of Stutzle, Eichel or Zegras had been brought into the organization the Kings would not have been looking at PLD (no matter what the liars tell Pravda)
It was Blake fixing his own huge mistakes at the draft table and in not getting a deal done for Eichel, so in that sense he deserves a lot of blame, but they weren't winning the SC with 36 year old Kopi and Phil Danault as the 1-2 centers and had to act to fix it.
If any of Stutzle, Eichel or Zegras had been brought into the organization the Kings would not have been looking at PLD (no matter what the liars tell Pravda)
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
- Jul 1, 2003
- 22,921
- 23,483
Making a bad deal to fix a hole you created is still a bad deal.
It's like throwing water on a grease fire because you weren't paying attention to the smoking oil.
You can blame Byfield, Turcotte, Yannetti, and anyone else you want, but that doesn't mitigate Blake's missteps
Herby
How could Blake have known?
But how do you win the Stanley Cup with Kopi and Danault as your C's? It's just to much to ask of a 36 year old and a guy who should be a 3C on a contending team.
Let's call a spade a spade, the decision to not heavily pursue and trade for Eichel has ended up being a disaster for the Kings. I know many were against it, and I understand the hindsight is 20/20 thing, but it ended up going about as poorly as possible for the Kings. He ended up in the division, has won a Stanley Cup already, and will be in the prime of his career throughout the rest of Kopitar's career/the Kings cup window. And on top of it, the Kings ended up trading a package that probably would have been similar to the one they could have gotten Eichel for to get PLD, and ended up with a lesser player only making $1.5 m a year less. The Kings will long regret that decision to sit on their hands when it came to trading for Eichel, especially with divisional playoffs.
King'sPawn
Enjoy the chaos
- Jul 1, 2003
- 22,921
- 23,483
The Knights had a good team before Eichel. Had gone to the finals multiple times before trading for him.
The Kings don't win by trading for a player just to keep him off the Knights. And what sort of success would the Kings have with Eichel and Kopitar as centers over Danault? Especially since the Knights missed the playoffs last season AFTER trading for Eichel.
Blake, in particular, should have decided his team's identity from the get-go, and made the appropriate moves. Having a team that values defense and grinding (which Kopitar, Danault, Moore, and others excel at) but drafting players like Kaliyev and trading for high event players like Fiala, Eichel, and PLD just lead to a rudderless team.
Eichel wasn't the play that year. I'm sure Blake did trade for PLD because he values depth at center, but he wasn't the play either. Not when you stick Byfield, Vilardi, Kaliyev, etc on the bottom-6 until they learn to grind right. And especially when you have the same development staff from the previous regime that also specializes in grinding.
Vilardi was, for all intents and purposes, a "perfect" pick who wasslowed down by injuries. He learned to use his body to win puck battles but also to make high-skill plays. So what that they didn't have an ideal center yet? Why trade two talented young players who were just showing us what they are capable of, along with Iafallo, for a talented player who hasn't added any elements to his game for a couple seasons? Because he "has more points" (despite getting offensive deployments and more powerplay time), and plays center?
Herby
How could Blake have known?
I think for how the Kings believe a roster should be constructed, the answer to your final question is yes.
They drafted so many centers during the short rebuild phase, it’s hard to think they had any other plans than to have a team built heavily down the middle, and when really none of them worked out at C they moved on to acquiring veteran centers to replace them. I think many of us, me and you included, would have preferred to just draft more centers and trust that process, but that went out the window in the summer 2021.
Iafallo was pencilled in for a 4th line role at $4m and if not included in this deal was probably going to have to be moved for a pick for cap reasons.
I’d compare the production of Kaliyev to Vilardi more than Vilardi to PLD. If Kaliyev produces similarly to what Vilardi did last year there really isn’t much of a loss, the Kings had a potential piece in-house to replace Vilardi, unfortunately due to poor choices with high picks there was no viable 2C in house.
SettlementRichie10
Registered User
- May 6, 2012
- 10,198
- 8,403
If the PLD trade blows up, at least that will finally put Blake on the hot seat if not get him outright fired. TMac, too.
This is a meme season for me. I have very low expectations. Hopefully we get plenty of 9-8 barn burners like the one last year.
This is a meme season for me. I have very low expectations. Hopefully we get plenty of 9-8 barn burners like the one last year.
- Status
Ad
Latest posts
-
-
-
Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign Nick Robertson (1 year, $875k)
- Latest: Jacquestrapless
-
