GDT: Kings off-season thread

[Ziggy Stardust]

My ideal summer:

Sign a top line sniper who would be an upgrade over Alex Iafallo. In a fantasy scenario, let's set aside $9M per year for five years for Filip Forsberg.

Obtain a top 3 defenseman, say, Jakob Chychrun, from Arizona for Alex Iafallo, Sean Durzi, and Gabriel Vilardi.

Move Sean Walker if he's healthy. A team like Seattle could take the risk and reward from him having a bounce back season.

Sign Kempe to a 5-6 year deal at $6M per year, and lock up Mikey Anderson at a 3-4 year deal at $2.5M per year.

These moves will push the Kings close to the $82.5M cap ceiling and will give the Kings about $750,000 in cap space with a 21-man roster.

My 2022-23 Kings:

Forsberg-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Danault-Arvidsson
Grundstrom-Byfield-Kaliyev
Lemieux-Lizotte-Kupari

Bjornfot-Doughty
Chychrun-Roy
Anderson-Clarke

Quick-Petersen

Extras: Anderson-Dolan, Spence

These moves would help address their scoring woes and power play struggles by adding a few much needed weapons to the Kings' arsenal.

 

[kingsboy11]

Been AFK for the past week because of work so I haven't had anytime to reflect on the season. With the dust settling after game 7, it feels like we have more questions than answers to me.

My concern for this upcoming offseason is that I don't think there's an Arvidsson or Danault type of deals to be made this offseason. Mostly based on the players that are available, but also based on the players that we have currently. We have too many RHD at the moment. We also have too many forwards.

Regarding Durzi, I have no issues with how he played this year. It was a breath of fresh air to have a defenseman that was willing to push the play other than Doughty, and I will happily eat crow on him because I never thought he was going to figure it out. His mistakes towards the end of the year was compounded by the fact he was playing way more minutes than he probably should have. The only reason I think we should trade him is because I think we should trade him while his value is high and you can't be sure that his play this year is going to be normal from here on out. Add in the emergence of Spence and Clarke needing NHL time, it makes the most sense to me. The only reason I don't want to trade him because he had way more piss and vinegar than I thought he had and its something the whole team lacks.

I honestly I have no idea what direction Blake is going to take. Doughty said we need to get tougher I suspect we will, but is that what Blake will prioritize? I don't know.

 

[johnjm22]

My ideal summer:

Sign a top line sniper who would be an upgrade over Alex Iafallo. In a fantasy scenario, let's set aside $9M per year for five years for Filip Forsberg.

Obtain a top 3 defenseman, say, Jakob Chychrun, from Arizona for Alex Iafallo, Sean Durzi, and Gabriel Vilardi.

Move Sean Walker if he's healthy. A team like Seattle could take the risk and reward from him having a bounce back season.

Sign Kempe to a 5-6 year deal at $6M per year, and lock up Mikey Anderson at a 3-4 year deal at $2.5M per year.

These moves will push the Kings close to the $82.5M cap ceiling and will give the Kings about $750,000 in cap space with a 21-man roster.

My 2022-23 Kings:

Forsberg-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Danault-Arvidsson
Grundstrom-Byfield-Kaliyev
Lemieux-Lizotte-Kupari

Bjornfot-Doughty
Chychrun-Roy
Anderson-Clarke

Quick-Petersen

Extras: Anderson-Dolan, Spence

These moves would help address their scoring woes and power play struggles by adding a few much needed weapons to the Kings' arsenal.

I'd be really surprised if Forsberg signed for less than 7 years.

Panarin got 7 years 11.6M.

Even Bobrovsky, a goalie, got 7 years 10M.

I think Forsberg will get 7 years at 9-10M per.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I like your initial trade idea since it gets some value on guys whose ELC is expiring - but I doubt AZ goes for that - esp since Iafallo looks like garbage. Kings have to do something like that or sign Vilardi and Durzi and put them on the NHL roster. Mikey Ando for sure is a keeper being a lefty and a solid defender. I thought spence showed a lot of promise.. I guess you could bury him in Ontario another year - but maybe the 3rd pairing is him and Anderson with Clarke getting some seasoning in the A.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I'd be really surprised if Forsberg signed for less than 7 years.

Panarin got 7 years 11.6M.

Even Bobrovsky, a goalie, got 7 years 10M.

I think Forsberg will get 7 years at 9-10M per.

You're most likely right on that, I was thinking a contract that ends at age 32 gives someone like Filip the flexibility to sign yet another big contract, similar to what Pavelski did, before his game falls off a cliff.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Edit: was replying to this GDT: - Kings off-season thread

I like your initial trade idea since it gets some value on guys whose ELC is expiring - but I doubt AZ goes for that - esp since Iafallo looks like garbage. Kings have to do something like that or sign Vilardi and Durzi and put them on the NHL roster. Mikey Ando for sure is a keeper being a lefty and a solid defender. I thought spence showed a lot of promise.. I guess you could bury him in Ontario another year - but maybe the 3rd pairing is him and Anderson with Clarke getting some seasoning in the A.

 

[KingLB]

Interesting, but until I know how many of those were against Mcdri I can’t comment.

 

[bouncesonly]

Interesting, but until I know how many of those were against Mcdri I can’t comment.

How do they determine this? Kings play 1-3-1.....if Roy's the back marker, more often than not, he'll let the puck carrier through.

 

[Schmooley]

maybe the 3rd pairing is him and Anderson with Clarke getting some seasoning in the A.

Clarke cant go to the AHL. Its either back to the OHL or NHL. Maybe they send Spence down. Though he has nothing to prove in the AHL other than maybe bulk up.
There are a lot of questions heading into next season.
Grundstrom and Lemieux should be cheap contracts and worth bringing back.
As we see with Tampa the middle players that take up a chunk of combined cap are replaceable. Everyone said they were done for because they traded their third line/middle weights but they were replaced pretty easily. For the Kings Walker Roy and Iafallo take up cap that can be used for upgrading goal scoring. Then what to do with the guys like Vilardi, Moverare, JAD, Andersson.

 

[FSL KINGS]

My ideal summer:

Sign a top line sniper who would be an upgrade over Alex Iafallo. In a fantasy scenario, let's set aside $9M per year for five years for Filip Forsberg.

Obtain a top 3 defenseman, say, Jakob Chychrun, from Arizona for Alex Iafallo, Sean Durzi, and Gabriel Vilardi.

Move Sean Walker if he's healthy. A team like Seattle could take the risk and reward from him having a bounce back season.

Sign Kempe to a 5-6 year deal at $6M per year, and lock up Mikey Anderson at a 3-4 year deal at $2.5M per year.

These moves will push the Kings close to the $82.5M cap ceiling and will give the Kings about $750,000 in cap space with a 21-man roster.

My 2022-23 Kings:

Forsberg-Kopitar-Kempe
Moore-Danault-Arvidsson
Grundstrom-Byfield-Kaliyev
Lemieux-Lizotte-Kupari

Bjornfot-Doughty
Chychrun-Roy
Anderson-Clarke

Quick-Petersen

Extras: Anderson-Dolan, Spence

These moves would help address their scoring woes and power play struggles by adding a few much needed weapons to the Kings' arsenal.

Pretty close to ideal. Would like to beef up that 3rd line with some more experience. Only issue is Blake trading Iafallo or Peterson to clear up the cap. It could happen, but I would be shocked if Blake moved Iafallo or Cal. Maybe Buffalo makes Blake an offer he can't refuse for Iafallo.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I liked what Grundstrom did in the playoffs, no doubt, but correct me if I am wrong, he just seems like, a straight line player, no hockey IQ, see puck, get puck, see body, hit body, which is not necessarily bad....but feels like he's one of those, if you play him ok fine sure, but you might be better putting him in a package with someone else (vilardi, Roy, walker, XXXXXX etc ) to get a bigger piece.

No, I'm seeing what you're seeing. I think he's just an excellent foot soldier and while he's boring he's also pretty hard to replace. He also came in and blew the doors off repeatedly in spot duty. That's a talent to have, especially in a bottom six that gets spotty minutes at best--he's a sort of Trevor Lewis in that he can move up too and he won't look out of place, can put him next to Kopitar or Danault for a few games and he'll hold the spot just fine. I do think he's earned more opportunity and i see his ceiling as a 20g 40p guy, very underrated shot and jams the net.

I do think a lot of people are paying TOO much attention to his playoffs and not nearly enough attention to the rest of the year (I was screaming for him to be in the lineup at several points heh).

If a 20 year-old completely untested rookie is put on Kopitar's wing in training camp then Blake has completely failed this summer.

Well now, what were people saying about Kopitar when he broke in?

I get what you're saying but only a sith speaks in absolutes

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Interesting, but until I know how many of those were against Mcdri I can’t comment.

About 75% of his minutes. yeah.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Iafallo looks like garbage.

It was revealed at exit interviews that Iafallo was playing hurt.

Playing Through Injury
Lastly, Iafallo let the group know that he was dealing with a shoulder problem to close out the season, though nothing that requires any type of a procedure at this time.

General Manager Rob Blake shared that three players were fighting through separated shoulders during Round 1 versus Edmonton, though did not say outright that Iafallo was one in that count.

Exit Interviews - Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Matt Roy - LA Kings Insider

 

[AbsentMojo]

Clarke cant go to the AHL. Its either back to the OHL or NHL. Maybe they send Spence down. Though he has nothing to prove in the AHL other than maybe bulk up.
There are a lot of questions heading into next season.
Grundstrom and Lemieux should be cheap contracts and worth bringing back.
As we see with Tampa the middle players that take up a chunk of combined cap are replaceable. Everyone said they were done for because they traded their third line/middle weights but they were replaced pretty easily. For the Kings Walker Roy and Iafallo take up cap that can be used for upgrading goal scoring. Then what to do with the guys like Vilardi, Moverare, JAD, Andersson.

I forgot about the relaxed eligibility for the A last couple of years.. its back to normal next year and Clarke either makes the team out of camp or back to the O. Even if Spence gets parked in Ontario, he'll end up on the club by either injury or someone just not playing well enough that he could improve upon.

It was revealed at exit interviews that Iafallo was playing hurt.

Playing Through Injury
Lastly, Iafallo let the group know that he was dealing with a shoulder problem to close out the season, though nothing that requires any type of a procedure at this time.

General Manager Rob Blake shared that three players were fighting through separated shoulders during Round 1 versus Edmonton, though did not say outright that Iafallo was one in that count.

Exit Interviews - Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Matt Roy - LA Kings Insider

I wonder how long he had that issue 60 games? (sarc)

 

[redcard]

What's a target in this context? Is this % of controlled entries vs uncontrolled or turnover entries? Or is this success rate of attempted controlled entries?

My interpretation of the 1-3-1 is that it's designed to force dump ins at the red line, meaning that when the opposition does break through the 3 on the red line they ought to have a high success rate of getting by the last 1. Is that last guy always considered targeted? Seems like like there's still an awful lot of context needed to draw any conclusion from the data.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Can't wait to get this guy back and have a few more seasons of a legend hopefully playing at a great level. It's no doubt they missed him so much but what a character that was missing too

 

[KINGS17]

I'd be really surprised if Forsberg signed for less than 7 years.

Panarin got 7 years 11.6M.

Even Bobrovsky, a goalie, got 7 years 10M.

I think Forsberg will get 7 years at 9-10M per.

I don't even want Forsberg on a 5-year deal. Finally a career best season in a contract year. Sorry, not the kind of player that interests me. He will go back to getting 45-60 points a season as soon as he signs his new deal.

...and playing alongside Kopitar? Uh, hell no.

 

[Trash Panda]

I'd be really surprised if Forsberg signed for less than 7 years.

Panarin got 7 years 11.6M.

Even Bobrovsky, a goalie, got 7 years 10M.

I think Forsberg will get 7 years at 9-10M per.

Buddies with RV or not, it’s gonna take 7 years and 70 million to get Forsberg in a Kings uniform.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I wouldn't be surprised to see, isntead of Forsberg, a budget option in Max Domi.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Maybe this is the Summer we get Sergachev.

And you know what; I bet Blake throws a curve ball as well. Giroux to LA.

 

[crassbonanza]

The Kings desperately need a scoring center with Kopitar seemingly slowing down, because if he has any sort of decline from this season the team is in a lot of trouble. I know the hope is that Byfield is able to take over the role of 1C, but I think that is a lot to ask. Kopitar led the team in scoring by 13 points with 67 this year and he had 16 more than Danault. I wonder if the Kings explore someone like Strome, Trochek or Kadri. This would allow the Kings to eventually shift Kopitar to wing, similar the transition that Giroux went through. They also need some scoring on the backend, Doughty led all Dmen with 31 points, despite only playing 39 games. and his 7 goals were only 4 less than the rest of the Dcore combined. Maybe Klingberg is a potential target instead.

The team has a weird build currently, they have a really passive possession structure, similar to the Leafs, but they don't have the offensive talent to take advantage of it. The cap is fairly tied up right now, so they probably only have one shot at an addition to push the team above their current bubble status. They have 20 million to fill in at least 3 forward slots and 2 Dmen. Kempe, Mikey and Durzi probably take up 10 million of that, leaving 10 million to fill in those last two spots(and any scratches the team carries). The Kings could just re-sign Grundy and Lemeiux for ~4 million, but I think the team needs some sort of additional scoring to counter any fall off from Kopitar, Danault or Moore.

 

[Noonan61]

I wouldn't be surprised to see, isntead of Forsberg, a budget option in Max Domi.

Anyone else in cap trouble this offseason besides the Wild? Someone we could take advantage of similar to the Arvy trade?

 

[Noonan61]

The Kings desperately need a scoring center with Kopitar seemingly slowing down, because if he has any sort of decline from this season the team is in a lot of trouble. I know the hope is that Byfield is able to take over the role of 1C, but I think that is a lot to ask. Kopitar led the team in scoring by 13 points with 67 this year and he had 16 more than Danault. I wonder if the Kings explore someone like Strome, Trochek or Kadri. This would allow the Kings to eventually shift Kopitar to wing, similar the transition that Giroux went through. They also need some scoring on the backend, Doughty led all Dmen with 31 points, despite only playing 39 games. and his 7 goals were only 4 less than the rest of the Dcore combined. Maybe Klingberg is a potential target instead.

The team has a weird build currently, they have a really passive possession structure, similar to the Leafs, but they don't have the offensive talent to take advantage of it. The cap is fairly tied up right now, so they probably only have one shot at an addition to push the team above their current bubble status. They have 20 million to fill in at least 3 forward slots and 2 Dmen. Kempe, Mikey and Durzi probably take up 10 million of that, leaving 10 million to fill in those last two spots(and any scratches the team carries). The Kings could just re-sign Grundy and Lemeiux for ~4 million, but I think the team needs some sort of additional scoring to counter any fall off from Kopitar, Danault or Moore.

I agree the current build is not perfect. A scoring center really has to come within the org. Byfield has to be the answer. If he isn't, then we are onto rebuilding the rebuild.

I really like the idea of Chychrun to help balance out the LD and create more offense from that side. It will also beneift the forwards as well. This past year for him look just like a terrible year, an outlier. Guy was playing with pretty much an AHL squad all season and also injured. I think the year before was more of who he was.

I think getting him and then getting someone to play on a line with Byfield, not Kopitar, is the next most important thing. Getting Byfield going will only make the Kings that much better. For that role I have no idea who would fit or we could get. But the key to the next hurdle is really coming down to the kids graduating and maturing.

 

[johnjm22]

I think getting him and then getting someone to play on a line with Byfield, not Kopitar, is the next most important thing. Getting Byfield going will only make the Kings that much better. For that role I have no idea who would fit or we could get. But the key to the next hurdle is really coming down to the kids graduating and maturing.

In theory, if you find a top line winger, it bumps a quality winger down to the 3rd line with Byfield.

I know everyone is down on Iafallo right now. But he should be an ideal player to put on Byfield's wing.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Anyone else in cap trouble this offseason besides the Wild? Someone we could take advantage of similar to the Arvy trade?

Vancouver wants to move salary out for flexibility.
Flames have some big names to sign & tight cap.
Oilers will need to shed salary if resigning Kane
Vegas is way over the cap.
Wild are going to need to get creative. Fiala
Avs losing Kadri
Stars losing Klingberg
Rangers might have a little squeeze next year.
MTL doesn't have a traditional cap problem, but need to sort out major vet contracts.
Philly is near the cap & wants to be competitive so they may look to dump some salary & add in UFA. Who knows what Philly will do though.