GDT: GM #50 LA Kingsvs Dallas Stars @ 5:30pm

[BigKing]

I don't want to come off as a Kopitar fan boy that will always make excuses for him, (I have criticized him), I just think the Kings were so listless in their 8 game skid that no single non-goalie player could've made much difference. That's just not how hockey works IMO. Basketball on the other hand...

That's fair. I believe in the ability of someone's play to be infectious, i.e. Kempe fighting Smith in the Rangers game.

When the guy wearing the "C" is wheeling like he was last night, I believe it trickles down. When he is content to skate around the perimeter and defer to simply dumping it back to the point, I feel that flows through the rest of the lineup as well.

 

[lumbergh]

He can't carry them to a Cup by himself, but he can certainly be the difference between getting at least a point during a six game losing streak.

He has shown the ability to impose his will on opponents but he's never been consistent with it. This isn't a new observation. You watch him last night and its like, this guy is a Top 5 player in the league. Then he has a stretch where he just plays well.

At the end of the day, he isn't getting $13MM in real dollars this season to simply play well.

During the month of January, the Kings have scored 8 goals and allowed 2 goals 5vs5 with Kopitar on the ice. That's an 80% goals-for ratio. Kopitar has scored 15 points in the 12 games with a +7 in January.

During that 6 game skid, Kopitar was on the scoreboard all but one game, and the Kings scored 5 goals, allowing 2 while he was on the ice 5vs5. That's a 71% goals-for ratio.

I don't know what your expectations are for any one player, but they might be slightly too high for Kopitar. He cannot win games on his own. The best he or anyone can do is tilt the ice, and Kopitar does it almost every game. Of all players to pin the "inconsistent" label on, Kopitar might be the worst candidate.

 

[lumbergh]

That's fair. I believe in the ability of someone's play to be infectious, i.e. Kempe fighting Smith in the Rangers game.

When the guy wearing the "C" is wheeling like he was last night, I believe it trickles down. When he is content to skate around the perimeter and defer to simply dumping it back to the point, I feel that flows through the rest of the lineup as well.

Adrian Kempe, on the other hand, has been scoreless and a -5 over the past 5 games, including the Rangers game. But yeah, that Kempe fight made a HUGE difference.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

That's fair. I believe in the ability of someone's play to be infectious, i.e. Kempe fighting Smith in the Rangers game.

When the guy wearing the "C" is wheeling like he was last night, I believe it trickles down. When he is content to skate around the perimeter and defer to simply dumping it back to the point, I feel that flows through the rest of the lineup as well.

When Kopitar just said "f*** it I'm going right through your two best players like they don't exist" last night I felt like it was going to be a win. I can agree with that.

During the month of January, the Kings have scored 8 goals and allowed 2 goals 5vs5 with Kopitar on the ice. That's an 80% goals-for ratio. Kopitar has scored 15 points in the 12 games with a +7 in January.

During that 6 game skid, Kopitar was on the scoreboard all but one game, and the Kings scored 5 goals, allowing 2 while he was on the ice 5vs5. That's a 71% goals-for ratio.

I don't know what your expectations are for any one player, but they might be slightly too high for Kopitar. He cannot win games on his own. The best he or anyone can do is tilt the ice, and Kopitar does it almost every game. Of all players to pin the "inconsistent" label on, Kopitar might be the worst candidate.

Yeah, Kopitar was a monster. If anything, it was Doughty and obviously Quick that showed cracks.

 

[BigKing]

The fight made a huge difference in the particular game he had the fight in. To argue differently is to not have witnessed the game.

Kopitar popped off the screen last night as an absolute beast. My point is that he has that gear and he doesn't flex it consistently. Yes, his normal game is good as he is a great defensive center. He can be a dynamic offensive player while crushing it on defense: it doesn't have to be one or the other.

As for the January totals, we can all use stats to make an argument:

Two goals in 11 games (Similar pace to last season)
Of the two, one is a PP goal in a 6-2 loss
Of the 11 assists this month, 45% are on the PP

He was great defensively last night, per usual, while also being assertive offensively. I'm much more impressed with his two assists last night and dominating performance while leading as opposed to picking up some points in the 3rd period while down a couple of goals and pressing.

My expectation of him is to be the player we all know he can be as opposed to just the good player he is at worst. Team needs him to be great, not just very good. When you see him just obliterate Benn in every facet of the game last night, you remember there were whispers about him being the best player in the league, or close to it, at one point.

He earns those expectations with his skill, his contract and the letter on his jersey. I'm saying that as a guy that loves him and will be very happy to see his number go up into the rafters some day.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

January, and by extension the season, has been all about the top players (except Quick when he started faltering) trying to haul around a squad that occasionally has one or two too many passengers, night in and night out.

 

[johnjm22]

In hockey, the best players don't have as much impact on the game as the best players in other sports.

The reason has to do with possession. In hockey your best player is playing only a 3rd of the game usually, and when they are playing they don't have puck possession often. Possession in hockey is constantly changing. Compare that to basketball where your best player is playing almost the whole game and gets stable control of the ball often on offensive possessions.

You can watch plenty of Penguins games where Crosby barely sticks out compared to other players on the ice. That's how hockey is.

There's also more "chance" involved in hockey than most other team sports.

 

[BigKing]

I get it; however, the guy has the puck on his stick a lot. I think the team is better when he tries to do more with it as opposed to always making the safe play. When he goes in to safe play only mode, you'll get your assists because the offense still runs through him but there could be more.

It definitely wasn't "safe play" Kopitar in October when everyone was lauding the new system and the demise of "Sutter Hockey".

I'm not advocating for him to be derelict in his defensive assignments, I just think that his 5v5 plus/minus number can be even better when he attacks more as opposed to simply playing the possession game.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Kopitar plays such a controlled game, he’s almost always going to end up on the winning side of Corsi, even when the team as a whole is losing every game.

But there’s no denying that he has that beast mode gear, and when he activates it, the team as a whole is hard to stop.

 

[Stimpythecat]

I agree with giving Kuemper the start at Nashville. Give Quick an extra few more days off, Quick doesn't do that great against nashville, and Kuemper is playing well.