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GDT: GM #6 LA Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs @4:30pm 10/15/18

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AlphaBravo said:
I more or less agree with you, but sometimes not doing something is a sign of a good GM. For example, by not trading away draft picks for rentals at the TDL for a perceived cup run, Blake showed maturity and an understanding of where this team is at. The college UFA signings were a big deal. Iafallo and Brickley appear to be panning out for us with no assets expended.

Again, my biggest critic is clinging on to the core players from the 2014 cup run. But like the prior poster said, it's possible that Blake has inquired about trading players like Toffoli or Pearson, and the offers are really bad.
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I just think it is giving him credit for the obvious in regards to not trading picks. If having Carter all season had them in a better spot at the TDL, maybe he does trade picks instead of having Carter be the TDL acquisition. He did, however, trade a draft pick for Torrie effing Mitchell so that was pretty stupid.

If he understood where this team was at at the TDL, then it is *possible* he forgot when signing Kovalchuk and he definitely forgot when trying to trade for Patches.

The college signings are awesome, agreed. He does appear to have cache as a HHOF'er v. Lawyer Lombardi. While still potential, huge credit to him for snagging Brickley as he was highly sought after. Petersen signing was nice as well. He gets credit for closing Iafallo but I don't like the idea of him being some genius that was in on him when the Kings were already high on him prior to DL being fired.

His best moves are draft picks and prospects, except for Iafallo. Dave Taylor looked pretty good in this regard as well with Karlsson/Tukonen/Steckel/Boyle/Grebeshkov/Tambellini/Pushkarov/Lehoux all in tow. With Blake, it is way too early to pumping his tires since we don't know how it will go even if some of the early returns are good (JAD) and also frightening (Vilardi).

In the end though, I don't think he has an understanding of where this team is at or else they would have been selling at the start of last season. 98 points required a Hart campaign from Kopitar and a career year from a 2003 draftee. We've had how many seasons of Kopitar and Brown v. last year and we should expect last year to be the norm?
 
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Bandit said:
Yeah I would not be trading Lewis or Clifford for the return but for the shock value to the room.
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When you trade Lewis/Clifford you are looking for no return. Perhaps Lewis can land us a 5th round draft pick, but Clifford has negative value.
 
BigKing said:
I just think it is giving him credit for the obvious in regards to not trading picks. If having Carter all season had them in a better spot at the TDL, maybe he does trade picks instead of having Carter be the TDL acquisition. He did, however, trade a draft pick for Torrie effing Mitchell so that was pretty stupid.

If he understood where this team was at at the TDL, then it is *possible* he forgot when signing Kovalchuk and he definitely forgot when trying to trade for Patches.

The college signings are awesome, agreed. He does appear to have cache as a HHOF'er v. Lawyer Lombardi. While still potential, huge credit to him for snagging Brickley as he was highly sought after. Petersen signing was nice as well. He gets credit for closing Iafallo but I don't like the idea of him being some genius that was in on him when the Kings were already high on him prior to DL being fired.

His best moves are draft picks and prospects, except for Iafallo. Dave Taylor looked pretty good in this regard as well with Karlsson/Tukonen/Steckel/Boyle/Grebeshkov/Tambellini/Pushkarov/Lehoux all in tow. With Blake, it is way too early to pumping his tires since we don't know how it will go even if some of the early returns are good (JAD) and also frightening (Vilardi).

In the end though, I don't think he has an understanding of where this team is at or else they would have been selling at the start of last season. 98 points required a Hart campaign from Kopitar and a career year from a 2003 draftee. We've had how many seasons of Kopitar and Brown v. last year and we should expect last year to be the norm?
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Good post. I agree that not trading draft picks for rentals should be a given, but a lot of GMs still do this (although it makes sense for contenders). I think Blake is smart enough to know that this team is not in the elite level in the NHL. It's likely that there are business reasons why he cannot just rebuild or do a serious retool.

Luc, on the other hand, sounds delusional. I seriously think he believes this team can win the cup, and is not saying these things to sell tickets.
 
AlphaBravo said:
Good post. I agree that not trading draft picks for rentals should be a given, but a lot of GMs still do this (although it makes sense for contenders). I think Blake is smart enough to know that this team is not in the elite level in the NHL. It's likely that there are business reasons why he cannot just rebuild or do a serious retool.

Luc, on the other hand, sounds delusional. I seriously think he believes this team can win the cup, and is not saying these things to sell tickets.
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It is definitely business reasons with that being my initial reaction to the Lombardi removal and Luc's ascension.

My fear is that AEG is just fine with being middling as long as the illusion of being legit can still be sold. They took it in the shorts and allowed a full rebuild when DL came in and they will continue to squeeze as many dollars out of that initial rebuild/investment for as long as possible.

For me, Luc isn't delusional. He's a salesman.
 
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AlphaBravo said:
When you trade Lewis/Clifford you are looking for no return. Perhaps Lewis can land us a 5th round draft pick, but Clifford has negative value.
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I'm not buying that at all. Teams are always looking for gritty vets who've won before. Lewis gets at least a 3rd, maybe more at the deadline. Clifford maybe a 4th and a prospect.
 
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KingsHockey24 said:
Their is no shock value when trading a Lewis or Clifford.

If you move a Pearson/Martinez/Muzzin then yeah.
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Both Clifford and Martinez have over 500 games as Kings. Clifford is loved by staff as is Lewis. Trading either of them would definitely be eye opening. The more I think about it the more I think at least 2 guys need to be dealt asap.
 
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This offensively potent Kings roster currently ranks 28th in the league with a goals per game average of 2.00. They're also 20th in the league with a 2.67 goals against average.

To no surprise, the goalless power play unit ranks dead last in the league, and their penalty killing unit ranks 25th with a success rate of 70.6%.

The Kings are also 25th in shots per game (27.2) and 15th in shots against, giving up 32.8 shots per game. They also rank 15th in faceoff wins at 50.3%.

On the plus side, can they play any worse? On the negative side, the answer to that rhetorical question is yes, they can be worse than they are now.
 
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From the first two periods I saw and examining heat maps after, offensively and possesionally the Kings Trended in the right direction this game with both a lot of shots and a lot of chances in high danger areas. But defense is a huge concern still, and although it didn't translate into being dominated this game, it still translated into bad goals taken.

Kings needed to make defensive moves yesterday. Even something as bad as Martinez for Folin, bring up Brickley would be a move in the right direction and help balance the corps

Brickley-Doughty
Muzzin-Folin
Forbort-LaDue
Phaneuf

Seems way better than what we're running now, despite being worse on paper.
 
Not to even mention that a hockey trade for an equivalent RD for Martinez+pick should be fairly possible. I believe Carolina is overloaded, maybe trade with them?
 
Even with Folin and LaDue, Stevens found a way to roll with 5 lefties.

It doesn't seem to faze him as much as it does us despite the very obviously ineffective forcing of the 2nd and 3rd pairings to their backhands on breakouts.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Even with Folin and LaDue, Stevens found a way to roll with 5 lefties.

It doesn't seem to faze him as much as it does us despite the very obviously ineffective forcing of the 2nd and 3rd pairings to their backhands on breakouts.
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Yes, he is incorrect and stupid. Blake needs to Moneyball him.
 
*Be slow*

Hey coach, maybe having to catch and pass pucks off the back hand is making it difficult to break out and move the puck.

Nah bro, just play faster-Stevens
 
I would move Pearson or Toffoli out right now.

That would send a message imho.

I don’t think Blake will make knee jerk decision but I do agree this team is stale.
 
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Last year, they were signing Strand and Kehler early into the season. I bet scout are out there now, looking for undrafted talent. It's the one area this regime has done well at: Iafallo, Fantenberg, Petersen, Strand, Kehler, Rempal, Brickley. Only cost in terms of contracts. If even 1 out of 3 become anything, that's good. Not that getting more of these types signed now help, but all assets help
going forward.

right now, Clifford and Thompson should rotate out and Wagner back in. Does JAD stay, or go back after 9 games?
 
Reaper45 said:
I'm not buying that at all. Teams are always looking for gritty vets who've won before. Lewis gets at least a 3rd, maybe more at the deadline. Clifford maybe a 4th and a prospect.
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Seems like outdated Dean Lombardi-esque thinking. Especially with guys that are signed through next year.
 
Raccoon Jesus said:
Even with Folin and LaDue, Stevens found a way to roll with 5 lefties.

It doesn't seem to faze him as much as it does us despite the very obviously ineffective forcing of the 2nd and 3rd pairings to their backhands on breakouts.
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This grinds my gears. One of the things I miss about Sutter was that he insisted to always pair a lefty and righty together.
 
Kylo Ren said:
This grinds my gears. One of the things I miss about Sutter was that he insisted to always pair a lefty and righty together.
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Well he did have that luxury a lot. Up until the loss of Voynov. Then they brought in McBain. Then in 15-16, Greene got hurt, McBain was still there, they brought in a lefty Ehrhoff, traded for Scuderi, traded for Schenn, who, like McBain, wasn't good. 16-17, they signed Gilbert. LaDue eventually played a bit, but Greene again got hurt. Last year it was Folin, and LaDue had trouble finding his way onto the roster for whatever reasons.

Doughty, Voynov, and Greene on the right side was quite the luxury. One that has been basically impossible to duplicate.

DryIslandBartender said:
Last year’s cup final had two teams with some grit. It’s not that outdated.
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But did they trade anything for that grit? Vegas did with Reaves in a complicated deal, but then Lewis and Clifford aren't Reaves. We complain about Lombardi having signed Lewis and Clifford to multi year deals. This is the downside everyone talked about. Probably have to wait until next year to trade them.
 
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OmniCube said:
I know misery very well. I don't know the Kings that well, but I do hope that you're not in that nebulous period where a team neither rebuilds nor contends...and from experience, that's the worst possible place to be.

Personally, I know Toronto's going to come down to Earth, and that I'm concerned we do not have the backend and toughness needed to go all the way but there's no need for me to bore you all with details here. Some Leafs fans have become insufferably over-exuberant with our hot start. Compounding the issue is that since Toronto is the largest English-speaking hockey market in the league, media coverage will be intense, often biased and filled with hot-takes. It's unavoidable though, as covering the Leafs is a license to print money in Canada, like covering the Lakers is in the NBA. How many NBA fans have no opinion whatsoever on the Lakers? I'd wager very few. Not saying that we're the Lakers because the Lakers haven't completely failed at life since 1967, but when there's a lot of attention and a lot of fans, sometimes the loudest voices are the ones others unfortunately remember.

We will have to see how the Kings do when healthy. But it's simply impossible to spin "Ilya Kovalchuk: Human Shield" in a positive way. You have to put your players in the best positions to succeed.
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Sadly, this is exactly where the Kings are at this point in time, and they will remain in this position as long as Luc Robitaille is in charge.

Luc has the stench of the failed organization of the past all over him with his let's just make the playoffs and anything can happen mentality. The Kings will continue to market the glory of Stanley Cup championships long past by hanging on to the "core" that won the cups. At this point it is obvious what needs to be done, and I don't trust Luc to do it. I think Rob Blake may have a good eye for talent and might be willing to do what needs to be done, but I wonder if he is working under constraints which limit his options.

I don't think Luc Robitaille was ever fully on board with what Dean Lombardi was doing in LA. Dean made a lot of mistakes after the 2014 cup run, but one thing he did change for the better was the culture. The positive changes in the culture are going to be washed away soon if they haven't been already.
 
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KingsFan7824 said:
But did they trade anything for that grit? Vegas did with Reaves in a complicated deal, but then Lewis and Clifford aren't Reaves. We complain about Lombardi having signed Lewis and Clifford to multi year deals. This is the downside everyone talked about. Probably have to wait until next year to trade them.
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Doesn’t matter how they acquired grit on their squads. Free Agency, trade, who cares? The point is it’s not some outdated way of hockey, they both had some grit on their squads. Did anyone watch the playoffs?
 
Reaper45 said:
And yet the Preds have Zac Rinaldo on their roster.
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Did they trade for him?

DryIslandBartender said:
Doesn’t matter how they acquired grit on their squads. Free Agency, trade, who cares? The point is it’s not some outdated way of hockey, they both had some grit on their squads. Did anyone watch the playoffs?
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In a hard cap world, of course it matters how players are acquired. When you trade for them, what you trade for them, when you trade them away, it all matters. It's a zero-sum game out there.
 
KINGS17 said:
Sadly, this is exactly where the Kings are at this point in time, and they will remain in this position as long as Luc Robitaille is in charge.

Luc has the stench of the failed organization of the past all over him with his let's just make the playoffs and anything can happen mentality. The Kings will continue to market the glory of Stanley Cup championships long past by hanging on to the "core" that won the cups. At this point it is obvious what needs to be done, and I don't trust Luc to do it. I think Rob Blake may have a good eye for talent and might be willing to do what needs to be done, but I wonder if he is working under constraints which limit his options.
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Personally, AEG is obviously milking the Cup years and squeezing the fans dry as long as they can. I asked Herby who he thought was driving the bus, Luc or Blake? I think it’s quite clear it’s the Luc show. The way negotiations have played out and leveraging agents against their clients (Pacioretti sp?) is not a good look for the Kings.

Frankly, we need to get rid of Luc, Blake, Stevens and the rest of the coaching staff. Anybody not named Kopitar or Doughty should be on the market. We need to bring in someone with hockey ops experience and will hold people accountable. I don’t think anyone in management is holding anyone else accountable for this sorry start to the season.
 
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