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

[tkb81]

Peterson for Soupy, who says no?

everyone

 

[Statto]

You are the first person I have seen to think Doughty and Kopitar have a "careless attitude".

He has it in for them to an almost irrational level. If the each score hat-tricks in winning game 7 of this season’s SCF I’m sure they’d still be a waste of space.

 

[YP44]

He has it in for them to an almost irrational level. If the each score hat-tricks in winning game 7 of this season’s SCF I’m sure they’d still be a waste of space.

Wouldn't it be awesome if that were to happen

 

[PullHard]

whats the word on iafallo's injury?

 

[Kurrilino]

You are the first person I have seen to think Doughty and Kopitar have a "careless attitude".

Oh please, the only time Kopitar shows speed and determination is at payday, sprinting to the ATM machine

 

[Kurrilino]

He has it in for them to an almost irrational level. If the each score hat-tricks in winning game 7 of this season’s SCF I’m sure they’d still be a waste of space.

It's really not irrational.

Both ask for $10 million, both are not even close to play like $10 million.
I just hold them accountable for their demands.

 

[YP44]

Oh please, the only time Kopitar shows speed and determination is at payday, sprinting to the ATM machine

Yes you are right he definitely seems like the type of player that has no passion and just plays for the payday. Good lord.
I agree that at this point in his career he is overpaid, but it's not like he a plug out there at all.

 

[funky]

We have Kopitar this year and next year and then his contract runs out. We currently have no one that could even come close to holding a light at first line center.

He is not a player he once was but if used right and used a little less he could still be the player we need until the young guys are ready to take over or we somehow land a guy like Matthews in free agency.

At this point I am much more worried in what Kempe is doing on that line. He seems really off and seems to be floating a lot more than he used to.

I also think our goal tending tandem is much more detrimental to our team then the way Kopitar has been playing.

I would also be a lot more worried about our coaches in game decisions as well as their system.

Losing Iafallo and Byfield were a huge blow to the overall balance of our forwards and I can’t wait to get them back. However our defense is a mess. I don’t like the way the defense is built. We are too small, and have too many guys that can only do one thing well, that being strictly all offence or strictly defense.

Doughty has definitely not deserved the amount of money he’s getting but how do you fill that hole if they let them walk away. We will be wearing about 4 million of that contract each year but we also should have some other guys on the cheap that should help fill-in that gap. I have not been overly impressed with his play this year but at the same time the guy did miss half a season with a wrist injury and even a veteran from Lake him will need some time to shake off the rust and adapt. We still do not know if his wrist is 100%.

The biggest thing we need right now is a trade to address our defence. That is a realistic thing.

We are all fans of this team and I want them to win but there’s probably not twofans that have exactly the same ideas as how we get there.

Saying all this I love what Kopitar has done for the Kings for over a decade. Yes he is not a shiny new toy anymore but to say he’s not trying is complete BS. There is a difference between looking tired on the ice and not giving it your all. With his age and heavy minutes I am not surprised at how he is playing. What I won’t do is talk smack about one of the best players in kings history. You talk about a player that sacrifices everything for the team, it is him. The guy has been stuck with non top line linemates and played the heaviest minutes and played a defensive game when you could’ve been like a majority of the other Star NHL players and cheated offensively to pad stats.

Even Wayne Gretzky wore down at the end of his career. Let’s just enjoy Kopitar‘s final couple season and give them the respect he deserves and look at the other bigger issues on this team that can easily be fixed.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

whats the word on iafallo's injury?

As per Rosen he just started taking the ice informally

 

[DoktorJeep]

Imagine Kopitar had come to camp out of his draft year and made the team. The team would be in win now mode, so he would be blocked by Craig Conroy, Eric Belanger and Derek Armstrong.

If Andy Murray instituted the 1-3-1 and Labarbera outplayed Garon, Dean Lombardi may never been hired.

 

[Trash Panda]

Imagine Kopitar had come to camp out of his draft year and made the team. The team would be in win now mode, so he would be blocked by Craig Conroy, Eric Belanger and Derek Armstrong.

If Andy Murray instituted the 1-3-1 and Labarbera outplayed Garon, Dean Lombardi may never been hired.

This disgusting alternate reality is exactly what the major gripe is for a lot of us “doomsday sayers”.

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I remember when I had my first beer


I remember when I had my first beer

Do you remember your first stroke, too?

 

[Surf Nutz]

Classic group meltdown here not that there is not some truth in this mash potato like bowl of panic.
The schedule was brutal, Cal was Cal Quick was not as good, and the key skaters were tired because the jockey rides some of the horses too much.

 

[Statto]

It's really not irrational.

Both ask for $10 million, both are not even close to play like $10 million.
I just hold them accountable for their demands.

If you want to say that they are now overpaid that’s fine. However, you say things like careless attitude and make all sorts of other hyperbolic statements about them effectiveply being worthless (I’m paraphrasing). If you actually believe all of your statements then that would be irrational.

 

[Statto]

We have Kopitar this year and next year and then his contract runs out. We currently have no one that could even come close to holding a light at first line center.

He is not a player he once was but if used right and used a little less he could still be the player we need until the young guys are ready to take over or we somehow land a guy like Matthews in free agency.

At this point I am much more worried in what Kempe is doing on that line. He seems really off and seems to be floating a lot more than he used to.

I also think our goal tending tandem is much more detrimental to our team then the way Kopitar has been playing.

I would also be a lot more worried about our coaches in game decisions as well as their system.

Losing Iafallo and Byfield were a huge blow to the overall balance of our forwards and I can’t wait to get them back. However our defense is a mess. I don’t like the way the defense is built. We are too small, and have too many guys that can only do one thing well, that being strictly all offence or strictly defense.

Doughty has definitely not deserved the amount of money he’s getting but how do you fill that hole if they let them walk away. We will be wearing about 4 million of that contract each year but we also should have some other guys on the cheap that should help fill-in that gap. I have not been overly impressed with his play this year but at the same time the guy did miss half a season with a wrist injury and even a veteran from Lake him will need some time to shake off the rust and adapt. We still do not know if his wrist is 100%.

The biggest thing we need right now is a trade to address our defence. That is a realistic thing.

We are all fans of this team and I want them to win but there’s probably not twofans that have exactly the same ideas as how we get there.

Saying all this I love what Kopitar has done for the Kings for over a decade. Yes he is not a shiny new toy anymore but to say he’s not trying is complete BS. There is a difference between looking tired on the ice and not giving it your all. With his age and heavy minutes I am not surprised at how he is playing. What I won’t do is talk smack about one of the best players in kings history. You talk about a player that sacrifices everything for the team, it is him. The guy has been stuck with non top line linemates and played the heaviest minutes and played a defensive game when you could’ve been like a majority of the other Star NHL players and cheated offensively to pad stats.

Even Wayne Gretzky wore down at the end of his career. Let’s just enjoy Kopitar‘s final couple season and give them the respect he deserves and look at the other bigger issues on this team that can easily be fixed.

This is what a rational assessment looks like. Great post.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Why would I wish it was? It's much preferrable when people who pretend that Blake's hands are tied and no trades are available this time of year admit that Blake could make moves, even minor, as teams get injuries and are trying to fill new holes.

The problem is you guys act like the Kings are some uniquely inept franchise. Don't go using some excessively minor trade between Ari/Tor to say Blake can do something. He's not trading Walker in the same way. He's much more expensive, and signed an additional year at more money. Reaves fills some specific need Minnesota feels they have, and so Iafallo ain't going there, because he's not only not a similar player, but has a worse contract.

If a $5m guy gets hurt for 2 months, you can't simply get a $5m player to fill the gap, because in 2 months you have to make the cap work again. It's why next to no significant trades happen this early in a season anymore. There are many teams struggling, and there is nothing going on. Things have to work within the confines of a hard salary cap.

I didn’t say they were similar from a deal perspective. I said Doughty is a good #1B defenseman who could strongly compliment a contending team with an already established #1. McDonagh was a “#1” in NY but slotted into a much more effective role in Tampa Bay behind Hedman.

The Kings need to move on from these legacy players. I understand they’re both on bad contracts and management is unlikely to move them, but that doesn’t change the fact that they SHOULD be moved, and there WOULD be interest around the league.

And McDonagh did that at $4.7m for one additional season. Not $11m for the next 4.

But whether a trade can happen is more important than whether or not a player should be traded. 20 years ago, should or should not is more important, because Toronto could have a $7m winger on their 4th line, and it wouldn't matter. Today, the first question is about the cap.

When Quick went down in 16-17, but was coming back at some point, they did nothing but plug in Budaj. That's the league today. It's not the free wheeling let's make a deal place it was pre-cap.

I don't care so much about the money even if we retain 50%

The issue is getting Kopiatr and Doughty off the team and start fresh.
The alternative is to let their contract run out and the upcoming youth being corrupted by mediocrity and careless attitude.

You don't care about the money? It doesnt really matter whether or not you care about the money, so that's nice, but actual NHL franchises have to work within the guidelines of a CBA and a hard cap. So contracts have to fit, both in the current year, and future years. It matters how much is or is not retained. One way contracts matter. Other teams having their own prospects they want to play matters. Almost everything but your feelings matter when GMs are trying to make trades.

If you're trying to assess what teams should, can, or need to do, and you don't take all those real life variables into account, then yours is the kind of analysis you get. This issue is they have to move these old guys, and get rid of these bottom of the roster guys that make too much money, etc, etc, and money doesn't matter. And then when nothing happens, and the Kings aren't the only team doing anything, you guys get pissed that the Kings aren't doing anything, while not caring about the limiting factors teams and GMs face. It makes no sense.

I want that $1m house. Ok, but even both us combined don't make enough to buy it. Ok, but we should, and I want it. Yeah, ok, but we don't, so we can't get it. But we should make that much. Ok, but we don't. But I want it. That's nice, but we can't get it right now. Maybe later.

 

[mysterman2]

As per Rosen he just started taking the ice informally

So this means he was wearing shorts and an old tshirt?

 

[kingsholygrail]

As per Rosen he just started taking the ice informally

So he'd sneak onto the ice and a trainer would chase him off?

 

[King'sPawn]

The problem is you guys act like the Kings are some uniquely inept franchise. Don't go using some excessively minor trade between Ari/Tor to say Blake can do something. He's not trading Walker in the same way. He's much more expensive, and signed an additional year at more money. Reaves fills some specific need Minnesota feels they have, and so Iafallo ain't going there, because he's not only not a similar player, but has a worse contract.

If a $5m guy gets hurt for 2 months, you can't simply get a $5m player to fill the gap, because in 2 months you have to make the cap work again. It's why next to no significant trades happen this early in a season anymore. There are many teams struggling, and there is nothing going on. Things have to work within the confines of a hard salary cap.

Nobody is calling the Kings uniquely inept, even though they've made questionable decisions people have been calling for years (I'm not even talking about myself here).

They painted themselves into a corner. They went with a particular plan where either they were 100% sure it would work OR they didn't plan well enough for what they'd do if things went awry. That is completely on them.

You scramble in and make excuses about how the Kings' hands are tied because all the GMs secretly refuse to make any trade of any kind until some unnamed date, and we just have to accept that Blake's a victim of circumstances. Then, when shown that moves actually do happen, you qualify your statement that the move isn't big enough to be meaningful.

Blaake ended LAST SEASON with the following defensemen in the system:
Doughty
Roy
Walker
Durzi
Spence
Clarke
Anderson
Bjornfot
Moverare

And he re-signed Edler.

That's 10 defensemen when most rosters carry 7 or 8. All except Clarke showed they could already play in the NHL by tge end of last season (then Clarke showed he belonged in training camp). This was their execution for this season:
- reassign the waiver exempt to the AHL (Bjornfot, Spence), irrespective of how well they played versus the others
- waive Moverare, who is the embodiment of "depth player only"
- give Clarke some games, but avoid burning a contract year if at all possible
- lean on the vets to keep the team playing well enough. Call ups if there are injuries.

So, since this is what they've done, is this their plan? Or are they just reacting?

If this was their plan, what was the follow-up if team defense lacked chemistry or was terrible? Because so far there have been no major changes.

And what's their plan for when Clarke's conditioning stint ends? Let me guess: send Moverare back to the AHL since he already cleared. Then Clarke can sit until the WJC.

Heck, Walker COULD be waived. Either someone claims him and a spot is opened up. Or he doesn't get claimed, a chunk of his contract gets buried in the AHL, and the difference would allow him to call up Spence or Bjornfot.

But that would require the possibility of losing a vet for nothing, which Blake seems averse to do.

The Kings are where they are because of Blake's decision-making and planning. Any responsible GM would have contacted other GMs back on draft day to get the prices and availability of different players they are interested in, because GMs are already talking trades to move up and down.

You're making excuses for him. And now that one of your excuses looks more flimsy with evidence, you double down.

Feel free to ignore the fact that with your "teams have a cap!" excuse, that Arizona has over $20 million in cap space. In fact, they're so close to the cap floor, they may want a roster player where they are a bit more comfortably above it - if they actually want to trade Chychrun.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Nobody is calling the Kings uniquely inept, even though they've made questionable decisions people have been calling for years (I'm not even talking about myself here).

They painted themselves into a corner. They went with a particular plan where either they were 100% sure it would work OR they didn't plan well enough for what they'd do if things went awry. That is completely on them.

You scramble in and make excuses about how the Kings' hands are tied because all the GMs secretly refuse to make any trade of any kind until some unnamed date, and we just have to accept that Blake's a victim of circumstances. Then, when shown that moves actually do happen, you qualify your statement that the move isn't big enough to be meaningful.

Blaake ended LAST SEASON with the following defensemen in the system:
Doughty
Roy
Walker
Durzi
Spence
Clarke
Anderson
Bjornfot
Moverare

And he re-signed Edler.

That's 10 defensemen when most rosters carry 7 or 8. All except Clarke showed they could already play in the NHL by tge end of last season (then Clarke showed he belonged in training camp). This was their execution for this season:
- reassign the waiver exempt to the AHL (Bjornfot, Spence), irrespective of how well they played versus the others
- waive Moverare, who is the embodiment of "depth player only"
- give Clarke some games, but avoid burning a contract year if at all possible
- lean on the vets to keep the team playing well enough. Call ups if there are injuries.

So, since this is what they've done, is this their plan? Or are they just reacting?

If this was their plan, what was the follow-up if team defense lacked chemistry or was terrible? Because so far there have been no major changes.

And what's their plan for when Clarke's conditioning stint ends? Let me guess: send Moverare back to the AHL since he already cleared. Then Clarke can sit until the WJC.

Heck, Walker COULD be waived. Either someone claims him and a spot is opened up. Or he doesn't get claimed, a chunk of his contract gets buried in the AHL, and the difference would allow him to call up Spence or Bjornfot.

But that would require the possibility of losing a vet for nothing, which Blake seems averse to do.

The Kings are where they are because of Blake's decision-making and planning. Any responsible GM would have contacted other GMs back on draft day to get the prices and availability of different players they are interested in, because GMs are already talking trades to move up and down.

You're making excuses for him. And now that one of your excuses looks more flimsy with evidence, you double down.

Feel free to ignore the fact that with your "teams have a cap!" excuse, that Arizona has over $20 million in cap space. In fact, they're so close to the cap floor, they may want a roster player where they are a bit more comfortably above it - if they actually want to trade Chychrun.

Look, I don't expect you to follow every word I've ever said, but I will guarantee you I've never said literally zero trades ever happen this early in a season. I've always qualified it in terms of significance. And big moves that have been made early, like Eichel last season, are rare.

I'm not making excuses for Blake. Neither of us know who he has or has not talked to about trades, or how often he does so. All I go on is what I see from around the league from a fan distance, since it takes at least 2 teams to complete a deal. There has been a significant lack.of significant trades this early in the year for almost 20 years now. That's not an excuse. That's a recognition that real trades are not really completed this early in the cap era. Plenty of struggling teams over the years. Not many deals.

I agree with you on the D thing. I don't get Edler coming back. Not when Bjonfot played a team leading 70 games last year. I also don't get why Danault didn't take time away from Kopitar last year, but instead took minutes away from every other C. To me, these are fair criticisms, and I share them with all the doomsayers.

However, trades, waivers, nothing you've said proves me incorrect. Teams don't generally send guys on 1 way contracts to the AHL. That's undeniably true. It's why 1 way contracts are such a big deal. So to truly expect the Kings to send Walker or Petersen or whoever else down there, is to expect something that rarely happens anywhere in the league. They might do it, but you can't expect them to.

There's no secret agreement between GMs to not make trades. There are cap implications that prevent a lot of moves from happening. There are teams that struggle early evey year, and you can check, but real trades involving real guys don't happen much this early in the cap era. Some that do, like Pearson for Hagelin, player for player, dollar for dollar, position for position. Pretty simple. Nothing overly complicated. And not the kind of trade we want the Kings to make today. We want more moving pieces, because the Kings have too many guys.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Look, I don't expect you to follow every word I've ever said, but I will guarantee you I've never said literally zero trades ever happen this early in a season. I've always qualified it in terms of significance. And big moves that have been made early, like Eichel last season, are rare.

I'm not making excuses for Blake. Neither of us know who he has or has not talked to about trades, or how often he does so. All I go on is what I see from around the league from a fan distance, since it takes at least 2 teams to complete a deal. There has been a significant lack.of significant trades this early in the year for almost 20 years now. That's not an excuse. That's a recognition that real trades are not really completed this early in the cap era. Plenty of struggling teams over the years. Not many deals.

I agree with you on the D thing. I don't get Edler coming back. Not when Bjonfot played a team leading 70 games last year. I also don't get why Danault didn't take time away from Kopitar last year, but instead took minutes away from every other C. To me, these are fair criticisms, and I share them with all the doomsayers.

However, trades, waivers, nothing you've said proves me incorrect. Teams don't generally send guys on 1 way contracts to the AHL. That's undeniably true. It's why 1 way contracts are such a big deal. So to truly expect the Kings to send Walker or Petersen or whoever else down there, is to expect something that rarely happens anywhere in the league. They might do it, but you can't expect them to.

There's no secret agreement between GMs to not make trades. There are cap implications that prevent a lot of moves from happening. There are teams that struggle early evey year, and you can check, but real trades involving real guys don't happen much this early in the cap era. Some that do, like Pearson for Hagelin, player for player, dollar for dollar, position for position. Pretty simple. Nothing overly complicated. And not the kind of trade we want the Kings to make today. We want more moving pieces, because the Kings have too many guys.

I agree with you on the significant trades and I'll further that saying that if Blake was one of the ones making the small trades that just happened, we'd be roasting him for a silly small move instead of no move anyway.

That being said, in the past, he's had no problem shuffling middle pieces--like Cammalleri for Jokinen. You would think there's a D equivalent out there. That he hasn't done anything but bury kids speaks volumes about where we are at now.

There's patience, and then there's indecisiveness. We've certainly moved beyond simply being patient/conservative. These have been ongoing issues for a calendar year now that are getting worse rather than better which makes zero sense since we arent a team falling out of a Cup window. With the amount of stockpiled assets, playing only the oldest possible options to mediocre-at-best results without making any adjustments at this point is pretty unacceptable of both management AND coaching.

If this team wasn't in the Pacific, we'd be 2nd or 3rd to last in any other division in the league. They're skirting out of criticism and pressure by happenstance, not schematic.

Edit: actually maybe not, since they're so good against everyone NOT in the Pac, heh.

 

[LeftKinger]

I think people here have PLENTY of patience to see an actual rebuild through.

It's not a rebuild when you're still riding your 1C drafted 15 years ago.

Plenty of people here on HFBoards but the casual fan is different and they outnumber us. Tanking doesn’t put butts in seats

 

[kingsfan28]

Imagine Kopitar had come to camp out of his draft year and made the team. The team would be in win now mode, so he would be blocked by Craig Conroy, Eric Belanger and Derek Armstrong.

If Andy Murray instituted the 1-3-1 and Labarbera outplayed Garon, Dean Lombardi may never been hired.

Wow, that's some serious alternative history crap . Imagine if they didn't win those 2 extra games and finished a spot lower in the 2007 draft. They'd have gotten another ball and that extra ball ended up giving them the first pick, Patrck Kane instead of Thomas Hickey. Dean Lombardi may never been fired.

 

[Cianide]

Byfield has 1 goal and 3 assists in 12 professional games played this year, split between both the NHL and AHL. He is a combined -3 with a sub 50% faceoff percentage. He also can’t seem to stay healthy.

What about that suggests he’s excelling at the position in the pros?

I understand he’s young and still has time to turn it around, but this is not a player rapidly developing into a #1 center in the NHL. Again, he’s not even a #1 in the AHL. He has 1 goal and 0 assists in 4 games played in a lesser league.

Best thing for Byfield is to probably stay down in the AHL all season, find his offense again, and learn how to be a productive center on a game by game basis. If Byfield can’t be productive in the AHL he’ll never be productive in the NHL.

By the way, since everyone loves to point to Vilardi now as the quintessential late bloomer, Vilardi was essentially a PPG forward in the AHL in both 19/20 and 21/22 before his breakout this year in the NHL.

I disagree. Byfield was a project player and will need time and patience. He could breakout at any time. He could be dominant given his skillset and frame. Give him time.

 

[Kurrilino]

If you want to say that they are now overpaid that’s fine. However, you say things like careless attitude and make all sorts of other hyperbolic statements about them effectiveply being worthless (I’m paraphrasing). If you actually believe all of your statements then that would be irrational.

Just look at Ovechkin at his age.
He still has that killer instinct and the i can do everything attitude.
If it's crunch time, he still goes to his line mates and says, give me the puck and i deal with the situation.
When Kopitar is one the ice, you can't tell it's 7-0, 0-0 or 0-7 it's always the same sleeping pill hockey

When it's crunch time, your 1C needs to step on the ice and demand the ladies to get out of the way and enforce a goal regardless the resistance

Kopitar asked for $10 mill per year, gets the ice time of a 1C but doesn't deliver, so yes he is a worthless 1C.