Around the league part 2

[Telos]

That really does suck with Vilardi. Still wish him the best, despite all that has happened. It wasn't his fault the deal was made and he can express himself how he feels and sees fit, but he has also had just absolute horrid luck with his health and it really is a shame given how talented he is and where he would be if he had a clean bill of health and durability.

 

[FrozenKing18]

f***, that's horrible. The guy just can't catch a break. I hope it's nothing too serious and he'll be able to get back on the ice in the near future.

 

[Telos]

Oh yeah, and I would totally trade Iafallo, Vilardi, Kupari, and a 1st right now to jettison PLD off the team and the books completely and roll Byfield-Kopitar-Danault down the middle in a heartbeat if I could. I'd rather have Vilardi on permanent LTIR over PLD healthy on the team any day. Of course, my opinion is very jaded and rock bottom for PLD any way you slice it now

 

[GameNight]

PL keeps coming up over and over again. It seems like nothing should be done end of season without first addressing PL and his future.

Buyout?
Trade with retention?
Trade with no retention for another flawed contract or situation such as an injured player?

The ideal scenario is going back in time and undoing the deal altogether. Since that can't happen, there needs to be a compromise.

One thing to remember with PL is, he's still a baby at just 25 yrs old. Teams will still take a chance because of his age.

Logan Couture might say he wants to remain a Shark for his final 3 yrs at 8M, but why does he have 3 teams to pick from on his NTC? He might not even be healthy enough to play a full season again- but we all know what we can do with LTIR, right, boys & girls?

It's not gonna happen here for PL.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Tough spot with PLD. I have a sliver of hope that he'll be better production wise next season. The issue is that contract is close to unmovable if his play stays lackluster. We're handcuffed to that contract for a good while.

 

[lexlavender]

I want to personally apologize to Gabe Vilardi, it is my fault he has boneitis. I bought a bunch of rookie trading cards for him, and the value gods sought to punish me for that arrogance. Gabe shouldn't have to suffer for my mistakes

 

[BaileyFan]

Damn that sucks, so many injuries in his budding career, such a talent. We sure dodged a bullet though. Even an under performing healthy Dubios is better than a non-existent, perpetually injured Vilardi.

Kings wish Dubois was as injury prone as Vilardi so they could park him on LTIR and get the free $8.5 mil cap.

 

[GameNight]

Cal Peterssen was also unmovable. There is no question a solution exists and is out there for the Kings and PL.

The only question is if PL can change people's minds in one playoff round

 

[kingsholygrail]

Cal Peterssen was also unmovable. There is no question a solution exists and is out there for the Kings and PL.

The only question is if PL can change people's minds in one playoff round

Cal was more moveable because it was 3 years and it still cost a bit to do it.

 

[King'sPawn]

PL keeps coming up over and over again. It seems like nothing should be done end of season without first addressing PL and his future.

Buyout?
Trade with retention?
Trade with no retention for another flawed contract or situation such as an injured player?

The ideal scenario is going back in time and undoing the deal altogether. Since that can't happen, there needs to be a compromise.

One thing to remember with PL is, he's still a baby at just 25 yrs old. Teams will still take a chance because of his age.

Logan Couture might say he wants to remain a Shark for his final 3 yrs at 8M, but why does he have 3 teams to pick from on his NTC? He might not even be healthy enough to play a full season again- but we all know what we can do with LTIR, right, boys & girls?

It's not gonna happen here for PL.

The Kings can certainly hope that PLD will turn it around. I just haven't seen any evidence that it's a good idea. He has a history of being unhappy within 3 years of his location, and is playing his career worst even after getting all that he wants.

Best option would be to buy him out. Trading him out anywhere would require either retention or moving valuable pieces to convince a team to take him. Or taking an equally high-risk/bad PR type of player that a team wants to get rid of.

 

[BigKing]

It is very unfortunate for Vilardi. You don't have enlarged spleen on the bingo card but, again, I 100% understand why Blake would want to move on from Vilardi after he finally put up a good season.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Vilardi always gets hurt and PLD is generally always in the lineup. It's just that him being in the lineup is actually a problem but, if he was the 60 point guy and not a complete liability then it could maybe be justified.

In the end, PLD was the face of underachieving before Blake traded for him and then Blake turned around and tossed a giant extension on to a guy known for a lack of effort who now gets to play in a hockey market with absolutely zero f***ing accountability unless you are the head coach.

Wild times.

 

[Kingfan1967]

maybe a case where +/- is pretty flawed. Team is hot garbage

+/- can only be used to see how rounded a players game is compared to their teammates, not players leaguewide. Even then it's not all that great.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

Vegas is surprisingly really bad lately.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Vegas is surprisingly really bad lately.

Hill has been shaky.. but even so, they lost to Buffalo 7-2 with Thompson in net, then next game 6-3 to CBJ with Hill. Seems like their team D has really fallen off.

 

[YP44]

Vegas is surprisingly really bad lately.

still pretty banged up and trying to bring in and acclimate a bunch of new pieces at once. Would be great if they fell out of the playoffs haha.

 

[kingsfan28]

As far as NYR goes, with Kakko and Lafenrierre, they LITERALLY did the exact opposite of what LA did, and they f***ed those two guys up good....there is no one size fits all for development no matter what people here want you to believe.

..

I was thinking about this too. The Rangers had the #1 and #2 can't miss picks, played them straight out of the draft and they still can't figure it out. Neither has scored more than 20 goals or more than 40 points yet. Fans here and other sites rail on LA's development with certain players every day, but how do you explain what's happening in NY?

 

[Ollie Weeks]

I was thinking about this too. The Rangers had the #1 and #2 can't miss picks, played them straight out of the draft and they still can't figure it out. Neither has scored more than 20 goals or more than 40 points yet. Fans here and other sites rail on LA's development with certain players every day, but how do you explain what's happening in NY?

They’re dumb too? I mean, sometimes there’s a Stanley cup winner simply because they must award it every year. A lot of teams and their leadership are limited people who make awful decisions and some are bailed out due to luck.

 

[Martyros]

Never underestimate how dumb/desperate a gm may be to take on contract such as PL's.

 

[EbonyRaptor]

I've posted on your site many times over the past years going back to when the Kings and Hawks won Cups 2012-2015. And I've always come as a friend who feels a kinship with Kings fans because it seemed our teams were on a similar trajectory after winning those Cups - both teams with (2) elite homegrown superstar players heading into the back half of their careers with the team challenged to manage the salary cap while still trying to leverage those players for another Cup run. Well ... it hasn't happened for either team - for the Hawks there's no chance with both Toews and Kane gone, but even though the Kings still have Kopitar and Doughty - it's becoming more doubtful all the time.

It was apparent both teams needed a retool, if not a total rebuild. The Hawks waited too long to start their rebuild - it should have been started at least a couple years before they finally bit the bullet and went scorched earth a couple years ago. Who knows how long this total tear down approach will take before bearing fruit - if ever.

I thought the Kings pulled the trigger on moving on from a retool/rebuild too early a couple years ago - but through the first half of this season I though I may have been wrong and giving Kopitar and Doughty one more chance at the brass ring may happen - and I was happy for you guys and for those two players in particular. Now - it looks less optimistic.

Here's hoping you guys get on a run and do something in the playoffs. You can start by beating the Hawks tonight - we actually would rather not pick up points and let Anaheim catch us for draft position. Just don't hurt our Bedard.

 

[Statto]

Damn that sucks, so many injuries in his budding career, such a talent. We sure dodged a bullet though. Even an under performing healthy Dubios is better than a non-existent, perpetually injured Vilardi.

That’s awful. Get well soon GV.

 

[FrozenKing18]

I've posted on your site many times over the past years going back to when the Kings and Hawks won Cups 2012-2015. And I've always come as a friend who feels a kinship with Kings fans because it seemed our teams were on a similar trajectory after winning those Cups - both teams with (2) elite homegrown superstar players heading into the back half of their careers with the team challenged to manage the salary cap while still trying to leverage those players for another Cup run. Well ... it hasn't happened for either team - for the Hawks there's no chance with both Toews and Kane gone, but even though the Kings still have Kopitar and Doughty - it's becoming more doubtful all the time.

It was apparent both teams needed a retool, if not a total rebuild. The Hawks waited too long to start their rebuild - it should have been started at least a couple years before they finally bit the bullet and went scorched earth a couple years ago. Who knows how long this total tear down approach will take before bearing fruit - if ever.

I thought the Kings pulled the trigger on moving on from a retool/rebuild too early a couple years ago - but through the first half of this season I though I may have been wrong and giving Kopitar and Doughty one more chance at the brass ring may happen - and I was happy for you guys and for those two players in particular. Now - it looks less optimistic.

Here's hoping you guys get on a run and do something in the playoffs. You can start by beating the Hawks tonight - we actually would rather not pick up points and let Anaheim catch us for draft position. Just don't hurt our Bedard.

I remember your avatar around here back then. The Hawks-Kings battles during those years gave me white hairs lmao. And don't worry, nobody in the Kings have the stones to hurt Bedard, or anyone else in your roster for that matter.

 

[BaileyFan]

I've posted on your site many times over the past years going back to when the Kings and Hawks won Cups 2012-2015. And I've always come as a friend who feels a kinship with Kings fans because it seemed our teams were on a similar trajectory after winning those Cups - both teams with (2) elite homegrown superstar players heading into the back half of their careers with the team challenged to manage the salary cap while still trying to leverage those players for another Cup run. Well ... it hasn't happened for either team - for the Hawks there's no chance with both Toews and Kane gone, but even though the Kings still have Kopitar and Doughty - it's becoming more doubtful all the time.

It was apparent both teams needed a retool, if not a total rebuild. The Hawks waited too long to start their rebuild - it should have been started at least a couple years before they finally bit the bullet and went scorched earth a couple years ago. Who knows how long this total tear down approach will take before bearing fruit - if ever.

I thought the Kings pulled the trigger on moving on from a retool/rebuild too early a couple years ago - but through the first half of this season I though I may have been wrong and giving Kopitar and Doughty one more chance at the brass ring may happen - and I was happy for you guys and for those two players in particular. Now - it looks less optimistic.

Here's hoping you guys get on a run and do something in the playoffs. You can start by beating the Hawks tonight - we actually would rather not pick up points and let Anaheim catch us for draft position. Just don't hurt our Bedard.

The Kings are exactly where the Hawks would’ve been if Jones, Johnson, and Fleury had worked out and squeaked them into the playoffs. A team with a mostly in or past their prime supporting cast centered around winning another Cup for Kane and Toews. We’ll likely have to trade our versions of Dach and DeBrincat in a couple years as they won’t fit into the next Cup window even though they were just drafted.

 

[YAYSAY]

The thing with PLD is, taking into account his contract, term, and the assets used to get him, even if he played up to his career average, I still don't think his contract would be worth it.

 

[DyslexicTom]

I would be shocked if the Kings bought out PLD. It would be a wise but painful move, so they're not gonna do it for those two exact reasons.

 

[King'sPawn]

I was thinking about this too. The Rangers had the #1 and #2 can't miss picks, played them straight out of the draft and they still can't figure it out. Neither has scored more than 20 goals or more than 40 points yet. Fans here and other sites rail on LA's development with certain players every day, but how do you explain what's happening in NY?

GBH's next sentence in your quote summarizes a point I have said many times.

The Rangers have had issues developing forwards. It's not a Kings exclusive issue.

But pay attention to this: "there is no one size fits all for development no matter what people here want you to believe."

I have said multiple times there are times variety is appropriate. But the Kings take the slow boil approach for all. Vilardi, Byfield, Kaliyev, Fagemo, JAD, etc ALL started out in the bottom-6 and had to play a certain way to earn more time.

So, rushing all players, or slow-cooking all players, is a flawed plan. Both the Rangers and Kings seem to follow their own rigid development plans with flawed results.