Around the League Thread part V

[Raccoon Jesus]

My hot take is that the Kings will have a top-10 PP this year.

 

[Sol]

My hot take is that the Kings will have a top-10 PP this year.

That’s not hot. The sun level inferno.

The only way kings have a good pp is if Anze-Half Wall- Kopitar plays second unit or if the PPs get even distribution

 

[Herby]

My hot take is that the Kings will have a top-10 PP this year.

I wouldn't go that far. They are to lefty centric, especially with it being run through a lefty on the right half wall. They totally lack that right shot finisher who can just blow the puck by people from the left circle (should have listened to me in 2019 )

But I don't think it will be as bad as last year, I think it gets overlooked just how awful Iafallo and Danault were on the PP.

Fiala and hopefully Kaliyev help, although I do wonder if Doughty is an improvement on the PP over Durzi, I am not so sure. But there is no chance Durzi plays over Doughty.

Sol. I would guess anywhere from 12 to 20. There are as many awful teams that the Kings should easily have a better PP than as there are really good teams we have no chance of being better than.

 

[johnjm22]

Doughty was very productive on the PP last season. 27 PP point pace, which would be 6th best in the NHL among all Dmen.

Fiala is a near elite offensive player at even strength, but he kind of sucks on the Power Play. Perfect King.

Any special teams coach that looks at the situation objectively, will come to the conclusion that Kaliyev needs to be a core piece on the PP. Not many other options really.

I love the awesome two-way game of guys like Moore, Danault and Iafallo but these guys aren't good Power Play guys.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Don't forget, new PP coach with a history of massive results!

 

[kilowatt]

Kopitar signed a 7 year, $6.8 million per year contract on October 11th, 2008 (before the final year of his ELC even started). At the time, his contract took up 12% of the cap. He had 52 goals, 138 points, and a -27 in his first two seasons.

Stutzle through his first two seasons has 34 goals, 87 points, and a -45. He just signed an 8 year contract at only 10% of the cap, and don’t forget that he made it to the NHL a year younger than Kopitar.

I’m not suggesting that Stutzle is better than Kopitar, but I am suggesting that this contract isn’t nearly as bad as some here think and if you have the opportunity to lock up a budding star, you do it as soon as possible.

 

[Sparky206]

Doughty was very productive on the PP last season. 27 PP point pace, which would be 6th best in the NHL among all Dmen.

Fiala is a near elite offensive player at even strength, but he kind of sucks on the Power Play. Perfect King.

Any special teams coach that looks at the situation objectively, will come to the conclusion that Kaliyev needs to be a core piece on the PP. Not many other options really.

I love the awesome two-way game of guys like Moore, Danault and Iafallo but these guys aren't good Power Play guys.

God can only hope that someone sends our PP guys Kaliyevs highlight reels from juniors of him sitting in the right circle and blasting one timers Ovetchkin style. They put him there for two shifts last year and he scored both times. Its almost criminal how much he was misused on the PP last year. Every time Frk came in they revolved the whole PP around his shot, Kaliyev is just as good on one timers.

 

[Kudelski37]

Kopitar signed a 7 year, $6.8 million per year contract on October 11th, 2008 (before the final year of his ELC even started). At the time, his contract took up 12% of the cap. He had 52 goals, 138 points, and a -27 in his first two seasons.

Stutzle through his first two seasons has 34 goals, 87 points, and a -45. He just signed an 8 year contract at only 10% of the cap, and don’t forget that he made it to the NHL a year younger than Kopitar.

I’m not suggesting that Stutzle is better than Kopitar, but I am suggesting that this contract isn’t nearly as bad as some here think and if you have the opportunity to lock up a budding star, you do it as soon as possible.

I don't think the Kings had a player signed for over 4 million aav at the time Kopitar signed that extension. Quick, Doughty, and Brown combined for only 12 million aav during the 11-12 season.

While Stutzle's contract might be comparable to Kopitar's, the contracts of the teammates aren't comparable. Stutzle is the fourth Senator signed long term for ~8 million aav, with a couple of other players signed for 6+ million on shorter contracts. Ottawa will likely deal with depth issues in the coming seasons, like Edmonton and Toronto have faced since extending their top guys.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

They put him there for two shifts last year and he scored both times.

Let's not get carried away...

I'm counting 6 PPGs and only one of them was on his off wing.

 

[King'sPawn]

Kopitar signed a 7 year, $6.8 million per year contract on October 11th, 2008 (before the final year of his ELC even started). At the time, his contract took up 12% of the cap. He had 52 goals, 138 points, and a -27 in his first two seasons.

Stutzle through his first two seasons has 34 goals, 87 points, and a -45. He just signed an 8 year contract at only 10% of the cap, and don’t forget that he made it to the NHL a year younger than Kopitar.

I’m not suggesting that Stutzle is better than Kopitar, but I am suggesting that this contract isn’t nearly as bad as some here think and if you have the opportunity to lock up a budding star, you do it as soon as possible.

I think the issue here is 138 points in 154 games, during the early part of the cap era where everyone knew the cap would be rising. Kopitar was also the third leading scorer of his team his rookie year and led the team in scoring before he signed his contract.

Vs.

87 points in 132 games. The cap has since leveled off as well. He ended his rookie year 6th on team scoring and 2nd last season. He was also only ahead of Norris by 3 points despite playing 13 more games.

Again, I agree it's not a terrible contract, but it's a risky one. Kopitar has shown a lot more with a lot of reasonable speculation of a rising cap. The concerns and criticisms are more than valid.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Players have more power these days. The cost of doing business.

Any contract after the ELC can be criticized as too much money, but especially so if the guy in question has had any success on his ELC. His production probably won't jump as high in future years as 10x the money you're now paying. To go from 60pts at $900k to even 70pts at $8m, that's not efficient. Not that there's much choice in the matter.

 

[lumbergh]

Let's not get carried away...

I'm counting 6 PPGs and only one of them was on his off wing.

Raging hockey boner after watching that.

 

[KINGS17]

I wouldn't go that far. They are to lefty centric, especially with it being run through a lefty on the right half wall. They totally lack that right shot finisher who can just blow the puck by people from the left circle (should have listened to me in 2019 )

But I don't think it will be as bad as last year, I think it gets overlooked just how awful Iafallo and Danault were on the PP.

Fiala and hopefully Kaliyev help, although I do wonder if Doughty is an improvement on the PP over Durzi, I am not so sure. But there is no chance Durzi plays over Doughty.

Sol. I would guess anywhere from 12 to 20. There are as many awful teams that the Kings should easily have a better PP than as there are really good teams we have no chance of being better than.

The Kings PP will be lackluster until they replace the guy with his ass glued to the half-wall.

 

[kilowatt]

I don't think the Kings had a player signed for over 4 million aav at the time Kopitar signed that extension. Quick, Doughty, and Brown combined for only 12 million aav during the 11-12 season.

While Stutzle's contract might be comparable to Kopitar's, the contracts of the teammates aren't comparable. Stutzle is the fourth Senator signed long term for ~8 million aav, with a couple of other players signed for 6+ million on shorter contracts. Ottawa will likely deal with depth issues in the coming seasons, like Edmonton and Toronto have faced since extending their top guys.

And at the time Kopitar signed his extension, the cap ceiling was $56.7 million. A $4 million contract then would be nearly $6 million against today's cap. The cap for the 2011-12 season was $64.3 million. Today's cap is $82.5 million. And using Kopitar instead of Quick would be a more apt comparison between the two teams. The Senators have ~17 million tied up this year (and about $24.5 million next year) for their three best players, Tkachuk, Chabot, and Stutzle, while LA was paying Kopitar, Doughty, and Brown ~17.5 million in 2012.

All I'm saying is that the Kings were paying their three best skaters almost 30% (okay, maybe more like 27%) of the cap when the cup, and Ottawa will be doing the same next year when Stutzle's contract kicks in (about 29%).

 

[yankeeking]

The reason we didn’t like kovy’s contract was his age simply, he was 35 and like we expected we were stuck with the 6 million cap hit for nothing , and who exactly was happy about Petersons contract most question it with such a small sample size , but there was this one guy who constantly berated quick maybe he was

 

[Sol]

The reason we didn’t like kovy’s contract was his age simply, he was 35 and like we expected we were stuck with the 6 million cap hit for nothing , and who exactly was happy about Petersons contract most question it with such a small sample size , but there was this one guy who constantly berated quick maybe he was

Yeah but the Kings signed him because they had no choice. They couldn’t score a goal in the Vegas series and they wanted to improve the powerplay supposedly even though Stevens put a sniper on high tip duty for reasons I will never understand.

Kovalchuk wasn’t doing bad either. You were getting him solely for his shot which he had not lost. Even then Kovalchuk was one of the best players on a King for a few stretches and ended up getting grossly mismanaged. He played well for the most part, 3 years for a great sniper was not a bad deal the day they signed it. They wanted to improve the offense, they just sucked at implementing him

 

[Fishhead]

The kings should never sign pure snipers to generate offense. Creators like Gaborik fit much better here, the offense just isnt designed to open up space for a one timer.

Its ironic because TM teams traditionally move the puck quickly for one-timers, there are definitely a lot of fingerprints on the offense.

 

[kingsfan28]

My hot take is that the Kings will have a top-10 PP this year.

if that comes true, that worth at least 5 more wins.

 

[Sol]

if that comes true, that worth at least 5 more wins.

if the Kings had a decent powerplay they would have beat the Oilers. And if they beat the oilers they would have walked the Flames. It would have been insane. I am 100 percent theyd beat the flames. It was clear that the oilers were the best team in the playoffs from the pacific. Looking back on last season, crazy how much difference a decent pp would do.

 

[Herby]

if that comes true, that worth at least 5 more wins.

10th place PP last year was 23%, the Kings were 27th at 16%

Had the Kings PP clicked at 23% last season they would have scored 17 more PP goals. You have to figure that turns a lot of those OT games (Kings played 21) into regulation wins, which not only helps the Kings but hurts their opponents.

The Kings had a totally unsustainable record in 1 goal games last season, there is no chance its repeated, that is the big metric that has some people pessimistic on the Kings getting back to the high 90's/low 100's point total. But an improving PP will be the easiest way to balance that out.

Even finishing 18th on the PP would have resulted in 8 more goals, and that is a huuuuuuge difference for a low-scoring defense first team like the Kings that played so many close games.

If the Kings PP finishes 25th or worse this season the chances of making the playoffs are very small. The Kings and the Caps were the only two teams who finished bottom 12 on the PP to make the playoffs.

 

[ru4reals]

My hot take is that the Kings will have a top-10 PP this year.

Can' wait to see Iafallo's tremendous contributions to that power play. LOL.

We all know who's going to be on Todd's new top unit.

Iafallo-Kopi-Lemieux
Lizotte-Anderson.

 

[Schmooley]

Can' wait to see Iafallo's tremendous contributions to that power play. LOL.

We all know who's going to be on Todd's new top unit.

Iafallo-Kopi-Lemieux
Lizotte-Anderson.

The Fiala signing signaled they have little faith in the prospects being in the top six and also signaled the end of Iafallo in a top six/powerplay role unless injuries happen and he gets moved up the lineup.
Maybe hes on the second unit as a puck retriever though.

 

[ru4reals]

The Fiala signing signaled they have little faith in the prospects being in the top six and also signaled the end of Iafallo in a top six/powerplay role unless injuries happen and he gets moved up the lineup.
Maybe hes on the second unit as a puck retriever though.

Goodness sakes I hope you are right. Because Todd's infatuation with Alex isn't going away anytime soon. lol.

 

[KINGS17]

The kings should never sign pure snipers to generate offense. Creators like Gaborik fit much better here, the offense just isnt designed to open up space for a one timer.

Its ironic because TM teams traditionally move the puck quickly for one-timers, there are definitely a lot of fingerprints on the offense.

I didn't realize how greasy a player Gaborik was until I saw him play for the Kings. In his 2014 playoff performance his 14 goals probably traveled less than a total distance of 100 feet.

 

[Telos]

I would say that the Kings' recent acquisitions have made their prospect situation challenging, but is not necessarily a vote of little faith or no confidence for them. It's hard to say either way honestly, because you want to scratch your head and wonder why not give some of these kids a shot at taking a top spot, but literally, all of their recent signings and trades look amazing so far and we've given up little to nothing to acquire them...

Honestly, I feel Blake has done an outstanding job organizing the rebuild, gathering the picks and selections, and making good deals while managing assets. I kind of don't put much blame on him because a lot of the "mistakes" made are potential misteps that anybody would make in his position. He put the team in the best position to acquire as many promising prospects as possible, he clearly and wisely relies on his scouting staff to deliver the picks and isn't overriding or making selections over Yannetti, and he has run into amazing opportunities to acquire guaranteed quality players and has done well to jump on them. Obviously, fans want to see some visual acknowledgment of drafting and player development being addressed or tweaked given recent concerns, but no organization is going to show their hand like that and who knows what is happening behind the scenes, we are just going to have to wait and see what happens and judge it all years later when the dust settles.

There's no way you pass up Fiala there. They knew Faber wanted to go to Minny and had an opportunity to add a true first-line talent and best winger this team has had in probably a decade or maybe more. Fiala is young, in his prime, just had a career year, and signed a more reasonable deal than Stutzle... They got him without having to give up a roster player or any of their blue-chip prospects, no slight to Faber and I know there are some on these boards that believe he is of that caliber though I disagree.

With the logjam this has all created, it has also added a lot of insurance to a completely stocked pipeline in that with or without the prospects, the Kings are a playoff-caliber team... It is a position that many around the league may consider envious. Obviously, we are all holding our breath for some of these prospects to blossom as that is the #1 key to advancing and God help us if none do and Kopitar goes does, but it's a good time to be a Kings fan and we have a lot to be excited about to see how this all goes down.

The prospects are just going to have to develop on the bottom 6 and rip their spots out of the hands of some regular players for better or worse.