Speculation: LA Kings News, Rumors, Roster Thread part VII

[KINGS17]

Durzi, Kempe, Kopitar, Kaliyev, and Vilardi should be on the top power play I think.

I would like to see what Vilardi could do in front of the net on the power play. He has some decent moves in close, and from what I have seen has to ability to shoot with accuracy when in close, including being able to roof pucks when necessary.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

QB vs Stutzle.

I recall Yannetti saying he was 50-50 on 2 players - obviously QB and Stutzle (can't imagine Drysdale or Raymond were 1 of them) and he said in the talks, what Rob wanted in a player to build the team - that clearly meant that player was QB. That's fine.

Yannetti talked accurately about QB not being close to developing physically and would take a long time to fill out and be playing at the size and weight he would eventually be.
I guarantee you that Rob envisions / envisioned a more powerful QB and not the finesse style he is playing, using quick feet and tryng to evade and hop around opponents....but a more powerful QB that can beat opponents physically - regardless if that was never his style. He looks 6'5" and 200 and has no power to his game. He's 19, of course. I don't think he will ever become an elite player, if he's 6'5" and 215 and still tries to outskate and finesse opponents. Sure, he may never be a powerful, physical force, but even 6'2" 200? Kupari looks more of a physical force, than QB...but he;s not going to be elite, without some real power to his game.

He's going to take time, but he had better go back and work with Roberts and get to 225-230 this offseason.
It would be fine if he lost 8% of his quickness, for some real size and strength. I honeslty think if Rob thought he was getting a 6'5" 210 finesse player, for his future #1 center, he would have gone Stutzle or traded down for Raymond or someone else.

 

[Fat Elvis]

Yet, what could you get for him, because if we see these faults, I guarantee you, other teams do as well.

He'd be part of a package, shouldn't be considered the "main" piece by any stretch.

 

[funky]

IF Iafallo ain't doing it on the 3rd line, he sure as shit ain't gonna be doing it on the 3rd line,

At this point, Grundstrom is a better option.

Totally agree. Just don’t think Todd will sit him.

 

[Herby]

Yeah, it's not as if Iafallo is contributing in ways other than scoring for the first line. He is slow, poor handling the puck and 50/50 puck battles are more like 20/80 puck battles. I think with how he has looked this season and with that contract AI would be a tough sell for anything of significance right now. Maybe as a floor throw in for Phoenix in a potential JC trade.

QB vs Stutzle.

I recall Yannetti saying he was 50-50 on 2 players - obviously QB and Stutzle (can't imagine Drysdale or Raymond were 1 of them) and he said in the talks, what Rob wanted in a player to build the team - that clearly meant that player was QB. That's fine.

Yannetti talked accurately about QB not being close to developing physically and would take a long time to fill out and be playing at the size and weight he would eventually be.
I guarantee you that Rob envisions / envisioned a more powerful QB and not the finesse style he is playing, using quick feet and tryng to evade and hop around opponents....but a more powerful QB that can beat opponents physically - regardless if that was never his style. He looks 6'5" and 200 and has no power to his game. He's 19, of course. I don't think he will ever become an elite player, if he's 6'5" and 215 and still tries to outskate and finesse opponents. Sure, he may never be a powerful, physical force, but even 6'2" 200? Kupari looks more of a physical force, than QB...but he;s not going to be elite, without some real power to his game.

He's going to take time, but he had better go back and work with Roberts and get to 225-230 this offseason.
It would be fine if he lost 8% of his quickness, for some real size and strength. I honeslty think if Rob thought he was getting a 6'5" 210 finesse player, for his future #1 center, he would have gone Stutzle or traded down for Raymond or someone else.

I'm not quite as hung up on the selection process with QB. It is fair to remember that at the time of the pick Vilardi still had injury concerns with his back (which can be career threatening) and Turcotte was coming off a pretty disappointing year and the Kings probably projected him by that point as more of a middle six option after seeing him in college. Stutzle had concerns with his ability to play center and the Kings obviously heavily value that position (it can be argued to much) and weren't going to risk not getting a clear cut 1C with one of their picks.

Unless QB really flops and Stutzle becomes a 100 point a year star, I think 2017 (11) and especially 2019(5) are the much more damaging selections than QB over Stutzle. QB has shown some nice flashes, hopefully he can be more confident and consistent next season. Stutzle would obviously go ahead of him in a re-draft (probably Raymond too) but its not out of the question at all that QB ends up the better player.

I might be in the minority but I think a strong case can be made that Zegras, Caufield, Suzuki, Norris, Seider and Thomas could all end up being better than Stutzle (those are players the Kings could have taken in those 2 drafts).

 

[johnjm22]

Iafallo's movements don't look smooth to me. His skating motion looks kind of jerky. I think him and Danault might both be banged up.

Everyone is shitting on AI now, but he was great at the beginning of the season. Guys go through ups and downs.

 

[BigKing]

Byfield was always the pick. While it was said it would take him longer to develop, it wasn't like he just put up some garbage season in Sudbury but everyone was enamored with his size/speed combo: he put up numbers that had him in pretty rare company for his age. When you've been riding a stud #1C for 15 years with the end of that on the horizon, you are going to take the swing at the potential PPG #1C.

I won't even question the pick if Byfield busts and TS is a routine 50-60 point winger. Now, it will still be Blakes fault because this is a results based business but I'm not going to question the thought process.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Kings cannot afford to bust on all three of Vilardi, Turcotte, and Byfield.

One of these players needs to become a top line game breaking center. Otherwise this franchise is f***ed for the foreseeable future.

 

[johnjm22]

Wrong thread.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Iafallo is reminding me more and more of Kyle Calder.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Someone has to explain Zegras to me.....I get, flashy new toy, and he definitely has individual skill up the ass, and maybe it's just me, but he's not someone you are winning a playoff round with....

 

[Herby]

Iafallo's movements don't look smooth to me. His skating motion looks kind of jerky. I think him and Danault might both be banged up.

Everyone is shitting on AI now, but he was great at the beginning of the season. Guys go through ups and downs.

I agree he might be injured, but if that is the case he shouldn't be playing because he is hurting the team.

This long ago exceeded a slump. You referenced the 13 points in 13 games to start the year. Since then he has 9 goals and 25 points in 69 games, all while being a fixture on the #1 line, #1 PP unit and 3 on 3 OT. In that time he has had point droughts of 7 games, 6 games and 7 games and goal droughts of 7 games, 9 games and 23 games.

In his last 30 games he has 2-4-6, two of assists were on EN goals. 0 PP points despite being on the #1 unit. During those 30 games he has played 18+ minutes in 18 of the games, and 20+ minutes in 7 of them, including 4 of the last 6 games.

This is not a slump, its an all-time bad season in team history based on usage and deployment.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Someone has to explain Zegras to me.....I get, flashy new toy, and he definitely has individual skill up the ass, and maybe it's just me, but he's not someone you are winning a playoff round with....

At least he’s a productive NHL player, unlike Turcotte.

 

[Herby]

Someone has to explain Zegras to me.....I get, flashy new toy, and he definitely has individual skill up the ass, and maybe it's just me, but he's not someone you are winning a playoff round with....

Oh cool, this narrative again. It was so funny when people said it about Caufield last year before the playoffs started.

Nope, you can't win playoff rounds with skilled players in your lineup. Just need to have 18 grinders in the lineup.

 

[kilowatt]

Sometimes drafts are just like that. It's not like Lafreniere or Stutzle are exactly lighting up the league either. Raymond's putting up points, but he's also played most of the year with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi. Raymond and Stutzle are a combined -49 right now. And in hockey, more so than any other sport, rookies usually don't come in and light the league on fire. You maybe get one or two guys per year that do that and it's often because they've been put in a position to succeed. I'm willing to bet if Byfield was lining up next to Kopitar and Kempe, he'd have a lot more points.

It's silly to try to judge a draft after a player's rookie season.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Oh cool, this narrative again. It was so funny when people said it about Caufield last year before the playoffs started.

Nope, you can't win playoff rounds with skilled players in your lineup. Just need to have 18 grinders in the lineup.

So....what does that say about Zegras? They are clearly not the same player.....again, I said he has skill, but his game doesn't translate to winning hockey....so what's the allure, that he's shiny?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Oh cool, this narrative again. It was so funny when people said it about Caufield last year before the playoffs started.

Nope, you can't win playoff rounds with skilled players in your lineup. Just need to have 18 grinders in the lineup.

Do you think these homers said the same thing when the Kings had a productive rookie in the lineup, like Anze Kopitar as a rookie in 2006-07? He was a minus player on some bad teams in his first three seasons, so I guess that'll never translate to any playoff success in his career, right?

I bet Zegras will not only end up playing in more career NHL games than Turcotte, but he'll also easily surpass Turcotte in playoff games over the course of their careers. At this point, the Kings would be very thankful if Turcotte even turned into the next Trevor Lewis. He's more likely destined to be the next Jared Aulin.

 

[Herby]

So....what does that say about Zegras? They are clearly not the same player.....again, I said he has skill, but his game doesn't translate to winning hockey....so what's the allure, that he's shiny?

What translates to winning hockey? What exactly are you basing it off of, because he isn't a gritty player?
Are you saying that skilled players like Zegras have not won championships before? The Turcotte truthers on here love to reference the WJC's as the reason why he is such a great prospect, how did Zegras do in that tournament?

You say they aren't the same player (him and Caufield), ok one is a small soft playmaking wizard and one is a small soft goalscorer, how come the small soft goalscorer was able to be one of the better players in last years playoffs but the small soft playmaker wont be able to?

And the reason I referenced "oh cool, this again" is because this narrative has been used ad nuaseum on this board for about 15 years that skilled players can't win championships or contribute to a teams success. It was used about Patrick Kane, it was used about Kuchreov it was used about Ovechkin, it was used about Tarasenko. It's now being used on Matthews, Gaudreau and Caufield. Guess we can add Zegras to this list.

There is no truth to it at all. It's just being used by some members of a fanbase wanting to minimize the abilties of a player for a rival team, a player that the Kings happened to pass up on for a lesser player. It doesn't mean the Kings are doomed, the Kings passed on Getzlaf and Perry for Brown and Tambellini and ended up fine, but no need to minimize the better player with false narratives.

 

[KingsHockey24]

I wanted Seider.

 

[crassbonanza]

Durzi and Kopitar should not be on the top power play in my opinion.

Spence, Kempe, Danaugh, Kaliyev, and Vilardi should be on the top power play

Durzi, Kupari, Kopitar, Moore, and Byefield should be on the second power play

Durzi and Kopitar are top 3 among regular Kings skaters in powerplay P/60 with 6.25 and 5.08 respectively. You want to kick them off the top powerplay unit to put Danault and his 1.24? Danault has a career total of 2 goals and 13 assists on the powerplay. Just this season Kopitar has 6 goals and 15 assists on the powerplay.

 

[BringTheReign]

I wanted Seider.

At #2? Do you have receipts, or are you Steve Yzerman?

EDIT: I'm an idiot. Seider was in the 2019 draft right after Turcotte. Feel free to ridicule my dumb take above.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I wanted Seider.

at #5 overall? (he wernt 6th) I think only Yzerman did....even Seider himself looked shocked, when his name was called.
I never saw his name come up here for the Kings taking him....of course, the KINGS were slotted #2 overall and the lotto gods pushed the Kings to #5 overall.

 

[No Name The Nameless]

According to this, Quick is still elite (2nd among all goaltenders listed), and Petersen not too shabby either. In other words, the Kings problem isn't really the goaltending.

Have you watched the games? Peterson is not even average. He doesn’t help anyone

 

[crassbonanza]

So....what does that say about Zegras? They are clearly not the same player.....again, I said he has skill, but his game doesn't translate to winning hockey....so what's the allure, that he's shiny?

What about his game do you think does not translate to winning hockey? He is the second highest producing skater on the Ducks with a ES P/60 of 2.3. He has the best CF% on the team and the third best SF% on the team. He does have a negative GF% Rel of -3.8, but that is better than Kupari, Kempe, Byfield and Vilardi, so I assume if you are using that as a metric you also feel like those players are not conducive to winning hockey.

 

[Herby]

Didn't matter who anyone wanted, anything realistic would have been better. Even the people who wanted Knight (there were some), I'm usually not on board with goalies that high but considering our goaltending situation I'd be happy with Knight.

For what its worth I remember Turcotte people, Dach people, Zegras people, Cozens people, some Knight people, a couple on the Caufield wagon with me. I don't remember any Seider people.

And ya, bad luck Kings. 5 NTDP forwards taken in the Top 15, four are thriving in the NHL, ofcourse the one that isn't is the Kings pick. Now look at Clarke's potentially serious injury...its been a tough 8 years since AMart scored in OT.