Has there ever been a team that has sucked so bad yet had so much talent?

[SettlementRichie10]

The signs were there in 2014. The first two no-shows against SJ. Then a loss at home. Then you lose the first two games at home against the Ducks. Then you get vastly outplayed in Game 1 against Chicago. Then they're down 0-2 in the 1st period in Game 7. Then they're down 0-2 in the 1st period in Game 1 and 2 against the Rangers. All 3 home games against the Rangers go to OT. A Ranger team everyone said they were so much better than. They managed to beat the Ducks with Jeff Schultz in there. That's lightning in a bottle. It took a career playoff performance from Gaborik, one of the highest goal totals in the playoffs ever, to get through the playoffs. Kopitar stopped scoring goals after Game 7 against Anaheim. A big goose egg for 12 consecutive playoff games in the goal column.

The signs were there for what we would see for the next 4.5 years, it was just subtle. They were on the razor's edge basically that entire run, and could've lost any one of those series. They almost even choked away a 3-1 lead against the Hawks with Game 6 at home. The run was great, but the last 4.5 years were all in there. To count on a 32 year old winger, who had 23 goals in his last 88 games before the 2014 playoffs, that's throwing something against the wall to see if it sticks. And then Lombardi re-signed him.

I'm 95% sure this is satire.

 

[johnjm22]

The Kings talent level is average. Their motivation/hunger/compete-level is probably the worst in the NHL.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The two Stanley Cups and a Conference Finals team is dead and buried. But never forgotten. Four plus years later and now the worst team in the league screams "Blow it all up, starting today" and to Beckerman, Robitaille and Blake, use the following word,"REBUILD," in every sentence you speak regarding the Kings. No contender, no playoffs, no but this team has talent, no more patience, no more excuses, no nothing except "REBUILD." It's only a dirty word if you're arrogant enough to put marketing hype, bold face lies and generic entertainment value ($$$$$) ahead of your diehard fans.

Starting to kind of feel like those years after they built LA Live where the Kings felt like an afterthought simply because they needed a hockey tenant not for gate revenue but simply parking and concessions. Write off the team as a 'loss' but make a shit load of money everywhere else, creative accounting.

Right now it's not that since they're taking massive loss on contracts at least, but same vibe.

Not so sure.

Kopitar had what amounts to a career year. Reasonable to assume he wouldn’t match that level of play.

Brown sucked for like three years in a row, and suddenly produced again last year. Again, reasonable to assume the production was the anomaly.

Doughty was and still is good. His numbers aren’t awe inspiring because the team around him sucks.

Carter had a major injury and didn’t look great upon returning. Reasonable to assume he would regress. Age is not on his side.

Frankly, I think the team caught lightning in a bottle last year, especially during the first couple months of the season. Kopitar and Doughty has Herculean seasons, and the team was still promptly swept in the playoffs. That’s really not a good indicator of overall team strength. You would expect a divisional title and a long playoff run when your top C and top D are having career years. Instead, it barely got them past the post.

The signs were all there, just subtle. None of our advanced metrics looked great last year. Players were shooting at unsustainable percentages (including Kopitar). All the signs were there.

It’s very reasonable to assume a season like 18/19 was inevitable, and last year was the core gasping for one last breath.

18/19 is not an indictment of the core’s skill. Rather, 17/18 was a testament to that skill. Players like Doughty and Kopitar are so freakin’ good, they could drag an aging has-been lineup to the playoffs. That’s the way I’ve come to see it.

Kopitar--reasonable to assume he wouldn't match 90+ points ever again, also reasonable to assume he wouldn't be a 30-point pacer ever.

Brown--hasn't fallen off at all actually, look at his numbers, they're up. People just aren't seeing them because of his GP.

Doughty--still awesome, yeah. Numbers a little bit down but also a bit of a victim of carrying Rob Scuderi 2.0 around and a tire fire happening everywhere else.

Carter--agreed reasonable assumptions.

Lightning in a bottle or not, you can't say with a straight face that you reasonably assumed a drop from 98 points to league worst and by far worst defense in the league. It's not at all a fair assumption that a historically bad season was inevitable. That's what's making this so shocking. Quite a few people predicted a non-playoff team; literally no one with any reasoning proclaimed them a lottery team. Hence the dissonance between expectations and reality.

 

[TopT]

I 75% blame Blake and Luc, the other 25% I blame Kopitar and Carter. I blame Blake and Luc for believing in Kopitar and Carter. I blame Kopitar for being a lazy s.o.b, I blame Carter for getting old.

this is BS

 

[KingsFan7824]

LOL, WOW, you are really reaching there, bud. The only games you could consider the Kings as a 'no-show' in the 2014 playoffs were the first two games of the SJ series.

That's what I said.

I'm 95% sure this is satire.

A little, but a little not too if we want to be honest about this franchise. Shouldn't forget that the 13-14 Kings had a full 6 game stretch where they scored 3 goals, all by Kopitar. Richards had fallen off a cliff in the 2nd half. King was tied for 4th on the team in goals. Carter never had a better playoff performance. Williams never had a better playoff performance. Gaborik never had a better playoff performance. That's a lot of things coming together at one time. All that, and they still had to play 26 of a possible 28 games. In addition to an 0-3 comeback, and three Game 7 wins on the road. Name a more ridiculous Cup run in the history of the league. Maybe Minnesota in 91, had they actually won. Maybe a team going up 3-0 in every series would qualify. Teams that have been loaded with HoF's haven't even done that.

The 2014 team had heart that the current team couldn't come close to, but the slow starts, the losses or OT wins at home, the team being carried by career best production, it was there. You don't play 26 of 28 possible games without living on the edge. Any or all of those home games against the Rangers could've been different. They probably come back and win regardless, because they were cockroaches, but they were constantly on the line between failure and success. Once that line tipped the wrong way, it's been a 4.5 year fall that they haven't been able to stop.

That's the deal Lombardi made though. He took a bunch of risks, especially(but not exclusively) starting from the 2011 deadline until he got fired, and tried to win as many Cups in as few years as possible. Which is what a GM should do. You don't get a chance to win that often. There haven't been many teams that have won twice in three years. You have to strike when you can. The team he built though, was not an overly talented one. It was built on guts and gumption. Mike Richards wasn't the biggest, fastest, or most talented, but outside of a similar player in Mike Ricci, he was Lombardi's perfect player. Guts and gumption can go a long way, but it can burn out quickly too. Which it did, and so did this team.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

You can play the serendipity game for basically every Cup run. Role players step up and have miraculous production for a series, and then they’re out of the league two years later. Playoffs are all about the right things coming together at the right time, and that’s true across every team to ever win it all.

Edit: good management simply ensures that all the pieces are there for serendipity to push a team over the edge. It requires some risk taking.

 

[johnjm22]

this is BS

I agree he's not lazy. Neither is Brown or Carter.

It's about having a fire. When you're a 31+ years old pro athlete that's already accomplished the ultimate goal (twice), you're just not going to have the same fire you did when you were trying to break into the league. It's just human nature.

It's a young man's game.

 

[SFKingshomer]

I haven't been able to watch much but it's crazy how much of a decline there's been from last year. It makes me think there's a deeper issue going on inside the locker room...

 

[kingsfan28]

You read my mind. They should be better than this. It makes no sense.

Exactly. There's no way they should be this bad. Even those teams where Ziggy Palffy was the only guy worth a damn , looked better. It's like every one forgot how to play hockey over the summer.

 

[kingsfan28]

Just think, the Kings can still add Kovy, Vilardi, and Scherbak to the line up.

The Kings suck, but mismanagement is what is killing them right now. And if the Kings tried a bit harder I'm sure they could have landed Sprong for Pearson.


Would have been a nice line up.




... But defense would still suck because **** you Forbort.

Sprong was worth more than a pointless, goaless Pearson. The guy had no value, yet I read comments like "they gave him away for free" bs all the time. The Pens got a good young defenseman for Sprong. BTW, Pearson has 3g 3A in 28 games.

 

[Fishhead]

DL, when he first came here, said he didn't want players that played here for the weather. The core has shown that they weren't, but I don't care who you are, when you get older priorities change. They've won, they are older. They are in a great place to live with a wonderful climate and lots to do. They don't need money or lack anything. I don't blame any of them, its just something that happens. There are only a few guys in the history of sports, guys like Jordan or Kobe, who despise losing so much they push themselves to ridiculous levels and keep themselves there.

The lack of fire mentioned above, the nice weather, the comfortable anonymous lifestyle, they all play a part. I have to find new ways to push myself and improve at work all the time and my job is a hell of a lot easier than a professional athlete. Staying engaged is a pain in the ass, especially after players sign a huge contract. There are expectations and pressure, of course, but it's human nature to wonder if all of it is worth the mental drain that playing at a top level requires.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I believe in the current rebuild core:::::

Petersen, Scherbak, Kupari, JAD, Vilardi, Rempal, Thomas, Sodergran, Mikey Anderson, Clague, Brickley, Strand, and yes, EVEN Prokhorkin..Leipsic can hang, I guess.

Add #1 2019 pick and a new day will dawn, October 2019. I think 1/4 of this current roster is gone by then.

PROKHORKIN HUGHES KUPARI

Why not???

 

[johnjm22]

Petersen, Scherbak, Kupari, JAD, Vilardi, Rempal, Thomas, Sodergran, Mikey Anderson, Clague, Brickley, Strand, and yes, EVEN Prokhorkin..Leipsic can hang, I guess.

Add #1 2019 pick and a new day will dawn, October 2019. I think 1/4 of this current roster is gone by then.

Most of these guys will never become above average NHLers and alot of them won't even have significant NHL careers at all.