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

[Herby]

I just don't get why so many seem to be so anti-whatever it is the Kings are doing.

For me it's because they are doing things just so much differently than other teams have done in the past.

You have two top-five picks for the first time in over a decade and you make unorthodox development decisions on both (in comparison to the rest of the league), and two years after said decisions both players are treading water while others taken after them are doing much better. Isn't it fair to be heavily critical of the unorthodox decisions that don't work? That is the way it is in the real-world, why not in the hockey world? Isn't sports the most results oriented business there is?

And I disagree that people are anti-whatever the Kings do, just speaking for myself I am pretty happy with how Blake has been able to change course based on the failures of the youth he drafted and reload the team with more veteran players. Most GM's are to stubborn to realize when they made bad picks and go down with the ship, Blake hasn't done that and deserves credit for that. But it's also fair to say that a long championship window based on signing prime players and hoping they can catch the tail-end of Kopitar/Doughty is unlikely, where as actually selecting the right players and/or developing them the right way would have resulted in a longer one. That is what people like @bland are saying, and he isn't wrong, hitting on youth would have given them a much longer and better chance to win a cup than bringing in Fiala and Danault is going to do. I can give him credit for those moves to salvage things, but it's very clearly Plan A was to build around Vilardi, Turcotte, Byfield, Kupari and Bjornfot and Plan A just never got off the ground.

 

[KINGS17]

The Reign was the second highest scoring team in the AHL last year. I feel like that doesn't translate to a system that is strictly focused on turning their players into 'good little checkers'.

Frk with 40 goals. Yeah, he is an NHL prospect.
Anderson-Dolan with 24 goals. I expect him to be with the Kings next season scoring buckets of goals, not.
Fagemo with 27 goals, but he is 22 years old. Are we going to see him on the Kings roster this season?

 

[Sol]

I don't know how many times we've actually praised Blake's moves.

Or said that they do a good job at producing NHLers, but the question is taking it to the next level for the elites.

I think RJ summed it up best:

Seriously you can say f*** it let’s not say the prospects suck individually right ? How is it possible not one top pick forward prospect has looked like a top 6 player?

How do people expect the issues with this team to resolve when there’s obviously something really wrong with the organization that resulted in the need to trade and sign forwards.

Kings are in some serious trouble. Do people not realize this? What happens to this team as Kopitar and Doughty are gone, and the top forwards end up cratering. A Fiala ran team ?

People have no idea how close the kings are to cratering. It’s unreal. Kings are right now on the edge of the knife. One more move in the wrong direction from Byfield and you can open your arms to another long rebuild. I can assure that.

 

[KINGS17]

Seriously you can say f*** it let’s not say the prospects suck individually right ? How is it possible not one top pick forward prospect has looked like a top 6 player?

How do people expect the issues with this team to resolve when there’s obviously something really wrong with the organization that resulted in the need to trade and sign forwards.

Kings are in some serious trouble. Do people not realize this? What happens to this team as Kopitar and Doughty are gone, and the top forwards end up cratering. A Fiala ran team ?

People have no idea how close the kings are to cratering. It’s unreal. Kings are right now on the edge of the knife. One more move in the wrong direction from Byfield and you can open your arms to another long rebuild. I can assure that.

It's like what is going on in Germany right now. We should be gathering firewood. Winter is coming.

 

[Statto]

This is kind of true of Vilardi as well, are we really going to believe that Vilardi would have produced a ROI that you expect from a #11 pick had he not been injured?

It’s only Vilardi that I think had his ceiling impacted because it cost him some key time where they could make meaningful improvement in his skating. I assume they felt his skating could be improved to some degree as it is something they look at carefully (per something I read/heard from Yanett). As it’s still something he has to manage (based on a quote from Vilardi when he first came back) it may have some impact ongoing but that’s just idle speculation that occurred to me as I’m typing. It certainly affects his timeline to establish himself and meant he came back just as a log jam was forming.

Turcotte? It’ll soon will possibly start affecting his ceiling simply because it impacts key development time. However again it’s definitely affecting the timeline for progressing through the development curve. I never used it to justify his draft position, that’s a different discussion. However, given the stop start nature of his time since being drafted I honestly don’t know what to think on that subject at this point.

 

[All The Kings Men]

For me it's because they are doing things just so much differently than other teams have done in the past.

I'm not gonna get into the details or evaluate them I'm just gonna say that generally speaking

"Cus that's how it's always been done" is one of my absolute most hated replies whenever I would ask someone why things were done a certain way.

 

[Sol]

It's like what is going on in Germany right now. We should be gathering firewood. Winter is coming.

The LONG NIGHT is pretty much one step away for this organization. I can’t remember a time where there’s such desperation for one player to perform.

The amount of pressure on byfields shoulders right now is pretty crazy. Him being great vs ok is the difference between another rebuild vs taking the next step forward.

It’s all Byfields show from here on out and I’m scared to see what happens next season

 

[Schmooley]

Anderson started on the top pairing a couple seasons ago with Doughty before injuries.

Bjornfot has played in the top-4 in the NHL every time he's been called up since he was 18.

It's not an injuries issue.

They had no other options. Maatta was brought in to play with Doughty and it didnt work.
Iafallo was struggling last year on the top line like Maattta did on the top pair the season prior but he never got scratched and moved down the lineup until it was too late.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Maybe it's just me but the people trying to have intelligent discussions about something they are passionate about seem a whole lot less "miserable" than someone who makes a dozen one sentence hit and run posts on here insulting people and telling those people how miserable they are.

And why would someone spend so much time on a place that they believe is so full of "miserable" people? That seems a bit strange to me.

Couldn't the same question be directed at you? If you are so down on what the Kings org is doing and projecting, why be so 'passionate' about it and spend so much time whining over it?

The Kings had the #11, #5 and #2 picks over a four year period and what they are showing entering years 6, 4 and 3 is a healthy scratch, a 2nd line forward in the AHL and a 3rd line center.

AND 99 points with a playoff berth. whoops! forgot about that....

 

[Herby]

I'm not gonna get into the details or evaluate them I'm just gonna say that generally speaking

"Cus that's how it's always been done" is one of my absolute most hated replies whenever I would ask someone why things were done a certain way.

But what if the results are there from doing things that way?

Jesse,

Look at the stuff I posted about how top picks are handled. Literally 95% of them over the last dozen years have made their NHL teams out of camp. 95%!!! And the vast majority turned out to be good. In fact one of the few busts of Top 2 picks was actually one of the very few who was not in the NHL at 18.

Same thing with college kids staying the 2nd year. Just look at the names, how can you look at those names and say that isn't a better way to develop a 19 year old player than the AHL is?

I obviously don't expect you to come on here and be critical of what your bosses are doing with the handling of prospects on a public internet forum but looking at that provided data and minimizing it or trying to say the Kings weren't going down significantly different paths from normal is IMO being to much of a company man.

Especially with the results so far on those 2 players.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Kings are in some serious trouble. Do people not realize this? What happens to this team as Kopitar and Doughty are gone, and the top forwards end up cratering. A Fiala ran team ?

People have no idea how close the kings are to cratering. It’s unreal. Kings are right now on the edge of the knife. One more move in the wrong direction from Byfield and you can open your arms to another long rebuild. I can assure that.

Fantastic stuff, SOL!! Gotta bookmark this one as well.

The end is near...better send thought and prayers.

If I had to.guess it's probably more about people just not liking Robitaille or Blake, at least in the positions they're in.

Would have to disagree as I'm sure these are the same people that could spend hours focusing on what Lombardi did WRONG over what he did right.

 

[Herby]

Couldn't the same question be directed at you? If you are so down on what the Kings org is doing and projecting, why be so 'passionate' about it and spend so much time whining over it?


AND 99 points with a playoff berth. whoops! forgot about that....

I'm not the one on here constantly calling people names, using vulgarity, calling people miserable like you guys are. I enjoy talking and debating about something I am passionate about with smart people who share the same passion. We can talk about positive things such as the Kings drafting outside of round 1, Blake's solid trades and FA signings, TM's coaching, the team last year. But also am able to discuss the failures of the team, such as the horrific decision to pull Turcotte from college, putting QB in the AHL at 18 and not realizing that skating was going to doom Vilardi.

You are unable or unwilling to discuss any of those things, either calling people that do miserable or making unfounded ridiculous excuses like the debunked "barely old enough to buy a beer" nonsense.

And how does finishing third in the division and making the playoffs (which half the teams in the NHL do) have anything to do with the bad picks and/or bad decisions? This is what I mean, you can't even acknowledge that stuff, you immediately have to turn the page, you are incapable of discussing any failures in a civil manner like the rest of us do.

There truly should be a private thread for you, GBH and a few others to strictly post about positive stuff. Ignore bad picks, any bad coaching hires or coaching decisions, not talk about struggling players. Just post positive stuff only. I think it would make everyone on this forum in a better spirit if a thread like that existed.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I'm not the one on here constantly calling people names, using vulgarity, calling people miserable. I enjoy talking and debating about something I am passionate about with smart people who share the same passion. We can talk about positive things such as the Kings drafting outside of round 1, Blake's solid trades and FA signings, TM's coaching, the team last year. But also am able to discuss the failures of the team, such as the horrific decision to pull Turcotte from college, putting QB in the AHL at 18 and not realizing that skating was going to doom Vilardi.

You are unable or unwilling to discuss any of those things, either calling people that do miserable or making unfounded ridiculous excuses like the debunked "barely old enough to buy a beer" nonsense.

And how does finishing third in the division and making the playoffs (which half the teams in the NHL do) have anything to do with the bad picks and/or bad decisions? This is what I mean, you can't even acknowledge that stuff, you immediately have to turn the page, you are incapable of discussing any failures in a civil manner like the rest of us do.

You are wrong, sir. I am more than willing to discuss 'failures' of the team, I actually have been known to be pretty good at it (my claim to fame here is predicting the Kings would not make the playoffs in '12 -- that's pretty negative outlook, lol) -- my point has always been when we are discussing development and more specifically this handful of players, it's too early to come to the conclusion that the org has failed. I'm not a psychic, I don't pretend to know everything and I feel the org, at this point in time, has earned the benefit of the doubt.

 

[All The Kings Men]

But what if the results are there from doing things that way?

Jesse,

Look at the stuff I posted about how top picks are handled. Literally 95% of them over the last dozen years have made their NHL teams out of camp. 95%!!! And the vast majority turned out to be good. In fact one of the few busts of Top 2 picks was actually one of the very few who was not in the NHL at 18.

Same thing with college kids staying the 2nd year. Just look at the names, how can you look at those names and say that isn't a better way to develop a 19 year old player than the AHL is?

I obviously don't expect you to come on here and be critical of what your bosses are doing with the handling of prospects on a public internet forum but looking at that provided data and minimizing it or trying to say the Kings weren't going down significantly different paths from normal is IMO being to much of a company man.

Especially with the results so far on those 2 players.

I'm not saying it's not different... I'm saying just because it's different doesn't mean it's wrong.

That's not me being a company man that is my personal philosophy.

Question everything blah blah blah

as for the specifics of the Kings drafting/development history I feel like I've pretty clearly laid out my opinions on what's happening and why it doesn't worry me too much and the entire conversation feels like the following in my mind

Person A: we should watch Jaws at the movie theatre tomorrow it's the best movie ever.

Person B: We should watch Gone With The Wind at the movie theatre tomorrow. Jaws is a stupid popcorn movie. Gone With The Wind Is Art.

Person A: Going to the movies is about entertainment why don't you get that?

Person B: Movies are an art form why do you want to watch shallow entertainment when you could be enriching your soul you cretin!

Person A: You erudite jerk! Why can't you see my point???


ME: guys... neither of those movies is playing in the movie theatre tomorrow....

Person A & B : SHUT UP

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I'm not the one on here constantly calling people names, using vulgarity, calling people miserable like you guys are. I enjoy talking and debating about something I am passionate about with smart people who share the same passion. We can talk about positive things such as the Kings drafting outside of round 1, Blake's solid trades and FA signings, TM's coaching, the team last year. But also am able to discuss the failures of the team, such as the horrific decision to pull Turcotte from college, putting QB in the AHL at 18 and not realizing that skating was going to doom Vilardi.

You are unable or unwilling to discuss any of those things, either calling people that do miserable or making unfounded ridiculous excuses like the debunked "barely old enough to buy a beer" nonsense.

And how does finishing third in the division and making the playoffs (which half the teams in the NHL do) have anything to do with the bad picks and/or bad decisions? This is what I mean, you can't even acknowledge that stuff, you immediately have to turn the page, you are incapable of discussing any failures in a civil manner like the rest of us do.

There truly should be a private thread for you, GBH and a few others to strictly post about positive stuff. Ignore bad picks, any bad coaching hires or coaching decisions, not talk about struggling players. Just post positive stuff only. I think it would make everyone on this forum in a better spirit if a thread like that existed.

Again, just going to chalk this up to time # 1,0001 where you ginore that Byfield wasn't ready, was drafted as a long term project with an immense upside potential.......

But yea....no really you know better, your years and years of expertise in the indus....oh wait....no you don't have that either......

You say you don't want to rush prospects, then you are bitching, because we aren't rushing prospects....go f***ing figure

 

[KingsFan7824]

Oh Good Lord, just stop. You are one of the best posters here (by far) but this might be the worst take you have ever had on this forum. I had to do a double-take to actually confirm it was you.

The Kings had the #11, #5 and #2 picks over a four year period and what they are showing entering years 6, 4 and 3 is a healthy scratch, a 2nd line forward in the AHL and a 3rd line center.

But people are just mad because of something Rob Blake did 21 years ago?

Come on man!

You know there are people here who do not like Robitaille. Again, at least in his position. Blake, there might be some stuff left over from back in the day, but I'm not even talking about that. Certainly there are people who think he should've been shoved out the door with DL, and is in over his head. Just cookie cutter, by the numbers.

For me it's because they are doing things just so much differently than other teams have done in the past.

You have two top-five picks for the first time in over a decade and you make unorthodox development decisions on both (in comparison to the rest of the league), and two years after said decisions both players are treading water while others taken after them are doing much better. Isn't it fair to be heavily critical of the unorthodox decisions that don't work? That is the way it is in the real-world, why not in the hockey world? Isn't sports the most results oriented business there is?

And I disagree that people are anti-whatever the Kings do, just speaking for myself I am pretty happy with how Blake has been able to change course based on the failures of the youth he drafted and reload the team with more veteran players. Most GM's are to stubborn to realize when they made bad picks and go down with the ship, Blake hasn't done that and deserves credit for that. But it's also fair to say that a long championship window based on signing prime players and hoping they can catch the tail-end of Kopitar/Doughty is unlikely, where as actually selecting the right players and/or developing them the right way would have resulted in a longer one. That is what people like @bland are saying, and he isn't wrong, hitting on youth would have given them a much longer and better chance to win a cup than bringing in Fiala and Danault is going to do. I can give him credit for those moves to salvage things, but it's very clearly Plan A was to build around Vilardi, Turcotte, Byfield, Kupari and Bjornfot and Plan A just never got off the ground.

Again, this is what I'm talking about. You're already declaring things as a failure. We don't know if the unorthodox decisions don't work. We don't know if things didn't get off the ground. This and that would have resulted in a longer window. How are you using a past tense already? How has anything been decided?

I'm not saying don't be critical. When they signed Danault, it didn't cross my mind that that would mean every C except Kopitar would get his ice time cut. I figured the whole point was to cut into Kopitar's time, because he is old and not what he was. But, that doesn't say its all over to me. That's a coaching choice that I don't completely get, but that's all it is right now. That could easily change this year.

Seriously you can say f*** it let’s not say the prospects suck individually right ? How is it possible not one top pick forward prospect has looked like a top 6 player?

How do people expect the issues with this team to resolve when there’s obviously something really wrong with the organization that resulted in the need to trade and sign forwards.

Kings are in some serious trouble. Do people not realize this? What happens to this team as Kopitar and Doughty are gone, and the top forwards end up cratering. A Fiala ran team ?

People have no idea how close the kings are to cratering. It’s unreal. Kings are right now on the edge of the knife. One more move in the wrong direction from Byfield and you can open your arms to another long rebuild. I can assure that.

A knife's edge is exactly where they were at the 2012 deadline, and for the entirety of the 2014 playoffs.

Just like Herby though, you're declaring things over and as a complete failure before they're over or a failure. Was there a need to trade and sign forwards, or was that a choice? That goes back to any unorthodox way they're doing things.

Why are people so ready to stamp it all as a failure? It might fail. It might fail spectacularly. What's the rush to call it that though?

It's like what is going on in Germany right now. We should be gathering firewood. Winter is coming.

Is there an entity no longer supplying the Kings will the liquid or gas equivalent of time?

 

[Schmooley]

You are wrong, sir. I am more than willing to discuss 'failures' of the team, I actually have been known to be pretty good at it (my claim to fame here is predicting the Kings would not make the playoffs in '12 -- that's pretty negative outlook, lol) -- my point has always been when we are discussing development and more specifically this handful of players, it's too early to come to the conclusion that the org has failed. I'm not a psychic, I don't pretend to know everything and I feel the org, at this point in time, has earned the benefit of the doubt.

I think it has been too early to make absolute conclusions about the prospects also but its fair to start worrying. Especially starting this season where the first crop is waiver eligible. Though from a recent Blake interview it seems like he considers the rebuild to have started with the Turcotte pick.

 

[BigKing]

I agree with several of the criticisms regarding the half-in/half-out rebuild plan and with how certain prospects have been developed but, at the same time, I fully believe that sometimes you just pick the wrong dudes.

Vilardi - Maybe the skating was too much of an issue but the injuries obviously hurt a lot.
Kupari - Blake made a safe pick that didn't scream huge upside. Injury doesn't help but not crazy significant. Somewhat playing out as expected. Big year coming up.
Turcotte - Fragile. Worst fears of scouting report ringing true so far. Bound to have busts from that USNTDP class. Still time but looks rough right now.
Byfield - They went for what looked like the grand slam over the safer play in Stutzle. More of a project and lack of development time due to COVID doesn't help. You'd like to see a lot more flashes of being special then we have seen so far but again, this off-season is huge for him. Could come in and look completely different.

Development gets knocked but they seem to do well with defenseman. I'd like to say it is because they take safe, lower offensive upside guys (Faber, Anderson, Bjornfot) but then you have a guy like Durzi step in. Is it development or is Durzi just that type of dude who seizes an opportunity while every forward prospect not named Kaliyev does the opposite? Is it development with Kaliyev or did they draft a f***ing guy that absolutely lit up the OHL, has good size and was regarded as having one of the best shots in the world? Last time they did something similar, they took an OHL guy with a world class shot but some skating issues: that guy helped the Kings win a title in 2014 and has a career average of 24 goals a year in the regular season.

It's all so frustrating because they've bombed so far on the 1st round picks excluding Clarke because we haven't seen any dip in his game from his draft year. I'm not saying Byfield is garbage or anything but, again, if these prospects were stocks then the Kings would be holding a bag on him right now. If Byfield hits and Clarke is good, none of the other stuff will matter. Lombardi hit on Doughty and mostly whiffed on his other 1st rounders. Byfield is the most important piece to the Kings future and Clarke is probably second: if they hit their potential then whiffing on Vilardi and Turotte will be fine.

It's really all on Byfield.

 

[Maynard]

There truly should be a private thread for you, GBH and a few others to strictly post about positive stuff. Ignore bad picks, any bad coaching hires or coaching decisions, not talk about struggling players. Just post positive stuff only. I think it would make everyone on this forum in a better spirit if a thread like that existed.

This is a great idea. The circle jerk thread.

 

[bland]

I agree with several of the criticisms regarding the half-in/half-out rebuild plan and with how certain prospects have been developed but, at the same time, I fully believe that sometimes you just pick the wrong dudes.

Vilardi - Maybe the skating was too much of an issue but the injuries obviously hurt a lot.
Kupari - Blake made a safe pick that didn't scream huge upside. Injury doesn't help but not crazy significant. Somewhat playing out as expected. Big year coming up.
Turcotte - Fragile. Worst fears of scouting report ringing true so far. Bound to have busts from that USNTDP class. Still time but looks rough right now.
Byfield - They went for what looked like the grand slam over the safer play in Stutzle. More of a project and lack of development time due to COVID doesn't help. You'd like to see a lot more flashes of being special then we have seen so far but again, this off-season is huge for him. Could come in and look completely different.

Development gets knocked but they seem to do well with defenseman. I'd like to say it is because they take safe, lower offensive upside guys (Faber, Anderson, Bjornfot) but then you have a guy like Durzi step in. Is it development or is Durzi just that type of dude who seizes an opportunity while every forward prospect not named Kaliyev does the opposite? Is it development with Kaliyev or did they draft a f***ing guy that absolutely lit up the OHL, has good size and was regarded as having one of the best shots in the world? Last time they did something similar, they took an OHL guy with a world class shot but some skating issues: that guy helped the Kings win a title in 2014 and has a career average of 24 goals a year in the regular season.

It's all so frustrating because they've bombed so far on the 1st round picks excluding Clarke because we haven't seen any dip in his game from his draft year. I'm not saying Byfield is garbage or anything but, again, if these prospects were stocks then the Kings would be holding a bag on him right now. If Byfield hits and Clarke is good, none of the other stuff will matter. Lombardi hit on Doughty and mostly whiffed on his other 1st rounders. Byfield is the most important piece to the Kings future and Clarke is probably second: if they hit their potential then whiffing on Vilardi and Turotte will be fine.

It's really all on Byfield.

Durzi was what, 12th on the depth chart at that point?

Doughty
Roy
Walker
Anderson
Edler
Maatta
Bjornfot
Wolanin
Strand
Clague
Moverare
Durzi

If not for myriad injuries, Durzi most likely leaves the organization this summer without ever seeing a single game because his style of play was so far off from the safety-first approach of the kids breaking in ahead of him.

That's not really a win for the developmental team, its a happy accident.

 

[Herby]

Again, just going to chalk this up to time # 1,0001 where you ginore that Byfield wasn't ready, was drafted as a long term project with an immense upside potential.......

But yea....no really you know better, your years and years of expertise in the indus....oh wait....no you don't have that either......

You say you don't want to rush prospects, then you are bitching, because we aren't rushing prospects....go f***ing figure

LOL, did you even read my post?

I feel like I have addressed it each time, but you still come back to it.

Here let me do it for you since there seems to be either ignoring or a lack of comprehension involved on your end.

And that is whether they are "ready" or not, many of these players were not ready to be NHL contributors yet were still in the NHL learning the ropes and better preparing themselves to be contributors the next year.

So why are you continuing to say that I am ignoring that part of it?

Of these 24 players, not all of them were ready to be NHL contributors, yet 95% of them were in the NHL at 18. Is it fair to say that based on that information that a traditional path for a Top 2 pick whether ready or not is the NHL?

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

LOL, did you even read my post?

I feel like I have addressed it each time, but you still come back to it.

Here let me do it for you since their seems to be either ignoring or a lack of comprehension involved on your end.

So why are you continuing to say that I am ignoring that part of it?

Of these 24 players, not all of them were ready to be NHL contributors, yet 95% of them were in the NHL at 18. Is it fair to say that based on that information that a traditional path for a Top 2 pick whether ready or not is the NHL?

Ok, so besides Hughes...which one of these weren't ready? Better yet....which one of those were drafted KNOWING they weren't ready, and still put in there...

 

[Herby]

Ok, so besides Hughes...which one of these weren't ready? Better yet....which one of those were drafted KNOWING they weren't ready, and still put in there...

Barkov
Seguin
Yakupov
Hughes
Reinart
Kaako

Going further back

Thornton
Lecavalier
MA-Fleury

But at least you know acknowledge Hughes, so that is baby steps.

Where would we be right now with Hughes and Byfield had they been swapped by which teams drafted them?

Is Hughes the same player last season that he was if he spends his age 18 season in the AHL, which he probably does if he is a Kings pick?

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Barkov
Seguin
Yakupov
Hughes
Reinart
Kaako

Going further back

Thornton
Lecavalier
MA-Fleury

But at least you know acknowledge Hughes, so that is baby steps.

Where would we be right now with Hughes and Byfield had they been swapped by which teams drafted them?

Is Hughes the same player last season that he was if he spends his age 18 season in the AHL, which he probably does if he is a Kings pick?

The Kings had a perfect opening to break in an 18 year old kid they had used the #2 pick on, playing besides a solid veteran in Carter and behind a solid veteran in Kopitar. We knew he was going to struggle, and that was fine, the team was going to struggle regardless.

Instead they gave that CENTER spot to a AAAA right-wing who can't skate. And you refuse to place any blame on anyone for that organizational mistake.

You think Barkov wasn't NHL ready? 16 year old playing against MEN in the Swedish Elite league putting up nearly a PPG but he wasn't ready? Really?

 

[BigKing]

Durzi was what, 12th on the depth chart at that point?

Doughty
Roy
Walker
Anderson
Edler
Maatta
Bjornfot
Wolanin
Strand
Clague
Moverare
Durzi

If not for myriad injuries, Durzi most likely leaves the organization this summer without ever seeing a single game because his style of play was so far off from the safety-first approach of the kids breaking in ahead of him.

That's not really a win for the developmental team, its a happy accident.

That's kind of what I'm saying though: it isn't necessarily development but rather that Durzi has the "it" factor or whatever.