Around the league part 2

[KopitarGOAT420]

The sophomore slump Faber is about to have is going to make for some fun times on these boards lol.

The Faber trade definitely hurts but it's hard to argue it wasn't fair value at the time. Faber was a VERY good prospect and some people saw star potential in him but still was far from a guarantee at the time he was traded. You trade a 1st and an A or B tier prospect for a point per game scoring winger who can drive any line you put him on and helps make your team significantly better offensively. You have to give to get.

I don't even think the timing of the trade was as inappropriate as others would suggest. The Kings had just made the playoffs after a couple years of re-tooling but came up short, losing in 7 games to a good Oilers team. It was pretty clear the Kings biggest need after that season was a top 6 scoring winger (to improve offensively). So they went out and traded for a very good playmaking winger and paid a fair price to do so. That's not necessarily illogical.

The problem is, the trade clearly hasn't 'gotten the Kings over the hump' - which was essentially the goal of the trade. On top of that, Faber has exploded into a potential star RD... so it looks pretty bad a couple years later. It's a mistake tons of teams have made historically and teams will continue to make as long as the game of hockey is played professionally. You give up unproven talent for proven talent and there's always risk involved there. Part of the problem as well is that other Kings prospects haven't taken the steps fans & management hoped they would (yet). That definitely throws a wrench in 'the plan'. I'm sure at the time they traded for Fiala they were looking at their prospect pool thinking 'Damn, it sucks to lose Faber but we have a number of other guys who can/should be impact players in the NHL within the next 2-3 years - so we should be OK'.... But that hasn't really happened. Byfield has taken longer than expected but is finally getting there. Turcotte has had serious issues staying healthy. Vilardi broke out but had/has issues staying healthy. The Kings probably expected their young players/prospects to be farther along by this point - which would've definitely made the Fiala trade look better & more justified. That said, choosing the wrong player to give up in the Fiala trade is bad asset management / bad player evaluation - However..... The Kings may not have had the option to give up another RHD in the trade - For all we know the Wild rejected other offers that included other RHD and the only way the Kings were going to be able to acquire Fiala is by sending Faber the other way. So it's tough.

Another thing here is that the loss of Faber is immediately less painful if Clarke turns out to be a star defenseman.... There's still a chance Clarke ends up being the better of the two d-men. If that happens, are we really still crying about losing Faber? Probably not. Especially if Fiala continues to produce at a point per game pace over the next 4-5 seasons.

Spence is another factor here. Spence had a higher points per 60 minutes than Faber last year (also higher than Moritz Seider and many other very good defensemen and just lower than Doughty and Durzi). There's still a chance Spence ends up being a verrrrrrrry solid top 4 d. So we'll have to see how things look a couple years from now to really truly evaluate the situation. If Spence and Clarke both hit... Losing Faber ends up stinging a whole lot less.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The sophomore slump Faber is about to have is going to make for some fun times on these boards lol.

The Faber trade definitely hurts but it's hard to argue it wasn't fair value at the time. Faber was a VERY good prospect and some people saw star potential in him but still was far from a guarantee at the time he was traded. You trade a 1st and an A or B tier prospect for a point per game scoring winger who can drive any line you put him on and helps make your team significantly better offensively. You have to give to get.

I don't even think the timing of the trade was as inappropriate as others would suggest. The Kings had just made the playoffs after a couple years of re-tooling but came up short, losing in 7 games to a good Oilers team. It was pretty clear the Kings biggest need after that season was a top 6 scoring winger (to improve offensively). So they went out and traded for a very good playmaking winger and paid a fair price to do so. That's not necessarily illogical.

The problem is, the trade clearly hasn't 'gotten the Kings over the hump' - which was essentially the goal of the trade. On top of that, Faber has exploded into a potential star RD... so it looks pretty bad a couple years later. It's a mistake tons of teams have made historically and teams will continue to make as long as the game of hockey is played professionally. You give up unproven talent for proven talent and there's always risk involved there. Part of the problem as well is that other Kings prospects haven't taken the steps fans & management hoped they would (yet). That definitely throws a wrench in 'the plan'. I'm sure at the time they traded for Fiala they were looking at their prospect pool thinking 'Damn, it sucks to lose Faber but we have a number of other guys who can/should be impact players in the NHL within the next 2-3 years - so we should be OK'.... But that hasn't really happened. Byfield has taken longer than expected but is finally getting there. Turcotte has had serious issues staying healthy. Vilardi broke out but had/has issues staying healthy. The Kings probably expected their young players/prospects to be farther along by this point - which would've definitely made the Fiala trade look better & more justified. That said, choosing the wrong player to give up in the Fiala trade is bad asset management / bad player evaluation - However..... The Kings may not have had the option to give up another RHD in the trade - For all we know the Wild rejected other offers that included other RHD and the only way the Kings were going to be able to acquire Fiala is by sending Faber the other way. So it's tough.

Another thing here is that the loss of Faber is immediately less painful if Clarke turns out to be a star defenseman.... There's still a chance Clarke ends up being the better of the two d-men. If that happens, are we really still crying about losing Faber? Probably not. Especially if Fiala continues to produce at a point per game pace over the next 4-5 seasons.

Spence is another factor here. Spence had a higher points per 60 minutes than Faber last year (also higher than Moritz Seider and many other very good defensemen and just lower than Doughty and Durzi). There's still a chance Spence ends up being a verrrrrrrry solid top 4 d. So we'll have to see how things look a couple years from now to really truly evaluate the situation. If Spence and Clarke both hit... Losing Faber ends up stinging a whole lot less.

Look at how much you had to write to justify this trade.

And frankly, I don't even REALLY disagree with the simplified thesis--'the trade isn't that bad'--in a vacuum. The bigger problem is it's just one part of a much larger pattern of pisspoor player evaluation, stupid timing, and awful asset management.

 

[BigKing]

Nice to see the Brock Faber fanfics are out and about in full force. Truly unbelievable you guys are still crying about a player who’s never put on a Kings jersey but for some reason think the same team that can’t get off Drew’s micro was going to allow him to be the player he is on the wild.

The Kings are 1-7 with Kopitar after the retooling. 1-7 with doughty. 1-7 with Todd and his lovers. Fiala is playing with Lewis and we’re gonna casually ignore that lol. Fiala played with PLD who the Kings gave away desperately since he was so bad. When we smear players let’s try to at least pretend to be good faith in your arguments. Unless you guys think this coaching staff and management is filled with smart people. If so make the case for the managements genius.

What stupid points are we trying to make with Fiala? The same people ready to slurp up Arvidsson when he returned to the line up when he has done nothing ever are the same people who are completely dogging Fiala. Bitching about Fiala is one of the weirdest things on this board. 1-7 with X Y Z. It’s like you guys think everything else is fine and there’s just Fiala alone who is letting everyone else down when this management and coaching staff has done nothing but prime this team to failure. There’s legends on this team who have done jack shit since 2015 but we crying about Fiala? At least try to not seem butthurt as if Fiala is the one who pulled the trade himself.



The hypocrisy goes crazy

The Kings were up 2-1 before Fiala came back in the '23 playoffs.

Over the last three series, the Kings are 6-12 with the guys you named, 1-7 with Fiala. Those players are 1-7 with Fiala playing.

Arvidsson had 10 points in 11 playoff games as a King. 15 points in 18 games in the regular season last year. He is a good player that cost nothing to acquire--excluding "blocking" youth--while Fiala cost Doughty's replacement and a 1st. I don't think anyone is arguing that RV is a better player, but we were happy he was back since it solidifies the lines.

Not arguing for any of these players, but just pointing out some facts.

One can think Kevin Fiala is a very good hockey player and that he also doesn't move the needle for this team, which has been proven so far. Barring injuries, Faber should have many more years of impact seasons in the NHL than Fiala and would be the blueline counterpart to Byfield at forward. It's not Kopitar/Doughty but it is a pretty nice foundation to build a team around.

And you can be rest assured that it is anger and frustration at Blake and Co. over the Fiala deal and not Kevin Fiala himself. That said, you white knight for Fiala while shitting on Kopitar and Doughty which is definitely an angle.

 

[BigKing]

The sophomore slump Faber is about to have is going to make for some fun times on these boards lol.

<snip>

I don't even think the timing of the trade was as inappropriate as others would suggest. The Kings had just made the playoffs after a couple years of re-tooling but came up short, losing in 7 games to a good Oilers team. It was pretty clear the Kings biggest need after that season was a top 6 scoring winger (to improve offensively). So they went out and traded for a very good playmaking winger and paid a fair price to do so. That's not necessarily illogical.

<snip>

Faber has done nothing but improve each year since being drafted. Sure, nobody is immune from a slump but there is nothing with Faber to point to some crazy slump other than wishcasting by Kings fan who want to say the trade was fine.

As for just losing to the Oilers the year before, it took some vintage Quick to win the games they did and they got BTFO for the most part in the losses. It's actually been the same story each series, just with each one getting progressively worse for the Kings.

Main point to make though on this take for the timing is "Man, LA got swept by a team that went to the Finals while only scoring like four total goals...all we need is an over-the-hill sniper and we're a contender".

The timing was shit and is a huge reason that we are in the current state of purgatory, a state that Kevin Fiala isn't going to pull us out of. Not Kevin's fault, but it is definitely Bowlby's.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kevin Fiala is a defensively deficient PPG regular season forward and a half a point per game playoff forward. That's his biggest problem, he's Andreas Athanasiou with more enthusiasm. Love the player--the effort, 'care', and enthusiasm is there--but hate the trade because he doesn't move the needle one way or another. Actually I take that back, he does solve one long term problem we had, since he can beat the snot out of lesser competition our record vs. non-playoff teams is really good.

 

[bland]

his only problem in the playoffs is his penchant for taking penalties, and thats a big one (in my personal opinion !)

His biggest problem is that he cannot play with other skilled forwards. He is an overachieving middle six player that has never learned how to play effectively off of the puck. It's potato chip offense, no substance, just empty numbers.

 

[tigermask48]

Last 4 MVPs: Fiala, Arturs Silovs, Juho Olkinuora, Andrew Mangiapane.

Lol. Was just going to post this exact thing. Mid players win MVP at the World's all the time!
Cal Peterson was named best goalie in 2021.

 

[bland]

You make it sound like we gave him away for Nick Ritchie.

It's the exact same effect.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

his only problem in the playoffs is his penchant for taking penalties, and thats a big one (in my personal opinion !)

Yea, that's something that he grew into (reputation wise) and now can't get out of......

 

[Johnny Utah]

Besides Kempe, Fiala is the Kings most dynamic player - a 70-80 point player. Look at what those players are costing at the trade deadline.

I don't have a major problem with the Fiala for Faber deal - throwing in the 1st stings, but as others mentioned, it's basically a unproven prospect at the time and a pick for a 25 year old player coming off a 85 point season.

The RHD players that hurt the most is Durzi (flipped for a high 2nd) and losing Roy for NOTHING.

Walker was crap his last year here. I didn't watch him in Colorado, but he def rejuvenated his career in Philly. He was undrafted signing.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

To be honest, a lot of this just depends on whether or not Clarke hits. That, and how well Fiala clicks with Byfield.

You can make an argument that the Kings had 2 blue chip RHD prospects at the time of the Fiala/Faber trade - So the question essentially becomes: Did they make the right 'choice' (assuming it even was a choice to begin with) in trading Faber while keeping Clarke? Time will tell.

Like I said, if Clarke ends up becoming a star #1 D as well - All of the sudden it's not the end of the world that they lost Faber (but because that hasn't happened yet, losing Faber stings a bit extra). Clarke has more offensive upside while Faber's more responsible defensively... It's going to take time to see which player ends up being the better all around defenseman. I still think Clarke can be a Makar-lite type offensive defensemen who can put up 60-70+ points a season in his prime. He can also bring a level of swagger that has been missing from this group for quite some time. If he does that, the Kings will be missing Faber a lotttttt less.

And then if Fiala clicks with Byfield, that also eases the pain quite a bit. Those two could be magic together with the amount of speed, skill, and playmaking ability they bring to the table - If Fiala ends up being a fixture on Byfield's wing for the next 5 years, and the two help each other put up loads of points... The trade becomes more worth it because you not only acquired a dynamic scoring winger but you also acquired a really good complimentary linemate to your (hopefully) future franchise 1C.

I understand I'm hanging onto a bunch of "what if's" - But mainly just trying to acknowledge the fact that we still aren't seeing the full picture here. I get why people are frustrated/pessimistic/etc though.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I said before and I said it again, if the Kings moved Doughty, they could have rolled out Faber, Clarke and Spence as the RHD.

Doughty and his huge contract have blocked prospects in addition to the Kings holding onto Roy for way too damn long.

 

[King'sPawn]

To be honest, a lot of this just depends on whether or not Clarke hits. That, and how well Fiala clicks with Byfield.

You can make an argument that the Kings had 2 blue chip RHD prospects at the time of the Fiala/Faber trade - So the question essentially becomes: Did they make the right 'choice' (assuming it even was a choice to begin with) in trading Faber while keeping Clarke? Time will tell.

Like I said, if Clarke ends up becoming a star #1 D as well - All of the sudden it's not the end of the world that they lost Faber (but because that hasn't happened yet, losing Faber stings a bit extra). Clarke has more offensive upside while Faber's more responsible defensively... It's going to take time to see which player ends up being the better all around defenseman. I still think Clarke can be a Makar-lite type offensive defensemen who can put up 60-70+ points a season in his prime. He can also bring a level of swagger that has been missing from this group for quite some time. If he does that, the Kings will be missing Faber a lotttttt less.

And then if Fiala clicks with Byfield, that also eases the pain quite a bit. Those two could be magic together with the amount of speed, skill, and playmaking ability they bring to the table - If Fiala ends up being a fixture on Byfield's wing for the next 5 years, and the two help each other put up loads of points... The trade becomes more worth it because you not only acquired a dynamic scoring winger but you also acquired a really good complimentary linemate to your (hopefully) future franchise 1C.

I understand I'm hanging onto a bunch of "what if's" - But mainly just trying to acknowledge the fact that we still aren't seeing the full picture here. I get why people are frustrated/pessimistic/etc though.

The problem is no matter how you look at it, you have to hinge your arguments on "what if...?"

It's possible Faber has a sophomore slump, Clarke becomes a 1D, and Fiala scores triple digits in points. But I'm also not going to bet on it.

We've at least seen how Fiala is on the Kings. High-skill, sometimes undisciplined, and struggles to play well with others, where chemistry is an issue.

We also have seen the team lean way more than they should on Kopitar and Doughty, so Clarke rising up as the No. 1, at least this season, is a longshot.

We have also seen Faber just get better. And the only evidence to suggest he'd slump is it happens to others as teams key on to them.

I'm rooting for Fiala and Clarke because they are Kings, but the trade looks very bad for a franchise who exited the rebuild too soon. Fiala just turned 28, and we've yet to see any prospects take the reins from the previous core. It appears he'll be 30 by the time it happens. How much more mileage do you expect out of him at that point?

 

[Statto]

The problem is no matter how you look at it, you have to hinge your arguments on "what if...?"

It's possible Faber has a sophomore slump, Clarke becomes a 1D, and Fiala scores triple digits in points. But I'm also not going to bet on it.

We've at least seen how Fiala is on the Kings. High-skill, sometimes undisciplined, and struggles to play well with others, where chemistry is an issue.

We also have seen the team lean way more than they should on Kopitar and Doughty, so Clarke rising up as the No. 1, at least this season, is a longshot.

We have also seen Faber just get better. And the only evidence to suggest he'd slump is it happens to others as teams key on to them.

I'm rooting for Fiala and Clarke because they are Kings, but the trade looks very bad for a franchise who exited the rebuild too soon. Fiala just turned 28, and we've yet to see any prospects take the reins from the previous core. It appears he'll be 30 by the time it happens. How much more mileage do you expect out of him at that point?

Without getting into the rest ( as this is the 10th time we’ve discussed it in the off season), it’s worth pointing out that Fiala cleared up much of his game once Hiller took over. Far fewer brain farts and bad penalties.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I said before and I said it again, if the Kings moved Doughty, they could have rolled out Faber, Clarke and Spence as the RHD.

Doughty and his huge contract have blocked prospects in addition to the Kings holding onto Roy for way too damn long.

That would require a GM with vision and confidence to do something that would potentially open himself up to major criticism.. Vision and confidence are in short supply with our 90s Kings management squad... this is perfect example of incompetent middle management types rising to the top when you dont have a meritocracy/accountability in place.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

I said before and I said it again, if the Kings moved Doughty, they could have rolled out Faber, Clarke and Spence as the RHD.

Doughty and his huge contract have blocked prospects in addition to the Kings holding onto Roy for way too damn long.

Dude it would've been SO damn hard to trade Doughty back when the Kings were re-tooling. Like virtually impossible lol.

• Doughty's level of play dipped when the team was at it's lowest.... 4-5 years ago, his $11 million cap hit was arguably the worst contract in the NHL
  • Granted, now you could probably find a way to trade him because he's playing at a pretty high level and has done so for the last 2 seasons... But 4-5 years ago??? Good luck
  • The Kings likely would've needed to retain salary (bad), add some serious sweeteners (like a 1st round pick and/or a REALLY good prospect) (also bad), or taken on a bad contract in return (this is bad too) in order to even begin a conversation that involved trading Doughty back when they were re-tooling
• Doughty had a full NMC up until last season (when it shifted to a M-NMC)
  • Even if you had worked out a trade deal with a team that wasn't completely absurd/terrible - Doughty himself would've needed to sign off on it
  • You can almost guarantee Doughty wouldn't consider waiving his NMC unless he was being sent to a legit contender... Legit contenders aren't looking to add $11m overpaid defensemen who are past their primes.
• Plus they also would've needed ownership to sign off on trading the franchise's all time best defensemen while also agreeing to a full rebuild
  • Ownership groups are typically very reluctant to want to do this

So between those 3 factors.... It almost wasn't even an option to begin with. The Kings would've needed to convince ownership to agree to a full rebuild, convince Doughty to waive his NMC, and would've needed to find a contender willing to take on an $11m defenseman who at the time was playing at like a $5-6m market value and at a time when the entire league was in serious cap hell.

 

[King'sPawn]

Without getting into the rest ( as this is the 10th time we’ve discussed it in the off season), it’s worth pointing out that Fiala cleared up much of his game once Hiller took over. Far fewer brain farts and bad penalties.

I agree. I just need to see more of it than a quarter of a season, compared to the rest of his body of work, to be confident it won't be an ongoing issue going forward.

 

[BigKing]

I said before and I said it again, if the Kings moved Doughty, they could have rolled out Faber, Clarke and Spence as the RHD.

Doughty and his huge contract have blocked prospects in addition to the Kings holding onto Roy for way too damn long.

But if you draft and trade for a bunch of RHD prospects--while basically ignoring the left side--you know that you won't have a spot for all of them. What does that mean? You trade from a strength to shore up weakness.

Blake traded the best one out of all of them and added a 1st round pick in the deal. Then he dumped the best piece of his Muzzin trade to clear cap space and acquire another asset to give away to Winnipeg in the Dubois deal. Grans was dumped to clear cap to get out of another bad contract and to fit the LHD Blake had to spend another 1st round pick on.

It is malpractice.

Doughty being here doesn't mean you have to piss away all of this RHD depth. You keep Faber. You trade Roy. You use Spence and Durzi as trade pieces and you move on from Grans earlier, even if it is for a similar prospect with a LHS on defense or a forward.

I disagree with you about which RHD move--or lack thereof--hurts the most: it is Faber. He is currently Blake's best draft pick and plays a premium position compared to Fiala. No GM in the league would do Faber for Fiala straight up today, never mind the 1st Blake attached.

 

[KopitarGOAT420]

That would require a GM with vision and confidence to do something that would potentially open himself up to major criticism.. Vision and confidence are in short supply with our 90s Kings management squad... this is perfect example of incompetent middle management types rising to the top when you dont have a meritocracy/accountability in place.

It's more than just having vision and confidence though.... There are other factors here.

Doughty's level of play back when this hypothetical Doughty trade would've happened was pretty poor. Many around the league were labeling him as washed up and one of the worst contracts in the entire league.

Even if the Kings had a GM with the vision and confidence to trade Doughty - It takes two to tango... They would've needed to find a contending team (in order to convince Doughty to waive his NMC) who was willing to take on Drew Doughty and his $11m cap hit at a time when he wasn't playing very well. In any such trade, the Kings would've surely needed to add sweetener(s) to the trade to get this hypothetical contending team to agree to take on Doughty's contract.

Do we still think the Kings should've traded Doughty if it would've meant a trade consisting of one or more of the following?

• Kings retain (likely 25% or more) on Doughty's remaining salary (which again, would've been 3-5 years ago in this hypothetically... So we're talking about retaining salary for almost the entirety of Doughty's $11m contract)
• Kings attach a 1st round pick as part of the deal as a sweetener
• Kings attach an A or B tier prospect to the deal as a sweetener
• Kings take on a terrible contract in return

The Sharks had to retain salary on Karlsson's contract and still received an underwhelming return after Karlsson had just put up a 100 point season.... Any deal that would've moved Doughty out of LA would've been shockingly terrible.

 

[Sol]

The Kings were up 2-1 before Fiala came back in the '23 playoffs.

Over the last three series, the Kings are 6-12 with the guys you named, 1-7 with Fiala. Those players are 1-7 with Fiala playing.

Arvidsson had 10 points in 11 playoff games as a King. 15 points in 18 games in the regular season last year. He is a good player that cost nothing to acquire--excluding "blocking" youth--while Fiala cost Doughty's replacement and a 1st. I don't think anyone is arguing that RV is a better player, but we were happy he was back since it solidifies the lines.

Not arguing for any of these players, but just pointing out some facts.

One can think Kevin Fiala is a very good hockey player and that he also doesn't move the needle for this team, which has been proven so far. Barring injuries, Faber should have many more years of impact seasons in the NHL than Fiala and would be the blueline counterpart to Byfield at forward. It's not Kopitar/Doughty but it is a pretty nice foundation to build a team around.

And you can be rest assured that it is anger and frustration at Blake and Co. over the Fiala deal and not Kevin Fiala himself. That said, you white knight for Fiala while shitting on Kopitar and Doughty which is definitely an angle.

Yeah also, Fiala was injured when they brought him into the line up in 23 in the playoffs. Important context. Doughty's replacement is a crazy reach when you consider the fact that Faber would absolutely be blocked by Doughty. I don't buy into the nonsense that you could immediately plug in the Faber into the Kings line up before minnesota and he'd turn into the same player. Skill and environment a player plays in plays a huge role in their development. Fiala is by far the most talented player the Kings have had at forward. He outscored Kopitar this year playing on some of the worst possible lines. "Eating the weak match ups" while playing on atrocious lines is still impressive. On top of that. 2023 he was clearly injured because he joined the line up later when he was still hobbling. And in 2024 they played him with Lewis. The critiques with context hold zero weight.

Also, I do think it's pretty sad that a lot of people have so much hate for Fiala and would rather lambast him rather than appreciate the superstar talent he has. He's a great player playing in a stupid organization.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think Fiala has the most points of any King since joining the team. Let’s see how he does paired up with Byfield for the upcoming season.

 

[Sol]

Look at how much you had to write to justify this trade.

And frankly, I don't even REALLY disagree with the simplified thesis--'the trade isn't that bad'--in a vacuum. The bigger problem is it's just one part of a much larger pattern of pisspoor player evaluation, stupid timing, and awful asset management.

Okay I can get behind this logically because it is 1000 percent stupid to call Fiala a bad player just because people don't like the trade. Fiala is an awesome player and at the time the value was right and I'd make the trade again if Doughty was going to take the spot.

If you guys really want to really really really ride the Faber trade then you should spend your energy bitching about Doughty still taking the helm regardless of how good he still is. There's zero reason why the Kings held onto Doughty if Faber was as good as you guys thought he was before the trade. They could have easily traded Doughty and gotten a good player in return but they instead held onto a guy who had zero reason to be held onto during a rebuild.

 

[Omni Owl]

I think BigKing is on to something with trading Roy instead of Doughty and keeping Faber instead. But its easy to look back at things in hindsight and say "coulda this, woulda that." Either way Blake majorly f***ed up in not moving Roy at the deadline.

I forgot Drew had a NMC so that makes moving him more complex. Plus knowing Blake, he wouldn't have even gotten a good return because he seems to get fleeced in just about every deal. Minny also drafted Ohgren in the Fiala deal and if he pans out to be a 2nd liner the trade looks even worse for us.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

To be honest, a lot of this just depends on whether or not Clarke hits. That, and how well Fiala clicks with Byfield.

You can make an argument that the Kings had 2 blue chip RHD prospects at the time of the Fiala/Faber trade - So the question essentially becomes: Did they make the right 'choice' (assuming it even was a choice to begin with) in trading Faber while keeping Clarke? Time will tell.

Like I said, if Clarke ends up becoming a star #1 D as well - All of the sudden it's not the end of the world that they lost Faber (but because that hasn't happened yet, losing Faber stings a bit extra). Clarke has more offensive upside while Faber's more responsible defensively... It's going to take time to see which player ends up being the better all around defenseman. I still think Clarke can be a Makar-lite type offensive defensemen who can put up 60-70+ points a season in his prime. He can also bring a level of swagger that has been missing from this group for quite some time. If he does that, the Kings will be missing Faber a lotttttt less.

And then if Fiala clicks with Byfield, that also eases the pain quite a bit. Those two could be magic together with the amount of speed, skill, and playmaking ability they bring to the table - If Fiala ends up being a fixture on Byfield's wing for the next 5 years, and the two help each other put up loads of points... The trade becomes more worth it because you not only acquired a dynamic scoring winger but you also acquired a really good complimentary linemate to your (hopefully) future franchise 1C.

I understand I'm hanging onto a bunch of "what if's" - But mainly just trying to acknowledge the fact that we still aren't seeing the full picture here. I get why people are frustrated/pessimistic/etc though.

The problem is no matter how you look at it, you have to hinge your arguments on "what if...?"

It's possible Faber has a sophomore slump, Clarke becomes a 1D, and Fiala scores triple digits in points. But I'm also not going to bet on it.

We've at least seen how Fiala is on the Kings. High-skill, sometimes undisciplined, and struggles to play well with others, where chemistry is an issue.

We also have seen the team lean way more than they should on Kopitar and Doughty, so Clarke rising up as the No. 1, at least this season, is a longshot.

We have also seen Faber just get better. And the only evidence to suggest he'd slump is it happens to others as teams key on to them.

I'm rooting for Fiala and Clarke because they are Kings, but the trade looks very bad for a franchise who exited the rebuild too soon. Fiala just turned 28, and we've yet to see any prospects take the reins from the previous core. It appears he'll be 30 by the time it happens. How much more mileage do you expect out of him at that point?

Because at absolute best it was still poor asset management.

Out:
Faber
Durzi
Walker
Grans
(bonus: Toby)

In:
Fiala
2 million of Provorov
part of PLDisaster

 

[Statto]

I agree. I just need to see more of it than a quarter of a season, compared to the rest of his body of work, to be confident it won't be an ongoing issue going forward.

Completely agree with that.