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

[Axl Rhoadz]

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?

I guess you kind of made my point for me...Kempe has consistently trended up the last 3 season...AFTER playing 2.5 NHL seasons. I would bet that's kind of the norm for top line players out there not named McDavid. Kempe didn't BOOM out of anywhere, try paying some f***ing attention for once in the middle of your ignorant, constant bitching.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Don't look now....but it took this guy who's name is Kevin Fiala about 200 NHL games to 'break out'...FYI, he was a 1st round draft pick too. Good thing the Kings didn't draft him, their fans would of taken him out to the pasture by game 100.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

The copium on this board when it comes to both Turcotte and Byfield is embarrassing.

Zegras is a better hockey player than Turcotte by every conceivable metric of hockey, and it’s not close. Full stop. Accept it. The Kings blew that pick. Turcotte may not even have an NHL career at this point.

Byfield, at the very least, is still young and playing in the NHL. He has some time left.

 

[Lt Dan]

try paying some f***ing attention for once in the middle of your ignorant, constant bitching.

 

[BigKing]

Don't look now....but it took this guy who's name is Kevin Fiala about 200 NHL games to 'break out'...FYI, he was a 1st round draft pick too. Good thing the Kings didn't draft him, their fans would of taken him out to the pasture by game 100.

Fiala - 23 goals at age 21 in his D + 4 season. 206 total games played entering that season across WJC/SHL/AHL/NHL. 11OA pick. Late July birthday.

Turcotte - Not sure if he is cleared to skate entering his D + 4 season. 121 total games across WJC/NCAA/AHL/NHL. 5OA pick. Late February birthday.

Fiala had 66 NHL games entering his 23 goal, D + 4 season. He dipped the next season but you seem to putting his breakout occurring after being traded to the Wild. I'd say a 23 goal season from a 21 year old

Kempe had 256 NHL games under his belt heading in to the 2021 season where he seemed to turn a corner. I don't think most had given up on him due to the 16 he put up in his first full season. I don't think anyone expected a 35 goal season but nobody wanted to take him out to pasture.

Much like Fiala scoring 23 in his D + 4 season, Kempe's D + 4 season always gave fans hope he could eventually pot 20 if used correctly, i.e. on the wing.

Nobody is putting Turcotte out to pasture yet but the stock price on him and Vilardi are at all time lows. That's completely fair to say. The price is so low that you pretty much have to hold at this point and hope it goes back up but there is a very good possibility that the price will never again meet the purchase price. Kempe and Fiala stock never completely bottomed out and the fundamentals and catalysts were always evident.

 

[Sol]

I guess you kind of made my point for me...Kempe has consistently trended up the last 3 season...AFTER playing 2.5 NHL seasons. I would bet that's kind of the norm for top line players out there not named McDavid. Kempe didn't BOOM out of anywhere, try paying some f***ing attention for once in the middle of your ignorant, constant bitching.

Trending up you say? Get your head out of your ass. I know I’m asking for a lot but do try. At least look at his stats before you talk out of your ass like usual.

A career average of nearly 15 goals and last season he doubles his goal output AND doubles his point production. That’s not a pattern genius. That’s what we call an anomaly.

 

[Sol]

The copium on this board when it comes to both Turcotte and Byfield is embarrassing.

Zegras is a better hockey player than Turcotte by every conceivable metric of hockey, and it’s not close. Full stop. Accept it. The Kings blew that pick. Turcotte may not even have an NHL career at this point.

Byfield, at the very least, is still young and playing in the NHL. He has some time left.

I don’t know why it’s hard for Kings fans to realize while defensively Zegras is weak he’s shown a billion times more talent than Byfield. Only hope for byfield is time and some praying that he shows a lot more.

Zegras is worth more than Byfield and Turcotte combined right now. You’d have to be blind not see it.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Trending up you say? Get your head out of your ass. I know I’m asking for a lot but do try. At least look at his stats before you talk out of your ass like usual.

2018-19 = 0.34 PPG
2019-20 = 0.46 PPG
2020-21 = 0.51 PPG

Sorry, is that trending DOWN? I can't tell because my head is stuck in my ass. You are special.

 

[kings11]

View attachment 579610

Trending up you say? Get your head out of your ass. I know I’m asking for a lot but do try. At least look at his stats before you talk out of your ass like usual.

A career average of nearly 15 goals and last season he doubles his goal output AND doubles his point production. That’s not a pattern genius. That’s what we call an anomaly.

When averaging his stats out your correct but you need to factor in the shorten seasons of 69 & 56 games to see that he was in fact trending up..

 

[Schmooley]

Zegras is my favorite young player in the game. His defense will come around.
That last Kings vs Ducks game was a good showing for Byfield. He went hard against Zegras and I hope thats a battle we see for a long time to come.
Byfield had no business facing off against McDavid in a tight playoff series. In a normal scenario a rebuilding Kings are nowhere near the playoffs.
But a low stakes game matched up against Zegras he won many shifts. Not worried about Byfield at this moment but Turcotte is definitely troubling. Another year for him in the AHL is not good for a top pick but with all the outside acquisitions there is no room for him to slot in.

 

[kilowatt]

View attachment 579610

Trending up you say? Get your head out of your ass. I know I’m asking for a lot but do try. At least look at his stats before you talk out of your ass like usual.

A career average of nearly 15 goals and last season he doubles his goal output AND doubles his point production. That’s not a pattern genius. That’s what we call an anomaly.

He went from 13 goals (pace), to 20 goals (pace), to 35 goals over the span of three years. I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes back down to 25 goals or so, but that doesn’t make his improvements over the past three seasons an anomaly.

 

[BigKing]

View attachment 579610

Trending up you say? Get your head out of your ass. I know I’m asking for a lot but do try. At least look at his stats before you talk out of your ass like usual.

A career average of nearly 15 goals and last season he doubles his goal output AND doubles his point production. That’s not a pattern genius. That’s what we call an anomaly.

Yeah. I checked it first to make sure it was three years and not just two but he is including this past season as part of the three year trend. So his PPG has gone up the last three seasons when including the "breakout" season.

I, personally, wouldn't give too much credit to the "upwards trend" of the 2019-20 season though. Take that PPG and apply it over 81 games (the mark he played the prior two years) and it is the same amount of points as his prior best season to date but fewer goals. Only five points more than the season prior. It changes for me in 2021 as he paced for 20 goals.

He's a bit of a Cy Young guy. I've been expecting 20+ from him since after his first full season. Finally saw that pace in '21 and it all came together last season.

 

[kingsfan28]

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.

While true, last year the Ducks had 6-7 open spots including where he ended up. Murray wasn't spending crap on his team and went with what they had. They were really really bad . Zegras was really impressive, nobody can deny that, but his -21 and 39 pct face off were awful. This is your #1 or #2 center depending on which night getzlaf played. He can't play defense at all.

Now lets say the Kings drafted him, where does he play? Not the top two lines, there are no spots there. That leaves the 3rd line center, which was for either Byfield or Valardi . So now where? He could've replaced Byfield, but we don't know what Blake would do. It's pretty clear he's not having the same season here the way the 3rd line was used. He wouldn't be getting top minutes, even on the pp. Brown and AA/Grundy/AI/? as his wingers... oh boy, that would've been a train wreck.

 

[bsu]

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!

Here's 34 minutes of Michigan goals

 

[Sol]

2018-19 = 0.34 PPG
2019-20 = 0.46 PPG
2020-21 = 0.51 PPG

Sorry, is that trending DOWN? I can't tell because my head is stuck in my ass. You are special.

Yeah. I checked it first to make sure it was three years and not just two but he is including this past season as part of the three year trend. So his PPG has gone up the last three seasons when including the "breakout" season.

I, personally, wouldn't give too much credit to the "upwards trend" of the 2019-20 season though. Take that PPG and apply it over 81 games (the mark he played the prior two years) and it is the same amount of points as his prior best season to date but fewer goals. Only five points more than the season prior. It changes for me in 2021 as he paced for 20 goals.

So his average PPG within the three seasons before last has 0.44 PPG

Now equate the fact his last season is pretty much 0.69. The "upwards trend" is at best minimal without counting last season. He's been consistently a 0.45 PPG player, and it would get worse if you add all his season. So this is a modest break down. And then you have his recent PPG of 0.69

Even with his best season included his overall PPG is 0.48.


This is an anomaly. Especially considering the fact this is goal scoring too. Players don't "discover" their goal scoring abilities. Did William Karlsson discover his then forget about it again?

I know numbers are scary but try understanding it more.

When I hear trending up I am expecting small incremental patterns, with Kempe its been an Up/Down graph just looking at his stats. To say he's been trending up is being generous. His last season wasn't an incremental trend upwards, it was a massive leap which is why I don't see it as being a part of a trend.

 

[kingsfan28]

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.

Kempe will be interesting to watch for sure. Either we'll see last years Kempe, or the one who goes double digit games without scoring. I think we all hope its the former.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Kings needs to improve for playoffs.
Upgrade Lizotte to a 3C that can shutdown top6 lines.
Right hand shot, probably Fagemo
Edler replacement after next season
Starting goalie

None of those positions are hard to fill. When the King's need a Kopitar replacement they'll have 10,000,000 in cap, good weather & a decent team to sell guys on. They traded for Richards & Carter last time, so the hardest position to fill still isn't that bad.

Nothing here is really dependent on Vilardi or Turcotte busting. Don't need Byfield to be a 1st line center. It is summer & not even the Mayor has any good scoops.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

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.

Two words.....Troy....Terry

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Been on this board a long time…never had more of an interest to look back 5 years from now to reflect on how things turned out…probably because we’ve never had the prospect pool that we do now.

Just think, if we have a contending team with none of these guys turning into studs, nobody will give a f***.

 

[kingsfan28]

Been on this board a long time…never had more of an interest to look back 5 years from now to reflect on how things turned out…probably because we’ve never had the prospect pool that we do now.

Just think, if we have a contending team with none of these guys turning into studs, nobody will give a f***.

We just need one really good, and a few good ones. All don't have to be elite, just effective and want to win more than padding their stats.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

I don’t know why it’s hard for Kings fans to realize while defensively Zegras is weak he’s shown a billion times more talent than Byfield. Only hope for byfield is time and some praying that he shows a lot more.

Zegras is worth more than Byfield and Turcotte combined right now. You’d have to be blind not see it.

Byfield has all the check marks to be a world class center, but overall, yeah, I agree.

If Byfield doesn’t take a big step forward at the NHL level this season, I will be pretty worried.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

We just need one really good, and a few good ones. All don't have to be elite, just effective and want to win more than padding their stats.

The Kings hit a home run on Doughty as a top five pick, and another on Kopitar who would’ve been a top five pick if he was Swedish instead of Slovenian.

You need to hit home runs on your top fives. Because you’re not going to acquire that level of talent anywhere besides the top of the draft. No one’s going to trade you that level of talent, and it’s never going to hit free agency.

Now the Kings are in an awkward territory where the hard rebuild is sort of over and they’re good enough to be a playoff team, so they’re not going to be picking high again. But if none of their bluechips pan out, they’ll never be more than a first round exit.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

The Kings hit a home run on Doughty as a top five pick, and another on Kopitar who would’ve been a top five pick if he was Swedish instead of Slovenian.

You need to hit home runs on your top fives. Because you’re not going to acquire that level of talent anywhere besides the top of the draft. No one’s going to trade you that level of talent, and it’s never going to hit free agency.

Now the Kings are in an awkward territory where the hard rebuild is sort of over and they’re good enough to be a playoff team, so they’re not going to be picking high again. But if none of their bluechips pan out, they’ll never be more than a first round exit.

Kinda funny that nobody uses Kaliyev in these conversations. He was potentially a 1st round pick, but because he wasn’t nobody points to the fact that he looks to be an emerging stud.

 

[Herby]

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.

But NJ did nothing unorthodox or unusual with his development. And yes he was terrible year 1, everyone should have known that jumping from the NTDP to the NHL that was going to be the case as no one had ever done it before. His year 2 was not awful either, not saying it was great, but at the same age QB was last year he put up a 45 point pace in the Covid season that fans here say is an excuse for not looking good. If QB were to score at a 45 point pace at age 20 I think everyone would be pretty happy with how things are going.

Hughes also was not some generational talent like McDavid or even semi-generational talent on the level of McKinnon or Matthews. He's a very good player but his skills set is closer to QB than to McDavid or Matthews. Like QB he was a very skilled player that was going to enter the league raw, the obvious difference is NJ let him figure it out at the NHL level, and by his age 20 year he was a star player. The Kings sent Byfield to the AHL instead of letting him figure it out in the NHL as most teams probably would have done.

Can QB just replicate Hughes development just a year behind meaning

18- Completely wasted year
19 - Be awful
20- Take a step with a 40-50 point season
21 - Be a star

That is certainly what everyone is hoping will happen and it certainly could happen, but we can't just ignore the potential impact the wasted age 18 year could have on his development long-term. Just like with Turcotte and Vilardi it's not always easy to just overcome poor development decisions and get through it ok. My hope is that since QB is just at another level from those two that he comes through it just a year behind, but we will see. The Kings have done this kid no favors at all with the ridiculous development decisions and then expecting him to step right into a playoff race.

 

[yankeeking]

Here's 34 minutes of Michigan goals

There is no doubt the kid is uber talented but the fact you start your video with "the plays" and all of them are him doing anything but what he should have , 5 straight between the legs plays that did nothing except turnover the puck from 5 ft in front of the net , and his goals also proves what some here are saying because he scores on the powerplay over and over again and he was getting PP time even in a -39 season, that wouldn't happen on the kings , so appreciate post it helps both sides of the discussion here. Like i said no one is saying the kid is anything but super talented and lets hope the ducks do not do to him what the angels have done to one of the best players in the game and they build the team around him