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

[Raccoon Jesus]

I've said a lot about how I feel about PLD but I will say he has embraced the f*** out of LA this offseaon, heh. Guy has seen more in like two weeks than I have in 30 years!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[Telos]

I've said a lot about how I feel about PLD but I will say he has embraced the f*** out of LA this offseaon, heh. Guy has seen more in like two weeks than I have in 30 years!

Maybe he has turned into a glass-is-half-full kind of guy after being threatened with long term outlooks in Columbus and Winnipeg

 

[DoktorJeep]

If you squint hard enough, you can see anything that generally fits your agenda. If you hope for success despite the odds, causes for enduring optimism abound. Corollary to that optimism is shunning any negative thoughts about the people in charge while specious reasons exist to keep faith.

But the odds are a bitch for a reason, primarily based on reality. For many years, Kings fans assuaged their feelings about being an, at best, also ran by tilting at windmills. Imaginary enemies made the second biggest sports media market on the planet difficult to crack for a lowly NHL club. After fifty years, despite multiple championships, the team continues to be an also ran in the local market.

The latest fallacy is that anyone can win the cup. Specifically, a team with obvious flaws on paper isn’t prevented from making a deep run. That ignores the fact that you have to fight through the competition to get near the end no matter what the circumstances.

So it’s all too convenient to pin hopes on anything can happen when you start by squinting at all the things that have to go right to be legit after 82 games. If anything can happen, why not roll the dice and play the kids? Oh that’s right, the reality is that there is a massive difference for management keeping their jobs day to day versus planning three steps ahead at all times.

 

[Sol]

So how many high picks did the Kings have and whiffed on during the rebuild? Turcotte is one. We all know your thoughts on Byfield. So the rebuild lasted for three drafts? The only other remaining high pick is Brandt Clarke.

One of their second roundes, Faber, yielded one of the top scoring wingers in the NHL. Tampa Bay's biggest star was a second rounder. The Golden Knights had one player they drafted in their lineup in Nic Hague, also a second rounder, and their highest drafted players that they acquired were Jack Eichel (2nd overall in 2015), and Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall in 2008).

If we listen to the armchair GMs, this is not how you put together a championship team. They dealt away their top prospects for immediate help by acquiring the likes of Eichel and Stone.

It's as if there is more than one way to add young players to a roster while also remaining competitive. But according to Sol, that is only accomplished one way, and all of those examples I listed of unsuccessful teams that have been rebuilding for years should be ignored.

Do you expect to find Datsyuk every 6th round? Do you realize how probability works?

There are absolutely rare instances when players like Eichel become available that you can determine whether or not you're willing to sell a few players for that kind of caliber.

Rebuilds work and the Kings are pretty much retooling on the Kopitar, and Doughty foundation while completely shafting the players the rebuilt for however I dont expect someone like you who thinks Kempe is part of the rebuild to understand how probability works in relation to draft positions.

Because apparently for you we could have gotten Doughty in the 4th round and wasted a really high pick getting him 2nd. You are unbelievable if you truly think this way lol

The Kings are riding on the corpse of Kopitar and Doughty to remain "competitive" but you obviously see nothing wrong with that. LMAO.

 

[King'sPawn]

The "meat" of their prospect pool really started to get strung together from the 2019 draft and onwards. That was their first high draft pick, and that pick has sputtered spectacularly.

Removing Vilardi out of the equation since he's gone, there are 7 players who could be in the opening lineup that the current management team has drafted: Anderson, Anderson-Dolan, Bjornfot, Fagemo, Spence, Byfield, and Clarke. As you mentioned, two of those names will be used in significant roles, and Clarke can quickly work his way in as a third member of that group, then you have the next layer of guys who we have to wait and see on.

I guess having a tad bit of hope that Byfield and Kaliyev put their shit together doesn't have me as hopeless as some of the others on here who think the Kings are throwing away every young player they've drafted. I'm trying to hammer home a point that they still have homegrown talent on this roster who can serve a purpose and be considered part of the core, which some guys worked their way into.

I think you know me well enough to know I'm a massive supporter of prospects and hold out hope for prospects and defend them longer than most.

So let's break this down a bit.

Both Anderson-Dolan and Fagemo will NOT be on the opening night roster. It will be one or the other. Because the fourth line will almost certainly be ???? - Lizotte - Lewis.

Spence, Clarke, and Bjornfot won't all be on the opening night roster. Top 4 is Anderson-Doughty, Gavrikov-Roy. You'll probably see Bjornfot with one of Spence or Clarke.

The Kings have homegrown talent, but they are fixated on this mentality that players need to be slowly brought along in order to have a good career in the NHL, when plenty of players have success when they are pushed. Ask any teacher or trainer - not everyone learns and grows the same. This rigid mentality of play Byfield, Kaliyev, Vilardi, JAD, Fagemo, etc in the bottom six until they get it right, before they can actually play in roles you drafted them for, is a disservice. Anderson had Doughty vouching for him.

Clarke was pulling his pud for a month before being sent to the WJC and then sent down to juniors last year, because they didn't want to burn off a year of his contract.

These are questionable decisions and the concern is the Kings' rigid approach is doing their future players a disservice.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

People tend to really overstate "locker room issues" in sports. Hockey in particular has this very toxic boomer mentality where players are expected to shut up and be good ol' Canadian boys and play for pennies for their childhood teams. People romanticize sports and turn them into these giant cultural showcases where athletes are being judged for the virtues they ostensibly represent. It's nonsense.

I mean for f***'s sake look at PLD and the Montreal "connection" we just witnessed. Guy was expected to go to Montreal just because of his background and identity.

I'll believe it when I see it with PLD being "lazy" or whatever else people say about him. People said the same kind of things about Carter and Richards and it was all BS. It wound up being more a product of their environment in Philly. They both played hard for us.

Sometimes athletes are just trying to position themselves for success. This happens in basketball all the time. It's not a big deal.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I think you know me well enough to know I'm a massive supporter of prospects and hold out hope for prospects and defend them longer than most.

So let's break this down a bit.

Both Anderson-Dolan and Fagemo will NOT be on the opening night roster. It will be one or the other. Because the fourth line will almost certainly be ???? - Lizotte - Lewis.

Spence, Clarke, and Bjornfot won't all be on the opening night roster. Top 4 is Anderson-Doughty, Gavrikov-Roy. You'll probably see Bjornfot with one of Spence or Clarke.

The Kings have homegrown talent, but they are fixated on this mentality that players need to be slowly brought along in order to have a good career in the NHL, when plenty of players have success when they are pushed. Ask any teacher or trainer - not everyone learns and grows the same. This rigid mentality of play Byfield, Kaliyev, Vilardi, JAD, Fagemo, etc in the bottom six until they get it right, before they can actually play in roles you drafted them for, is a disservice. Anderson had Doughty vouching for him.

Clarke was pulling his pud for a month before being sent to the WJC and then sent down to juniors last year, because they didn't want to burn off a year of his contract.

These are questionable decisions and the concern is the Kings' rigid approach is doing their future players a disservice.

But that's not what happened, throw JAD and Fagemo out, Fagemo never has had a chance yet, and JAD isn't good enough for top 6,

Byfield top 6, Vilardi, top 6 his 2nd year from being healthy, he played 50 some odd games in the top 6 and never put it together...

Kaliyev, 100% has not played top six, may or may not get to this year, depends on the minutes distribution...

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

People tend to really overstate "locker room issues" in sports. Hockey in particular has this very toxic boomer mentality where players are expected to shut up and be good ol' Canadian boys and play for pennies for their childhood teams. People romanticize sports and turn them into these giant cultural showcases where athletes are being judged for the virtues they ostensibly represent. It's nonsense.

I mean for f***'s sake look at PLD and the Montreal "connection" we just witnessed. Guy was expected to go to Montreal just because of his background and identity.

I'll believe it when I see it with PLD being "lazy" or whatever else people say about him. People said the same kind of things about Carter and Richards and it was all BS. It wound up being more a product of their environment in Philly. They both played hard for us.

Sometimes athletes are just trying to position themselves for success. This happens in basketball all the time. It's not a big deal.

I mean, there's PLENTY of fire here, not just smoke, going all the way back to juniors.

There's a reason he's a multifaceted risk, not just a 'locker room issue' (which i tend to lean your way on in general).

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I mean, there's PLENTY of fire here, not just smoke, going all the way back to juniors.

There's a reason he's a multifaceted risk, not just a 'locker room issue' (which i tend to lean your way on in general).

I'm not saying there's not some degree of risk associated with trading for a player like him. On principle alone, game changing players are rarely traded or purchased via free agency. Look back at the past twenty Cup winners, and most of them (with some outliers, of course) featured top players drafted and developed by the organization.

To be honest, man, I'm just sort of tired of worrying about what the hell this franchise is doing under Blake. He's a terrible GM and I can't do anything about that, so may as well give these players the benefit of the doubt and hope for a quick ascension or a quick collapse.

The PLD trade will move us in one of those directions, and quickly. Either the character stuff is overblown and he explodes. Or he doesn't and the trade is eventually looked upon as Blake's Waterloo.

I'm fine with either. And I do sort of agree with the sentiment that 23/24 at the very least will be an exciting year. At least now we can dispense with this notion that Blake is carefully building through the draft. It's balls to the wall contend now, masks off, and I'm here for it.

 

[Sol]

I don’t care about PLDs attitude issues potentially. If Carter and Hartnells wife rumors were to believed among the other issues. Than the CBJ issues. Carter was good with us. I do think he was being a little bitch towards the end with the Kings when he was obviously not trying.

 

[Sparky206]

I'm not saying there's not some degree of risk associated with trading for a player like him. On principle alone, game changing players are rarely traded or purchased via free agency. Look back at the past twenty Cup winners, and most of them (with some outliers, of course) featured top players drafted and developed by the organization.

To be honest, man, I'm just sort of tired of worrying about what the hell this franchise is doing under Blake. He's a terrible GM and I can't do anything about that, so may as well give these players the benefit of the doubt and hope for a quick ascension or a quick collapse.

The PLD trade will move us in one of those directions, and quickly. Either the character stuff is overblown and he explodes. Or he doesn't and the trade is eventually looked upon as Blake's Waterloo.

I'm fine with either. And I do sort of agree with the sentiment that 23/24 at the very least will be an exciting year. At least now we can dispense with this notion that Blake is carefully building through the draft. It's balls to the wall contend now, masks off, and I'm here for it.

Blake won the off season in 21 signing Danault. He won it again in 22 signing Fiala. He's got a chance in 23 signing Pld. 2/3 were 25 yrs old when signed long term.

Your sleeping on Blake, good moves and the team is deep and a contender. Dean sucked before he built but we didn't get cups with symonds or schenn, he had to go out and get stoll Richards and Carter. Blake done the same thing and you all want him fired into the sun.

Sometimes I think people around here just want forever rebuild. Looks at detroit and Ottawa. They sucked when we sucked, now they still suck and look like they will continue to suck while we're entering contention phase

 

[King'sPawn]

Blake won the off season in 21 signing Danault. He won it again in 22 signing Fiala. He's got a chance in 23 signing Pld. 2/3 were 25 yrs old when signed long term.

Your sleeping on Blake, good moves and the team is deep and a contender. Dean sucked before he built but we didn't get cups with symonds or schenn, he had to go out and get stoll Richards and Carter. Blake done the same thing and you all want him fired into the sun.

Sometimes I think people around here just want forever rebuild. Looks at detroit and Ottawa. They sucked when we sucked, now they still suck and look like they will continue to suck while we're entering contention phase

By this time in Lombardi's tenure with the Kings, he won a Stanley Cup.

But good on Blake for winning three straight off seasons. I look forward to offseason champion banner being hoisted.

 

[Schrute farms]

Do they have an engraved trophy for the off-season championship? I can’t wait to see the guys pics with their day with this trophy. Lifetime of dreams coming true.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Do they have an engraved trophy for the off-season championship? I can’t wait to see the guys pics with their day with this trophy. Lifetime of dreams coming true.

I think it's the same trophy that 2nd place comes with.....both of you clearly missed the point, the only question is did you miss it on purpose....

 

[Trash Panda]

Blake won the off season in 21 signing Danault. He won it again in 22 signing Fiala. He's got a chance in 23 signing Pld. 2/3 were 25 yrs old when signed long term.

Your sleeping on Blake, good moves and the team is deep and a contender. Dean sucked before he built but we didn't get cups with symonds or schenn, he had to go out and get stoll Richards and Carter. Blake done the same thing and you all want him fired into the sun.

Sometimes I think people around here just want forever rebuild. Looks at detroit and Ottawa. They sucked when we sucked, now they still suck and look like they will continue to suck while we're entering contention phase

I personally can’t wait for us to one-up the predators with three “Off Season Champions” banners headed to the rafters.

It’s the kinda thing a fan really lives for.

 

[YAYSAY]

Kempe only started putting up goals when he worked on it himself. This was mentioned during a game last year.

Yes, a player needs to do some of his own work, but why does a player need to work on this stuff himself instead of having it be part of what is being taught? Or IS it being taught, but not being taught well enough?

Anderson and Byfield are the only two put in regular major roles for more than half a season.

And of the players you listed, only Vilardi, Anderson, Kupari, Kaliyev, Byfield have been NHL regulars. Averaging 1 NHL regular a draft is pretty bad, especially when 3 of those drafts were top-10 picks. Now, Clarke, Faber, and Spence should add to the list as well after this season... but the adage is "if you can average 2-3 NHL players a draft, you had a very good draft". Even adding those, it's still below average as far as looking at that threshold.

What the Kings have achieved with the youth, taking into context the number of picks and how high, is underwhelming. The season may be more exciting, but shouldn't the Kings also be doing better for the long haul, instead of waiting for the next prospect to start independently working on skills he had not developed well enough with the org?

Kempe did an interview the season he really broke out and said the biggest thing that helped him was getting quality and consistent minutes with Kopitar. I'm sure he did a lot of personal work but that's definitely not all it was. It still goes back to getting an opportunity and being put in a position to succeed

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Blake won the off season in 21 signing Danault. He won it again in 22 signing Fiala. He's got a chance in 23 signing Pld. 2/3 were 25 yrs old when signed long term.

Your sleeping on Blake, good moves and the team is deep and a contender. Dean sucked before he built but we didn't get cups with symonds or schenn, he had to go out and get stoll Richards and Carter. Blake done the same thing and you all want him fired into the sun.

Sometimes I think people around here just want forever rebuild. Looks at detroit and Ottawa. They sucked when we sucked, now they still suck and look like they will continue to suck while we're entering contention phase

Oh you sweet summer child

 

[Herby]

He won these off-seasons because he threw a bunch of money at the center problem because he drafted the wrong players with back to back top-five picks? One of those years overriding his scouts?

Also, apparently adding Carter and Richards to a core of 24 year old Quick, 23 year old Kopitar and 21 year old Doughty is the same thing as adding PLD to 36 year Kopitar and 34 year old Doughty.

“Won the off-season”, literally word for word what’s said on Pravda’s podcast. And both these “off-season championships” resulted in zero playoff series wins.

You know what would have been a good time to “win an off-season” , the 2019 or 2020 ones.

 

[jgs]

Kings do have skilled players but they will never win the Cup until they get real tough and stick up for each other. They get pushed around too much especially in the playoffs. Skill alone won't do it. You cannot win when the other team is taking runs at your team, manhandling your team and your team doesn't stand up to it.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

He won these off-seasons because he threw a bunch of money at the center problem because he drafted the wrong players with back to back top-five picks?

Also, apparently adding Carter and Richards to a core of 24 year old Quick, 23 year old Kopitar and 21 year old Doughty is the same thing as adding PLD to 36 year Kopitar and 34 year old Doughty.

“Won the off-season”, literally word for word what’s said on Pravda’s podcast. And both these “off-season championships” resulted in zero playoff series wins.

You know what would have been a good time to “win an off-season” , the 2019 or 2020 ones.

Well yes, I mean, let's forget a 26 year old Kempe, 26 year old Fiala, 22 year old Kaliyev, 20 year old Byfield, 24 year old Anderson, 27 year old Gavrikov, 20 year old Clarke, I mean....those players don't exist....

 

[Herby]

Well yes, I mean, let's forget a 26 year old Kempe, 26 year old Fiala, 22 year old Kaliyev, 20 year old Byfield, 24 year old Anderson, 27 year old Gavrikov, 20 year old Clarke, I mean....those players don't exist....

Not even close to what they had with Kopitar, Doughty and Quick, not even close.

One was finishing off a successful rebuilding of the franchise and one was abandoning a rebuild to try and win again with old players.

 

[KINGS17]

Do they have an engraved trophy for the off-season championship? I can’t wait to see the guys pics with their day with this trophy. Lifetime of dreams coming true.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Not even close to what they had with Kopitar, Doughty and Quick, not even close.

One was finishing off a successful rebuilding of the franchise and one was abandoning a rebuild to try and win again with old players.

Successful how? Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick? an 11th OA, a 2nd OA and a 72nd OA? Would love to hear the definition of success on this....obviously winning the cup was the pinnacle, but in 2008-2009 they brought in Williams the year before Greene and Stoll, all three very KEY players....that was with a 22 year old Quick, an 18 year old Doughty, and 21 year old Kopitar, that was Quick's first year, so I don't know if you can argue that they knew what they had, and they brought OLD players in....

 

[Herby]

It has nothing to do with draft position, they got a gift that the player who clearly was the 2nd best player in the 2005 draft fell to them and DL inherited that player, sure, but he still had him. The point is they had all the key positions locked in with HOF caliber players who were drafted and developed by the organization. Those same players who were drafted 18 and 15 years ago are still the best players on the team, but are clearly no longer championship caliber building blocks.

Draft position is often mentioned because the higher you pick the much better your chances of drafting an impact player are. The Kings Top 5 picks have both been all-time disappointments through three and four years. If you want to still have hope, that is your right, and maybe you are right. But facts are through 3 and 4 seasons there have been few players taken that high who have performed as poorly.