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LA KINGS 2023/4 Regular season discussion

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Little Psycho said:
Been 7 years. He has failed spectacularly.
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What a little bitch. A real leader would have said "yes". Hell, he could have said not winning the Cup would be considered a failure.

Nope. Ambiguous enough to where they can make some silly analytics claim about being better or some shit.

Also, they went to Game 7 two years ago and didn't have to trade Faber and two 1sts to do it. Game 6 last year so they already stepped back.

I mean, I haven't liked this guy for ages now and the odds of getting to say "Told you so" seem to rise daily but, man, I want this team to do well so there isn't any pleasure in saying "Told you so".

Slow-motion train wreck kind of thing.
 
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Statto said:
In Football (soccer) a vote of confidence is usually followed by a firing. If you need to publicly back the coach then the end is (should be) near :dunno:
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Way more entertaining if he would just say, “I’m not happy with the job he’s done so far and he better right this ship or I’ll fire his koala ass.”
 
Amazing how other teams are able to find roles for their great young players but here it's "What is Blake supposed to do"

Their hands aren't tied guys, it was their choice to have him in the AHL. The Kings could have traded Roy to a contender and opened up a spot for Clarke (and maybe have addressed the massive goaltending hole). They could have traded Spence to open up a spot. They could just have 4 RH defenders (it's not against the rules).

The organizational philosophy is to have players play more in the AHL than they would in any other organization. They could have kept Bjornfot, Kupari and Helenius in Europe, they could have kept Turcotte in Wisconsin, they could have had Byfield in the NHL at 18. Most organizations probably would have handled all of these decisions differently than the Kings did. But the Kings are obsessed with some mythical "paying the dues" and "learning the system" nonsense for everyone other than depth guys with 3+ years of NCAA experience.

Luke Hughes is on pace for 16 goals and 48 points and will likely be a Calder finalist, if he were in LA he'd be in the same spot Clarke is in. Stop excusing the flawed philosophy of these clowns.

Oh and, boy it's amazing how in September it was "We think we can win a Stanley Cup" and here in the middle of January it's "We are just trying to get better"

When this finally ends and we can take a bigger picture look at this and the gutting that will have to occur to get this team back on the right path, we will see that Blake did more damage to this franchise than even McMaster did.

You could create an NCAA style bracket tournament with all the poor moves, would just be tough to decide on the #1 seeds.
 
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I have a feeling this team will crack like the titanic submersible.. there is too much pressure and not enough IQ or will to pull the thing out the dive. Todd prob thinks its the players, so he will do his same uncreative approach with no results.. the players will have to take the heat and eventually I think they'll pull a Sutter on him.
 
Johnny Utah said:
If this was a Canadian market TM would be gone and Blake would be hanging over an overpass.

BTW, whatever media person was wearing a mask during the press conference was asking the tough questions...
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It's a member of the media, why are you surprised about the mask thing?
 
Blake has fully tied himself down to Todd. How romantic, whenever both of these idiots are fired, I hope them nothing but the worst super strains of STDs while they pursue their unrelenting sexual fantasies.
 
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lumbergh said:
Umm, Kaliyev is playing. He just played two nights ago. Played 5 out of 8 games in January. He is mired in a 7 game pointless streak, though.

I will say that Kaliyev is not being deployed in the right place. His best results are with Danault and Moore. Danault and Moore's best results are with Kaliyev. The WOWY numbers are absurdly good. McLellan should park Kaliyev on that line and leave him there; move Fiala back to Dubois's wing and maybe add Fagemo for a combustible mixture.
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100% and this would be the most effective way to deploy the team’s offense.
 
The things said that was interesting to me as objective as I heard them:

TMac:
-He thinks he is playing Kopi less and his minutes are down over 2 minutes last he checked during the road trip and he isn't playing 100% right now injury-wise.
-His conversations with Blake: they try to take emotion out because they are both frustrated, they go over analytics and line combinations, and they believe they can't make many moves player-wise and need to try to get the most out of the player group they already have.
-It's hard to take Spence and Clarke in and out of the lineup as they try to "develop" two young defensemen, he doesn't know if he will continue to swap them over and over, but we re-evaluate it before each game.

Blake:
-Arvy = 2-3 weeks; Lizzo = similar timeline, sometime after all-star break
-Todd is safe for now, thinks he has the buy-in from the team and the system is in place.
-Believes the issue is adhering stricter to the defensive system, and execution of a quality shot once the system gets the puck in the offensive zone.
-Not much going on as far as negotiations with UFA's during the season, he doesn't like messing with contracts during the season as a philosophy.
-Thinks it is important to get the younger players experience and into the rotation, but is limited to roster space but will try to get kids in when he thinks he can.
-PLD thinks he is doing good things when he has the puck, but pivoted issue is the team/system getting the puck on his stick more and it is a team possession thing and being on their game. Pointed to his 5 on 5 production.
-Trade deadline acquisition is Arvidsson.
-Thinks the first powerplay unit has been good and taking up big minutes.
-Will not consider Byfield at center during the season, will consider it in the future if space is available for that.
-He wants more from Kaliyev and for him to fit in better, he is a work in progress.
-Quick returning to LA should just be him being remembered as the best goalie from the Kings' organization.
-Bill Ranford is less hands-on and adapting to working both with the goaltending coaching staff and scouting staff.
-Funny finish with Helene Elliott roasting Blake a little for answering her question about Kopitar's health that he's not on the injury report.
 
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Telos said:
Interesting things said to me:

TMac:
-He thinks he is playing Kopi less and his minutes are down over 2 mins last he checked during the road trip and he isn't playing 100% right now injury-wise.
-His conversations with Blake: they try take emotion out because they are both frustrated, the go over analytics and line combinations, and they believe they can't make many moves player-wise and need to try to get the most out of the player group they already have.
-It's hard to take Spence and Clarke in and out of the lineup as they try to "develop" two young defenseman, he doesn't know if he will continue to swap them over and over, but we re-evaluate it before each game.

Blake:
-Arvy = 2-3 weeks; Lizzo = similar timeline, sometime after all-star Blake
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I dont read anything there re the systems they use (not that I would expect self-reflection) - that what was effective early isnt effective now. Did anyone ask something like that?
 
hockeyroyalty.com

LA Kings: "This is our group," GM Rob Blake addresses the media

LA Kings general manager Rob Blake meets with the media to talk trade deadline, the current slide, Pierre-Luc Dubois, injuries, and more.
hockeyroyalty.com hockeyroyalty.com

"When asked about Dubois’ low point total on the season, Blake said he’d like to see more there but pointed to his 5v5 numbers being similar to his past seasons. Dubois is producing 1.97 points per 60 minutes during 5v5 which would be the second-highest rate of his career, according to evolving-hockey.com."

Are you serious? This garbage is what we're supposed to expect?
 
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BigBrown said:
hockeyroyalty.com

LA Kings: "This is our group," GM Rob Blake addresses the media

LA Kings general manager Rob Blake meets with the media to talk trade deadline, the current slide, Pierre-Luc Dubois, injuries, and more.
hockeyroyalty.com hockeyroyalty.com

"When asked about Dubois’ low point total on the season, Blake said he’d like to see more there but pointed to his 5v5 numbers being similar to his past seasons. Dubois is producing 1.97 points per 60 minutes during 5v5 which would be the second-highest rate of his career, according to evolving-hockey.com."

Are you serious? This garbage is what we're supposed to expect?
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Im sure his butt puckered when he answered that.. his real feeling being how could make such a gigantic blunder and fall for Luc and Bergovin input like he did with Granato/Turcotte..
 
Fat Elvis said:
"I'm going to rely on the players and the leadership group to lead us out of this"

The same "leadership group" from 10 seasons ago?

Still holding on to the past...

Hope is not a strategy.

Time for a change
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The same leadership group, ie Kopitar/Doughty, who's been playing the worst hockey of their careers, especially Drew.
 
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BigBrown said:
hockeyroyalty.com

LA Kings: "This is our group," GM Rob Blake addresses the media

LA Kings general manager Rob Blake meets with the media to talk trade deadline, the current slide, Pierre-Luc Dubois, injuries, and more.
hockeyroyalty.com hockeyroyalty.com

"When asked about Dubois’ low point total on the season, Blake said he’d like to see more there but pointed to his 5v5 numbers being similar to his past seasons. Dubois is producing 1.97 points per 60 minutes during 5v5 which would be the second-highest rate of his career, according to evolving-hockey.com."

Are you serious? This garbage is what we're supposed to expect?
Click to expand...
This is the shit I was talking about earlier.

Guess he'd be leading the league in points if they played him the full sixty.

Not to start an analytics discussion, but this type of soft and poor-fitting roster is what happens if you lean too far into analytics and don't realize that this game is still won in the trenches.

DL was stale so I'm going to try and build the complete opposite team, including the coach. Sweet.
 
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Fat Elvis said:
"I'm going to rely on the players and the leadership group to lead us out of this"

The same "leadership group" from 10 seasons ago?

Still holding on to the past...

Hope is not a strategy.

Time for a change
Click to expand...
The problem is that it isn't the same leadership group from 10 seasons ago.

That team had Williams, Mitchell, Richards, Stoll, Greene, Regher, Quick etc...with Lombardi/Sutter at the top.
 
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Master Yoda said:
The same leadership group, ie Kopitar/Doughty, who's been playing the worst hockey of their careers, especially Drew.
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The leadership group is one of the big problems, in my unprofessional and unsolicited opinion. As much as I love Kopi, I thought it was a mistake from day 1 when the made him the captain. I've never really gotten the "captain" vibe from him. Doughty strikes me as being a little too emotional to be captain material. Both have been great players, and are likely going to be in the HOF, but I've always felt that the true leaders of those cup teams were Williams, Mitchell, Brown, Greene, and Richards.
 
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