Speculation: LA Kings News, Rumors, Roster Thread 2022-23 Season Part 2

[KingsFan7824]

The problem is that a contingent of posters have surrounded Blake with a wall of criticism repellent, in which he always gets to eat his cake and have it, too. Case in point, @KingsFan7824’s doublethink masterpiece of:

“Blake has actually addressed the LHD problem. Look at all the LHD in the system.”

Followed by

“None of the LHD in the system are actually reliable NHL defensemen, including Bjornfot who clearly took a step back.”

Do you see the problem? None of this is Blake’s fault now. It’s Bjornfot’s fault for “regressing” (which isn’t even true), or Moverare’s fault for not developing. Blake skirts the criticism.

@Raccoon Jesus has been ringing the alarm bells for nine months about this blueline being one Mikey Anderson injury away from a serious problem. And now here we are. But again, we can’t lay that at Blake’s feet because we don’t have a LHD problem, and if we do, it must be the player’s fault. Ridiculous.

We have to be able to criticize the GM and coach for roster construction and management. Otherwise we’re doing the blind homer, “you’re just a dumb fan you don’t know what’s actually going on” thing, which is childish and pointless and kills all discourse.

How many top pair D replacements do you expect a team to have?

You guys are so fixated on Blake. I'd say the same about anyone in that job. I'd be shocked if I didn't say the same things about the Hickey pick, losing Hickey for nothing, losing Moulson for nothing, the Purcell trade, etc. All the stuff we likely complained about before the Men in Black neuralyzer thing that happened in 2012. Because I don't sit here and think up moves that the Kings should make, and then get mad when they don't happen. I deal with things as they happen in real life. I'm generally open to seeing how things can work. Was Hickey a reach in 2007? Everyone says yes, but I was open to see how it evolved. It didn't, and it's amazing that they still managed to win after missing out completely on a top 4 pick. But it did end up working.

 

[All The Kings Men]

The problem is that a contingent of posters have surrounded Blake with a wall of criticism repellen

Followed by


Do you see the problem? None of this is Blake’s fault now.

We have to be able to criticize the GM and coach for roster construction and management. Otherwise we’re doing the blind homer, “you’re just a dumb fan you don’t know what’s actually going on” thing, which is childish and pointless and kills all discourse.

Criticize away. I enjoy and agree with a fair amount of the criticism I see one here. Not all of it but there's usually some interesting conversations.

I was merely weighing on HOW I think we wound up with LHD being the shallowest part of the pool.

In my personal opinion it was a sequence of events that played out in a fairly straight forward manner. I have seen on this board criticisms of specific moments in this sequence of events.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Copley wasn’t part of the plan.

As long as we're nitpicking and dissecting the intent of every phrase...

he absolutely was part of the plan.

If I leave on a cross country trip and I include a spare tire and then I blow a tire and wind up using the spare... well that's because I planned ahead and had a spare.

It wasn't the ideal version of the plan but Copley also isn't the first spare the Kings have employed.

Garrett Sparks and Troy Grossneck were there to play the same role. They just didn't need to.

The Kings either misjudged Petersen's ability or mismanaged his development or some combination of both and if you want to criticize them for that I doubt anybody would put up much a fight.

But don't pretend like they didn't pack a spare. They were wrong and they had a plan for that eventuality.

 

[chris kontos]

I think a wierd ass way to be a fan is having an inability to think critically about the team, its construction and how we got to where we are. Its painfully obvious that d men either aquired by trades or the draft have not been a priority as offense has been. Maybe blake saw what detroit did years back when they had all L handers on d and won the cup. Maybe blake/ todd think durzi is another nick lidstom. Durzi’s useage would indicate it. The reality would indicate something else.
We lost a great one when mike futa was not retained.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I think that’s a weird way of looking at it. The reason why people are upset is not because they secretly think the kings should be regressing. They’re more upset that trolls suggest that just because the Kings are doing well this year means that the Kings actually don’t have issues.

Damn, that's what you think I think? No wonder you and I clash so much. I know that I've never said the Kings don't have issues. I'm just open to the open-endedness nature of what it is to follow a sport. There is another day. There is a next year. There will be another GM. There will be another coach. There will be a new prospect. There will be another 1st rd pick.

Kings are lucky to be in this spot considering how poorly goaltending was managed. Worst goaltending in the NHL and they had no answer for it. Copley wasn’t part of the plan.

And Carter wasn't part of the plan in 2012. Neither was Sutter. Very lucky that Carter cried his way out of Columbus. But as has been said many times in response to that, well you have to be lucky sometimes to win.

Kings have Durzi playing LD and are balls deep in RD. They didn’t do anything to fix the LD issue which is why they were bleeding goals as Well. All in while having much better alternatives like Spence and Bjornfot riding pine for no reason.

But you also don't know they didn't try to fix it.

Are they balls deep in RHD? Can't do anything with Doughty, so take him out. People tend to want to keep Roy, for now. Not trading Clarke or Spence. We're all tired of Durzi and Walker, but somehow other teams are supposed to take them?

And Tmacs mind numbing line up and decisions are not to be looked over just because the Kings are winning. The Kings have been winning despite a ton of mismanagement. There’s a bunch of you who conflate winning with good management. That’s the big issue.

But something somewhere has to be going right. They wouldn't be where they are, or even where they were last year, if it was a complete shitshow.

Is TM that guy I wish they would've hired? I can't say I had a wish on that, but whoever they hired, I'm open to seeing how it goes. TM is in charge, ok, let's see how it goes. It's not done yet. When he eventually gets fired, we'll have a full picture of what his era was.

 

[Sol]

As long as we're nitpicking and dissecting the intent of every phrase...

he absolutely was part of the plan.

If I leave on a cross country trip and I include a spare tire and then I blow a tire and wind up using the spare... well that's because I planned ahead and had a spare.

It wasn't the ideal version of the plan but Copley also isn't the first spare the Kings have employed.

Garrett Sparks and Troy Grossneck were there to play the same role. They just didn't need to.

The Kings either misjudged Petersen's ability or mismanaged his development or some combination of both and if you want to criticize them for that I doubt anybody would put up much a fight.

But don't pretend like they didn't pack a spare. They were wrong and they had a plan for that eventuality.

Let me expand because everyone has a spare, Copley wasn’t part of the plan until Petersen and Quick fell off the face of the earth. Kings had no choice but to use Copley. If the Kings came into this season thinking that Copley was going to be 1A 1B then that suggests they’re dumber than previously thought.

Giving the Kings credit for throwing a warm body in net when the other two were terrible is like giving someone praise for waking up in the morning.

Doesn’t seem like a “plan”.

 

[Schrute farms]

As long as we're nitpicking and dissecting the intent of every phrase...

he absolutely was part of the plan.

If I leave on a cross country trip and I include a spare tire and then I blow a tire and wind up using the spare... well that's because I planned ahead and had a spare.

It wasn't the ideal version of the plan but Copley also isn't the first spare the Kings have employed.

Garrett Sparks and Troy Grossneck were there to play the same role. They just didn't need to.

The Kings either misjudged Petersen's ability or mismanaged his development or some combination of both and if you want to criticize them for that I doubt anybody would put up much a fight.

But don't pretend like they didn't pack a spare. They were wrong and they had a plan for that eventuality.

I’m not sure you realize what a spare tire is. First off, Copley would be akin to a spare tire in the garage and available in case the actual spare tire is messed up and needs a temporary replacement.

Second, it’s ironic because a spare tire is something you don’t use except for emergency and only for a very very limited time. It’s not a solution. So I find the Copley spare tire analogy kinda funny and odd.

 

[kilowatt]

Almost like there are other teams not just wanting to give guys away. I'm sure every other team always fills their holes every year. Nobody else goes a few years where they can't quite find the right guy at the right time.

We have all been here a long time. Never have GMs been able to do everything they want/need when they want to. Just like it takes a while to deconstruct a team in a hard cap world, it takes a while to construct one.



And the Kings are supposed to get some of those guys how? Go A to Z. How is it done? Who is the Petry on the Kings that Pit wants back for Matheson? You want the Kings to give out, probably an even worse contract, to get Chariot? Zadorov re-signed with Calgary. He seems to like it there. You'd have to incentivize him to leave. He got $7.5m for 2 years. Figure it takes more to get him here. $8.5m? $9m? 3 or 4 years instead of 2?



I'm not subjecting the mishaps to not enough info. I'm subjecting our comments, like Blake is out surfing too much, to not enough info. Just because you think you know every answer, doesn't mean that you do. Of course you need more context. Just because they didn't get ____, doesn't mean they didn't try. It might mean they didn't want that guy. It might mean the other team didn't want what the Kings had to offer. Maybe a guy has a movement clause, and doesn't want to be out in CA. There can be many reasons why something does or does not happen. But that's bootlicking, somehow.

But since I'm a bootlicking troll anyway, I'll just honest. I think some people are bothered that the Kings are even relatively decent, and certainly that they didn't regress this year, even though they should have in the eyes of those people, because they hate management. I think that's a weird ass way to be a fan, but then there were Bruins fans that thought that team should've fired their management over previous failed years, and should've rebuilt a long time ago.

It’s insane to me that you think anyone posts on here every day because they want the Kings to lose. I’m critical of some of Blake’s moves because of how good the team has been in spite of the weaknesses coming into the season.

You’re asking me to do the impossible with these signings and trades. I don’t know who was or was not available. But feel free to comb through posts dating back to last season, many on these forums knew that there were big question marks at LHD and G. That’s Rob’s job to make those moves, not mine. I can be critical of these things without having all the answers.

 

[All The Kings Men]

I’m not sure you realize what a spare tire is.

Oh but I do.

First off, Copley would be akin to a spare tire in the garage and available in case the actual spare tire is messed up and needs a temporary replacement.

No. Copley was the spare you keep in the trunk of your car that you have to put on when you blow a flat on the freeway.

The tire at the garage is the goaltender the Kings may or may not wind up with in the offseason. It might be Korpisalo. It might be Petersen. It might be someone we don't know about yet.

Second, it’s ironic because a spare tire is something you don’t use except for emergency and only for a very very limited time. It’s not a solution. So I find the Copley spare tire analogy kinda funny and odd.

Have you ever found yourself in the world needing something that you could have easily prepared for but didn't?

I keep an umbrella tucked into the side pocket of my backpack. I use my backpack at work.

Most of the time living in Southern California I don't ever need an umbrella.

Sometimes I do. On those rare instances when I've parked at Crypto and need to walk from my car to the game and don't want to get soaked... hey look at that. I planned ahead months ago and I am not stuck completely drenched running like a lunatic to avoid catastrophe.

Do I deserve some sort of award for my genius? No.
Am I a brilliant tactician that fastidiously monitors the weather and adapts moment by moment? Also no.

But I DID make a plan about umbrellas because it was simple and easy and the cost of not doing it would far outweigh the minimal cost of doing it.

The Kings were gonna have goaltenders playing in Ontario. They could have gone with Vilalta and Hrenak or given Parik an ELC and then been caught when 40/32 didn't perform (for whatever reasons) but they didn't. They had an umbrella in their backpack, a spare tire in their trunk, a savings account, a go bag, whatever metaphor you want to go with....

They made a conscious decision to have a goaltender signed to a contract in Ontario that they would feel comfortable with starting NHL games should they need to call on them. That decision cost them money. Not a lot of money but it did cost them money. It was an insurance policy that wound up paying off. Not luck, not chance and certainly not by accident.

Let me expand because everyone has a spare, Copley wasn’t part of the plan until Petersen and Quick fell off the face of the earth. Kings had no choice but to use Copley. If the Kings came into this season thinking that Copley was going to be 1A 1B then that suggests they’re dumber than previously thought.

Giving the Kings credit for throwing a warm body in net when the other two were terrible is like giving someone praise for waking up in the morning.

Doesn’t seem like a “plan”.

Maybe you and I have different definitions of the word plan.

I pay insurance on my car, my apartment, my health etc

I'm not planning on getting in a car accident or getting robbed or getting sick.

But I recently spent the night in the ER and turns out I saved myself a bunch of money by having health insurance.

Because I planned ahead and that PLAN had baked into it the possibility of an emergency.




EDIT : and let me clear...

If you want to criticize the Kings for their goaltending decisions you'll not get a peep out of me.

While I think I understand why they gave Petersen the contract they did I don't agree with how they've handled the goaltending over the past few seasons. Just because I disagree with them doesn't mean I think they're incompetent, stupid or derelict in their duty. I just think they were wrong.

 

[kingsfan28]

And it cost us a 1st to do it, and there's no guarantee it's a long term fix.

That's an expensive price to pay for either a lack of foresight or inaction on foresight.

I'm just wondering which LHD was good enough to be drafted where the Kings were. From what I remember , most of the guys were all righties. I'm sure they were more than aware of the lack of LHD's. So do you pass on a good guy just to draft a LHD who may be ranked 20 spots lower just to fill a need?

 

[Sol]

Oh but I do.

No. Copley was the spare you keep in the trunk of your car that you have to put on when you blow a flat on the freeway.

The tire at the garage is the goaltender the Kings may or may not wind up with in the offseason. It might be Korpisalo. It might be Petersen. It might be someone we don't know about yet.

Have you ever found yourself in the world needing something that you could have easily prepared for but didn't?

I keep an umbrella tucked into the side pocket of my backpack. I use my backpack at work.

Most of the time living in Southern California I don't ever need an umbrella.

Sometimes I do. On those rare instances when I've parked at Crypto and need to walk from my car to the game and don't want to get soaked... hey look at that. I planned ahead months ago and I am not stuck completely drenched running like a lunatic to avoid catastrophe.

Do I deserve some sort of award for my genius? No.
Am I a brilliant tactician that fastidiously monitors the weather and adapts moment by moment? Also no.

But I DID make a plan about umbrellas because it was simple and easy and the cost of not doing it would far outweigh the minimal cost of doing it.

The Kings were gonna have goaltenders playing in Ontario. They could have gone with Vilalta and Hrenak or given Parik an ELC and then been caught when 40/32 didn't perform (for whatever reasons) but they didn't. They had an umbrella in their backpack, a spare tire in their trunk, a savings account, a go bag, whatever metaphor you want to go with....

They made a conscious decision to have a goaltender signed to a contract in Ontario that they would feel comfortable with starting NHL games should they need to call on them. That decision cost them money. Not a lot of money but it did cost them money. It was an insurance policy that wound up paying off. Not luck, not chance and certainly not by accident.


Maybe you and I have different definitions of the word plan.

I pay insurance on my car, my apartment, my health etc

I'm not planning on getting in a car accident or getting robbed or getting sick.

But I recently spent the night in the ER and turns out I saved myself a bunch of money by having health insurance.

Because I planned ahead and that PLAN had baked into it the possibility of an emergency.




EDIT : and let me clear...

If you want to criticize the Kings for their goaltending decisions you'll not get a peep out of me.

While I think I understand why they gave Petersen the contract they did I don't agree with how they've handled the goaltending over the past few seasons. Just because I disagree with them doesn't mean I think they're incompetent, stupid or derelict in their duty. I just think they were wrong.

Let me be clear, I think you’re giving unnecessary praise because Copley was the option because the Kings had no other choice, it was an ultimatum. Why would you pretend that there is foresight in an ultimatum? Especially when you are the person who put yourself.

Let’s use the health example. Let’s say John eats three Big Macs a day and has a heart attack, but his coverage saved his ass even though his lifestyle is what got him into the hospital.

If John was careful he wouldn’t have had to gone to hospital and could have avoided his medical emergency.

They gave Cal 15 million over three years with very little experience which led them to not be able to move him. And he struggled for a prolonged period of time.

They are absolutely incompetent with my reasoning above for ME.

 

[King'sPawn]

I'm just wondering which LHD was good enough to be drafted where the Kings were. From what I remember , most of the guys were all righties. I'm sure they were more than aware of the lack of LHD's. So do you pass on a good guy just to draft a LHD who may be ranked 20 spots lower just to fill a need?

Owen Pickering was picked two spots after the Kings pick, and he's just played a couple games in the AHL after his junior season concluded. He was one of the players I really liked. He finished with 45 points in 61 games in his D+1 season.

 

[Cianide]

I still think Petersen's a decent goaltender and should be relied upon as the backup come next season.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'm just wondering which LHD was good enough to be drafted where the Kings were. From what I remember , most of the guys were all righties. I'm sure they were more than aware of the lack of LHD's. So do you pass on a good guy just to draft a LHD who may be ranked 20 spots lower just to fill a need?

It's not about using that pick to fill a need because more often than not those picks aren't going to be something while you're contending. The Tanner Pearson's are an exception.

The issue is using that pick as a band aid on rentals for holes you yourself created when you're not quite a contender yet, you only get so many swings, and now you're paying an inflated price for what's possibly not a solution for more than 20 games.

 

[tny760]

wrong thread

 

[SettlementRichie10]

How many top pair D replacements do you expect a team to have?

You guys are so fixated on Blake. I'd say the same about anyone in that job. I'd be shocked if I didn't say the same things about the Hickey pick, losing Hickey for nothing, losing Moulson for nothing, the Purcell trade, etc. All the stuff we likely complained about before the Men in Black neuralyzer thing that happened in 2012. Because I don't sit here and think up moves that the Kings should make, and then get mad when they don't happen. I deal with things as they happen in real life. I'm generally open to seeing how things can work. Was Hickey a reach in 2007? Everyone says yes, but I was open to see how it evolved. It didn't, and it's amazing that they still managed to win after missing out completely on a top 4 pick. But it did end up working.

At what point does Blake deserve criticism for roster issues? Don’t talk about Lombardi or Taylor or Jack Kent Cooke. Talk about Blake and the team as it sits now. What would you say he has done poorly as a general manager?

 

[kilowatt]

Five games left. Edmonton, Vegas, Colorado, Vancouver, and Anaheim.

If we want a shot at the division, we pretty much need to win five straight. Besides us, Vegas plays Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas, and two games against Seattle to end the season. We'll need Vegas to lose in regulation to one of them as well.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I still think Petersen's a decent goaltender and should be relied upon as the backup come next season.

He's getting beat out by Villalta. Petersen is struggling now with the Reign. Copley/Korpisalo absolutely need to be the Kings tandem next season.

Five games left. Edmonton, Vegas, Colorado, Vancouver, and Anaheim.

If we want a shot at the division, we pretty much need to win five straight. Besides us, Vegas plays Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas, and two games against Seattle to end the season. We'll need Vegas to lose in regulation to one of them as well.

One game at a time. We are hosting the Oilers and it will be a challenging game to win.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I still think Petersen's a decent goaltender and should be relied upon as the backup come next season.

I want what you're smoking.

 

[Seattle King]

I still think Petersen's a decent goaltender and should be relied upon as the backup come next season.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step towards recovery. Well done.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I haven't been watching too many games of late but I do know we need to resign Gavrikov.

They'll be other options this Summer in free agency but the price would likely be around the same give or take a million.

 

[bouncesonly]

Is it considered "resigning" if Kings sign him during free agency?

 

[aceofpace]

I haven't been watching too many games of late but I do know we need to resign Gavrikov.

They'll be other options this Summer in free agency but the price would likely be around the same give or take a million.

I actually think resigning Korpi is a bigger priority. Dependable goalies don't grow on trees.

 

[Surf Nutz]

Oh but I do.

No. Copley was the spare you keep in the trunk of your car that you have to put on when you blow a flat on the freeway.

The tire at the garage is the goaltender the Kings may or may not wind up with in the offseason. It might be Korpisalo. It might be Petersen. It might be someone we don't know about yet.

Have you ever found yourself in the world needing something that you could have easily prepared for but didn't?

I keep an umbrella tucked into the side pocket of my backpack. I use my backpack at work.

Most of the time living in Southern California I don't ever need an umbrella.

Sometimes I do. On those rare instances when I've parked at Crypto and need to walk from my car to the game and don't want to get soaked... hey look at that. I planned ahead months ago and I am not stuck completely drenched running like a lunatic to avoid catastrophe.

Do I deserve some sort of award for my genius? No.
Am I a brilliant tactician that fastidiously monitors the weather and adapts moment by moment? Also no.

But I DID make a plan about umbrellas because it was simple and easy and the cost of not doing it would far outweigh the minimal cost of doing it.

The Kings were gonna have goaltenders playing in Ontario. They could have gone with Vilalta and Hrenak or given Parik an ELC and then been caught when 40/32 didn't perform (for whatever reasons) but they didn't. They had an umbrella in their backpack, a spare tire in their trunk, a savings account, a go bag, whatever metaphor you want to go with....

They made a conscious decision to have a goaltender signed to a contract in Ontario that they would feel comfortable with starting NHL games should they need to call on them. That decision cost them money. Not a lot of money but it did cost them money. It was an insurance policy that wound up paying off. Not luck, not chance and certainly not by accident.


Maybe you and I have different definitions of the word plan.

I pay insurance on my car, my apartment, my health etc

I'm not planning on getting in a car accident or getting robbed or getting sick.

But I recently spent the night in the ER and turns out I saved myself a bunch of money by having health insurance.

Because I planned ahead and that PLAN had baked into it the possibility of an emergency.




EDIT : and let me clear...

If you want to criticize the Kings for their goaltending decisions you'll not get a peep out of me.

While I think I understand why they gave Petersen the contract they did I don't agree with how they've handled the goaltending over the past few seasons. Just because I disagree with them doesn't mean I think they're incompetent, stupid or derelict in their duty. I just think they were wrong.

 

[All The Kings Men]

What?