Game 12: Kings Win in Regulation!!! Kings 5 - Flames 0

[SettlementRichie10]

Every coach plays young players. That doesn't mean Sutter hasn't shown a predilection to preferring veterans over youth.

Look no further than the 2014 run. Pearson was more than ready for top six minutes, and was inexplicably scratched for the first three games of the Sharks series. Only down 0-3, back against a wall, did Sutter give Pearson a chance, and 70s Line was born.

That's not the only example, too. Sure, Sutter will play youth when he's forced to, but with a choice, he always goes with veterans, often to the team's detriment.

 

[damacles1156]

Every coach plays young players. That doesn't mean Sutter hasn't shown a predilection to preferring veterans over youth.

Look no further than the 2014 run. Pearson was more than ready for top six minutes, and was inexplicably scratched for the first three games of the Sharks series. Only down 0-3, back against a wall, did Sutter give Pearson a chance, and 70s Line was born.

That's not the only example, too. Sure, Sutter will play youth when he's forced to, but with a choice, he always goes with veterans, often to the team's detriment.

Every coach in the NHL prefers Veterans, over rookies..

Unless that rookie is a Doughty/Kopitar type player.

 

[damacles1156]

So Kopitar with King and Purcell is good? Teams can then load up on the 70's line? Kopitar has the highest salary in the league, and 3rd largest cap hit. Time to score.

Sutter ended up with the 70's line together for a Cup. That line started together in the 14-15 season, and stayed together for a while despite not scoring a ton. Then Pearson got hurt. King was put with Carter and Toffoli, and that line scored enough that people called it the 70's line too. That line carried the Kings offensively for a couple weeks late in the year. In 15-16, I'm sure the 70/77/73 line played together at some point, but then Gaborik wasn't doing anything in the first half, Pearson was still coming back from the knee, and Lucic was in there.

Purcell has been with Kopitar for a few games. Purcell is not in any way a Sutter grind it out type player. King is going to be somewhere, because there aren't a whole bunch of options at this point in time. Whether it's with Kopitar or Carter, what difference does it make?

I'm sick of them living by the 3v3 OT point, but Sutter hasn't coached the team out of the race yet.



Yeah, it's going to be difficult if the big guys aren't scoring at some point. Wingers don't make a line though. Kopitar and Carter both need to be better. They've been outplayed too much this season by a 26 year old rookie from Alabama. Doughty needs to be better. Muzzin has 0 ES points in 12 games so far. Carter has 0 PP points. He's out there with Kopitar and Toffoli all the time. Dowd and Brown(1g, 3a) have the same combined PP points as Carter, Kopitar, Doughty, Toffoli, and Muzzin(2g, 2a). One of those two groups isn't doing enough.

Complaining about King is a luxury.

Once again, spot on. Kopitar has proven in the past, that he can score with whoever is on his wing.

Great post.

 

[ADifferentTim]

Do we really need to go through the exercise of dispelling this notion yet again?

Yes please.

some people never learn!

I still haven't lived that down, to the point I need to get constantly proven wrong.

 

[Trolfoli]

3 games without a goal and Sutter, "Go to scoring areas". Yes we have to go through it again.

Short version: If "Go to scoring areas" is all Sutter has we need a new coach. Right/Wrong, it doesn't matter. If something isn't working and you have the same "solution" year after year, it's time for a new perspective.

On a personal level, I don't need to hear the coach say, "Go to scoring areas" after sitting through 3 games of scoreless hockey.

 

[USE Fi]

3 games without a goal and Sutter, "Go to scoring areas". Yes we have to go through it again.

Short version: If "Go to scoring areas" is all Sutter has we need a new coach. Right/Wrong, it doesn't matter. If something isn't working and you have the same "solution" year after year, it's time for a new perspective.

On a personal level, I don't need to hear the coach say, "Go to scoring areas" after sitting through 3 games of scoreless hockey.

Usually you need to go to scoring area to score so i think he is on to something by saying that.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I mean, what Sutter is saying to the media and what he's saying behind closed doors are probably slightly different, no?

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

I mean, what Sutter is saying to the media and what he's saying behind closed doors are probably slightly different, no?

It's weird how some people don't get that.

 

[The Tikkanen]

It's weird how some people don't get that.

Maybe those people should watch Miracle and see what goes on in the locker room? I don't think the coaching style and personality is much different comparing Brooks and Sutter. And for the fans that never had the pleasure of watching the Sutter Brothers play in the NHL you'll understand hard work, going to the dirty areas and not being finesse players was crucial to their success.

 

[Trolfoli]

I mean, what Sutter is saying to the media and what he's saying behind closed doors are probably slightly different, no?

Sutter is hilarious until his offense shuts down and then he's not so funny any more. Also it doesn't matter what he says in the room vs what he says to the media. We can see the effects of what Sutter thinks through his lineups.

We can also see his team regularly finish in the bottom 10 for offense. Last year the Kings had almost their best year in history and only got their offense to the 14th in the league. It's not even becoming one of the best offensive teams in the league. If Sutter can figure out how to get to just 15th in the league this team would be rolling.

The question Sutter needs to ask is how he can generate more offense from this defensive system and not just write it off like bad luck/bounces.

 

[HookKing]

The simplest way to generate more "offense" is to get the special teams out of the dumpster. PP and PK are 25th in league. Just getting both to about 10th in the league would have netted 8 goals or so. That's huge when 7 out of 12 games are 1 goal.