LA KINGS 2023/4 Regular season discussion

[Raccoon Jesus]

I can get on board to some degree with the 'never root for your team to lose' thing but when it means the best thing for your franchise that's where the water gets murky

Like I said elsewhere at this point regardless of the damage blake has or hasn't done I am just f***ing through with his association with the franchise, he's always a harbinger of the bad times and the arrogance/smugness with which this org currently treats its fans absolutely deserves to get caught with it's pants down and Cersei'd thru the town square

they deserve the schaudenfraude that comes with pretending you're smarter than any other franchise that has ever done it and god damn your 50+ year fans, they're just stupids anyway, we know what we're doing, we've got this, let them cook

Welp, you're cooked. Now get the f*** out and get someone in here with some vision and, more importantly, humility.

 

[SaltyElkHunter]

I can get on board to some degree with the 'never root for your team to lose' thing but when it means the best thing for your franchise that's where the water gets murky

Like I said elsewhere at this point regardless of the damage blake has or hasn't done I am just f***ing through with his association with the franchise, he's always a harbinger of the bad times and the arrogance/smugness with which this org currently treats its fans absolutely deserves to get caught with it's pants down and Cersei'd thru the town square

they deserve the schaudenfraude that comes with pretending you're smarter than any other franchise that has ever done it and god damn your 50+ year fans, they're just stupids anyway, we know what we're doing, we've got this, let them cook

Welp, you're cooked. Now get the f*** out and get someone in here with some vision and, more importantly, humility.

What’s funny is whenever I have had interactions with him in the JR Kings capacity or thru mutual acquaintances he’s been really cool.

Saw him with my son in the rafters of Toyota arena when he first took over and he was a completely different dude.

There is a weird association between fans and hockey players that is just phony as shit. The arrogance of 90% of professional athletes is usually next level douchebag. They probably look at every fan as the creep that is way too comfortable. Problem is most people put these dudes on a pedestal. Shit I’ve done it too.

I feel like this is more about his performance though than his disposition or temperance. Winning fixes everything and these fools are not winning!

 

[Surf Nutz]

The problem with being JUST a contrarian is that you don't have any original takes of your own so it's easy to forget what you argue for or against

must be fun to live life with the memory of an onion though

Ease up on the beers and tears I feel in your comments , Major Onion-Peel, sir!

I never liked the McLlelan hire but I did move on.

For your A.I memory bank, it gets flooded out.

Not sure what whoever I blocked said or why he must lift the veil, read and comment.

 

[Surf Nutz]

I can get on board to some degree with the 'never root for your team to lose' thing but when it means the best thing for your franchise that's where the water gets murky

Like I said elsewhere at this point regardless of the damage blake has or hasn't done I am just f***ing through with his association with the franchise, he's always a harbinger of the bad times and the arrogance/smugness with which this org currently treats its fans absolutely deserves to get caught with it's pants down and Cersei'd thru the town square

they deserve the schaudenfraude that comes with pretending you're smarter than any other franchise that has ever done it and god damn your 50+ year fans, they're just stupids anyway, we know what we're doing, we've got this, let them cook

Welp, you're cooked. Now get the f*** out and get someone in here with some vision and, more importantly, humility.

You are not done at all, you are here doubling down with comments, all day , every day.

I really don't get the vibe you do from Blake.

And no he ain't perfect.

Could be frequent flier syndrome?

Seems to be going around...

 

[bland]

I can get on board to some degree with the 'never root for your team to lose' thing but when it means the best thing for your franchise that's where the water gets murky

Like I said elsewhere at this point regardless of the damage blake has or hasn't done I am just f***ing through with his association with the franchise, he's always a harbinger of the bad times and the arrogance/smugness with which this org currently treats its fans absolutely deserves to get caught with it's pants down and Cersei'd thru the town square

they deserve the schaudenfraude that comes with pretending you're smarter than any other franchise that has ever done it and god damn your 50+ year fans, they're just stupids anyway, we know what we're doing, we've got this, let them cook

Welp, you're cooked. Now get the f*** out and get someone in here with some vision and, more importantly, humility.

Its actually a really easy fix if you can find Mr. Outside Hire who doesn't over-complicate every decision by running it thru the Kings fraternity filter.

The players that need to go aren't difficult to identify, the players that need to have enhanced roles are easy to spot. There aren't that many real question marks.

 

[Trash Panda]

Its actually a really easy fix if you can find Mr. Outside Hire who doesn't over-complicate every decision by running it thru the Kings fraternity filter.

The players that need to go aren't difficult to identify, the players that need to have enhanced roles are easy to spot. There aren't that many real question marks.

Unfortunately, the LA Kings beach volleyball club is in full effect, and what should be simple is going to be horrifically complicated.

Glad I got to see the golden years when I did, because they might be a long ways away from coming back.

 

[funky]

Kopi- Kempe- Lewis

One of these things is not like the other

 

[FrozenKing18]

Kopi- Kempe- Lewis

One of these things is not like the other

Lewis needs to change the first letter on his last name

 

[King'sPawn]

Kopi- Kempe- Lewis

One of these things is not like the other

One isn't the player's full name?

One doesn't start with a 'K'?

Dammit. Give me a clue!

 

[Surf Nutz]

Kopi- Kempe- Lewis

One of these things is not like the other

Kempe, yet to win a cup.

 

[bland]

Kopi- Kempe- Lewis

One of these things is not like the other

Yup, no Cups for Kempe.

 

[ru4reals]

Lewis needs to change the first letter on his last name

I just pronounce his name without the L.

 

[BigKing]

Hoven going out of his way to post that the Kings record and goal differential is inflated by going 15-0-1/+41 against the bottom seven teams in the league was surprising to me.

Not the numbers but that he actually pointed it out. Hopefully they change the rules for playoff qualifying so the Kings can draw one of these teams round 1. Kopitar and PLD hope it's Chicago.

 

[Fat Elvis]

Has anyone heard if LA is in on any NCAA or Euro FA's?

 

[tny760]

Hoven going out of his way to post that the Kings record and goal differential is inflated by going 15-0-1/+41 against the bottom seven teams in the league was surprising to me.

Not the numbers but that he actually pointed it out. Hopefully they change the rules for playoff qualifying so the Kings can draw one of these teams round 1. Kopitar and PLD hope it's Chicago.

6-10-3/-10 against WC playoff teams doesn't really have the same ring to it

 

[BigKing]

6-10-3/-10 against WC playoff teams doesn't really have the same ring to it

That's why I was surprised he brought it up. On the surface, it is a good "take care of business" stat but then you go to the next level, which you did, and it makes the whole "contender" thing laughable.

They are a better team with Arvidsson though. Lack of a true gamebreaker means this team is supposed to win with depth. His 26 goals have been "replaced" by Moore and Byfield but Kempe is off pace considerably.

If they can ice their ideal Top 9 and have them healthy the rest of the way, they are definitely a better team offensively and it is sorely needed. Take out the late night junk food of the past two Chicago games and these guys aren't putting on a laser show by any means. 2.53 goals per game since the Byfield Goal game against CBJ (when Arvidsson was hurt) when excluding the two recent Chicago games.

Over the course of the season, that would put them 30th out of 32 teams.

 

[lexlavender]

I'm sure Blake as a person is a very good man.

I'm sure that there are a lot of pressures on him outside of pure optimization of assets that incentivized him to act the way he acted: ticket sales, playoff revenue, player expectations, attitudes from coaches and the locker room, the bubble of just being within an organization.

That doesn't change the fact that most likely he bungled this rebuild without a miracle or two. He hoarded assets and didn't sketch out a game plan early, and then when it was decided to rebuild around Kopi and Doughty again he start flinging them like trading cards on the school ground.

That's not to say all hope is lost. We have exited the rebuild with a decent, if middling, young core of Byfield, Clarke, Spence (if he isn't nuked). We still have some hopeful prospects in Kaliyev, Fagemo, Thomas. Moverare looks like an NHLer.

But that ignores all of the bad. We still don't have a goaltender and no hope in sight on that front. Byfield is a great, maybe even amazing player, but does he have the true top end needed to contend, especially in this day and age? Remains to also be seen if Clarke can convert his hype, or even if it's possible to do so in a culture like the Kings. If not, we don't have any hope on that front currently.

The trade for PLD will define this "rebuild" and probably doomed it. If we don't buy him out or trade him, it will be hard to ice any sort of actually contending team, or capitalize on opportunities. And that all doesn't include the fact that it is increasingly apparent that this team will keep icing Kopitar and Doughty for as long as they want to remain on the team, and never actually pull the rip cord.

I look at all of this shit, and I just compare it to Lombardi.

Unlike Blake, Lombardi had a clear vision. He wanted to ice a strong, character driven team, one that would leave it all on the ice every single game. Even after the cups, he kept building towards that vision, made a lot of wacky moves and decisions because of that vision. Look at all of Lombardi's moves after 2014. Decision to not buyout Richards, decision to trade for Lucic, Sekera, Iginla, Lecavalier, Bishop. All of it can be explained by trying to get strong, character, passion driven players. Lombardi was losing the plot in the end, but at least he had the courage and vision to make the weird moves. I ultimately respect that, especially now living under his shadow

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm sure Blake as a person is a very good man.

I'm sure that there are a lot of pressures on him outside of pure optimization of assets that incentivized him to act the way he acted: ticket sales, playoff revenue, player expectations, attitudes from coaches and the locker room, the bubble of just being within an organization.

That doesn't change the fact that most likely he bungled this rebuild without a miracle or two. He hoarded assets and didn't sketch out a game plan early, and then when it was decided to rebuild around Kopi and Doughty again he start flinging them like trading cards on the school ground.

That's not to say all hope is lost. We have exited the rebuild with a decent, if middling, young core of Byfield, Clarke, Spence (if he isn't nuked). We still have some hopeful prospects in Kaliyev, Fagemo, Thomas. Moverare looks like an NHLer.

But that ignores all of the bad. We still don't have a goaltender and no hope in sight on that front. Byfield is a great, maybe even amazing player, but does he have the true top end needed to contend, especially in this day and age? Remains to also be seen if Clarke can convert his hype, or even if it's possible to do so in a culture like the Kings. If not, we don't have any hope on that front currently.

The trade for PLD will define this "rebuild" and probably doomed it. If we don't buy him out or trade him, it will be hard to ice any sort of actually contending team, or capitalize on opportunities. And that all doesn't include the fact that it is increasingly apparent that this team will keep icing Kopitar and Doughty for as long as they want to remain on the team, and never actually pull the rip cord.

I look at all of this shit, and I just compare it to Lombardi.

Unlike Blake, Lombardi had a clear vision. He wanted to ice a strong, character driven team, one that would leave it all on the ice every single game. Even after the cups, he kept building towards that vision, make a lot of wacky moves and decisions because of that vision. Look at all of Lombardi's moves after 2014. Decision to not buyout Richards, decision to trade for Lucic, Sekera, Iginla, Lecavalier, Bishop. All of it can be explained by trying to get strong, character, passion driven players. Lombardi was losing the plot in the end, but at least he had the courage and vision to make the weird moves. I ultimately respect that, especially now living under his shadow

Agreed. I don't have a problem with Blake the person. Even when he was playing contract hardball as the Kings captain so long ago, Lombardi mentioned the pressures from the NHLPA he faced not to take too nice of a deal. Even if he was being pure greedy, I've done selfish shit when I was younger.

He's lost my confidence in his ability to manage a team though. It's been said many times by @BigKing (I think) that it's easy to amass losses and collect high picks, but there comes a time you have to know when and how to get out of it.

He did get out of being a lottery team, but having first-round fodder is either a very poor vision or very poor execution of a grander vision.

If they lose out in the first round for the third time in a row (or miss the playoffs), I'd expect a major change in the front office.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Hoven going out of his way to post that the Kings record and goal differential is inflated by going 15-0-1/+41 against the bottom seven teams in the league was surprising to me.

Not the numbers but that he actually pointed it out. Hopefully they change the rules for playoff qualifying so the Kings can draw one of these teams round 1. Kopitar and PLD hope it's Chicago.

Curious as to what other teams records against the bottom 7 teams are.....

 

[AbsentMojo]

 

[tny760]

just saw russell had a pretty aggressive take on that one

 

[AbsentMojo]

just saw russell had a pretty aggressive take on that one

oh OK.. i get passed these i dont know these guys on twitter, sorry if its bullshit

 

[tny760]

oh OK.. i get passed these i dont know these guys on twitter, sorry if its bullshit

i mean shit, i don't know any better myself

 

[Herby]

I'm sure Blake as a person is a very good man.

I'm sure that there are a lot of pressures on him outside of pure optimization of assets that incentivized him to act the way he acted: ticket sales, playoff revenue, player expectations, attitudes from coaches and the locker room, the bubble of just being within an organization.

That doesn't change the fact that most likely he bungled this rebuild without a miracle or two. He hoarded assets and didn't sketch out a game plan early, and then when it was decided to rebuild around Kopi and Doughty again he start flinging them like trading cards on the school ground.

That's not to say all hope is lost. We have exited the rebuild with a decent, if middling, young core of Byfield, Clarke, Spence (if he isn't nuked). We still have some hopeful prospects in Kaliyev, Fagemo, Thomas. Moverare looks like an NHLer.

But that ignores all of the bad. We still don't have a goaltender and no hope in sight on that front. Byfield is a great, maybe even amazing player, but does he have the true top end needed to contend, especially in this day and age? Remains to also be seen if Clarke can convert his hype, or even if it's possible to do so in a culture like the Kings. If not, we don't have any hope on that front currently.

The trade for PLD will define this "rebuild" and probably doomed it. If we don't buy him out or trade him, it will be hard to ice any sort of actually contending team, or capitalize on opportunities. And that all doesn't include the fact that it is increasingly apparent that this team will keep icing Kopitar and Doughty for as long as they want to remain on the team, and never actually pull the rip cord.

I look at all of this shit, and I just compare it to Lombardi.

Unlike Blake, Lombardi had a clear vision. He wanted to ice a strong, character driven team, one that would leave it all on the ice every single game. Even after the cups, he kept building towards that vision, make a lot of wacky moves and decisions because of that vision. Look at all of Lombardi's moves after 2014. Decision to not buyout Richards, decision to trade for Lucic, Sekera, Iginla, Lecavalier, Bishop. All of it can be explained by trying to get strong, character, passion driven players. Lombardi was losing the plot in the end, but at least he had the courage and vision to make the weird moves. I ultimately respect that, especially now living under his shadow

Good post.

The frustrating thing is, despite what certain people try and say, it would not have taken a decade to come out of this. Had Blake gone in a different direction this team would likely be loaded going forward.

Clarke
Byfield
Faber
2023 Top 5
2022 Top 5
Anderson
2024 Top 8-12
Durzi
Vilardi
Spence
Kaliyev
Turcotte

And that doesn't even factor in the potential return that Doughty would have brought in the summer of 2021 and the return Roy would have brought at this years deadline.

Do the Dean Lombardi boxes thing and start filling in the boxes, it's scary how good this team would be looking for the next decade. And they would have had ample assets to actually go out and maybe make a trade for a guy like Tkachuk if he were available and they thought it was a missing piece. But instead they have very little in young assets and are up against the cap.

The funniest thing is the people who talk about "AEG not wanting to rebuild" or "AEG needs the playoff revenue" to excuse the horrific decisions Blake has made, completely ignoring the fact that AEG already once ok'ed a traditional rebuild in the summer of 06, which resulted in two Stanley Cups 6 and 8 seasons later. And as far as needing playoff revenue, this team has played 10 home playoff games since the 2014 Cup, and they were claiming to be playoff contenders in 8 of those seasons.

 

[Herby]

Hoven going out of his way to post that the Kings record and goal differential is inflated by going 15-0-1/+41 against the bottom seven teams in the league was surprising to me.

Not the numbers but that he actually pointed it out. Hopefully they change the rules for playoff qualifying so the Kings can draw one of these teams round 1. Kopitar and PLD hope it's Chicago.

This has been a common pattern for the Kings the last 3 seasons, they demolish the lesser teams and then really struggle vs. the good teams.

This year vs the 6 worst teams in the NHL

ANA: 2-0
SJS: 2-0-1
CHI: 2-0
CLB: 2-0
OTT: 2-0
ARI: 3-0

Last year there were 6 teams who had 70 or less points. The Kings record vs those teams

ARI: 2-0-1
CHI: 2-0-1
SJS: 3-0
ANA: 3-0
MTL: 2-0
CLB: 1-0-1

The year before in 2021-2022 it was similar. 6 teams with 70 or less points.

MON: 2-0
NJD: 2-0
PHI: 1-0-1
ARI: 2-0-1
CHI: 2-0-1
SEA: 3-1-0

So that means the Kings record vs. bottom 6 teams the last 3 seasons is a staggering

38-1-7

And the Kings division finishes are 3rd, 3rd and currently 3rd.

That tells you just how well they do vs. good teams.