GDT: Kings off-season thread

[Raccoon Jesus]

Neither does Trevor Moore. He stepped up after a slow start and you dont see anyone saying bad about him.
It could just be that Iafallo sucked since January and it has nothing to do with his draft pedigree.

It could be. It's more like he finally gave a few people an excuse. People have been banging the "Iafallo sucks"/not a top six forward drum for a few years now despite him constantly scoring at a 50 point pace until now. The dude had chemistry with Kopitar, forechecked/puck hounded with the best of them, and is one of the best defensive forwards in the league, all while scoring at an above-average (yes) top-six pace, all for a fair price. He's earned the benefit of the doubt that the last few months were the first true slump of his career, not a harbinger of his doom.

 

[GameNight]

Didn’t Iafallo and maybe even Kempe to some degree, rack up some points when they were with Danault?

 

[KINGS17]

It could be. It's more like he finally gave a few people an excuse. People have been banging the "Iafallo sucks"/not a top six forward drum for a few years now despite him constantly scoring at a 50 point pace until now. The dude had chemistry with Kopitar, forechecked/puck hounded with the best of them, and is one of the best defensive forwards in the league, all while scoring at an above-average (yes) top-six pace, all for a fair price. He's earned the benefit of the doubt that the last few months were the first true slump of his career, not a harbinger of his doom.

In terms of points, this last season was Iafallo's second most productive NHL season. He tied his season-high best with 17 goals as well. I am not defending, or criticizing him. This last season is who he is as a hockey player.

Iafallo is now 28 years old. What is the shelf life of the production for an average NHL winger with talent limitations? I think we may have seen the best of Alex Iafallo.

 

[kingsholygrail]

It could be. It's more like he finally gave a few people an excuse. People have been banging the "Iafallo sucks"/not a top six forward drum for a few years now despite him constantly scoring at a 50 point pace until now. The dude had chemistry with Kopitar, forechecked/puck hounded with the best of them, and is one of the best defensive forwards in the league, all while scoring at an above-average (yes) top-six pace, all for a fair price. He's earned the benefit of the doubt that the last few months were the first true slump of his career, not a harbinger of his doom.

Iafallo has never made it to 50pts. "On pace for" is about as useful as +/-. He is a 30pt average player. He has never shown anything else in his NHL career.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Iafallo has never made it to 50pts. "On pace for" is about as useful as +/-. He is a 30pt average player. He has never shown anything else in his NHL career.

What are you talking about? He had 30 points in 50 games last season and 43 points in 70 games the season prior. THAT is a 50pt/season player.

 

[Fishhead]

Iafallo has never made it to 50pts. "On pace for" is about as useful as +/-. He is a 30pt average player. He has never shown anything else in his NHL career.

Not sure how he's a 30 point player, outside of his very first season he only had 30 once, and that was during a 56 game season.

He's only missed 11 games his entire career, it's not like on pace is being used to twist data, it's because we didn't have full seasons due to COVID. He's got 168 points in 372 total possible games, 361 of which he actually played in. He's a lot closer to a 40pt guy than a 30pt one.

He's not a world-beater, and he's at his ceiling, but calling him a 30 point guy isn't at all accurate. Since he's settled after his rookie season he's been a .5ppg guy who can handle tough assignments and still have positive differentials for all his metrics. In a typical full season he's going to get you around 40 points with solid play. That's lower 2nd/fantastic 3rd line production for less than 5% of total cap. That's why I don't think there is a need to move him unless it's for an upgrade, it's not like we have any young guys who can replace that.

 

[kingsholygrail]

What are you talking about? He had 30 points in 50 games last season and 43 points in 70 games the season prior. THAT is a 50pt/season player.

It's literally not. I know you guys have an extreme hardon for Iafallo, but he is just not a top 6 player.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

It's literally not. I know you guys have an extreme hardon for Iafallo, but he is just not a top 6 player.

LOL...I have a hard-on for Iafallo because I'm stating a fact? I think IA would be a great 3rd line player for our team, that's my extent of fandom for the guy.

 

[King'sPawn]

It's literally not. I know you guys have an extreme hardon for Iafallo, but he is just not a top 6 player.

Define a top 6 player.

He was tied in 174th in scoring among forwards. In a down year. Every team has six "top 6" forwards in scoring, which puts him abovr the threshold of 6*32=192.

He's also 147th overall in scoring since he came into the league. 12 points behind Adrian "first liner" Kempe (who has played 4 more games).

He's tied with Charlie Coyle in scoring.

So... please. Just what is a "top 6 forward"?

 

[bland]

It's literally not. I know you guys have an extreme hardon for Iafallo, but he is just not a top 6 player.

You do realize that the previous two seasons saw Iafallo's production in the top 30 of all LWs, right?

That is TOP line stats for a guy whose value exceeds his statistical results.

Dude a rough half year, all this talk is just nonsense.

 

[johnjm22]

There's certainly valid criticisms to be made of Iafallo's play this year. He's a big question mark going into next season because of it.

But the thing is players have bad stretches all the time. Opinions of a player are always based off a recency bias.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Iafallo has served his purpose with this organization; time to say goodbye.

 

[kingsholygrail]

LOL...I have a hard-on for Iafallo because I'm stating a fact? I think IA would be a great 3rd line player for our team, that's my extent of fandom for the guy.

You're not stating any facts. He's never scored 50pts. He's only scored 40+ once. He's not a 50pt player.

 

[Schmooley]

Define a top 6 player.

He was tied in 174th in scoring among forwards. In a down year. Every team has six "top 6" forwards in scoring, which puts him abovr the threshold of 6*32=192.

He's also 147th overall in scoring since he came into the league. 12 points behind Adrian "first liner" Kempe (who has played 4 more games).

He's tied with Charlie Coyle in scoring.

So... please. Just what is a "top 6 forward"?

174th out of 192 for your top line winger that gets the most minutes and top powerplay unit is nothing to brag about. Kempe was on the 3rd/4th line carousel until this year. Coyle is a third line center behind bergeron and haula. What are these comparisons?

It could be. It's more like he finally gave a few people an excuse. People have been banging the "Iafallo sucks"/not a top six forward drum for a few years now despite him constantly scoring at a 50 point pace until now. The dude had chemistry with Kopitar, forechecked/puck hounded with the best of them, and is one of the best defensive forwards in the league, all while scoring at an above-average (yes) top-six pace, all for a fair price. He's earned the benefit of the doubt that the last few months were the first true slump of his career, not a harbinger of his doom.

I have been banging the Iafallo is not a top six forward drum. And yes he gave people an excuse to say it by not playing like a top six forward.

 

[AbsentMojo]

First of all Iafallo name as too many syllables for my liking.. in addition, he fell off a cliff this year Mike Richards style. Makes me wonder if Iafallo started eating painkillers like skittles for some earlier injury... something is wrong with him.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

You're not stating any facts. He's never scored 50pts. He's only scored 40+ once. He's not a 50pt player.

Are you that dense? He's a 0.6/pt player per game. Does that help you?

 

[King'sPawn]

174th out of 192 for your top line winger that gets the most minutes and top powerplay unit is nothing to brag about. Kempe was on the 3rd/4th line carousel until this year. Coyle is a third line center behind bergeron and haula. What are these comparisons?

- it's top-six production. He's not a perfect top-six forward, but it's still top-six production.
- Iafallo was also relegated in ice time and Kempe was more middle-six
- Coyle has the 4th most TOI among all Bruins forwards at 17:24/gm this year. Haula is 7th with 15:06.

So, again. What's your definition of a top-six forward? Show your work and make sure it applies.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Are you that dense? He's a 0.6/pt player per game. Does that help you?

You said he was a 50pt player.

 

[Schmooley]

- it's top-six production. He's not a perfect top-six forward, but it's still top-six production.
- Iafallo was also relegated in ice time and Kempe was more middle-six
- Coyle has the 4th most TOI among all Bruins forwards at 17:24/gm this year. Haula is 7th with 15:06.

So, again. What's your definition of a top-six forward? Show your work and make sure it applies.

You dont have to go through this trouble. We all watched the games.

 

[King'sPawn]

You dont have to go through this trouble. We all watched the games.

Considering there's an argument going on and one side is vehemently claiming he's "not a top 6 forward" without providing any explanation as to why, either some haven't watched games or some have unrealistic expectations of what ALL top 6 forwards do.

 

[Gjwrams]

I'm not moving Iafallo, and his decent cap hit, UNLESS I am getting an upgrade at Top line forward, a dude who can put in 30 plus goals and excels on the power play. I am not moving him for shits and giggles or because he had a down 2nd half of the season. I am willing to sacrifice the intangibles that AI brings to the table for that Top line guy BECAUSE we seem to not be able to develop those types of players, but can find and develop lots of "grinder, middle-six guys.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I mean, we’ve provided ample evidence why Iafallo is a good top six guy. I’m not totally married to the opinion and the thing is there are enough people who disagree who Are normally reasonable—I’d be open to hearing an argument against but so far it’s a little disappointing that it all sums up to “nuh uh because i said so.”

Edit: I guess more than anything I’m trying to point out that the presence of Iafallo isn’t the issue, it’s the absence of bigger scorers. If TBL had to rely on Killorn instead of others I’m sure they’d be having the same convo. But a rising tide raises all boats

 

[tbrown33]

Reading a Gavin Lux story, and a certain section obviously stood out to me in relation to the Kings' prospects:

Lux has bounced back up of course, but can't help but think that the Kings might be making it harder on their prospects vs helping them grow. I think the biggest difference between the two orgs is that the Dodgers have been dominant for a decade. We've discussed that to death, but this shows that it can be a huge obstacle for younger players who feel they might be thriving elsewhere with a longer leash.

How the Dodgers' Gavin Lux regained his confidence, and his batting stroke

Lux battled self-doubt before finding his way with the help of teammates and a book recommendation from Justin Turner.

theathletic.com

 

[unicornpig]

You do realize that the previous two seasons saw Iafallo's production in the top 30 of all LWs, right?

That is TOP line stats for a guy whose value exceeds his statistical results.

Dude a rough half year, all this talk is just nonsense.

last season was more than likely an outlier. it was his contract season.....

 

[cyclones22]

Reading a Gavin Lux story, and a certain section obviously stood out to me in relation to the Kings' prospects:

View attachment 552861
Lux has bounced back up of course, but can't help but think that the Kings might be making it harder on their prospects vs helping them grow. I think the biggest difference between the two orgs is that the Dodgers have been dominant for a decade. We've discussed that to death, but this shows that it can be a huge obstacle for younger players who feel they might be thriving elsewhere with a longer leash.

How the Dodgers' Gavin Lux regained his confidence, and his batting stroke

Lux battled self-doubt before finding his way with the help of teammates and a book recommendation from Justin Turner.

theathletic.com

For a while other organizations tried to copycat the Kings roster construction of heavy, physical and skilled, so there's that. But nobody is trying to copy the entire organizational structure and philosophy like MLB teams do the Dodgers. Good snippet, though. I agree.