GDT: GM#66 LA Kings vs Chicago Blackhawks @1:00pm

[King'sPawn]

You guys are all assuming that Doughty knows how to fight and if he did fight he would win. Getting your face mashed in by somebody who has dropped the gloves and knows how to stand, how to grab the jersey properly and throw punches isn't gonna spark the team or make Doughty more of a leader. He leads by being an elite NHL defensemen who has won at every level. Fighting is beneath him and in todays NHL is reserved for players who are severely lacking in talent like Clifford. I'd have more respect for Doughty as the winner and player he is rather than the guy who got Superman punched by Bieksa and was left on the ice in a crimson mask of blood.

Fighting is beneath him as much as selfish tantrums are. Yet he manages to do one very easily and not the other.

There's a good reason why very few people question the leadership qualities of Kopitar and Carter. Both of them fight as much as Doughty, but they don't provoke or escalate issues about them.

 

[Herby]

Fighting is stupid, especially stupid for your best or second best player to be doing it.

If Doughty is going to be fighting, he better be taking a Getzlaf, Benn or Pietrangelo type player with him for 5 minutes.

 

[RONNIEC]

Watched the game but did not have a chance to post any comment...

Very disappointed, VERY.
We won the difficult ones but lost the easy (leading 3-1 into 3rd period against the slumping Blackhawks, and our track record in the 3rd period of this season is outstanding) ones... that is bad.

Commentator said the players looked tired, but how could that happen? They had enough rest, they played at home, leading 3-1...

Anyway, they got to adjust the mindset or they will be doomed in the first round of playoff, if they could get into.
Always concede the first goal and lack of concentration are deadly.

 

[Reaper45]

Fighting is beneath him as much as selfish tantrums are. Yet he manages to do one very easily and not the other.

There's a good reason why very few people question the leadership qualities of Kopitar and Carter. Both of them fight as much as Doughty, but they don't provoke or escalate issues about them.

AND that's it in a nut shell. If Doughty wasn't as emotional as he is no one would expect him to fight. But he runs around and yaps and then never backs it up. It looks terrible to everyone including your teammates.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

San Jose loss was a surprise and a bonus.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

You can do something though. Grab on, wrestling a bit

Yeah, but that all goes out the window once you're punched in the face. See his fight with Thornton.

Watched the game but did not have a chance to post any comment...

Very disappointed, VERY.
We won the difficult ones but lost the easy (leading 3-1 into 3rd period against the slumping Blackhawks, and our track record in the 3rd period of this season is outstanding) ones... that is bad.

Commentator said the players looked tired, but how could that happen? They had enough rest, they played at home, leading 3-1...

Anyway, they got to adjust the mindset or they will be doomed in the first round of playoff, if they could get into.
Always concede the first goal and lack of concentration are deadly.

It was 4 games in 5.5 days, 11 in 19 coming off a cross country road trip. Arguably the toughest section of the schedule from a fatigue standpoint. But that's no excuse for a third period meltdown, not like they were chasing the game prior to that.

 

[AlphaBravo]

Doughty or any other elite star does not need to and should not fight. However, Doughty needs to shut his mouth. If he is going to be chirping players all game long, then he should drop the gloves. But if he plays honest hockey, and keeps himself modest, then I have absolutely no problem with him not fighting. The guy is such a crybaby and emotional wreak. He needs to get a hold of himself out there.

 

[BigKing]

Leadership does not require fighting and I have never said it is a requirement; however, you can't act a certain way and then never back it up. All of you can say "This is 2018" all you want but, fact is, these men very much appreciate when a guy goes to war with them and when their leaders stick up for themselves every once in awhile. I don't even understand how that can be argued against with a straight face outside of just wanting to defend Doughty at all costs because you like him so much.

Bringing up Kopitar is perfect. He doesn't act like a bitch out there all of the time so there is no reason for him to be criticized for never sticking up for himself. Proves that I don't believe fighting is a requirement for leadership but rather a requirement to not be labeled a chicken shit bitch.

Oh, Kopitar and Doughty have the same number of fighting majors in their career. That's pathetic.

As for Doughty getting hurt in a fight or having his face bashed in, let's wrap all the players in bubble wrap moving forward. Nobody is asking him to go out there and square off with a great fighter and nobody is saying he needs to go out of his way and start a fight to prove leadership. The lack of fighting his own battles at least once in the last six years is a symptom of the larger disease which is his lack of leadership.

I'm hard on him, I know. He's about to be the highest paid player on the team and is in a position to be a tremendous leader of this team if he could just grow the f*** up and be a man. It's important to the future of this franchise moving forward that he be "The Man" and lead by example as opposed to what we've been seeing on the ice and, in interviews, off the ice.

I honestly just don't think he wants to be that guy and would prefer to not have that additional pressure. It doesn't appear to be his character; if true, that's a real bummer.

 

[Reaper45]

Look at Carter, he dropped the gloves with Kesler and got dropped. I bet his teammates weren't upset with him in the slightest even though he could've been hurt. Sometimes you just have to fight your own battles even if you can't fight.

 

[RONNIEC]

Yeah, but that all goes out the window once you're punched in the face. See his fight with Thornton.




It was 4 games in 5.5 days, 11 in 19 coming off a cross country road trip. Arguably the toughest section of the schedule from a fatigue standpoint. But that's no excuse for a third period meltdown, not like they were chasing the game prior to that.

I thought the 3 game winning streak (2 from LV) would give them a boost.. and leading 3-1 at home...
It was more like a psychological meltdown (especially Drew) than physically collapse for me though.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Look at Carter, he dropped the gloves with Kesler and got dropped. I bet his teammates weren't upset with him in the slightest even though he could've been hurt. Sometimes you just have to fight your own battles even if you can't fight.

And Carter did get hurt and played like crap after that incident. That did nothing to change how his own teammates view him nor did it lift the team.

 

[BigKing]

And Carter did get hurt and played like crap after that incident. That did nothing to change how his own teammates view him nor did it lift the team.

Carter played the rest of the game, netting the assist on the GWG in a win over the Ducks. It most certainly did lift the team.

Blaming his cold streak on an injury that was never diagnosed is a leap, especially in conjunction with a player that is known to be streaky.

If he went on to score a goal-a-game after the fight, I wouldn't be saying it was because of the fight. Since he played poorly afterwards, those that are anti-fighting want to make the claim he got hurt even though that didn't stop him from crushing it in the 3rd period of the same game.

I'm not saying you are anti-fighting because I know you aren't, I just don't subscribe to the "Carter got hurt from the fight" argument since any poor play from the top players on this team invariably leads to "He's been playing hurt".

 

[Herby]

Disagree on the fighting part but agree that Doughty needs to grow up.

I mean it’s comical, you read some of these excuses for Doughty both here and other places and it’s biased homerism that would make Fox and Hayward seem neutral.

“The ref made a bad call so he was justified”
“It’s just the way he plays”
“He will learn from this”
“It wasn’t even that bad a reaction”

I’m still really worried about giving this guy an 8 year deal, I wonder if he has the maturity and professionalism to be worth it well into his 30’s. We’ve been burned before by guys 29 going on 17.

 

[Herby]

I just don't subscribe to the "Carter got hurt from the fight" argument since any poor play from the top players on this team invariably leads to "He's been playing hurt".

Ha, great take.

But have you considered the possibility of a viral infection? Those apparently are career enders.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Carter definitely had his bell rung in his fight. Now imagine if Doughty got into a scrap and got concussed and was out long term, is that going to help the team? Remember when Rinaldo delivered a flying elbow to Doughty's dome? You think the team would have been better served if Doughty went back after him and suffered a far worse injury at the hands of Rinaldo?

I'm a believer in having teammates who stand up for one another and would prefer to see Doughty buy dinner for a guy who does his job and polices for him. Hell, I stood up for our goalie once after some asshole took a run at him, and one of the guys who worked at the rink told our goalie that he owes me dinner .

Doughty certainly does need to mature in terms of how emotional he gets, but I'm fine with him getting on the nerves of opponents. He doesn't need to "back it up."

 

[BigKing]

I don't believe Carter's poor performance was due to having his bell rung. He lost the fight, sure. He also played the rest of the game and was awesome in the 3rd period. Extremely inspirational and a real display of leadership from maybe the only guy that was being praised for his leadership last season even before the game in question.

Again, the goal posts continue to be moved here. I expect someone to fight Rinaldo on Doughty's behalf, just like Forbort did against Maroon this season. I'm not saying Doughty should fight *all* of his own battles nor should he be dropping them against seasoned fighters that are total scrubs; however, Tkachuk and Perron are not total scrubs nor are they scary fighters.

Carter fought. Tanner Pearson didn't turtle this year against a pretty good fighter in Domi. Forbort can't fight to save his life but there he was with Maroon. Kempe came to the defense of Trevor Lewis and fought a guy that knows how to fight at the NHL level.

Doughty gets embarrassed by Perron, is given a little cross check and jumps up in a giant rage akin to if he just got called for a penalty he doesn't agree with. He starts a physical altercation and then bails on it. Tkachuk continues to own him and the best Doughty can do is throw another tantrum in the box and talk about some silver spoon nonsense?

It just looks absolutely horrible. You can say he is an unbelievable player, a complete and total asset to this team, that you are happy to have him and will be glad to see his #8 up in the rafters some day. I believe all of that.

Doesn't mean he can't also be everything I'm saying he is at the same time.

 

[Herby]

Did Drew really say Tkachuk was born with a silver spoon?

Always said no matter how much you hate the team it’s tough to hate Teemu Selanne or Nicklas Lidstrom. Drew is the opposite, he just does and says things that make it very easy to dislike him, no matter how great a talent he is.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Hey, Gretzky was pretty outspoken as well, remember him calling the Devils a "mickey mouse" organization? He also got heat for calling out management during his last year as a King, he also constantly complained to refs and openly voiced his displeasure when Paul Coffey was dealt to Detroit. He also wasn't fond of seeing his best friend on the team, Bernie Nicholls, get dealt.
Another thing he'd do on the ice quite often was act like he was hurt far worse than he really was, which Doughty has been accused of doing as well, and he really hated to lose also.

I'm fine with Doughty talking trash, that's part of the game, but at least he doesn't go overboard with his comments like a jackass like Avery would. I just don't like it when he throws tantrums at officials. That's something he needs to cut out, and he has openly acknowledged this as well.

 

[BigKing]

Did Drew really say Tkachuk was born with a silver spoon?

Always said no matter how much you hate the team it’s tough to hate Teemu Selanne or Nicklas Lidstrom. Drew is the opposite, he just does and says things that make it very easy to dislike him, no matter how great a talent he is.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

f***ing embarrassing.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Pick a walk, and walk it. See: Brown,
Kopitar, etc. Thats the reason those guys are viewed in a different regard.

Silver spoon? Doughty needs to learn about paying the iron price if he’s going to haul off like a circus clown and make the game about himself.

These incidences are the exception to the rule, but enough is enough. He’s not 22 anymore. Legitimately young players are looking up to him now. He is shaping them whether he knows it or not. Thats what scares me.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Instead of having Doughty fight can we trade for an enforcer and call it a day? And no Clifford isn't an enforcer. I feel bad for the guy every time he drops the gloves and goes full Buchberger.

 

[KINGS17]

If Dean Youngblood can learn how to fight and take a punch, pretty boy Drew Doughty can.

 

[RONNIEC]

Instead of having Doughty fight can we trade for an enforcer and call it a day? And no Clifford isn't an enforcer. I feel bad for the guy every time he drops the gloves and goes full Buchberger.

Buchberger was great on the check line and PK, never a fighter.
While Cliff...

Anyway, we gotta appreciate the ones who are willing to drop the gloves but no chance to win a real bout. They sacrifice for the team.

 

[Frolov 6'3]

We should not ridicule any fighter, unless you start to become a caricature of yourself.

Clifford wins a fight so now and then.