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

[KINGS17]

We should trade all of our first rounders for second rounders and pudding cups

Just pudding cups? No way.

 

[kingsfan28]

Its a lot easier to impress when your team is as bad as the ducks have been , and you only play offence, the best thing that happened to the kings was not getting Kovy in the summer of 2010 because it allowed for us to get better more complete players a little latter and Kovy cherry picked and lost assignments regularly . Hockey is probably the one sport you can't cheat the game, not playing both ways leads to 40 plus years of cup less years . I was hoping the kings would pick Zegras over Dach or whatever center was still there at 5 because we all thought AT would be at 3 to chicago but his overall game is lacking and he will be affected by not playing out his junior years much like turcotte and those others and the fact he can lift a puck up with his stick and throw it into the net a couple times a year does not skill make , thats for the easier amused among us but while he will lead the team in scoring i do not think he will ever lead a team to a cup until he improves his overall game , especially as a teams #1 C , and i am not comparing him to turcotte just saying he is not the best example to make AT a bad pick ,especially since turcotte hasnt been healthy enough to get 20/25 games to settle in ...........now mactavish has looked impressive but we have not seen our pick from the same draft yet, all he did was lead the OHL in scoring as a dman ,even after being suspended for a few games so we shall see

the rivallry between Clarke and Mctavish should be interesting. apparently there's bad blood between those two. i expect a cross check or two during the preseason games.

 

[Herby]

Zegras has always had more skill than Turcotte, the latter was supposed to make-up for it by being the better all-around player and line driver.

@Herby
I think the main issue with the Vilardi pick was the injury and not the skating issue. I still don't believe he fell because of his skating: he was still the #4 ranked NA skater by CSB. The article is still up on NHL.com regarding the draft combine from 2017 with this nugget:

During medical testing, he revealed he had soreness in his right hip and back so he'll skip the lower-body portion of the fitness testing but was cleared for the upper-body and stationary bike tests. Vilardi, 17, said he isn't injured: just tired after a long season.

He promptly goes on to basically miss the summer and the first half of the OHL season due to this fatigue. Then he misses all of his D + 2 season.

I had zero issues with the pick because the skill was/is so high that the skating wouldn't keep him from being a Top-6 player. I think that some teams most likely removed him from their boards or dropped him pretty far down due to medicals. God damn 17 year old is too f***ing tired to do the fitness testing for the upcoming most important moment of his life? Get out of here with that.

I still think that he is the most skilled (at least as far as the combo of hands/vision/offensive IQ goes) forward out of all of Blake's 1st round picks: that includes Byfield. Losing a year of development hurts and I don't know if the injury impacted his skating even more.

We need results out of these high picks but I can't fault the Kings for Vilardi if the only reason he dropped was skating. Now, if their medical staff looked him over and gave it the okay while others passed: then we have a problem. Also, for Blake and Co. stepping in and vowing to move the team in a different direction style-wise, it seems odd to take a guy whose biggest flaw is skating.

Good post. But I think you kind of nailed it with the last part, skating flaw., was their injury concerns, yup I'm sure there was. But again why don't we place any blame on the Kings for not seeing both things and pivoting to the good players who were left with less rad flags?. Did the Kings not value those forwards who all went immediately after?

My reasoning for thinking it was mostly skating with GV falling is that I don't believe there has been a worse skating player than GV taken in the Top half of the first round since that draft. That is five drafts, that is a lot of picks and it tells you the direction the league is now at. Even a guy like RMG this season who had skating concerns for this draft is a way better skater than GV is. I think GV can be looked at as a similar situation to Saquan Barkley in the NFL, we may never see a running back drafted again in the top half of round 1 and we may never see a player who skates as poorly as GV drafted in the top half of the NHL draft. I guess you can debate on whether the Kings and Giants were just unlucky to be caught in a generational shift in how their sports were played but can we also blame the teams for not realizing it? I look back to the comments Dean made about the Penguins and it's just hard to not see that arrogance and ignorance perhaps still being there with ahis AGM running things and all the scouts still employed.

As for the player, I still think he is just a modern day bigger version of Pavel Rosa. And I don't question Rosa's skill, he had a lot of it, but just not enough to make up for the major flaws he had. Guys like this who bring nothing but scoring just need to be able to score to make it. And in most cases it's an all or nothing hit or miss, which is the situation I think we are seeing here.

Look at the similarities.

- Both put up huge numbers in junior
- Both were one-dimensional offensive guys
- Both were poor skaters
- Both suffered significant injuries before turning pro
- Both scored on their first NHL shot
- Both put up ok numbers as NHL rookies on bad teams
- Both were back in the minors the next year as the teams improved to playoff teams and left them behind

I would say Rosa also had size concerns in an era where size mattered quite a bit more. I actually think GV maybe carves out a pretty decent career in the NHL 25 years ago but times do change and it didn't benefit guys like him. I think a guy like Jason Allison who was a pretty good player in that era would struggle to play in the league today with how much faster it is. And this isn't something exclusive to hockey, and it even could get players who are Hall of Famers. How good is Jerome Bettis in today's NFL? How about Tony Gwynn in today's MLB?

I know, it's tough to close the book on prospects. You know how I know? Because I was one of those who really believed in Rosa, but at some point you have to just accept the fact that while there is skill there just isn't enough to end up as like a 60 point guy, which is what players like GV and Pavel Rosa would have needed to be to stick in the NHL.

And another really crappy thing to think about is with 2017-2019-2020 the Kings switched from gamble to safe to gamble (and probably gambled a bit in 2021 with Clarke too). Had the Kings just had a consistent strategy over those 3 drafts, whether it was roll the dice or play it safe they would have ended up in a better spot.

Playing it safe across the board probably results in something like Suzuki/Necas-Turcotte-Stutzle
Rolling the dice across the board probably results in something like Vilardi-Zegras/Caufield-Byfield

Either situation puts the Kings in a much better spot than they are in now, that is a real kick in the balls when you think about it

Give me a break, dude. The same clown who has absolutely ZERO positive things to say about the Kings (I mean, is even a fan?) is gushing about how jealous he his of the Ducks org, lol....

I can't figure out if you guys are really this miserable on our team, a team that is on the cusp of being really good, or you are just really f***ing bored and trying to stir shit up all the time? I just don't get it...

You call out others for being overly pessimistic about anything yet the only negative thing you have said about the Kings since Blake took over was when you complained about @All The Kings Men 's facial hair.

I think you even liked Willy D.

Is he over the top pessimistic? Yes
Are you over the top optimistic? Yes

There is enough good and bad over the last 5 years where people can have constructive discussions in here.

 

[lumbergh]

I didn't see this elsewhere, but Sammy Fagemo and Brandt Clarke are going to be part of the Rookie Showcase in DC in a couple of weeks:

2022 NHLPA Rookie Showcase returns Sept. 6 to Washington, DC

Juraj Slafkovsky and Owen Power are scheduled to attend, representing the 2022 and 2021 first-overall picks of the NHL Draft.

www.nhlpa.com

I'm really hoping to see a big year from Fagemo in the AHL.

 

[KingsFan7824]

The problem for Fagemo will be that only Moore and Lemieux are currently scheduled to be UFAs after this year. Lemieux should be cheap again if he comes back, and obviously a different player than Fagemo, but Moore is probably already looking at a $4m cap hit, but with another 50pt season, he might be at the $5m range. Moore has turned into a decent player. 28 years old for his next contract though.

Then there's what happens with Vilardi and Andersson. May or may not be qualified. Then Iafallo. Can you get rid of him if he's at 30pts? If he gets back to 50-ish pts, do you want to get rid of him?

There might be a spot for Fagemo after this year, but not many. Not as of today.

 

[mysterman2]

I didn't see this elsewhere, but Sammy Fagemo and Brandt Clarke are going to be part of the Rookie Showcase in DC in a couple of weeks:

2022 NHLPA Rookie Showcase returns Sept. 6 to Washington, DC

Juraj Slafkovsky and Owen Power are scheduled to attend, representing the 2022 and 2021 first-overall picks of the NHL Draft.

www.nhlpa.com

I'm really hoping to see a big year from Fagemo in the AHL.

He had a solid year last year....4th in pts, 2nd in goals as Euro Rookie. Not too shabby at all and those #s should only improve. Hes an exciting prospect...kind of get Arviddson vibes.

 

[BigKing]

@Herby Blame can definitely be laid on the Organization if they gave Vilardi a clean bill of health or--even worse--didn't think it was a major issue. If he really only fell because of skating, I actually don't fault the Dave Taylor move of taking the highly-skilled faller with size. This is a results-based business so I'll criticize them for whiffing but I don't fault the thinking at the time.

I still think he could be (could have been?) successful but he really played timidly to start last season and looked like a kid with zero confidence. It's a major issue I have with Byfield as well: don't be afraid to show the skill and try something "dangerous". I've got 17 other guys on the roster that can only make safe plays so I don't need any more of them.

It's tough because it is still Todd's system in all of Vilardi's NHL games but he did look much slower last season as the Kings looked faster. I don't like always blaming poor performance on injuries--my favorite one is that Kopitar must always be hurt in his down seasons--but it is probably pretty fair to say that it's a bad hand for a guy with skating issues to have a major injury that robs him of crucial development time when he could have been improving his skating: never mind the fact that the injury may have actually hurt his skating further.

 

[Schmooley]

The problem for Fagemo will be that only Moore and Lemieux are currently scheduled to be UFAs after this year. Lemieux should be cheap again if he comes back, and obviously a different player than Fagemo, but Moore is probably already looking at a $4m cap hit, but with another 50pt season, he might be at the $5m range. Moore has turned into a decent player. 28 years old for his next contract though.

Then there's what happens with Vilardi and Andersson. May or may not be qualified. Then Iafallo. Can you get rid of him if he's at 30pts? If he gets back to 50-ish pts, do you want to get rid of him?

There might be a spot for Fagemo after this year, but not many. Not as of today.

You can say this same thing for a lot of Kings players. They have too many players and not enough spots. They also have a lot of forwards being paid enough to guarantee a spot no matter what happens in camp.
I see Fagemo as a good Arvidsson replacement in two years but who knows how hed get a chance before that.

 

[KingsFan7824]

You can say this same thing for a lot of Kings players. They have too many players and not enough spots. They also have a lot of forwards being paid enough to guarantee a spot no matter what happens in camp.
I see Fagemo as a good Arvidsson replacement in two years but who knows how hed get a chance before that.

Yup. Another issue is Fagemo will be out of ELC years.

Summer of 2024, that's the next potential slate cleaning. Kopitar, Arvidsson, Roy, Walker, all UFAs. Lizotte, Grundstrom, Byfield, Kaliyev, Turcotte all RFAs. That's a big offseason.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

@Herby Blame can definitely be laid on the Organization if they gave Vilardi a clean bill of health or--even worse--didn't think it was a major issue. If he really only fell because of skating, I actually don't fault the Dave Taylor move of taking the highly-skilled faller with size. This is a results-based business so I'll criticize them for whiffing but I don't fault the thinking at the time.

I still think he could be (could have been?) successful but he really played timidly to start last season and looked like a kid with zero confidence. It's a major issue I have with Byfield as well: don't be afraid to show the skill and try something "dangerous". I've got 17 other guys on the roster that can only make safe plays so I don't need any more of them.

It's tough because it is still Todd's system in all of Vilardi's NHL games but he did look much slower last season as the Kings looked faster. I don't like always blaming poor performance on injuries--my favorite one is that Kopitar must always be hurt in his down seasons--but it is probably pretty fair to say that it's a bad hand for a guy with skating issues to have a major injury that robs him of crucial development time when he could have been improving his skating: never mind the fact that the injury may have actually hurt his skating further.

imo this is a major issue with the Kings and deployment/development going back YEARS, guys are scared to try stuff because look what happens when they do.

Guys were being critical of Zegras here and it's like--part of why he's doing well offensively is he knows he's allowed to f*** up and he'll get another chance. Vilardi misses a stick check in the neutral zone and they send him down and change his position. Hard to be confident when you're coached to make the 'right play' or else. And even when you do you just get jammed on the 4th line wing.

 

[Statto]

Yup. Another issue is Fagemo will be out of ELC years.

Summer of 2024, that's the next potential slate cleaning. Kopitar, Arvidsson, Roy, Walker, all UFAs. Lizotte, Grundstrom, Byfield, Kaliyev, Turcotte all RFAs. That's a big offseason.

Arvidsson we will need to move. He’s a complimentary player, that I love, but thats where we need to be filling spots from within. So that’s where we need a Fagemo (as an example) to be ready, Kaliyev moves up Fagemo slots in. It’s essential for Cap management.

 

[lumbergh]

He had a solid year last year....4th in pts, 2nd in goals as Euro Rookie. Not too shabby at all and those #s should only improve. Hes an exciting prospect...kind of get Arviddson vibes.

I too get Arvidsson vibes from Fagemo. Shoot first, ask questions later. Bigger, less agile, than Arvidsson, but similar philosophy on offense. The Kings could have two of Fagemo, Turcotte, and Thomas knocking on the door sometime during the upcoming season.

Just have to be ready when one of the regulars gets injured. That's gonna happen at some point, so I don't think it's a big deal that there's not enough spots today.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

imo this is a major issue with the Kings and deployment/development going back YEARS, guys are scared to try stuff because look what happens when they do.

Guys were being critical of Zegras here and it's like--part of why he's doing well offensively is he knows he's allowed to f*** up and he'll get another chance. Vilardi misses a stick check in the neutral zone and they send him down and change his position. Hard to be confident when you're coached to make the 'right play' or else. And even when you do you just get jammed on the 4th line wing.

I'll take 99 points and a playoff spot over a guy who can score the 'Michigan goal' twice a year all day long.

Can't wait for the start of this season!

 

[Kudelski37]

I'll take 99 points and a playoff spot over a guy who can score the 'Michigan goal' twice a year all day long.

Can't wait for the start of this season!

You can win and have flashy play. It doesn't have to be an either/or choice. I'm really hoping the young guys step up this season.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

You can win and have flashy play. It doesn't have to be an either/or choice. I'm really hoping the young guys step up this season.

Exactly, it can be both...but that's not really the case right now. I'm not jealous of the Ducks because they have a dynamic player in Zegras....maybe that changes if they are the team that's not scheduling tee times in April.

 

[johnjm22]

YEAR	TEAM	LEAGUE	GP	G	A	PTS
2019-20	USA U20	WJC-20	5​	0​	9​	9​
	Boston U	NCAA	33​	11​	25​	36​
2020-21	Anaheim	NHL	24​	3​	10​	13​
	San Diego	AHL	17​	10​	11​	21​
	USA U20	WJC-20	7​	7​	11​	18​
2021-22	Anaheim	NHL	75​	23​	38​	61​

This is what Zegras has done since being drafted.

You can see the continual improvement.

His success probably has nothing to do with Anaheim's drafting or developing. He's just good.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]YEAR[/TD]
[TD]TEAM[/TD]
[TD]LEAGUE[/TD]
[TD]GP[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[TD]A[/TD]
[TD]PTS[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2019-20[/TD]
[TD]USA U20[/TD]
[TD]WJC-20[/TD]

[TD]

5​

[/TD]

[TD]

0​

[/TD]

[TD]

9​

[/TD]

[TD]

9​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]

[TD]Boston U[/TD]
[TD]NCAA[/TD]

[TD]

33​

[/TD]

[TD]

11​

[/TD]

[TD]

25​

[/TD]

[TD]

36​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2020-21[/TD]
[TD]Anaheim[/TD]
[TD]NHL[/TD]

[TD]

24​

[/TD]

[TD]

3​

[/TD]

[TD]

10​

[/TD]

[TD]

13​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]

[TD]San Diego[/TD]
[TD]AHL[/TD]

[TD]

17​

[/TD]

[TD]

10​

[/TD]

[TD]

11​

[/TD]

[TD]

21​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]

[TD]USA U20[/TD]
[TD]WJC-20[/TD]

[TD]

7​

[/TD]

[TD]

7​

[/TD]

[TD]

11​

[/TD]

[TD]

18​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2021-22[/TD]
[TD]Anaheim[/TD]
[TD]NHL[/TD]

[TD]

75​

[/TD]

[TD]

23​

[/TD]

[TD]

38​

[/TD]

[TD]

61​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

This is what Zegras has done since being drafted.

You can see the continual improvement.

His success probably has nothing to do with Anaheim's drafting or developing. He's just good.

It has plenty to do with how he's used, even if you ignore drafting/'developing' (though deployment is a big part of that imo). He's not getting 61 points on the 4th line.

Top offensive minutes, and when he struggled, they gave him top offensive minutes in the AHL before they brought him back up. They didn't bury him on the 4th line/scratch him, they diddn't send him down to work on checking at wing, they said okay here take the bull by the horns.

The guy he's often compared to around here--Turcotte--wasn't hardly 'allowed' PP time in the AHL for comparison.

 

[DoktorJeep]

If all that’s on your “mind” is next season and getting more than 99 points, you should be mad about having Turcotte and Byfield instead of Zegras and Stutzle.

If all things are rosy, wouldn’t they be that much prettier with 2 Michigan goals a year, a premiere diver, 99 points and a chance to play deep into the first round before losing to Jack Campbell?

Which Kings team has a better chance of a cup run before Kopitar is due a new contract? The current one, or one where the last 6 first round picks delivered 2 stars going into next camp coming off a 99 point season.

But don’t forget they made McJesus nervous for 5 seconds while being unable to solve Mike Smith after multiple kicks at the can. At least when Dave Taylor’s crew of solid vets plus strategic dumpster finds made it to the playoffs, they bowed out to pre cap dynasty franchises.

 

[Herby]

@Herby Blame can definitely be laid on the Organization if they gave Vilardi a clean bill of health or--even worse--didn't think it was a major issue. If he really only fell because of skating, I actually don't fault the Dave Taylor move of taking the highly-skilled faller with size. This is a results-based business so I'll criticize them for whiffing but I don't fault the thinking at the time.

I still think he could be (could have been?) successful but he really played timidly to start last season and looked like a kid with zero confidence. It's a major issue I have with Byfield as well: don't be afraid to show the skill and try something "dangerous". I've got 17 other guys on the roster that can only make safe plays so I don't need any more of them.

It's tough because it is still Todd's system in all of Vilardi's NHL games but he did look much slower last season as the Kings looked faster. I don't like always blaming poor performance on injuries--my favorite one is that Kopitar must always be hurt in his down seasons--but it is probably pretty fair to say that it's a bad hand for a guy with skating issues to have a major injury that robs him of crucial development time when he could have been improving his skating: never mind the fact that the injury may have actually hurt his skating further.

I guess we will never know how much/if any the back injury caused the skating to suffer, but I still think that skating has to be atleast part of the reason many teams passed him up. What has happened in subsequent drafts I think kind of proves that teams are placing a major emphasis on skating, and I don't think the Kings did that in 2017, again I think it was the Lombardi "skill and speed is a fad" stench still in the organization. (Another topic, but that IMO is the most likely reason DL has never gotten another GM job. He is basically Woody Hayes). How many players playing top-9 roles (especially centers) in the NHL skate worse than GV? There are a few older guys like Perry, Getzlaf and Thornton (since retired) with thousands of games of miles on their tires, but these guys are being replaced by players who just skate at levels better than GV. You know I don't dispute the hands, but hands don't mean anything if you can't keep up with the pace of the play, and that has unfortunately been the case with GV with his time in the NHL.

I know...some...here....hate... to talk about it, but I think it's more than fair to hold the Kings up to choices that other teams would or wouldn't make in the same situation. Whether that is a ridiculous college pull of a #5 pick who clearly wasn't ready, having an 18 year old #2 pick in the AHL or failing to see how important skating is going forward with a #11 pick. I think it's pretty reasonable to say most NHL teams handle all those situations differently, and with the results of those moves trending very much downward shouldn't we place much blame on the Kings for being both unorthodox AND wrong? That is the way it works in the real world, why doesn't it work that way in hockey to some of our fellow board members? They'd be praising Blake to no-end if they had worked out, but just make excuses when it hasn't.

Also, it's not just the players the Kings took but the players they passed on and the organizational philosophy on how to both draft and develop players who should be expected to be first line players. I look at the 2019 draft as a prime example of that.

People can say, "I love Turcotte's motor" or "Turcotte will run through a wall" or "He's going to be a great middle six player" or "He's going to wear a letter" or "He is a great glue player". And I don't dispute any of that, every single one of those comments are true. But this was a TOP FIVE PICK, I repeat a TOP FIVE PICK. The Kings had a dreadful season and were blessed with a high pick. Your expectation has to be when taking a player that high that you have are getting a player with a 1st line ceiling, and really a high 1st line ceiling if it's a Top 5 pick. Having seen Turcotte with my own two eyes many times immediately after being drafted, even before all these injuries that was just never happening. People can rightfully use the injuries as an excuse if he doesn't live up the middle six potential, that is perfectly valid, but even if 100% healthy there was never a path for that pick to result in the type of player it should have. You could see 4 months after the draft playing on the the same team that Caufield was both a much better NCAA player and also a better NHL prospect, and it wasn't really close and no one who saw them play would be surprised with how they currently project as pros. Caufield was a guy you take with a 5-10 pick and Turcotte is a guy you take with a 15-20 pick and that is a troubling thing for the Kings.

Another thing with organizational philosophy. I think we all agree that for the better part of 15 years the Kings have had horrible issues developing offensive players, in particular goal-scorers. I think even the eternal optimists like Axl would admit that. Was it evaluation? Development? Usage? System? Do guys like Kopitar (and Carter) who were the constants down the middle play a style that prevented a goal-scorer from developing? All of these things have been theorized on this board over the years and one or more of them is the reason.

Enter the 2019 draft, the Kings picking at 5 and 22 and both times they had a chance to draft a goal-scoring winger with a 99th percentile type arsenal of shots. Players who with a couple of years in college or the OHL could reasonably be expected to step in and be at the absolute least world-class shooting PP specialists (PP matters, see this years Kings) with Rocket Richard type winning upside. The Kings passed on both those players to take a floor center and a floor defenseman. Yes, happy ending they ended up with Kaliyev, and maybe I am being hypocritical as a results oriented guy but if Kaliyev was even say a 60/40 chance to fall to the Kings with their next pick was Bjornfot really worth it if you had a 4 and 10 chance of missing out on a player like Kaliyev? I just feel like the Kings should have looked in the mirror that draft and said "We have issues finding and developing these types of players, if we have the chance to lets address this issue today in this 1st round"

P.S. I can see my user # in the quote part of your post. Member 72 out of lord knows how many now. It's been a hell of a ride on this site over the last 24 years or so. It makes me feel really old, but thanks to everyone for the great discussions.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

If all that’s on your “mind” is next season and getting more than 99 points, you should be mad about having Turcotte and Byfield instead of Zegras and Stutzle.

LOL, I should be mad? Like, what should we do, go picket in front of Staples?? The majority of this board wanted Byfield, should I be mad their ignorance too?

Let me tell you about being mad....did you follow the Kings from like 1994 - 1998? Then like 2002 - 2010?? I think I was kind of mad then....2022, not mad bruh. You be mad, lol.

 

[kingsfan28]

You can’t say Vilardi was a bad pick because no one could have expected what happened with his back. It definitely impacted the short window to improve his skating in any meaningful way. Given the issues it’s remarkable that he’s played at all, in some ways. But… even allowing for all of that they didn’t handle him as well as they should have. He needed more AHL time and should never have played 2C so early.

It was a great pick in context, the talent is top 10 pick level (higher if he had better skating)… but bad luck and a couple of debatable decisions. But again it’s easy with hindsight because his first 10 games got us all very excited.

Valardi 1st real season was the Covid year, right? There were no expectation on the Kings that year, so why not have him play then? He looked great his first 11 games and there was every indication it would continue. Call it trial by fire if you will, and it was rough at times and his confidence wavered. I look at Jack Hughes as an example [ I'm not comparing their skill level], much like Valardi , really struggled and looked out of place his first few season. The skill was there, just not everything else. I wonder how many on the NJ board were concerned that because Jack wasn't lighting it up that NJ wrecked his development. Probably most. You can bet there would've been many on this board who'd have claimed that had the Kings drafted him 1 OA. I still think there's a huge upside to Valardi and hopefully he continues to work on his skating and not let his confidence drop when he's not playing his best.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Valardi 1st real season was the Covid year, right? There were no expectation on the Kings that year, so why not have him play then? He looked great his first 11 games and there was every indication it would continue. Call it trial by fire if you will, and it was rough at times and his confidence wavered. I look at Jack Hughes as an example [ I'm not comparing their skill level], much like Valardi , really struggled and looked out of place his first few season. The skill was there, just not everything else. I wonder how many on the NJ board were concerned that because Jack wasn't lighting it up that NJ wrecked his development. Probably most. You can bet there would've been many on this board who'd have claimed that had the Kings drafted him 1 OA. I still think there's a huge upside to Valardi and hopefully he continues to work on his skating and not let his confidence drop when he's not playing his best.

Maybe I don't remember it correctly, but most people on this board were convinced Vilardi would never even play a single NHL game. Anyways, I feel like he joined the Reign mid-season in 2019-20 once he was deemed healthy enough to play -- played 32 games and the Kings then brought him up. From there, played 10 games before the season was killed due to Covid.

Shame on the Kings for not bringing up a player directly to the big league despite his health issues that jeopardized his entire career.

In 2020-21, he played 54 out of 56 games (shortened season) with the Kings -- wow, he was really being held back.

 

[Herby]

Maybe I don't remember it correctly, but most people on this board were convinced Vilardi would never even play a single NHL game. Anyways, I feel like he joined the Reign mid-season in 2019-20 once he was deemed healthy enough to play -- played 32 games and the Kings then brought him up. From there, played 10 games before the season was killed due to Covid.

Shame on the Kings for not bringing up a player directly to the big league despite his health issues that jeopardized his entire career.

In 2020-21, he played 54 out of 56 games (shortened season) with the Kings -- wow, he was really being held back.

Yes, many people did think his career was in jeopardy, props to him for coming back and being actually extremely durable the last 2 years.

The issue was why did the Kings have a player who was never going to be a C in the NHL due to his skating playing C in the NHL for 50+ games while the guy they used the #2 pick on was down in the AHL (unheard of) and not taking advantage of 56 games of low-pressure hockey that was available to him with the Kings.

A year later Vilardi was a RW in the AHL and Byfield looked lost at the NHL level in a high pressure playoff race having apparently gained next to nothing in the AHL that got him NHL ready. I know I probably have a better chance of being attacked by a Great White Shark in Lake Huron than you admitting Blake made a mistake. But maybe, just maybe he made a mistake with how each player was handled?

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

A year later Vilardi was a RW in the AHL and Byfield looked lost at the NHL level in a high pressure playoff race having apparently gained next to nothing in the AHL that got him NHL ready. I know I probably have a better chance of being attacked by a Great White Shark in Lake Huron than you admitting Blake made a mistake. But maybe, just maybe he made a mistake with how each player was handled?

lol, I am NOT a Blake fan...but he has changed my tune a bit over the past couple years with the positive trends of this team.

I have no problem with pointing out Blake's mistakes -- but when it come to specific players and whether or not they are busts, we aren't there yet...just ask Kempe.

 

[Sol]

lol, I am NOT a Blake fan...but he has changed my tune a bit over the past couple years with the positive trends of this team.

I have no problem with pointing out Blake's mistakes -- but when it come to specific players and whether or not they are busts, we aren't there yet...just ask Kempe.

Again how the hell can you realistically use Kempe as an example? He was drafted in 2014-2015. and just NOW he shows signs of being a top 6 player ? How can you possible think that’s normal? Kempe is much more realistically going to come down a good amount from this season. Just like how William Karlsson suddenly became a goal scorer the first year of the Knights relevancy. He popped like what 40 goals? Patterns exist for a reason. Players don’t just boom out of no where and if they do, it’s not a sign of things to come, it’s much more likely it’s an anomaly.

God damn.