At what point is it time for a rebuild?

[The Tikkanen]

BTW, I don't think there is any way Tavares is going to sign with the Kings. We are getting the same team next season with the addition of Valardi and some minor tweaks.

...and a Luc Robitaille commercial.

That would be depressing. Not trying to win, not re-building, not retooling, I feel like I've experienced that before. The draft is just for making picks, no trades and July 1-3 all the names go to other teams besides LA leading us to a diving board over a dumpster with Cammalerri looking up at us.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

This team needs another Palffy like acquisition. Kopitar needs a winger who can finish when he defers the goal scoring to his line mates. Brown is fine as a RW option, but give him another winger who can blast the f***ing puck.

 

[johnjm22]

This team needs another Palffy like acquisition. Kopitar needs a winger who can finish when he defers the goal scoring to his line mates. Brown is fine as a RW option, but give him another winger who can blast the ****ing puck.

Problem is, in order to get Palffy the Kings had to give up Ollie Jokinen. That's basically the equivalent of us giving up Vilardi today.

For sure we could use a winger like Palffy though. He was very shifty and capable of creating offense on his own. Ziggy also had kind of an attitude at times (I mean that in a good way). He could play agitated and with an edge. There was nights where he was hell bent on scoring a goal himself. A player like that is a good counter balance to Kopitar who's kind of a ho-hum "good guy".

 

[Peter James Bond II]

lol loaded. Meanwhile the Kings have...Amadio? Kempe? LaDue? Better pray Vilardi, Clague, and JAD make impacts.

Kempe is legit...outscored Toffoli and Pearson in top 6 minutes games. Kempe: 16 goals in 50 games (the last 30 games were line 3)
in top 6 = goal every 3.1 game. Toffoli 24 goals in 82 games, goal every 3.4 games. Pearson 15 goals in 82 games = goal every 5.4 games.
PLUS, TT and Pearson got PP time and Kempe, not much. Many would have been fine, packaging Kempe last year...He's shown he can
play, score and speed can beat just about any defenseman in this league. I would deal TT or Pearson before Kempe for sure.

Amadio can play and would be foolish to deal him now...as his worth is more than you could get in a deal. His 20 game point streak in the AHL
this year was pretty epic, playing with players like Mersch , Hensik, Moulson. He does more with the puck on the Kings than most and
has amazing vision. Give him a chance. He was stellar last nights Ontario playoff game, a goal and 2 assists. He can play. Ladue - too early to give up om him as well. Yes, jealous too, when I see these seemingly marginal
prospects on other teams come in and blow it up.

Vilardi will be the Kings best drafted forward since Kopitar and make impact this year. I just want to see 2 main things off season -
get DD signed and get a legit LW for Anze. Iafallo is a pretty decent player, but belongs on line 3.
Thinking 1 of TT, Pearson and 1 of Muzzin, Martinez could be going.
Vilardi and Brickley should make impacts.

 

[Noonan61]

I think a Palffy type will cost way too much. I think you look at an Anders Lee, Athanasiou, Galchenyuk or maybe a Mike Hoffman type. If not, maybe go the free agent route and get a Perron or Neal to fill the spot on a short term basis.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The closest thing to a Palffy who may be available this summer will likely be overpriced in the free agent front, and that option would be Kovalchuk.

I don't see many Palffy types available via trade, unfortunately. And like johnjm22 already mentioned, it likely would cost way too much to acquire one via trade if such a player was even available.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

Think Minnesota would bite on a Toffoli for Niederreiter trade?

I don't get this idea of trading Toffoli when the Kings need scoring. Toffoli had more points than anyone you guys are trying to trade him for this year without Carter. I would love to get Nino but not for Toffoli.

Toffoli was top 40 in goals for Wingers this year. That's first line winger numbers.

Toffoli was also in the top 50 in points for wingers...again first line winger stats. And that was playing without Carter most of the year.

Hypothetical ask for Doughty + Quick?

Drai + Talbot + ???

For a division rival it would cost a ton to get one of if not the best Dman and Elite goalies in the league.

Drai + Talbot + Puljujarvi + Bear + 1st

 

[2-4 Slashin]

This is the exact same thing that I was talking to some fellow Kings fans about.
Using the template of the Bruins as well as what Detroit was able to do for a good decade plus is about the only way that we can keep the train rolling with Doughty on board. Adding youth and staying competitive is going to require some very skilled scouting of other teams for trades and possibly the trading of one or two of the core player like Carter and Toffoli or Muzzin. It’s going to hurt a little bit but it’s the only way you can keep this train rolling not have it turn into a complete wreck.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Pearson and Toffoli are stale. Kings either need to shift them down up or down a line or move one of them.

Basically, we have half a first line. Kopitar and Brown, and like everyone else said, a gaping hole on the wing. No Williams, no Lucic, not barely a prime Gaborik.

The second line is stale. Carter, Toffoli, and Pearson is 2014. How many teams are icing the same line from 4 years ago and still in the playoffs? The third line of Reider-Kempe-Lewis did nothing. First off, Reider was a huge disappointment, Kempe is better on the wing especially with Vilardi and Amadio coming up. Thompson is the 4th line center, Kopitar and Carter are 1 & 2 centers. Amadio needs to claim that 3rd line center spot. Vilardi is only 18 years old. Bottom line.

The 4th line is crap. Clifford, Andreoff, Thompson, Mitchell? Ugh. The fastest guy is Mitchell and he’s 33. Thompson is 33. We are supposed to be younger and faster.

I would like to see a 3rd line of Iaffalo-Amadio-Kempe.

I would do a 4th line of Andreoff-Thompson-Lewis. Andreoff is quicker than Clifford and adds more energy and stirs things up a bit more. Lewis has speed to make up for Thompson.

I don’t know what the Kings do with the second line. Maybe deal one of the Pearson and Toffoli. Maybe move Toffoli up with Kopitar and Brown and Kings get another RW for Carter-Pearson.

Either way, things need to change. Kings should let Mitchell and Reider walk. Amadio and Brodzinski need to step up and make the team. Kings need to add one more forward.

 

[The Tikkanen]

I'd move any player with less than a 10% shooting percentage not named Iafallo-I also see him as a better option on the 3rd line. The problem with the Kings scoring is there are too many forwards who lack above average skill level and that is where the league is headed.

 

[PeoriaBlues309]

Blues fan that lives in Los Angeles coming in peace of course, but I’d love Carter if you guys end up moving him. Would this move the needle for him?

Tage Thompson
Ivan Barbashev/Vladimir Sobotka
WPG 2018 1st
STL 2019 2nd/3rd

 

[Fishhead]

Blues fan that lives in Los Angeles coming in peace of course, but I’d love Carter if you guys end up moving him. Would this move the needle for him?

Tage Thompson
Ivan Barbashev/Vladimir Sobotka
WPG 2018 1st
STL 2019 2nd/3rd

I think it would start with your first rounder this year and go from there.

 

[KINGS17]

Blues fan that lives in Los Angeles coming in peace of course, but I’d love Carter if you guys end up moving him. Would this move the needle for him?

Tage Thompson
Ivan Barbashev/Vladimir Sobotka
WPG 2018 1st
STL 2019 2nd/3rd

Counter with
St. Louis and Kings swap 2018 first round picks.
Winnipeg's 2018 1st round pick
Ivan Barbashyov
Tage Thompson
and the Kings choice of the St. Louis 2019 or 2020 2nd round pick

Never mind: I didn't know the Blues don't have a first round pick other than NJ's 1st round pick.

 

[johnjm22]

Trying to gauge Carter's value is interesting. He's been traded twice before.

First For:
Jakub Voracek
2011 1st round pick (#8-Sean Couturier)
2011 3rd round pick (#68-Nick Cousins)

Second Time For:
Jack Johnson
2013 1st round pick (Marko Dano)


Today Carter is probably held in higher regard as a player because of what he's accomplished in LA. Plus he's a center now. And his cap hit is much cheaper these days relatively speaking.

But he's also much older now and coming off an injury.

I think 3 quality assets is the best you could get for him. Something like:
2018 1st
2019 1st
Robert Thomas

 

[Maynard]

No way in hell Carter gets you two 1st round picks imo.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Far more likely it's closer to the Columbus return than the Philly one.

 

[Rorschach]

Trying to gauge Carter's value is interesting. He's been traded twice before.

First For:
Jakub Voracek
2011 1st round pick (#8-Sean Couturier)
2011 3rd round pick (#68-Nick Cousins)

Second Time For:
Jack Johnson
2013 1st round pick (Marko Dano)


Today Carter is probably held in higher regard as a player because of what he's accomplished in LA. Plus he's a center now. And his cap hit is much cheaper these days relatively speaking.

But he's also much older now and coming off an injury.

I think 3 quality assets is the best you could get for him. Something like:
2018 1st
2019 1st
Robert Thomas

Unless we retain significant salary, I think it's closer to 2/3 of those than 3/3. Agree with everything else you said.

 

[johnjm22]

Unless we retain significant salary, I think it's closer to 2/3 of those than 3/3. Agree with everything else you said.

A lot of Carter's value rests on his low cap hit. So I think his value varies alot depending on who you're trading him to. Teams that think they're close to winning the SC, but are handcuffed by limited cap space is where he'd have a lot of value.

Say Nashville loses to Pittsburgh again, or Tampa/Toronto/Boston are close but can't get by the Pens in the East and they just need one more piece. He'd have a lot of value to those types of teams. But not as much to say Winnipeg or Vegas becuase they're not up against the cap and able to explore other options.

Regardless, none of this matters because apparently they're not trading him. He should have been traded last offseason.

 

[DoktorJeep]

The only move after this season but before next one, which says rebuild is a trade in the summer of any of Doughty, Kopitar or Quick. Too many obstacles to moving the last two, so the only realistic speculation is around Doughty.

If a rebuild were to happen, I would want it to be justified by some 2-3 year plan which makes this team into one which competes for the division title every season and goes on deep playoff runs every 5 years or so.

The sell off part is the easy part of the rebuild, so let’s start with Doughty and rank which handful of players are best to move and speculate on the ideal returns.

1.Drew Doughty - 2018 1st round pick, a 1996 born (or younger) NHL forward with 20+ goals, top 3 Junior prospect drafted in the past 2 years, and a 2018 2nd round pick. Example, Toronto sends us Nylander and Liljegren.

2. Jake Muzzin - late 20s NHL forward with at least two 30 goal seasons. Example, Ottawa sends us Mike Hoffman.

3. Jeff Carter - 2018 late 1st round pick, and an NHL left handed forward who kills penalties and plays on the fourth line for up to 12 minutes a game (like Iafallo). Example, NJ sends us Jesper Bratt.

4. Alec Martinez - 2018 3rd round pick, and forward prospect with immediate NHL potential and a high scoring ceiling who maybe has some red flags which have kept him from being given ice time. Example, NYI sends us Joshua Ho Sang.

5. Dustin Brown (salary retained) - late 20s NHL forward with at least 2 20 goal seasons and an expensive contract. Example, CAR sends us Jeff Skinner.

NHL depth chart
Forwards
Kopitar
Skinner
Hoffman
Nylander
Toffoli
Kempe
Pearson
Bratt
Lewis
Reider
Iafallo
HoSang
Amadio
Vilardi



Defensemen
Phaneuf
Forbort
Folin
LaDue
Liljegren
Brickley
Clague

Goalies
Quick
Campbell