Confirmed with Link: Kings Sign Kopitar (2 Years/ $7m AAV)

[chris kontos]

its hard for me to believe that a team could have a history, ancient and post 2015, as bad as us and blame it on bad luck. it aint bad luck. naiive fans in a non traditional hockey area have been fed a river of bs regarding team goals. the stated goal of winning championships is the bs. the real goal is to keep up the gate receipts etc and prolong mgmt's employment. team record and results is a product of aeg not gaf and secure ex jocks that dont know thier ass from a hole in the ground.
i continue to hope for the best, but i think a great analogy to the kings and thier history is the los angeles angels of california and anaheim. we have one more championship but the organization stinks just as bad.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Man, some of you are quite overdramatic. This team is in a better position now than they were in 2019, 2020, and 2021, yet I see a significant uptick in bitching and moaning. It's become more tedious and tiresome to be on these boards than it was to watch some of those awful periods of Kings hockey.

 

[bmr]

Yeah this is going to be PLDs and Clarkes team. I think it’s pretty obvious they have given up on byfield being that guy. I think what they will do if all things go well is to have PLD 1c Danault 2/3C Byfield 2/3C. Danault is going to be our Handzus

I'm more concerned with Byfield in terms of his desire/compete level. I was really bothered in the series against Edmonton where he really didn't presevere at the end of a couple shifts that led to goal(s). He's still young, he's still learning - but ultimately it's up to him to decide how big of an impact he wants to be to this team going forward. These are things you can't teach.

Man, some of you are quite overdramatic. This team is in a better position now than they were in 2019, 2020, and 2021, yet I see a significant uptick in bitching and moaning. It's become more tedious and tiresome to be on these boards than it was to watch some of those awful periods of Kings hockey.

I agree 100%. It can be such a drain. There will always be things we don't agree with or want to be critical about, but sometimes being a fan means continuing to have faith and ride the waves.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

As much as I complain and I'm still way more iffy on PLD than most--one thing Blake has done really well is the age stratification of the roster.

Now we know TM won't use it and ice time is distributed by age, but the raw age/experience distribution (at least until painted into a corner with waivers this season) is incredibly well done.

 

[johnjm22]

I think people are underrating how exciting the current roster is.

We get to watch a 20yo Clarke, 25yo PLD, 21yo Byfield, along with Kempe and Fiala in their primes. Plus a handful of other young players potentially on the cusp of impacting, and lots of quality veterans mixed in.

I think it's going to be a fun year.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Man, some of you are quite overdramatic. This team is in a better position now than they were in 2019, 2020, and 2021, yet I see a significant uptick in bitching and moaning. It's become more tedious and tiresome to be on these boards than it was to watch some of those awful periods of Kings hockey.

It's funny, I thought of this too. Back when I was in high school and college, I would always be on the boards after I get back home. I have no friends that are into hockey so this was the place for me to talk hockey. Yes, there was complaining but the more positive posts outweighed it. Nowadays, it's the other way around. I come here to be excited about the season and I see a bunch of debbie downer posts lol

 

[Trash Panda]

I think people are underrating how exciting the current roster is.

We get to watch a 20yo Clarke, 25yo PLD, 21yo Byfield, along with Kempe and Fiala in their primes. Plus a handful of other young players potentially on the cusp of impacting, and lots of quality veterans mixed in.

I think it's going to be a fun year.

I agree, it’s going to be exciting.

Problem is, excitement rarely leads to success in the spring time.

I just have a sinking feeling that the lack of killer instinct on the roster is going to be a sticking point, repeatedly.

 

[Schmooley]

I think people are underrating how exciting the current roster is.

We get to watch a 20yo Clarke, 25yo PLD, 21yo Byfield, along with Kempe and Fiala in their primes. Plus a handful of other young players potentially on the cusp of impacting, and lots of quality veterans mixed in.

I think it's going to be a fun year.

Yea it will be a fun team. But some weaknesses like goaltending and toughness have not been addressed and they cant beat the heavies in the playoffs sitting back in the 1-3-1 even when trailing. Todd needs to adjust with this roster and they should plug some holes by the deadline.

 

[Herby]

I think people are underrating how exciting the current roster is.

We get to watch a 20yo Clarke, 25yo PLD, 21yo Byfield, along with Kempe and Fiala in their primes. Plus a handful of other young players potentially on the cusp of impacting, and lots of quality veterans mixed in.

I think it's going to be a fun year.

This is the best roster they have had in awhile, it’s not a cup contending team but it’s a fun one.

This is basically a return to the turn of the century Kings, which were also pretty exciting teams to watch.

 

[Master Yoda]

Fun team to watch for sure barring injuries.
They're also inevitably going to have to play short handed at least a few times because of cap issues.
And TMac will just give all the extra ice time to Kopitar and Doughty. More bitching and moaning on the horizon.

 

[Fishhead]

This is the best roster they have had in awhile, it’s not a cup contending team but it’s a fun one.

This is basically a return to the turn of the century Kings, which were also pretty exciting teams to watch.

Should be fun for sure.

For me, it's getting really difficult to call teams a cup contender anymore. Is this year's Kings roster as good as Vegas or Florida? Better than Florida I think. Probably a notch below Vegas. It's more about matchups, luck, and cap manipulation than anything.

 

[BigKing]

Man, some of you are quite overdramatic. This team is in a better position now than they were in 2019, 2020, and 2021, yet I see a significant uptick in bitching and moaning. It's become more tedious and tiresome to be on these boards than it was to watch some of those awful periods of Kings hockey.

No playoff series wins for almost a decade, six total playoff games won over the same time and none of the tank draft picks have popped yet. Patience is running very thin.

Might argue about the better position. Think we liked the prospects more immediately after the 2020 draft so the expectation was to be in a better position than they are today.

More entertaining team to watch than the actual on-ice product for the years listed? Most definitely.

My biggest problem is the team softness while also not believing they are a contender. I'd prefer a worse team that really stood up for one another and took it physically to the opposition v. 100 point season only to get bounced after a week and a half.

 

[Schrute farms]

So as fans are we not allowed to point out failures, mistakes, etc. by the organization? Can you do both -- enjoy the team, being supported of them, etc.......while also pointing out the clearly idiotic, stupid, shooting themselves in the foot, etc. moves? Or are we only allowed to be positive and simply be ignorant to anything negative at all?

It's like winning $1 million in the lottery; but losing $800K because you missed the deadline by a day to turn in the paperwork and instead only get $200K. Sure, that $200K is amazing and will do wonders for your life. But you had $1M and simply being stupid/lazy cost you $800K. But lets put our head in the ground about that $800K and completely ignore it and not learn from anything.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think being a mobile team that is tough to play against is what got Vegas far this year, they didn’t need a useless cement head like Ryan Reaves to win the Cup. Vegas was also in the middle of the pack in overall hits and were the least penalized team in the NHL.

 

[bland]

Ah, nothing like the mid-summer optomists coming out to complain.

This team did nothing to address the core issues that prevent them from success, are significantly weaker in areas that were already weak, and contracted itself into a corner so that it cannot improve without further weakening the roster.

Who is going to close out tight games with late leads? Who is going to kill penalties better? Who is going to win board battles to get pucks out of the zone when hemmed on for extended periods?

Who is going to coach the team? What on-ice leaders are going to motivate the team to achieve more as a cohesive unit and go further than where just their skilled players can take them?

A 37 year old, 8 minute a night Trevor Lewis is the only measure taken to address any of the problems that cost this team back to back winnable series.

So yeah, drool over the team on paper while using the out of sight, out of mind method of fandom. No games going now so no proof to point to, just hope. We can HOPE Clarke makes the team and doesn't have the same rookie mistakes that plagued Durzi. Lets HOPE Kaliyev gets a real look to balance out the roster. Lets HOPE that Copley and Talbot can play well enough to get into the playoffs, much less win a round. Lets HOPE that Vancouver and Calgary haven't improved enough to challenge them.

McLellan is still coaching. Nothing is really going to change. Its an inbalanced, soft, front running team that allows the opposition to dictate the pace of a game and a series. But sure, lets ignore all that and hope for the best.

 

[chris kontos]

Jack kent cooke provided free admission in1967. I was taken to my first kings game at the fabulous forum then that featured gerry dejardins in goal (he let in a red liner), cowboy bill flett and real lemieux. Been a fan since.
Im older than dirt and i got a right to bitch.

 

[Sol]

I think people are underrating how exciting the current roster is.

We get to watch a 20yo Clarke, 25yo PLD, 21yo Byfield, along with Kempe and Fiala in their primes. Plus a handful of other young players potentially on the cusp of impacting, and lots of quality veterans mixed in.

I think it's going to be a fun year.

Are you legitimately this disconnected from the arguments people are making? It seems like you’re pretty much reading what you want to read.

I didn’t see one person say this team is not going to be fun, people are saying this team is built to fail. People made fun of the sharks for showing up in the regular season and doing nothing in the playoffs. I didn’t know that is something we wanted to emulate.

Do try to follow along.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Hoping the team fails in order to undergo another management change and painful rebuild is so much fun, because that certainly guarantees playoff results. That's some highbrow hockey knowledge on display that we can't wrap our heads around.

 

[Schrute farms]

I find it funny that all of a sudden due to Vegas winning the cup with their no-name goalies that now this is some new trend. So now the Kings can follow this trend and be like Vegas. As if the Kings and Vegas defensively, depth, etc. and how they play are anything alike.

 

[psych3man]

I think being a mobile team that is tough to play against is what got Vegas far this year, they didn’t need a useless cement head like Ryan Reaves to win the Cup. Vegas was also in the middle of the pack in overall hits and were the least penalized team in the NHL.

Disagree completely.
Vegas is a very aggressive/dirty team that plays physical, protects and stands up for one another, aggressively clears the front of the net and takes no shit.
If I analyze them at the same time being the least penalized team in the league I will risk getting called a conspiracy theorist (hint: it has to do with where they stand in the league’s perspective).

 

[Sol]

Hoping the team fails in order to undergo another management change and painful rebuild is so much fun, because that certainly guarantees playoff results. That's some highbrow hockey knowledge on display that we can't wrap our heads around.

Let me get this straight.

Let me simplify this for you in case there’s a chance the logic is too complicated for you to comprehend.

1. Delaying the inevitable for some short term fun.

2. Building a team correctly to ensure long term success.


You’d rather have the Kings be the Sharks than be the Kings of old.

Is that what you’re getting at? At least be transparent about not giving a shit about the Kings winning the cup sooner rather than later. I legit find it so bizarre that so many people don’t give a shit about the rebuild. Legit crazy to me. Back when DL was GM I remember everyone being on board with the process regardless of how long it took because we knew the Kings were trying to go for a championship.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Vegas was also 26th in the NHL in fighting majors, and the Kings ranked 28th.

 

[Herby]

Might argue about the better position. Think we liked the prospects more immediately after the 2020 draft so the expectation was to be in a better position than they are today.

None of the high draft picks from 2017-2021 look to be major pieces for the Kings this season, the best one is Mikey Anderson.

But then you get people like you know who tell his audience , "How can you complain, they are ahead of schedule in the rebuild!"

Blake tried to plant a bunch of vegetables in his garden and when they were slow to grow he went out to the store and bought a bunch of developed plants for a lot more money, planted them over where the seeds were and then the Mayor of Pravda tells us they are ahead of schedule.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Let me get this straight.

Let me simplify this for you in case there’s a chance the logic is too complicated for you to comprehend.

1. Delaying the inevitable for some short term fun.

2. Building a team correctly to ensure long term success.


You’d rather have the Kings be the Sharks than be the Kings of old.

Is that what you’re getting at? At least be transparent about not giving a shit about the Kings winning the cup sooner rather than later.

Here's a fact you fail to acknowledge: the Kings blueline this year will be younger than it's been in previous years. Did you realize that, or did your incessant whining get in the way?

 

[chris kontos]

Critical thinking and being a kings fan are not mutually exclusive

Just to repeat