Did Lombardi do enough for this team at the trade deadline?

[Sheng Peng]

I have to disagree with you and point to our cup first and then to how well Martinez is playing during this series.

Martinez has played well since coming back, but keep in mind that he's averaging 12:59 ATOI; those are bottom-pairing minutes. Same goes for last year's playoffs at 14:28 ATOI.

He may have the potential to excel in a second-pairing, but I'm not seeing it yet. Greene, as someone mentioned, isn't mobile enough to succeed there.

I think Greene-Martinez could fill in okay as a second pairing in case of injury, but not in the long term and not against the likes of the Blackhawks, etc.. They'd be quickly exposed in such a series.

Of course, we've been spoiled. But we are talking about a contender and not a fringe playoff team.

 

[etherialone]

Martinez has played well since coming back, but keep in mind that he's averaging 12:59 ATOI; those are bottom-pairing minutes. Same goes for last year's playoffs at 14:28 ATOI.

He may have the potential to excel in a second-pairing, but I'm not seeing it yet. Greene, as someone mentioned, isn't mobile enough to succeed there.

I think Greene-Martinez could fill in okay as a second pairing in case of injury, but not in the long term and not against the likes of the Blackhawks, etc.. They'd be quickly exposed in such a series.

Of course, we've been spoiled. But we are talking about a contender and not a fringe playoff team.

I think you are perfectly correct.

The Greene today isn't the Greene of yesterday and I have always seen Greene as an ideal 3rd pairing dman. A Mart I believe would be a second pairing dman and would excel if given more responsibility/minutes with all but a four or five teams in the league. But as of now I think you have it nailed, they are better suited as a fill in second pairing on an as needed basis then as a set in stone everyday one.

I must have been taking too many meds yesterday.

 

[kingsfan]

Martinez has played well since coming back, but keep in mind that he's averaging 12:59 ATOI; those are bottom-pairing minutes. Same goes for last year's playoffs at 14:28 ATOI.

He may have the potential to excel in a second-pairing, but I'm not seeing it yet. Greene, as someone mentioned, isn't mobile enough to succeed there.

I think Greene-Martinez could fill in okay as a second pairing in case of injury, but not in the long term and not against the likes of the Blackhawks, etc.. They'd be quickly exposed in such a series.

Of course, we've been spoiled. But we are talking about a contender and not a fringe playoff team.

Quoting ice time is flawed. Ahead of him are Doughty, Regehr, Scuderi and Voynov. Who exactly is he suppoed to take ice time from?

Just because he's playing on the third pairing doesn't mean he's only a 3rd pairing guy. It means the four defensemen ahead of him are better than him. There's nothing wrong with that, in fact it shows our strength.

I'd be perfectly fine if Martinez had to move up to the second pairing. Even the top pairing as long as it was with Doughty.

 

[Sheng Peng]

Quoting ice time is flawed. Ahead of him are Doughty, Regehr, Scuderi and Voynov. Who exactly is he suppoed to take ice time from?

Just because he's playing on the third pairing doesn't mean he's only a 3rd pairing guy. It means the four defensemen ahead of him are better than him. There's nothing wrong with that, in fact it shows our strength.

I'd be perfectly fine if Martinez had to move up to the second pairing. Even the top pairing as long as it was with Doughty.

It's just a matter of opinion then. Of course ATOI doesn't mean Martinez isn't good enough to be in the top-four; you point out correctly that he's hard pressed to move past Doughty and Voynov as our PMDs. ATOI does tell us that we've yet to see Martinez in a lot of high-leverage situations (almost no short-handed time) over the last couple of seasons, so it makes it harder to judge how he'll handle 20-plus mins a night. Personally, I don't think he's suited for it if we have championship aspirations.

 

[jfont]

How is Willie Mitchel's rehab going btw?

 

[Whiskeypete]

How is Willie Mitchel's rehab going btw?

hard to say because all along the news has largely been smoke and mirrors imo. he has had two setbacks since the surgery as he was going through rehab. that much we know from different articles and quotes from Kings personnel. it is severe enough that there is speculation it may be career ending at this point. again it is speculation, so who knows what is truth and what is conjecture.

 

[CowMix]

Mitchel is probably doing us a cap favor by not retiring when he most likely plans to.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

My only concern for the D is getting Voynov resigned, and doing so in a manner which is resonably cap friendly.

Assuming we can do that, we have:

Doughty-Voynov
Greene-Martinez
Muzzin-Ellerby

Not dynamite compared to last year, but really, that D stacks up well against many other D's in the league. I think our expectations have been spoiled by the greatness we've had on D recently.

Greene-Martinez aren't legit top-four guys, and I don't believe that second pairing matches up all that well with other contenders. They make a great bottom-pairing and an below-average to average second pairing.

I agree, something better needs to come back. The Kings defense was so good because you had guys like Greene and Martinez as bottom pairing...now that is what I call depth.

 

[bobafettish*]

Mitchel is probably doing us a cap favor by not retiring when he most likely plans to.

well he is collecting a check, so its not like he's doing it out of the kindness of his hear.

 

[damacles1156]

Sutter already said A-Mart at 12mins a night....is not enough.

So A-Mart needs to take it up a notch.