GDT: GM#63 LA Kings vs Carolina Hurricanes @4:00pm 2/26/19

[Peter James Bond II]

The first paragraph does not equal the second. If they're that bad, especially Kopitar, why would anyone give you 3 assets for them? Why would anyone give them 1 asset? Are you just ranting, or trying to make sense?

It makes sense, as if Muzzin gets 3 assets, surely Kopitar and Doughty do as well. They are still very good hockey players. Kopitar may have another 80+ point season in him, and perhaps DD has some better years than this one. My post is about them playing below their ability and
not taking personal accountability....AND, I believe looking down 2-3 years from now, most will wish they had been traded 2-3 years earlier. Well, now's that time.

 

[KingsFan7824]

It makes sense, as if Muzzin gets 3 assets, surely Kopitar and Doughty do as well. They are still very good hockey players. Kopitar may have another 80+ point season in him, and perhaps DD has some better years than this one. My post is about them playing below their ability and
not taking personal accountability....AND, I believe looking down 2-3 years from now, most will wish they had been traded 2-3 years earlier. Well, now's that time.

This is what you said about Kopitar:

Kopi has ZERO passion, urgency, accountability. no real physical play, perimeter player, does not go to net or shoot the puck...and has lost 1.5 steps from just one year.

Are you saying he's not good, or just not good on a bad team? Plus he's got 5 years left on his deal, and if he's going to be even slower and uninterested 3 years from now, who needs that contract?

The time to trade Kopitar was anywhere from June 2014(#1C of the defending champs) to June 2015(coming off a career worst season at that point). Absolutely no later than the 2016 deadline(when the Kings were a top 10 team and leading the division). Not only does he have full control of where he plays right now, but it's already 4 or 5 years too late to be trading him for any actual assets.

 

[3firstnames]

But...but...Luc said in an interview (after he sent the letter out) when asked about who is coach next year...and he said "Willie has shown he is a candidate" (or something like that)
Anyone have the quote?

I don't have the specific quote but I remember the interview. LR said that WD is basically ahead of everyone at this point alluding that maybe WD had the job locked up. I think/hope that may have just been something being said in public but not the reality. How could it possibly be a plausible way forward? The writing is on the wall at this point. We just need to take a 'wait and see' attitude and see what shakes loose.

 

[DryIslandBartender]

Does anyone think Quick skates to the bench to ream Darryl Sutter?

WD is soft on the players. I mean Jesus....

 

[Butch 19]

You suck at coaching WD!!!!!!

I still only see WD = Walt Disney. I'm in my happy place...

 

[kilowatt]

I want to know what happened in the offseason. There are a few obvious players working their butts off - Leipsic, Wagner, Clifford - but most of the vets have mailed it in. It’s a terrible season, no hope of the playoffs. Why try? I don’t like it, but I can understand it.

What I can’t understand is what is missing from last season to this one.

 

[BigKing]

WD is ahead of everyone else simply because he is here. By ahead, he has a one-second head start at the start of a marathon.

There is zero chance he is the choice. Like someone said earlier: he's a substitute teacher. Quick just treated him like one.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I want to know what happened in the offseason. There are a few obvious players working their butts off - Leipsic, Wagner, Clifford - but most of the vets have mailed it in. It’s a terrible season, no hope of the playoffs. Why try? I don’t like it, but I can understand it.

What I can’t understand is what is missing from last season to this one.

I dunno man, I think you can be taken to task with not knowing.....because Kopitar said the same thing...and holy crap he was treated like a red headed step child....

 

[Steve Zissou]

I want to know what happened in the offseason. There are a few obvious players working their butts off - Leipsic, Wagner, Clifford - but most of the vets have mailed it in. It’s a terrible season, no hope of the playoffs. Why try? I don’t like it, but I can understand it.

What I can’t understand is what is missing from last season to this one.

From the start of the pre-season, we did not look good at all. Everything about us was off, the passing and breakouts the main thing that stood out.

I don't know but it sure seems like Stevens may have played a part of why we got off on the wrong foot from the get go.

90% of the posters on here dubbed it as oh, no biggee it's just pre-season, but even then it was clear something was off the rocker.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

From the start of the pre-season, we did not look good at all. Everything about us was off, the passing and breakouts the main thing that stood out.

I don't know but it sure seems like Stevens may have played a part of why we got off on the wrong foot from the get go.

90% of the posters on here dubbed it as oh, no biggee it's just pre-season, but even then it was clear something was off the rocker.

Bingo! Some of us can tell something was off with this team back then. It was all foreshadowing what was to come. Hell, I got the draft thread going 7 games into the season because it was obvious this was going to be a long struggle.

At that point, the team record was 2-4-1. When they lost 5-1 to the lowly Senators on October 13, 2018, you can see it with their performance that this group didn't give a collective crap. They followed up that stinker with yet another pathetic performance in Toronto, and then got blown out by the Islanders.

On the plus side, the team needed this type of season in order for management to get the message. This team is nowhere close to contending for anything.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

From the start of the pre-season, we did not look good at all. Everything about us was off, the passing and breakouts the main thing that stood out.

I don't know but it sure seems like Stevens may have played a part of why we got off on the wrong foot from the get go.

90% of the posters on here dubbed it as oh, no biggee it's just pre-season, but even then it was clear something was off the rocker.

Yep, I'll cop to that. I figured it was preseason and who cares because typically teams that perform in the preseason and vice versa see their fortunes reverse instead of intensify. Didn't think it would go downhill from there.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Yep, I'll cop to that. I figured it was preseason and who cares because typically teams that perform in the preseason and vice versa see their fortunes reverse instead of intensify. Didn't think it would go downhill from there.

It's funny reading people's thoughts during the preseason.
GDT: - pre-season finale LA Kings vs Anaheim Ducks @7:30 9/29/18

Two weeks into the season, it was evident the players had thrown in the towel and quit.
Early Season Thoughts

Four months later, nothing has changed.

 

[BigKing]

Pre-season was pretty awful: especially watching everyone try to force feed Kovalchuk.

Went to all the pre-season games at Staples. Best game I saw that pre-season was when I went to see them in Vegas, a game in which most of the regulars didn't play.

 

[kilowatt]

Yep, I'll cop to that. I figured it was preseason and who cares because typically teams that perform in the preseason and vice versa see their fortunes reverse instead of intensify. Didn't think it would go downhill from there.

I was in the same boat. I’d say it was cautious optimism and a belief (that I still hold) that this team is better on paper than 30th in the league. Mostly stemming from the fact that having an insane preseason doesn’t translate into a stellar regular season, and a few of the preseason games were split squads.

The issue is either leadership or motivation, but I don’t understand how a team can be unmotivated. No player enjoys losing. We can talk about drafting issues and poor trades all we want, but now I’m of the mind that we were actually a terrible team last year with our best players overacheiving which inflated our final standings.

Random stat of the day: we’re 3-1-2 without Carter this season, and 20-32-5 with him. I honestly thought he’s missed more than six games this season. Last season, we were 17-6-4 when he played, and only 28-23-4 without him. Has his drop off contributed most toward our team decline?

 

[tny760]

i mean it's a component right? don't have to worry about 2 dangerous centers so opponents can load up on the 1st line center and euthanize the top 6

 

[DoktorJeep]

I completely forget Etem played in camp. Maybe we should have kept him, especially when Brown got hurt. Dude led the team in pre season goals I think?

 

[Steve Zissou]

I completely forget Etem played in camp. Maybe we should have kept him, especially when Brown got hurt. Dude led the team in pre season goals I think?

He had a few in pre-season.

Also, we got shut out 2 times.

I think we went 1-6-1 or something like that.

Edit: Yup, 1-6-1 and Brown got hurt in last game.

Are the Los Angeles Kings in trouble already?

Stevens said his team looked “slow” while taking the blame for the Kings’ schedule catching up to them, saying “some guys were asked to play a lot.”

Doughty was asked what went wrong. He didn’t have an answer.

"I don’t know. We don’t have an answer for anything right now. We don’t know why we lost and why we were so poor this (preseason). But if it’s a chemistry thing, then we’re doing something wrong because we had all camp to create that chemistry."

 

[Sausages]

Does anyone think Quick skates to the bench to ream Darryl Sutter?

WD is soft on the players. I mean Jesus....

There 's something poetic about the way Darryl "Ice Cold" Sutter and Rockin' Willie D bookend the era of the "winning culture" for the Kings.

 

[kingsfan28]

From the start of the pre-season, we did not look good at all. Everything about us was off, the passing and breakouts the main thing that stood out.

I don't know but it sure seems like Stevens may have played a part of why we got off on the wrong foot from the get go.

90% of the posters on here dubbed it as oh, no biggee it's just pre-season, but even then it was clear something was off the rocker.

I'll go even further and say it started well into training camp. I remember seeing clips of these guys breakouts and passes and none were connecting , it was ugly. You sort of brush it off and say its rust, but it continued into preseason , then the regular season. Was Steven trying something new and the guys weren't getting it or was it them fighting what had been drilled into them for almost 8 years? I hope they found the answer.

 

[riznat]

I'll go even further and say it started well into training camp. I remember seeing clips of these guys breakouts and passes and none were connecting , it was ugly. You sort of brush it off and say its rust, but it continued into preseason , then the regular season. Was Steven trying something new and the guys weren't getting it or was it them fighting what had been drilled into them for almost 8 years? I hope they found the answer.

You hope they found the answer? The kings are in 2nd to last place and the season is winding down, they didn't find the answer.

 

[kingsfan28]

You hope they found the answer? The kings are in 2nd to last place and the season is winding down, they didn't find the answer.

I'm saying I hope they found the answer so it won't be repeated. It's too late to do anything now or even 20 games ago.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

It's funny reading people's thoughts during the preseason.
GDT: - pre-season finale LA Kings vs Anaheim Ducks @7:30 9/29/18

Two weeks into the season, it was evident the players had thrown in the towel and quit.
Early Season Thoughts

Four months later, nothing has changed.

Yep, I was one of those that went, meh, pre-season, who cares...doesn't mean a thing....which 90% of the time it doesn't....but this time, it sure as hell did

 

[KingsFan7824]

I'll go even further and say it started well into training camp. I remember seeing clips of these guys breakouts and passes and none were connecting , it was ugly. You sort of brush it off and say its rust, but it continued into preseason , then the regular season. Was Steven trying something new and the guys weren't getting it or was it them fighting what had been drilled into them for almost 8 years? I hope they found the answer.

Even when they were good, they could really suck at passing. And trying something new like what? A new pass? Passing is passing. It's not all that complicated. The players just didn't care this year. From day 1. Maybe they got beat so bad by Vegas that they figured, what's the point?

 

[King'sPawn]

Yep, I was one of those that went, meh, pre-season, who cares...doesn't mean a thing....which 90% of the time it doesn't....but this time, it sure as hell did

Me too.

Even though I was wrong this time, I admit I still don't plan on looking at preseason differently next season. Which I'm sure will lead to future arguments.

 

[KINGS17]

Does anyone think Quick skates to the bench to ream Darryl Sutter?

WD is soft on the players. I mean Jesus....

No, but I think there were a few times Daryl wanted to go out on the ice and ream the players.