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

[AbsentMojo]

If Minny is lucky Faber tops out as a Ryan Suter type top pairing D, but to me he projects to a mid pairing minute muncher Or stay at home defenseman who can skate well. The offensive skills and instincts to be a top pairing D haven’t really shown up for Faber. You might be overvaluing a prospect here.

I‘ll go on the record and say that the Kings window to contend is already open. Yeah there are holes, but that’s what the trade deadline is for. The Fiala trade is not only opportunistic, but makes a lot of sense given where the Kings stand.

If you just mean playoff contender ill concede that but even with a nice deal at the deadline they are not close to cup contenders.. special teams and goaltending are close to league worst.. you cant fix that at the deadline. To me a signing like Fiala was premature.. the DL school of thought is build from middle out because without that core, you're putting lipstick on a pig with an acquisition like this. The main issue I see is that you have filled in your top 6 with veterans and cant use cheap talent to get your needs filled under the cap. Even Vilardi will be relatively expensive next year. On top of that, you have most of your young forwards stuck in the bottom 6 until some contracts come off the books in 24/25. I much rather have seen the picks and salary spent on LD and goalie prospect even if this year would be a regression in the standings

 

[Statto]

Mayor hinted that Clarke may get conditioning assignment with Reign. I thought it’s not possible for him to go to the AHL in any shape or form…

The conditioning assignment is a loophole in the rule. They certainly can’t sit him any longer but I’m not sure I want him being headhunted in the AHL either.

 

[All The Kings Men]

I note that you included the bit about me shutting up in the quote you selected

I meant to say "Never shut up"

 

[AbsentMojo]

The conditioning assignment is a loophole in the rule. They certainly can’t sit him any longer but I’m not sure I want him being headhunted in the AHL either.

He's sitting on 9 games played.. do you think there is some ambivalence on kicking on the ELC? Im wondering if Blake is trying to move Walker and doesnt want to expose him to waivers.

 

[lumbergh]

Not necessarily Kings news, but a
sign of things to come for the Kings and the “Arena formerly known as Staples Center”?

Heat ending arena deal with FTX Arena after cryptocurrency company's collapse

FTX Arena is no more.

www.yahoo.com

 

[lumbergh]

If you just mean playoff contender ill concede that but even with a nice deal at the deadline they are not close to cup contenders.. special teams and goaltending are close to league worst.. you cant fix that at the deadline. To me a signing like Fiala was premature.. the DL school of thought is build from middle out because without that core, you're putting lipstick on a pig with an acquisition like this. The main issue I see is that you have filled in your top 6 with veterans and cant use cheap talent to get your needs filled under the cap. Even Vilardi will be relatively expensive next year. On top of that, you have most of your young forwards stuck in the bottom 6 until some contracts come off the books in 24/25. I much rather have seen the picks and salary spent on LD and goalie prospect even if this year would be a regression in the standings

Well we can agree to disagree about this. The Kings came close to winning the first round last season, and this season they are finding ways to win in different types of games. The LD issue can (and I think will) be addressed before the trade deadline. It’s gonna take a couple months to find out which teams are sellers. If I had to guess I think the Kings make a trade in January or some 2-4 weeks before the deadline to address LD. They have the picks and prospects and depth to add a piece and really bring the team to another level.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Well we can agree to disagree about this. The Kings came close to winning the first round last season, and this season they are finding ways to win in different types of games. The LD issue can (and I think will) be addressed before the trade deadline. It’s gonna take a couple months to find out which teams are sellers. If I had to guess I think the Kings make a trade in January or some 2-4 weeks before the deadline to address LD. They have the picks and prospects and depth to add a piece and really bring the team to another level.

Fair enough.. but I dont see how a team with bottom 1/3 power play can get through 4 rounds of the playoffs.. has it ever been done? In addition, the Kings got physically dominated by EDM.. that also is hard to endure over 4 rounds. Im looking at getting passed the likes of Colorado. I just dont see that we are even close.

 

[Choralone]

I'm not worried about special teams yet. The team has had no real practice time until now due to their insane schedule to start the season. If we haven't seen results by mid-December, then I'll be distressed.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Not necessarily Kings news, but a
sign of things to come for the Kings and the “Arena formerly known as Staples Center”?

Heat ending arena deal with FTX Arena after cryptocurrency company's collapse

FTX Arena is no more.

www.yahoo.com

It was just under 1 year ago that AEG sold the naming rights to crypto.com for $700M on a 20 year deal.

That coin is down 78% YTD. Brutal.

The exposure is on par with FTX, which paid way less for the Miami arena naming rights. All it will take is one major liquidity event for CRO to be worthless. That can occur from innumerable factors (war, regulatory action, plain old bank runs).

A smart better will hedge and put odds on the Kings arena being named Binance Place once the dust settles.

 

[AbsentMojo]

It was just under 1 year ago that AEG sold the naming rights to crypto.com for $700M on a 20 year deal.

That coin is down 78% YTD. Brutal.

The exposure is on par with FTX, which paid way less for the Miami arena naming rights. All it will take is one major liquidity event for CRO to be worthless. That can occur from innumerable factors (war, regulatory action, plain old bank runs).

A smart better will hedge and put odds on the Kings arena being named Binance Place once the dust settles.

ponzi.com would be more appropriate

 

[Rick Knickleback]

A smart better will hedge and put odds on the Kings arena being named Binance Place once the dust settles.

Is "Bang Bros Garden" available?

 

[DoktorJeep]

ponzi.com would be more appropriate

Digital currency has value outside the top five economic powers. That beats local currency for around 5 billion humans.

So it’s not a Ponzi scheme. It’s just overvalued due to pure speculation. With exchanges (like crypto.com) also being traders (CRO), the market is built for grifters looking to take advantage of people hoping to get rich quick. It would be like the NASDAQ, if they had in house brokers.

The question is did AEG fall victim to grifters.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Digital currency has value outside the top five economic powers. That beats local currency for around 5 billion humans.

So it’s not a Ponzi scheme. It’s just overvalued due to pure speculation. With exchanges (like crypto.com) also being traders (CRO), the market is built for grifters looking to take advantage of people hoping to get rich quick. It would be like the NASDAQ, if they had in house brokers.

The question is did AEG fall victim to grifters.

if it walks like a duck.. sure seems to behave like a ponzi scheme.. but i know what you're saying is true. Cryptocurrencies have a future for black markets and esp once countries issue their own crypto currencies which allow them to track every transaction.

 

[lumbergh]

Is "Bang Bros Garden" available?

I’m waiting for “Pornhub.com Place” to happen.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I don't think this can be repeated enough.

EVERY stats person I have spoken to harps on sample size sample size sample size

expected goals, corsi etc are meant to be looked at over three YEARS and yet every game I see the tweet with the ingame score measuring xGF% and hear people repeating those numbers as if they're definitive representations of player value.

Hold on a second.

Two different usages here.

When you're seeing the game lines, often we're literally just saying this player performed this well in this game.

Agreed on the sample sizes for 'trends' but if a guy is on a heater and the stats show it, that's sometimes literally all that's being said, nothing to do with their 'definitive representation of [overall] player value'.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Well we can agree to disagree about this. The Kings came close to winning the first round last season, and this season they are finding ways to win in different types of games. The LD issue can (and I think will) be addressed before the trade deadline. It’s gonna take a couple months to find out which teams are sellers. If I had to guess I think the Kings make a trade in January or some 2-4 weeks before the deadline to address LD. They have the picks and prospects and depth to add a piece and really bring the team to another level.

That does seem to be Blake's MO, as well. Make a good move after some patience in-season but before trade deadline prices get stupid.

The 'finding ways to win' down the stretch last year was awesome but it was also because we had so many injuries on D and weird things happening that it was gutsy performances fighting through the slop. That shouldn't be an excuse this year so far--the pessimist in me says 'finding ways to win' is a mostly-healthy team struggling with identity.

Fair enough.. but I dont see how a team with bottom 1/3 power play can get through 4 rounds of the playoffs.. has it ever been done? In addition, the Kings got physically dominated by EDM.. that also is hard to endure over 4 rounds. Im looking at getting passed the likes of Colorado. I just dont see that we are even close.

My thing is if the PP sucks fine, but the PK better be stellar. That was one of the focal points last year, at one point at least we were the only playoff team with BOTH PP and PK outside the top-20. Most of the others were in the lottery. That's a GREAT thing in some ways because the 5v5 play was awesome--but if your special teams isnt winning you games, it had better not be LOSING you games--and that was and has been the trend. THAT is my worry.

At least get excellent at one! Plenty of contenders have one excellent special team and one mediocre one.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Hold on a second.

Two different usages here.

When you're seeing the game lines, often we're literally just saying this player performed this well in this game.

Agreed on the sample sizes for 'trends' but if a guy is on a heater and the stats show it, that's sometimes literally all that's being said, nothing to do with their 'definitive representation of [overall] player value'.

ok but I think the point I was trying to make (I think) was that single game usage of xGF% or CF% or whatever it is DOESN'T represent that a guy is "on a heater"

just like being +4 in a game doesn't mean a player was defensively sound of offensively contributing

I've talked to Rob Vollman about this a number of times and asked him if he would put more value in years worth of +/- or days/weeks worth of corsi/xGF stats and he said years of +/- without skipping a beat.

THAT is my primary beef with the way "analytics" are used. They have simply replaced all the old tropes that people used to use to make arguments without nuance. They carry a certain cache with them so that people can toss out a bar graph and say "There the nuance has been reliably done for me so now my argument is valid!" but as @Statto so elequently stated (Statt-ed?) single stats do not tell an entire story and more context should always be welcomed and is almost always available.


An obnoxious anecdote... a colleague asked me about tracking physicality in a player's season and I offhandedly started giving some ideas before I immediately realized the player in question may be playing way more minutes this season than in previous seasons and that to more accurately track the progress in their game a look at the "per 60" stats would offer up a far more accurate representation... and that was just off the top of my head and stats that I'm aware of and fairly conversant in.


Honestly I'm not even sure my point or if we're disagreeing I;m just in a mood to type stuff before the game tonight so feel free to ignore all of this.

 

[All The Kings Men]

My thing is if the PP sucks fine, but the PK better be stellar.

For me it's HOW the PP sucks.

I can live with a powerplay that just doesn't convert at a high percentage compared to the rest of the league... but if the powerplay is giving away momentum or leaking offensive chances to the penalized team on a consistent basis I am concerned and Todd McLellan has addressed those very things a great deal lately.

As can be heard on LA Kings Game Night the LA Kings pregame radio show on the LA Kings Audio Network on iHeart Radio and on the LA Kings Insider Audio Podcast Feed the day after games wherever fine podcasts are curated.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

ok but I think the point I was trying to make (I think) was that single game usage of xGF% or CF% or whatever it is DOESN'T represent that a guy is "on a heater"

just like being +4 in a game doesn't mean a player was defensively sound of offensively contributing

I've talked to Rob Vollman about this a number of times and asked him if he would put more value in years worth of +/- or days/weeks worth of corsi/xGF stats and he said years of +/- without skipping a beat.

THAT is my primary beef with the way "analytics" are used. They have simply replaced all the old tropes that people used to use to make arguments without nuance. They carry a certain cache with them so that people can toss out a bar graph and say "There the nuance has been reliably done for me so now my argument is valid!" but as @Statto so elequently stated (Statt-ed?) single stats do not tell an entire story and more context should always be welcomed and is almost always available.


An obnoxious anecdote... a colleague asked me about tracking physicality in a player's season and I offhandedly started giving some ideas before I immediately realized the player in question may be playing way more minutes this season than in previous seasons and that to more accurately track the progress in their game a look at the "per 60" stats would offer up a far more accurate representation... and that was just off the top of my head and stats that I'm aware of and fairly conversant in.


Honestly I'm not even sure my point or if we're disagreeing I;m just in a mood to type stuff before the game tonight so feel free to ignore all of this.

I don't think we're disagreeing and I'm an English graduate so I understand the typing moods

I agree wholeheartedly with the boldfaced.

I can only speak for myself here but I presume others have the same thought--I think all I'm saying is when I see Gabe having a 20 CF, 3 CA night, it's representative of his play that night. Not of his value overall as a player for years. We most often discuss these games in a capsule in the GDTs. I guess I'm just saying I hope we're not coming off as the guys to drop a chart and leave; I mean if anything I tend to do the opposite and never shut the f*** up

 

[All The Kings Men]

I can only speak for myself here but I presume others have the same thought--I think all I'm saying is when I see Gabe having a 20 CF, 3 CA night, it's representative of his play that night. Not of his value overall as a player for years. We most often discuss these games in a capsule in the GDTs. I guess I'm just saying I hope we're not coming off as the guys to drop a chart and leave; I mean if anything I tend to do the opposite and never shut the f*** up

I think that's fair HOWEVER I'll just toss this in... it may (MAY) leave out the context of the rest of the line.

I can't remember which thread it was but someone (maybe you?) compated 11 and 13's numbers with and without each other and 11's numbers were significantly better with 13.

So then... if we were to analyze a single player on that line for a single game but didn't take into account the larger context of the impact of linemates....

I dunno. Sometimes I wish I could have everybody on one giant podcast that never ended and where all the answers to all the questions were finally answered once and for all.

Also I wish you guys could just come to the media availabilities.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think that's fair HOWEVER I'll just toss this in... it may (MAY) leave out the context of the rest of the line.

I can't remember which thread it was but someone (maybe you?) compated 11 and 13's numbers with and without each other and 11's numbers were significantly better with 13.

So then... if we were to analyze a single player on that line for a single game but didn't take into account the larger context of the impact of linemates....

I dunno. Sometimes I wish I could have everybody on one giant podcast that never ended and where all the answers to all the questions were finally answered once and for all.

Also I wish you guys could just come to the media availabilities.

It was me, and it's fair, but it's also not exactly out of nowhere, it's part of the ongoing conversation we have had with plenty of other discussion and evidence along the way.

Maybe that's why I'm resistant to this line of thinking, I think most posters that have been hanging around here have been involved enough to recall the mental bookmarks of previous conversations, that using the above example, we had been tracking Kopitar's play trends to the game enough where we had a threshhold of seconds at which he became less effective and using that to inform the current conversation.

IE none of these posts are really in a vacuum but I guess it can look bad if that's the only snippet one sees

 

[All The Kings Men]

I think that's fair HOWEVER I'll just toss this in... it may (MAY) leave out the context of the rest of the line.

I can't remember which thread it was but someone (maybe you?) compated 11 and 13's numbers with and without each other and 11's numbers were significantly better with 13.

So then... if we were to analyze a single player on that line for a single game but didn't take into account the larger context of the impact of linemates....

I dunno. Sometimes I wish I could have everybody on one giant podcast that never ended and where all the answers to all the questions were finally answered once and for all.

Also I wish you guys could just come to the media availabilities.

OH AND ANOTHER THING

In the first game of the season Mikey Anderson had a mediocre CF% and I was very confused so I looked up his numbers w Doughty vs w/out Doughty

w/ Doughty
17 CF 16 CA CF% 51.52% in 14:52 at 5v5

w/ Matt Roy
1 CF 4 CA CF% 20% in SIXTEEN SECONDS

I'm assuming those 16 seconds happened during line changes or something and perhaps that can be used as a criticism for the way the team played on the whole or whatever but the total number for mikey anderson was 18 CF and 22 CA for a CF% of 45% despite the fact that in almost 15 minutes of 5 v5 play with Doughty he was at 51.52%

That's the sort of context and nuance that is available during a single game that isn't represented in those single game stat crunches or off hand comments.

 

[AbsentMojo]

My thing is if the PP sucks fine, but the PK better be stellar. [..]

At least get excellent at one! Plenty of contenders have one excellent special team and one mediocre one.

Agree, you can get away with one being so-so if the other is great.. neither of Kings special teams was trending in the right direction for at least 2 seasons.. that to me speaks to a roster problem as much as coaching one. One other point re PP in post season.. to me its more important to have a good PP than a good PK - because if your PP sucks donk like the Kings, teams can afford to play you much more aggressively.

 

[LAKings88]

How many years now have we complained about the PP?

Feel like it’s the same shit each year. Over reliance on pretty plays. Don’t shoot enough. Predictable.

 

[Statto]

I've talked to Rob Vollman about this a number of times and asked him if he would put more value in years worth of +/- or days/weeks worth of corsi/xGF stats and he said years of +/- without skipping a beat.

FWIW - When I heard that I shouted out ‘yes’ because someone else got it. I’ve always said that plus/minus is a perfectly fine stat when used properly. It’s just one of the most misused stats out there and I’d prefer it wasn’t made public - in fact I stopped publishing it for my team as I got so irritated by the conclusions people drew.