Rumor: KINGS 2018-19 Season - The Luc and Rob ****show

[SettlementRichie10]

It can be both but the signing is pointless if they are going to be trash with him performing at the level he was prior to WD.

Don't get me wrong: WD is a joke hire and a complete punt on the rest of this season; however, this team should have been selling and planning more for the future instead of adding $6MM on an enigma for the next three years, especially in light of how I'm being told cap space is so important in wake of the Pearson trade.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. If Kovalchuk demands a trade, then we can believe his claims of coming back to win a Cup. If not, it will appear he is pulling the classic "play in LA with no pressure and live by the beach" or, in his case, Beverly Hills.

If its the latter, it makes total sense as Blake crushed that move himself when coming back for his 2nd tour of duty.

Post of the f***in century right here, boys.

 

[Jason Squirties]

Post of the ****in century right here, boys.

If that's the case, things are worse than I thought.

 

[Sol]

I honestly don't give a f*** what Kovalchuk's intentions are if he's playing really good. Doesn't change the fact that they're boning him.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I'm just wondering when my earlier criticism of the signing being a bad move becomes gospel or if it will all be Willie's fault.

While many of us want to lose for Hughes, there is still the unenviable task of watching the rest of this train wreck of a season. Even if he isn't scoring, Kovalchuk provides the possibility of something exciting happening on a team that is painfully boring to watch.

If he can't play defense, cool. Most of the rest of the squad can't so I think most of us would rather keep on losing with the excitement he can provide one the ice rather than getting more and more of the Nate Thompson show: especially if the latter leads to tighter defense and maybe a couple more points in the standings.

If Kovalchuk isn't playing defense and scoring, that's one thing....he's not doing either, wasn't doing either BEFORE he got demoted...

You guys (generally) bitch and bitch about players accountability, well a coach finally does that, and you bitch and bitch that he did it.

The rest of the squad was the #1 defense last year....without Kovy, they need him for his scoring, which he hasn't done, he was planted on a line with Carter and Toffoli, ended up a -100 with 11 shots in 5 games......but yea, the excitement he brought...seriously?

WD only mandate is to win games, that's how he coaches his way back into the league etc, if Kovalchuk playing 4th line minutes because he can't or won't play defense, but the team wins, that's whats gonna happen....

 

[KingsFan7824]

They have one win....just one since kovy had his ice time reduced to nothing so what you are saying is completely inaccurate. The last win prior to last night against st louis kovy played over 12 min still.

And no, any win is not a good win. Every loss is a good win.

12 minutes is less than what he was getting with Stevens, so I think what I'm saying is more accurate than not. The less ice time Kovalchuk has played under WD, the more games they've been winning. 12 minutes, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, whatever it is.

And yes, from the perspective of the players/coaches, any win is a good win. They don't care about Hughes.

Oh please that's just hot garbage. No management is gonna say "hurdur he's competent "because of minor increase in wins against bad teams.

Kovalchuk has been the best player this season. What you said is very wrong.

Even if he never gets another coaching job, WD is going to coach like a coach. He is going to coach to win the game on the schedule today. Whatever he thinks will get that done, that's what he's going to do. If that means playing Kovalchuk 6 minutes, then I guess Kovalchuk will play 6 minutes. Doesn't matter how much Kovalchuk makes, why Blake brought him in, or how much it lowers his trade value.

If Blake has a problem with that, then he has to get rid of the coach, and put someone in there that will play Kovalchuk 20 minutes every night.

Seems like WD has a specific issue with how Kovalchuk plays the game, more than the other crap on this roster. Life isn't fair.

What the hell is this team doing? All these oddball moves are total desperation.

This organization = "I just broke my leg, better go get a haircut and get lunch!"

They need another forward for the road trip. Everyone else is already up, hurt, or not playing as well as Rempal in Ontario.

 

[BigKing]

If Kovalchuk isn't playing defense and scoring, that's one thing....he's not doing either, wasn't doing either BEFORE he got demoted...

You guys (generally) ***** and ***** about players accountability, well a coach finally does that, and you ***** and ***** that he did it.

The rest of the squad was the #1 defense last year....without Kovy, they need him for his scoring, which he hasn't done, he was planted on a line with Carter and Toffoli, ended up a -100 with 11 shots in 5 games......but yea, the excitement he brought...seriously?

WD only mandate is to win games, that's how he coaches his way back into the league etc, if Kovalchuk playing 4th line minutes because he can't or won't play defense, but the team wins, that's whats gonna happen....

Ok. So it was a horrible signing then?

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Ok. So it was a horrible signing then?

Nope, not at all, it's 20 games in...or 25 or whatever is, make your judgement at the end of the year....it's possible it could be a horrible signing, but NO ONE was saying that after the first 10 games of the year ffs......it was all land of milk and honey....then things change and it's doom and gloom....

Amazing how no one can actually find the perspective into the signing etc.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Of course they are going to go out and try to win. Fan are pissed about Kovy not playing and the W/L record isn't enough of an argument at this point for keeping him off the ice.

I'm just looking at it from the coach's perspective. For him, it's all W/L. All the top players should be demoted to the 4th line for the effort they've put forth this year, but that's not possible. Why is Kovalchuk singled out? I don't know. Other than this particular coach sees him as a PP specialist, and doesn't trust him in any way. WD is a normal head coach, who wants as few mistakes as possible. Kovalchuk doesn't tend to play that way, and more so than other players.

Should Kovalchuk be playing on the 1st line? Sure. We're not coaches paid to win games though. They don't care what fans want.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Are we still holding out hope for Porkins?

I was hoping landing Kovalchuk would convince him to come here.

They played together for team Russia and SKA.

 

[mrkolice]

if i understand correctly:
- dw-40 thinks kovy is a shitty 2-way player, focusing mostly on his offensive production & not playing any defence, but even that could maybe be overlooked if he delivers offensive production, which is sadly not happening;
- kovy replied that he's too old to change his style, but he'll continue to work hard.

main source, please read it: "Right fit" for Kovalchuk sought; Quick expected to play on trip; Rempal up - LA Kings Insider

the players are mostly silent about all this mishappenings, and that's fine, what's said in this locker room, stays in this locker room. still i guess kovy's more and more isolated there as well.

from my point of view i think dw is right, and i understand i'm in minority here. individual production numbers without complementary +/- is worthless. and on average kovy contributes more than 0.5 goal per game against when on ice. it means that with him on ice lak starts the game with a 0.5 goal deficit, every single game. sorry, but that's much too much.

the mother of all sins was signing kovy without having a proper insight how he would perform as a 2-way forward, and there he just failed. his defense suxxx. and as he said sincerely, he is too old to adapt. bottomline: he didn't fit, but that's not his fault, it was just a huge mistake by the management. and they know it by now.

imho kovy will not stay long. dw-40 neither, but still a bit longer.

 

[KingsRule]

I still don't understand why hes only getting 27 seconds of powerplay time stuck on the second unit. He was brought here to improve the PP. WD is playing him less because of defensive issues, but whats the reason for burying him on the 2nd pp unit?

 

[Bandit]

I still don't understand why hes only getting 27 seconds of powerplay time stuck on the second unit. He was brought here to improve the PP. WD is playing him less because of defensive issues, but whats the reason for burying him on the 2nd pp unit?

Eating too many paint chips when he was a child.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I still don't understand why hes only getting 27 seconds of powerplay time stuck on the second unit. He was brought here to improve the PP. WD is playing him less because of defensive issues, but whats the reason for burying him on the 2nd pp unit?

This is my major question for everyone that's talking about his reduced icetime leading to wins, and it wasn't even responded to before, so I'm curious what the thought is now. If he's that terrible, why play him? 6 minutes of icetime is awful. If you're going to take up that last forward spot and 'hide' him from McDavid (or really, hockey in general), why even dress him if you're not going to use him as a strictly offensive weapon? Coaches use offensive d-men--Colin Miller's usage last year for example was LOL worthy--starting them only on the PP or only in the offensive zone. Why not do that with Kovy? And if you don't want to do that with Kovy, then don't f***ing dress him, play him for six minutes, and tax the rest of the roster just to embarrass him. That usage is indefensible, it's not 'coaching like a coach,' it's being an asshole to Kovalchuk AND everyone else on the roster. Do something else. Bag skate him at practice. Make him play ONLY defensive minutes. But make him play. Especially when that's literally all he was signed for, give the roster some offensive/PP pop. Now you want to hold him accountable for defense when the entire roster has gone from best to worst in the league? Get the f*** out. That's garbage.

I hardly ever take the player's side in these cases but this is a big pile of dookie.

 

[mrkolice]

This is my major question for everyone that's talking about his reduced icetime leading to wins, and it wasn't even responded to before, so I'm curious what the thought is now. If he's that terrible, why play him? 6 minutes of icetime is awful. If you're going to take up that last forward spot and 'hide' him from McDavid (or really, hockey in general), why even dress him if you're not going to use him as a strictly offensive weapon? Coaches use offensive d-men--Colin Miller's usage last year for example was LOL worthy--starting them only on the PP or only in the offensive zone. Why not do that with Kovy? And if you don't want to do that with Kovy, then don't ****ing dress him, play him for six minutes, and tax the rest of the roster just to embarrass him. That usage is indefensible, it's not 'coaching like a coach,' it's being an ******* to Kovalchuk AND everyone else on the roster. Do something else. Bag skate him at practice. Make him play ONLY defensive minutes. But make him play. Especially when that's literally all he was signed for, give the roster some offensive/PP pop. Now you want to hold him accountable for defense when the entire roster has gone from best to worst in the league? Get the **** out. That's garbage.

I hardly ever take the player's side in these cases but this is a big pile of dookie.

yea, but the stats....

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

yea, but the stats....

It's literally your job as a coach to figure out why your future HoF shooter went from PPG to Dwight King when you arrived. Stapling him to the bench in offensive situations and embarrassing him publicly is an interesting strategy.

I'm sure AEG will be thrilled on the "1 million per minute of icetime per game" strategy.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of blame to go around here to some degree--it's on the player to work his way out of it too. but playing him less than Andy Andreoff and against his strengths?

 

[deeshamrock]

Ok. So it was a horrible signing then?

Not horrible but not well thought out, given the Kings status, not a contender and it's an 0ver 35 contract which stays on the books and won't be moved w/o the Kings eating some of it. I didn't see it as a positive move, since I didn't feel he would help them in their current situation.
But props to him, the Kings were the only team that gave him what he wanted in term and dollars.

 

[mrkolice]

It's literally your job as a coach to figure out why your future HoF shooter went from PPG to Dwight King when you arrived. Stapling him to the bench in offensive situations and embarrassing him publicly is an interesting strategy.

I'm sure AEG will be thrilled on the "1 million per minute of icetime per game" strategy.

Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of blame to go around here to some degree--it's on the player to work his way out of it too. but playing him less than Andy Andreoff and against his strengths?

yes. it was a complete crap what wd did last game. now we can only speculate wtf is going on there, but i'll try to skip that dimension and stick to the facts, and confirmed sources, and stats if needed. it is unsane, everything about kovy now. and i don't blame him one bit. but somehow i do understand the other position as well.

and deep down i still hope it's just a temporary crisis, this shit with kovy. on paper he's a fantastic upgrade for lak, just some aspects of his game or call it "domestication" need a little more tweaking. i just hope it will work out much better as it looks now.

 

[Herby]

Desjardins is John Torchetti except he gets 65 games instead of 15. No chance he returns, he is a lame duck making the coaches equivalent of the minimum wage. He is a terrible coach but honestly that is what the Kings need. To lose as many games as possible, and Nate Thompson on the ice 15 minutes a night helps accomplish that more than Kovalchuk on the ice for 15 minutes does. Kings will get a top 5 pick, Desjardins gets a few hundred k and something to put on his resume and we start over in the offseason. And if he gets Ilya to waive his NTC then that's a bonus because the Kings will not be competing for the life of Ilya's contract.

 

[Reaper45]

Desjardins is John Torchetti except he gets 65 games instead of 15. No chance he returns, he is a lame duck making the coaches equivalent of the minimum wage. He is a terrible coach but honestly that is what the Kings need. To lose as many games as possible, and Nate Thompson on the ice 15 minutes a night helps accomplish that more than Kovalchuk on the ice for 15 minutes does. Kings will get a top 5 pick, Desjardins gets a few hundred k and something to put on his resume and we start over in the offseason. And if he gets Ilya to waive his NTC then that's a bonus because the Kings will not be competing for the life of Ilya's contract.

I get an understand all of that but jesus go full tank but then and give Thompson and Ckifford all the PP time.

 

[BigKing]

Nope, not at all, it's 20 games in...or 25 or whatever is, make your judgement at the end of the year....it's possible it could be a horrible signing, but NO ONE was saying that after the first 10 games of the year ffs......it was all land of milk and honey....then things change and it's doom and gloom....

Amazing how no one can actually find the perspective into the signing etc.

The point of a message board isn't to reflect back on the signing once Year 3 is complete so a final analysis can be made. "Perspective"? Your perspective on pretty much anything Kings related is that everything is good until there is irrefutable evidence that it is not. Regardless, I understand the thought process behind the signing but it carried a lot of risk and the early returns are a disaster. I hope it somehow turns around but, right now, it is a horrible signing. Paying a guy $6MM to play six minutes. Oh...it isn't Kovalchuk's fault but Willie's? Who picked Willie to coach the rest of the season?

I was ragging on the signing after 10 games since their record was awful. It wasn't an indictment of Kovalchuk's play either.

I'm just looking at it from the coach's perspective. For him, it's all W/L. All the top players should be demoted to the 4th line for the effort they've put forth this year, but that's not possible. Why is Kovalchuk singled out? I don't know. Other than this particular coach sees him as a PP specialist, and doesn't trust him in any way. WD is a normal head coach, who wants as few mistakes as possible. Kovalchuk doesn't tend to play that way, and more so than other players.

Should Kovalchuk be playing on the 1st line? Sure. We're not coaches paid to win games though. They don't care what fans want.

I totally get it but the message board is for fans to discuss their thoughts on the team. The majority of the board is mad that Kovalchuk is playing six minutes a night. All I did was give some reasoning as to why some people are upset even if we all want them to keep losing for Hughes since Golden did his usual "You guys don't know what you want" schtick. I know that Willie doesn't care about entertainment and the NHL doesn't seem to care much either. I thought that Blake and Luc cared but they can't do that right either, although this Willie/Kovy drama is an interesting twist to the show.

 

[kilowatt]

With the exact same roster as last year, are we saying that Kovalchuk is solely responsible for the worst goal differential in the league? His below-average defense is why we are 31st in the standings?

 

[Reaper45]

With the exact same roster as last year, are we saying that Kovalchuk is solely responsible for the worst goal differential in the league? His below-average defense is why we are 31st in the standings?

No way. I think Phaneuf forgetting how to play hockey is more of a cause than him

 

[AlphaBravo]

I am all for accountability. But why take it out on Kovy? He was the one scoring goals when the Kings were losing. WD should bench other underperforming players before benching Kovy, such as Carter, Toffoli, Kempe etc. Before last game, I would even bench Kopitar to send a team-wide message.

I just hope that when Quick comes back, he is given back-up duties, and they let Cal Peterson get more playing time. He is the goalie of our future. Once Campbell is back, I hope we trade Quick and get out of his contract. Cal Peterson and Campbell can take care of the net going forward. They are both good goalies.

 

[AlphaBravo]

With the exact same roster as last year, are we saying that Kovalchuk is solely responsible for the worst goal differential in the league? His below-average defense is why we are 31st in the standings?

No one player is to blame. The entire team is horrible this year. I think the biggest reason is that our core is no longer hungry. They won two cups in three years, and got their life-time salary. They no longer have hunger and drive to be competitive.

The Kings are not the worst team roster-wise on paper. On paper, we look pretty decent and should be a bubble team. The fact that we are last place is not because of lack of talent, or lapses in defense by one or two players. Its a lack of buy in, identity, and hunger by the entire team.

 

[YP44]

No way. I think Phaneuf forgetting how to play hockey is more of a cause than him

the baby effect.

Honestly the kings should mandate years in which players can conceive. One year competitive, one year tank, one year competitive, one year tank.......haha