He is too limited, especially defensively, as a player to get more ice time than Kopitar or Danault and Blake won't let the coaches move him to wing. He started with Fiala, the Kings top scoring winger, and on PP1. He stunk so they changed his wingers and bumped him to PP2. Every winger plays worse with PLD. Square peg, round hole.
Dubois
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johnjm22
Pseudo Intellectual
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So many ups and downs. And we're all a bunch of reactionaries.
PLD playing like crap. Vilardi scoring. Jets in first place. It's one of the worst trades in franchise history.
PLD finally plays 3 good games in a row. Jets and Vilardi go cold and suddenly we're feeling a little bit better.
I was ready to give up multiple 1sts to get rid of this guy. I've stepped back from the ledge just a little bit.
PLD playing like crap. Vilardi scoring. Jets in first place. It's one of the worst trades in franchise history.
PLD finally plays 3 good games in a row. Jets and Vilardi go cold and suddenly we're feeling a little bit better.
I was ready to give up multiple 1sts to get rid of this guy. I've stepped back from the ledge just a little bit.
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lumbergh
It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
If there’s anything PLD is good at, it’s playing with your emotions.
Herby
Thank You, Team 144
If he can return to what he’s been his entire career (a 60-70 point 2C) it’s just a neutral trade where they are paying him to much for to long. The frustrating thing is, if it is blown up, how well does he fit with our rebuild going forward? He’s 4 years older than QB, 5 years older than Clarke, 9-10-11 years older than the high picks we could have in the coming years if we do rebuild. Just like with the Fiala thing, it was fine in the flawed strategy of trying to win with 11 and 8, but the fact is that was a flawed strategy that has lead to some poor situations, including losing what is looking more and more like a franchise defenseman trying to chase this hopeless quest of winning with 11 and 8.
As for Vilardi, people did the same thing with Vilardi’s season last year. He’s a wildly streaky scoring winger who can look like a world beater for a little bit and then disappear. People will come at me with the “you bad him as a bust” and ok, fair point, I was wrong, but these same people were talking about him being a star scorer or some huge difference maker, which isn’t looking like it’s the case either. Streaky scorers who put up modest 2nd line production while missing 20 games a season aren’t worthless, but they also aren’t some super valuable asset as some here thought.
The Faber trade is going to be way way way more damaging long-term for this team, and in the now as well. Faber is better than any d-man on the Kings through 50 games and makes 925k, Vilardi would probably be behind Kempe, Kopitar, Byfield, Fiala, Moore, Arvidsson and Danault as far as forwards. Still a solid top 9 guy at age 25, but his loss was overstated based on a hot 10 days and PLD being total ass like he had never been in his career.
Iafallo is a negative asset and Kupari is waiver wire fodder. The deal basically comes down to Durzi (aka the 2nd) and two guys who are 25 and 26 and how they do. Sometimes I think people forget that PLD and Vilardi are only a year apart. Neither guy very likely has any kind of untapped potential, what you see is what you get. An underachieving enigma center with attitude issues who has never lived up to his top 5 draft spot signed for 7 more seasons at $8.5m and an injury prone streaky 2nd line winger with major skating deficiencies who may also have some attitude issues.
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FrozenKing18
Where is my super suit?
johnjm22
Pseudo Intellectual
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I don't think 8.5M is an over payment for a 25yo 60-70pts center who has some highly desirable attributes.
Problem is, he's always looked better on paper than he actually is.
I'm guessing LA will be just good enough to keep them from going into rebuild mode, so we don't have to answer the question about where he fits.
If Faber and Fiala continue on their current trajectories Blake will always be remembered for that trade. Always. And we'll be talking about it all through the 2030's.
Dadof5boys
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johnjm22
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Lt Dan
F*** your ice cream!
kilowatt
the vibes are not immaculate
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Three games does not a season make. How do we explain the previous 49 games? What kind of professional athlete sandbags for half a season because he doesn't like his coach? He's the highest paid forward on the team right now, he's going to need to do a lot to redeem himself in my eyes and he's not even close to that right now.
unicornpig
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You can also say 49 games does not a career make. A lot of stars sand bag on their coach. Just depends if they win or not with the new coach, they win all is forgotten
Live in the Now
Registered User
It wasn't only that he was sandbagging, he was also playing with players who anyone on our team would be incapable of producing with. It's both
- May 9, 2014
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Maybe he just needs a certain type of man management. The days of a single approach to man management are gone, we need to get used to it.
That said, the sample size is too small to conclude that Hiller has him worked out, although it looks promising.
That said, the sample size is too small to conclude that Hiller has him worked out, although it looks promising.
Easy answer QUINTON BYFIELD!!!
Cianide
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I disagree. Vilardi could be a star player in this league. Even moreso if he was playing center.
All The Kings Men
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I'm not sure how much coverage it got and I'm not sure anybody wanted to be the one to hammer the point home but there were multiple conversations in post practice media availabilites about Kupari possibly "being exactly who he was" meaning McLellan and the press corps talked about him as essentially being the player we all saw.
A penalty kiling faceoff winning bottom six player with limited offensive upside but dynamite skating ability.
His comp was frequently Trevor Lewis but as I said I'm not sure anybody wanted to be the one to publicly make that declaration.
Also nobody was even there for most of those conversations...
There were a couple games he played on the wing and was throwing his weight around like a power forward. Just dont think he has the brain to put together all 3 zones as a centerman.
Cianide
Under New Management
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You'd be surprised at what critical people can do to others and how toxic they can actually be.
And then the Kings signed Lewis, so...
They are similar offensively for different reasons. If Lewis had Kupari's shot, he would easily score 15 goals from the fourth line. Kupari doesn't know how to be effective offensively. He doesn't shoot much or understand where the defense needs to be attacked. Contrast this to when he had breakaways or 1 on 1s and looked decisive. There is a slight chance he could finally figure it out at wing, but most coaches won't want to lose his faceoff ability.
Herby
Thank You, Team 144
I really thought Kupari would eventually find his game.
We need one of those Scooby-Doo villain meme things with Nick Shore being the man under the Kupari mask.
Live in the Now
Registered User
It's also not just that he was sandbagging. He was sandbagging to a point but it wasn't constant. The last 20 or so games Todd was actively trying to make sure he failed. 'You played bad so you don't get a chance to snap out of it, and I am going to stick you with linemates who can't score, and until you score or get them to score it's staying that way' is horrendous player management. Todd sandbagged more than anyone else on the team anyway. The team couldn't win and he decided to strap the anchor to the ship, not going to try any new line combos or strategy no matter what, and sink the ship.
