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

[Seattle King]

Absolutely, but JAD got 15 minutes last night and what....7 the night before? So who got injured last night?

So what you are saying is: You want us to throw a parade for Todd because after a swathe of injuries he finally played JAD on the 3rd line instead of the 4th and that makes him a great coach, especially at developing young talent like ours.
I think I am busy that day.

 

[Docgonzo]

If the Kings were healthy I feel it’s easier to make a trade because you see who are the odd men out. Because everything the way it is now, the only real odd man out I feel is Walker, Lemieux and possibly Grundstrom.

You could trade Iaffalo, but if Moore, Kaliyev and Vilardi aren’t ready to come back yet, you’re throwing more kids into spots they might not be ready for and hurting the overall depth. I still don’t trust Turcotte’s body to survive in the nhl yet.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Moore, Kaliyev, Grundstrom all are out so thats why Todd is finally playing these guys

Right, and Vilardi. It's like last year for the dmen but this year it's for the forwards.

Being down 4 players so you literally HAVE to give a kid 3rd line time (and note the other 3 kids were 8-minute 4th liners) doesn't make you a genius any more than being down 10 defensemen makes you a genius for playing Spence (and subsequently trading for Stetcher so you can bury him anyway).

 

[Maynard]

I trust this young man so much, I gave him 9 full minutes!

 

[BringTheReign]

You sure, because game after game all we hear is the he won't play the kids....won't play them, etc...but you are saying JAD got 15 minutes, I just don't see how that's possible...who got injured??

Not sure if you’re aiming this at me, or just generally at the peanut gallery here. I’m far from a TMac hater, for the record.

 

[King'sPawn]

Not sure if you’re aiming this at me, or just generally at the peanut gallery here. I’m far from a TMac hater, for the record.

Unless you sing his praises after every game and call him a genius for playing the kids only when he has no choice but to, you're a hater. Sorry. You don't get to choose the association the Gatekeepers decide for you.

 

[tigermask48]

Random question, what the heck is going on with Copley getting back-to-back-to-back starts?

Can you imagine if Blake gave Peterson that long of a leash from 2018 - early 2021 when he was consistently playing better than Quick?

But no, Peterson gets the old "nice shutout kid. Take a seat on the bench" treatment and now the guy has zero confidence playing in the AHL. Development!

 

[kings11]

If the Kings were healthy I feel it’s easier to make a trade because you see who are the odd men out. Because everything the way it is now, the only real odd man out I feel is Walker, Lemieux and possibly Grundstrom.

You could trade Iaffalo, but if Moore, Kaliyev and Vilardi aren’t ready to come back yet, you’re throwing more kids into spots they might not be ready for and hurting the overall depth. I still don’t trust Turcotte’s body to survive in the nhl yet.

I disagree on Turcotte surviving in the NHL, he’s much less likely to get cheap shotted the way he has been in Ontario. Also, his game is better suited for the Kings than it is for the Reign, I still want to see him center that 3rd line or at least get some shifts with a talent like Fiala and see how that goes.

 

[JTeller97]

Random question, what the heck is going on with Copley getting back-to-back-to-back starts?

Can you imagine if Blake gave Peterson that long of a leash from 2018 - early 2021 when he was consistently playing better than Quick?

But no, Peterson gets the old "nice shutout kid. Take a seat on the bench" treatment and now the guy has zero confidence playing in the AHL. Development!

I mean he got yanked 1 minute into the game against the Preds so for all intents and purposes Quick played that full game

 

[Fishhead]

Unless you sing his praises after every game and call him a genius for playing the kids only when he has no choice but to, you're a hater. Sorry. You don't get to choose the association the Gatekeepers decide for you.

The answer is always in the middle. Yeah, he was forced to play some young guys for sure, like last night and because of recent injuries. But somehow Kupari has gotten 97 NHL games being almost invisible until recently. He was trotted out night after night on that third line for a good spell and he completely sucked most of the time. JAD got 34 games as a 20-year-old too, even though there were plenty of other guys that could have been played in games. He played Toby over MacD when he was 19, and while MacD isn't Orr, coaches who don't play young guys would have gone with the big guy.

I think the whole TM doesn't play young guys is a terrible argument that has been disproven umpteen times, but there are a lot of instances where he could be a lot better with deployments, so a lot of the criticism levied at TM is completely justified.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

The answer is always in the middle. Yeah, he was forced to play some young guys for sure, like last night and because of recent injuries. But somehow Kupari has gotten 97 NHL games being almost invisible until recently. He was trotted out night after night on that third line for a good spell and he completely sucked most of the time. JAD got 34 games as a 20-year-old too, even though there were plenty of other guys that could have been played in games. He played Toby over MacD when he was 19, and while MacD isn't Orr, coaches who don't play young guys would have gone with the big guy.

I think the whole TM doesn't play young guys is a terrible argument that has been disproven umpteen times, but there are a lot of instances where he could be a lot better with deployments, so a lot of the criticism levied at TM is completely justified.

This is unnecessarily pedantic, frankly.

Sure, he 'plays' the kids. Do we really need to, every post, say we mean 'play the blue chip kids up the lineup in more than 8 minutes with special teams time approximating the role we hope them to grow into?'

Merely existing in the lineup isn't 'playing the kids' as we've been colloquially using it but if we have to split hairs to avoid this it's gonna get really stuffy up in here really quickly.

Pretty closely akin to having to write "but this doesn't decide this kids future" on every WJC post.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Not sure if you’re aiming this at me, or just generally at the peanut gallery here. I’m far from a TMac hater, for the record.

Not at you, just generally

 

[BigBrown]

 

[King'sPawn]

The answer is always in the middle. Yeah, he was forced to play some young guys for sure, like last night and because of recent injuries. But somehow Kupari has gotten 97 NHL games being almost invisible until recently. He was trotted out night after night on that third line for a good spell and he completely sucked most of the time. JAD got 34 games as a 20-year-old too, even though there were plenty of other guys that could have been played in games. He played Toby over MacD when he was 19, and while MacD isn't Orr, coaches who don't play young guys would have gone with the big guy.

I think the whole TM doesn't play young guys is a terrible argument that has been disproven umpteen times, but there are a lot of instances where he could be a lot better with deployments, so a lot of the criticism levied at TM is completely justified.

The fact of the matter is that, when he has his options, the veterans get a LOT more leeway when they make mistakes versus the youth, even if the younger players arguably have a better skillset apt for the role.

And don't get me wrong, I understand it to a degree. Vets have proven they belong. But McLellan expects young players to play like a veteran, based on how he responds to a young player who plays well. Prospects just don't get regular time, until McLellan's hand is forced.

There's a reason why prospects in the Kings' system are frustrated and wondering if they'll ever get playing time. It's an overall attitude towards "we need to marinate the prospects."

I think you're taking the "TM doesn't play young guys" statement literally.

 

[Fishhead]

This is unnecessarily pedantic, frankly.

Sure, he 'plays' the kids. Do we really need to, every post, say we mean 'play the blue chip kids up the lineup in more than 8 minutes with special teams time approximating the role we hope them to grow into?'

Merely existing in the lineup isn't 'playing the kids' as we've been colloquially using it but if we have to split hairs to avoid this it's gonna get really stuffy up in here really quickly.

Pretty closely akin to having to write "but this doesn't decide this kids future" on every WJC post.

I don't think so. I mean, Bjornfot came right in, full timer. Anderson too. Yeah, I know defense is different and all, but then there starts to be disclaimers. Like we can develop D, so it's different. And now it's well, outside of Vilardi, because whatever they did worked.

There is always the other side, that they weren't necessarily ready for it. I thought JAD was a goner until his recent play, he looked like AHL fodder most nights. Kupari is finally figuring it out too, never thought I'd see a guy turn into a fantastic penalty killer that quickly. Point is, whatever they are doing with a lot of these guys IS working, as frustrating as it is to watch sometimes. It sucked to see Byfield's minutes like they were, but looking back he wasn't playing well at all and it was hard to even guess his ceiling. As soon as he started showing flashes he got moved up and I think his top end is now apparent. Gotta give some credit there, TM identified when he was putting it together and put him in a spot to succeed.

And I really don't think it's splitting hairs because it's hard to figure out what people mean exactly when they say "playing kids" because it means something different to many of the posters on here. I know what posters like you and KP generally mean, but some of it is hard to follow and is bitching about coaching just to bitch, or if they generally don't like the guy.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I don't think so. I mean, Bjornfot came right in, full timer. Anderson too. Yeah, I know defense is different and all, but then there starts to be disclaimers. Like we can develop D, so it's different. And now it's well, outside of Vilardi, because whatever they did worked.

There is always the other side, that they weren't necessarily ready for it. I thought JAD was a goner until his recent play, he looked like AHL fodder most nights. Kupari is finally figuring it out too, never thought I'd see a guy turn into a fantastic penalty killer that quickly. Point is, whatever they are doing with a lot of these guys IS working, as frustrating as it is to watch sometimes. It sucked to see Byfield's minutes like they were, but looking back he wasn't playing well at all and it was hard to even guess his ceiling. As soon as he started showing flashes he got moved up and I think his top end is now apparent. Gotta give some credit there, TM identified when he was putting it together and put him in a spot to succeed.

And I really don't think it's splitting hairs because it's hard to figure out what people mean exactly when they say "playing kids" because it means something different to many of the posters on here. I know what posters like you and KP generally mean, but some of it is hard to follow and is bitching about coaching just to bitch, or if they generally don't like the guy.

And here's the nuance, MOST teams who are fighting for playoffs, do the same damn thing.....then you have teams like BUF, NJ, DET, OTT, ANA who never had a damn thing to play for....and apparently THATS the model we are supposed to be following, teams that haven't won in decades.....

 

[funky]

Right, and Vilardi. It's like last year for the dmen but this year it's for the forwards.

Being down 4 players so you literally HAVE to give a kid 3rd line time (and note the other 3 kids were 8-minute 4th liners) doesn't make you a genius any more than being down 10 defensemen makes you a genius for playing Spence (and subsequently trading for Stetcher so you can bury him anyway).

So hopefully next year it’s the goalies going down and we find a diamond in the rough in our minors? Blake’s 4D chess.

 

[Fishhead]

The fact of the matter is that, when he has his options, the veterans get a LOT more leeway when they make mistakes versus the youth, even if the younger players arguably have a better skillset apt for the role.

And don't get me wrong, I understand it to a degree. Vets have proven they belong. But McLellan expects young players to play like a veteran, based on how he responds to a young player who plays well. Prospects just don't get regular time, until McLellan's hand is forced.

There's a reason why prospects in the Kings' system are frustrated and wondering if they'll ever get playing time. It's an overall attitude towards "we need to marinate the prospects."

I think you're taking the "TM doesn't play young guys" statement literally.

TM does do that to an extent, and it's maddening at times. Especially with Edler, bless his greybeard heart.

But no one forced Bjornfot on him, they could have played others. Lizotte either, he was still only 22 when TM took over. I don't think either of those guys played like vets right off the bat, they just played better than others. He put Mikey Anderson right up on the top pairing at 21 where he got big minutes when he had a perfectly good veteran Maatta to put there.

I also have not seen any evidence that any of the prospects are frustrated. And while there is an overdone tendency to have prospects take their time, it's not that bad. Young guys are slowly taking roles and potentially jobs. I'm trying to think of prospects where overdoing the AHL thing screwed them up, there aren't many. Clague I would say, although he's not done much in MTL or BUF. I think Andersson for sure, totally mishandled. I don't throw guys like Madden and Fagemo in there because I don't think they've shown they are that good.

Some of is the Kings methodology, but some of it is also our impatience as fans. I was beyond frustrated with Kupari because they kept rolling him out on the 3rd line. Surprisingly, putting him on the 4th line was actually putting him in a position to succeed and I never would have fathomed that. I thought they were ruining a perfectly good NHL scorer, but moving him to the 4th brought out parts of Kupari's games he probably didn't even know he had. That was a fantastic move.

 

[Master Yoda]

What's going on with the injuries? Kaliyev and Moore started out day to day and have been out a month, now considered week to week.

Vilardi out day to day, now back in LA status changed to week to week.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Interesting re Fiala, when he was 20, he had 16 pts in 54 games for Nashville.. next season 48 pts in 80 games.. last season at 25, he was point a game.. and tracking the same this season. A case of a late bloomer that isnt an oversize.

 

[AbsentMojo]

What's going on with the injuries? Kaliyev and Moore started out day to day and have been out a month, now considered week to week.

Vilardi out day to day, now back in LA status changed to week to week.

Where u getting that status info? I looked around a bit, most thorough one was this 2022-23 Los Angeles Kings Injuries - NHL

 

[bland]

Random question, what the heck is going on with Copley getting back-to-back-to-back starts?

Can you imagine if Blake gave Peterson that long of a leash from 2018 - early 2021 when he was consistently playing better than Quick?

But no, Peterson gets the old "nice shutout kid. Take a seat on the bench" treatment and now the guy has zero confidence playing in the AHL. Development!

Beats the shit out of me, I've been asking the same question for two years.

You

The answer is always in the middle. Yeah, he was forced to play some young guys for sure, like last night and because of recent injuries. But somehow Kupari has gotten 97 NHL games being almost invisible until recently. He was trotted out night after night on that third line for a good spell and he completely sucked most of the time. JAD got 34 games as a 20-year-old too, even though there were plenty of other guys that could have been played in games. He played Toby over MacD when he was 19, and while MacD isn't Orr, coaches who don't play young guys would have gone with the big guy.

I think the whole TM doesn't play young guys is a terrible argument that has been disproven umpteen times, but there are a lot of instances where he could be a lot better with deployments, so a lot of the criticism levied at TM is completely justified.

Its not that he doesn't play kids as a rule, its that the acquisitions of Danault, Arvidsson and Fiala changed the timeline of a team in a rebuild. And I will argue til the end that it was a mistake to put too much importance on higher pressure, safety-first play from the kids.

 

[Moses Doughty]

What's going on with the injuries? Kaliyev and Moore started out day to day and have been out a month, now considered week to week.

Vilardi out day to day, now back in LA status changed to week to week.

Can't say I have a clue about Moore/Vilardi, but Kaliyev ended up having a broken foot (although there's a chance he comes back before the All Star break iirc

 

[kings11]

TM does do that to an extent, and it's maddening at times. Especially with Edler, bless his greybeard heart.

But no one forced Bjornfot on him, they could have played others. Lizotte either, he was still only 22 when TM took over. I don't think either of those guys played like vets right off the bat, they just played better than others. He put Mikey Anderson right up on the top pairing at 21 where he got big minutes when he had a perfectly good veteran Maatta to put there.

I also have not seen any evidence that any of the prospects are frustrated. And while there is an overdone tendency to have prospects take their time, it's not that bad. Young guys are slowly taking roles and potentially jobs. I'm trying to think of prospects where overdoing the AHL thing screwed them up, there aren't many. Clague I would say, although he's not done much in MTL or BUF. I think Andersson for sure, totally mishandled. I don't throw guys like Madden and Fagemo in there because I don't think they've shown they are that good.

Some of is the Kings methodology, but some of it is also our impatience as fans. I was beyond frustrated with Kupari because they kept rolling him out on the 3rd line. Surprisingly, putting him on the 4th line was actually putting him in a position to succeed and I never would have fathomed that. I thought they were ruining a perfectly good NHL scorer, but moving him to the 4th brought out parts of Kupari's games he probably didn't even know he had. That was a fantastic move.

I somewhat agree with what you’re saying but I’m about to nitpick the shit out of your post..
Bjornfot got some games in as he was pretty good during training camp and got his 33 games. But believe me when I say Maatta was not a pretty good vet that season, last seasons Maatta was good not the season before. Lizotte was treated much like these kids have been, he was benched for perceived poor play and he eventually grew. The problem is, he was suppose to be a placeholder but TM appreciates what he brings in terms of hustle and drive. I like Lizzo but he brings nothing that Turcotte, Kupari and now JAD don’t bring.

As for not seeing anything about the prospects being frustrated?? Well, it’s safe to assume you missed Foxy and TM talking about guys in Ontario complaining about not getting their shots. Todd went as far as to address it in a presser and ended that convo by saying that it’s Marco’s issue to deal with. I don’t blame some of the kids, guys like Bjornfot, Spence and even Moverare should be getting more time on the Kings.

I could go on but it just be me blabbering, but I think you hit on a point without diving into it..
You said Todd relegated Kupari to the 4th line with Turcotte but it turned out to be beneficial.
That’s my biggest gripe with Todd, don’t bring up a kid and put him with the Pepe’s like he did with Turc last season. He needs to put these kids in positions to succeed, these kids will succeed if they’re given talent, real offensive talent to play with.
Byfield is thriving with Kopi
Gabe was thriving with Fiala
Arty does great with PD and so on

Put the kids in a position to succeed and play to their strengths

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

That's an easy pass for me. Much rather go after Chychrun who's better, younger, controlled, on a good deal, etc. Gavrikov isn't some physical crease clearing defender, he's kinda just Matt Roy with a bigger frame, who doesn't use it. Definitely not a bad player to have, but I'm not giving premium assets for that