Confirmed with Link: Kings acquire forward Viktor Arvidsson in exchange for two draft picks

[Raccoon Jesus]

This really is the difference. You expect and want the Kings to suck in 21-22 all for the love of another lottery pick.

A lot of us would prefer that the Kings make moves to improve the roster now. We have great prospects and cap space.

Why would you want to sit through another year of the suck when an huge opportunity is out there to improve?

I think the answer to that is that some--a good amount--of posters aren't sold on our picks to various degrees. You and I might say why suck for another pick when we have Byfield, and the easy retort is "Bedard."

But I'm also very high on Turcotte and Vilardi and consider them important core pieces to build around while others very, VERY vocally think they're pretty much just bodies and yet others aren't sold on Byfield to various degrees either. These folks seem to think Bedard/Wright can solve problems the above can't. But if Eichel and McDavid can't 'save' Buffalo and Edmonton from mediocrity, I'm not sold on the idea that you just tank until you don't. I agree that you have to make a push at some point. Why not now replete with assets?

It's noticeable, too. The guy has always hard-charged play forwards. And inasmuch as we complain about the 'vision,' this guy does fit what Blake has verbalized re rebuilding.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Apparently Seattle was going to pick Viktor so they traded him to us instead. That could explain the value. I wonder why he wasn't considered protected by Nashville though.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Apparently Seattle was going to pick Viktor so they traded him to us instead. That could explain the value. I wonder why he wasn't considered protected by Nashville though.

Judging by fans in the trade thread they're keeping 5 dmen, Forsberg, i forget who else but it added up quickly--given Arvidssons apparent 'trajectory' and recent injuries and age i guess

 

[All The Kings Men]

 

[Lt Dan]

Can we request to have Pat Sajak or Elon Musk join you sometime on the 'cast

 

[All The Kings Men]

Can we request to have Pat Sajak or Elon Musk join you sometime on the 'cast

You can request whatever you like...

 

[Schrute farms]

Good, smart, shrewd trade by Blake. Exactly the type of move he should be making this summer.

I love prospects and draft picks. I'd love the opportunity to get Shane Wright next year. But the Kings have enough fantastic young NHL ready players and soon-to-be such prospects. We have enough elite prospect talent already. Not to mention depth guys, guys to dream upon, etc. etc. You can only suck for so long. It's time to start the move up. We laos have more than enough guys that we can then use them to trade in the future for disgruntled stars or desperate franchises looking to rebuild. Even an elite FA possibly. If we keep sucking like Buffalo, none of these guys will even want to come (trade or FA).

This team making the playoffs next year and having an exciting future, environment would do way more for the young guys than the potential of winning the lotto. Heck, imagine a scenario where we big-time tank being the worst franchise in hockey next year, total embarrassment and lose the lotto getting pick #3. Is that worth it?!?!

 

[KingsFan7824]

I don't want to sit through another year of suck.

It's like working out. I don't want to do 200 push-ups today. It sucks. But I know it's what's best for me long term.

Regarding your last sentence. IMO, improving this team doesn't make it good. It makes it less bad.

But you do the push-ups today. You're not saving some for tomorrow.

 

[Steve Zissou]

While I love me some stocking up the cupboards with fresh talent, playing another year to be a black hole team is the absolute wrong message to the current players as well as the players coming up through the system.

Dean talked about drafting and acquiring players who would one day wear the LA Kings tattoo on their ass. These new, fresh faces coming into the organization need that culture to grow into the league; for all the 1st rounders Edmonton has drafted, this team is still not built with the tattoo on their asses kind of culture.

If Dean were to ever finish putting out a book, it would be an essential read.

Willie Mitchell even talked about the passion and culture Dean described in his interview with The Mayor recently. Great listen.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Not a sexy trade or player but definitely an improvement - hopefully will mean Lizotte will now be unprotected and taken by the Kraken.

How about LA sends Brown,Lizotte,Wagner,Frk and Wolanin and the Kings pick up the tab

 

[Lt Dan]

You can request whatever you like...

Cool. Get Chuck Woolery and Jon Secada too.
Also Norm McDonald. Norm should be #1

 

[Jason Squirties]

Cool. Get Chuck Woolery and Jon Secada too.
Also Norm McDonald. Norm should be #1

I'll add Tom Green and Huell Howser's grave.

 

[kingsfan28]

That’s a pretty random and irrelevant thing to bring up in this specific conversation. DL traded for Cloutier in 2006, not 2009. That wasn’t a team with a stocked pipeline seeking to improve and become more competitive. You still have to ice a roster even while going through the tear-down phase. It’s probably fair to say DL wanted “his” (read: Marc Crawford’s) guy in net during that phase instead of the excrement the Kings had been rolling out before DL was hired.

Yeah, that trade was all on Crawford telling his new boss who he want in net. Giving him that big contract was another story...

 

[ricardfromage]

I don't like the trade. Not that the price was too high or anything like that and I mean he will be an excellent swede to add to our system but I just don't see him as anything special anymore. I mean he will likely be another Kempe for us which is fine it just isn't anything special. He should be fine fine just fine but if we are looking to add him to our top 6 he will have to have one hell of a comeback year (which he could) in order to be anyone special for us. If he doesn't then he costs us a 2nd round pick in a draft that has a ton of who know's prospects in it.

That said welcome to the team Arvy, here's to you returning to form on our Kings.

 

[johnjm22]

So if I'm understanding the expansion draft correctly, with Arvidsson obviously protected, that means we're likely losing one of:
Athanasiou/Lemieux/Grundstrom

I'm guessing it will be AA that gets exposed.

It will be pretty funny if we give up AA, a 2nd and a 3rd for Arvidsson, then AA outscores him Seattle.

 

[King'sPawn]

I don't like the trade. Not that the price was too high or anything like that and I mean he will be an excellent swede to add to our system but I just don't see him as anything special anymore. I mean he will likely be another Kempe for us which is fine it just isn't anything special. He should be fine fine just fine but if we are looking to add him to our top 6 he will have to have one hell of a comeback year (which he could) in order to be anyone special for us. If he doesn't then he costs us a 2nd round pick in a draft that has a ton of who know's prospects in it.

That said welcome to the team Arvy, here's to you returning to form on our Kings.

So are you saying the Kings should have got something special for a 2nd and 3rd round pick, or that the Kings should have mortgaged the future to try to get something special?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

So if I'm understanding the expansion draft correctly, with Arvidsson obviously protected, that means we're likely losing one of:
Athanasiou/Lemieux/Grundstrom

I'm guessing it will be AA that gets exposed.

It will be pretty fun if we give up AA, a 2nd and a 3rd for Arvidsson, then AA outscores him Seattle.

Provided we get even a modicum of the player Arvidsson was, at least he'll be a play-driving non-liability.

And given literally the ONLY time AA outscored Arvidsson was AA's best season in 2019--when he scored 54 points in 76 games--Arvidsson STILL had him beat in PPG, scoring 34 goals and 48 points in 58 games (injury), so I'm pretty confident we're getting an upgrade.

I liked AA's spunk and propensity for instant offense--walking off the wall vs. the Ducks was f***ing awesome, and his fights were great--but Arvidsson is ALWAYS a motor, not just at moments.

 

[FSL KINGS]

So if I'm understanding the expansion draft correctly, with Arvidsson obviously protected, that means we're likely losing one of:
Athanasiou/Lemieux/Grundstrom

I'm guessing it will be AA that gets exposed.

It will be pretty funny if we give up AA, a 2nd and a 3rd for Arvidsson, then AA outscores him Seattle.

Are the Kings even Qualifying AA? Could they get stuck in arbitration if they do?

 

[Statto]

The more I see and read, I love this trade. Forgetting the debate about the approach to the rebuild and looking at it for value it really is superb.

Firstly if you look at his injuries they are mostly quite random, almost bad luck. A broken thumb and what I believe was a rib break caused by a puck. This isn’t an injury prone guy who keeps getting knee or groin injuries. So looking past the basic stat line the ‘injury problems’ are not all that concerning. The only one that is a red flag is the cross check and how that may have affected him mentally but even then looking at the both the eye test and the underlying advanced stats he still seems to be going to the hard areas and doing the right things.

If you look at his two down years, both of which were weird Covid affected seasons, two things jump out. The first year his shot totals dropped significantly but his shooting percentage (11.8%) was more or less in line with his career averages. Then last season he fixed the shooting issue but had an outlier in terms of his shooting percentage (6.6%). This is not a guy trending down, but one that has had two specific issues in terms of his play, one of which he seemingly addressed. The supporting point is that his underlying advanced stats have been pretty consistent and he continues to drive play.

It’s not unreasonable to think he’d get back to the range of 10% in his shooting and if he does that this becomes an absolute home run in terms of trade value. I don’t think he plays with Kopitar though as it’s not the type of player Kopi plays with. He is going to to be with Vilardi or Byfield where his movement and speed will allow them to utilise their play making skills, a much more natural fit IMO.

If you factor in a very friendly contract that will be very movable if we ever need to, there isn’t much to complain about here. I get the debate about approach to the rebuild but you have to give Blake credit for demonstrating that he is quite capable of pulling off a creative trade for a player that is very likely to bounce back.

 

[deeshamrock]

Apparently Seattle was going to pick Viktor so they traded him to us instead. That could explain the value. I wonder why he wasn't considered protected by Nashville though.

Poile commented after the trade that Arvidsson had not been the same since the cross check (Nov 2019) vs the Blues. His quality shots dipped as did his shooting percentage. Defenders were handling him better. But another factor as some of the nashville media speculated, was that he (and other players) was unhappy there. Maybe Poile sensed this and moving him out was a good choice. Clearing roster space so some younger players, like Rem Pitlick, perhaps can make the team.

I think Poile may be breaking up the forward core, given their lack of success and moving in a different direction.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Do the Kings have to suck as much as possible until they get every piece they need in the draft? If there's not a #1 franchise changing D in a given year, do you punt the next season? If that perfect dman isn't there the next season, do you suck for another year to get that guy? What if you have to wait another 4 years to get the right dman?

So if I'm understanding the expansion draft correctly, with Arvidsson obviously protected, that means we're likely losing one of:
Athanasiou/Lemieux/Grundstrom

I'm guessing it will be AA that gets exposed.

It will be pretty funny if we give up AA, a 2nd and a 3rd for Arvidsson, then AA outscores him Seattle.

 

[LAKings88]

You can request whatever you like...

Can you get DL to come on?

 

[DoktorJeep]

Arvidsson had his best years under Laviolette. Under a more defensive coach, the results were worse. I hear different opinions on how well rounded a player he is now. Some people say he’s a PK player. Others say he is below average in the defensive zone, especially early in his career. And my least favorite opinion I heard was comparing him to Cliff Ronning.

It sounds like the kings are putting VA on the second line. Whether they see him as a PK guy will be interesting to keep an eye on. Second line makes a lot of sense, especially if they get a guy like Saad to play with Kopitar. Throw Nate Schmidt in on D and I might be onboard the make the playoffs train, depending on how drunk I am at any given point.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The more I see and read, I love this trade. Forgetting the debate about the approach to the rebuild and looking at it for value it really is superb.

Firstly if you look at his injuries they are mostly quite random, almost bad luck. A broken thumb and what I believe was a rib break caused by a puck. This isn’t an injury prone guy who keeps getting knee or groin injuries. So looking past the basic stat line the ‘injury problems’ are not all that concerning. The only one that is a red flag is the cross check and how that may have affected him mentally but even then looking at the both the eye test and the underlying advanced stats he still seems to be going to the hard areas and doing the right things.

If you look at his two down years, both of which were weird Covid affected seasons, two things jump out. The first years his shot totals dropped significantly but his shooting percentage (11.8%) was more or less in line with his career averages. The last season he fixed the shooting issue but had an outlier in terms of his shooting percentage (6.6%). This is not a guy trending down, but one that has had two specific issues in terms of his play, one of which he seemingly addressed. The supporting point is that his underlying advanced stats have been pretty consistent and he continues to drive play.

It’s not unreasonable to think he’d get back to the range of 10% in his shooting and if he does that this becomes an absolute home run in terms of trade value. I don’t think he plays with Kopitar though as it’s not the type of player Kopi plays with. He is going to to be with Vilardi or Byfield where his movement and speed will allow them to utilise their play making skills, a much more natural fit IMO.

If you factor in a very friendly contract that will be very movable if we ever need to, there isn’t much to complain about here. I get the debate about approach to the rebuild but you have to give Blake credit for demonstrating that he is quite capable of pulling off a creative trade for a player that is very likely to bounce back.

I only disagree in that I think he's the perfect winger for Kopitar. High skill, but high motor, like Iafallo on roids.

I don't think they'll play him there but IMO he's a fit.

Poile commented after the trade that Arvidsson had not been the same since the cross check (Nov 2019) vs the Blues. His quality shots dipped as did his shooting percentage. Defenders were handling him better. But another factor as some of the nashville media speculated, was that he (and other players) was unhappy there. Maybe Poile sensed this and moving him out was a good choice. Clearing roster space so some younger players, like Rem Pitlick, perhaps can make the team.

I think Poile may be breaking up the forward core, given their lack of success and moving in a different direction.

It's about time they started reshaping but yeah it looks like guys are getting a bit grumpy, look at Forsberg's reaction to the trade.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

So if I'm understanding the expansion draft correctly, with Arvidsson obviously protected, that means we're likely losing one of:
Athanasiou/Lemieux/Grundstrom

I'm guessing it will be AA that gets exposed.

It will be pretty funny if we give up AA, a 2nd and a 3rd for Arvidsson, then AA outscores him Seattle.

At this moment I see LA protecting

Kopitar
Kempe
Iafallo
Arvidsson
Andersson
Moore
Grundstrum/Brown

Doughty
Roy
Walker

Petersen

So the final spot will come down to Grundstrum/Brown or they have one spot left to get a Top6 forward in a trade to protect.

Edit: and Seattle will take in order Clague, Wagner, Grundstrum (if not protected).