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

[Ziggy Stardust]

This is a sports discussion, so bias isn’t a flaw. Those are a lot of words to not answer who has Blake drafted and developed into everyday players.

Why would I waste my time with someone who can't be bothered to think rationally? Go ahead and list all of the negative moves he's made that makes him below .500 in your eyes.

That list I provided included players he drafted and prospects he acquired who developed into regular NHL players for the Kings this past season. But let's just overlook those facts and aimlessly bitch and moan continuously, because that makes for far more productive discussion, right?

 

[DoktorJeep]

Why would I waste my time with someone who can't be bothered to think rationally? Go ahead and list all of the negative moves he's made that makes him below .500 in your eyes.

That list I provided included players he drafted and prospects he acquired who developed into regular NHL players for the Kings this past season. But let's just overlook those facts and aimlessly bitch and moan continuously, because that makes for far more productive discussion, right?

If there were successes it wouldn’t take time to point them out. It’s a waste of time to analyze mediocrity, no offense to Herby. If that’s your definition of a productive discussion, it’s no surprise your defense is to ask for a ledger of all transactions.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

If there were successes it wouldn’t take time to point them out. It’s a waste of time to analyze mediocrity, no offense to Herby. If that’s your definition of a productive discussion, it’s no surprise your defense is to ask for a ledger of all transactions.

You asked, I provided. How you interpret that is up to you. I rattled off a laundry list of names, a good majority of which has Blake's fingerprints all over them, but you're the one who can't give credit where credit is due to your own personal bias against the man.

Sorry, but I can't sway you away from that, no matter how much success the team has, the same pockets of fans will continue to be disgruntled with the man.

 

[Sol]

Drafted and developed…

How does that turn into acquisition signings and trade?

I don’t think you can find a person who said his signings and trades overall have been bad..

 

[Herby]

To change the subject.

Anybody watch House of Hammer? According to my GF, apparently one of Armie's girlfriends/victims was with a certain Kings prospect at the same time as she was with Armie.

Let's just say that the scoring upside seems to at least be there off the ice.

 

[DoktorJeep]

Drafted and developed…

How does that turn into acquisition signings and trade?

I don’t think you can find a person who said his signings and trades overall have been bad..

Relentless pursuit of excuses

 

[Herby]

You asked, I provided. How you interpret that is up to you. I rattled off a laundry list of names, a good majority of which has Blake's fingerprints all over them, but you're the one who can't give credit where credit is due to your own personal bias against the man.

Sorry, but I can't sway you away from that, no matter how much success the team has, the same pockets of fans will continue to be disgruntled with the man.

Idk, he did say drafted and developed.

I think most fans here have been pretty happy with the FA signings and trades made by the Kings under Blake.

But the drafting and development? ehhh

 

[Sol]

To change the subject.

Anybody watch House of Hammer? According to my GF, apparently one of Armie's girlfriends/victims was with a certain Kings prospect at the same time as she was with Armie.

Let's just say that scoring upside seems to at least be there off the ice.

Too busy watching Amazon sodomize Tolkiens work.

 

[Schrute farms]

Who has Blake drafted or developed since being put in charge 5+ years ago?

You said "Or"....not "and". Lombardi drafted Kempe, but he certainly was not GM during Kempe's "development". Kempe 5 years ago after his rookie start under Lombardi was a guy many wanted thrown into the sun. Kempe sure developed pretty darn good the past year+.

 

[Herby]

Too busy watching Amazon sodomize Tolkiens work.

They did at least make Numenor look visually impressive. I'm giving it a couple of more episodes.

 

[DoktorJeep]

You said "Or"....not "and". Lombardi drafted Kempe, but he certainly was not GM during Kempe's "development". Kempe 5 years ago after his rookie start under Lombardi was a guy many wanted thrown into the sun. Kempe sure developed pretty darn good the past year+.

So a guy breaking out after five years is a kudos for the management? Hey, it only took Danault to be almost 30 before he broke out. Must be that Blake magic.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Drafted and developed…

How does that turn into acquisition signings and trade?

I don’t think you can find a person who said his signings and trades overall have been bad..

Someone else brought up how his moves overall have been below average.

And what happens to guys like Durzi and Grundstrom who have spent more time with the Kings, or free agent prospects who are now regulars in the NHL?

Additionally, don't the Kings get credit in the past for bringing up guys like Jake Muzzin and Martin Jones? I think the undrafted players who make an impact should count for something given that they had to be identified and the organization saw something in them, and they're regular NHL players. Same goes for young players this team brought in early in their careers.

As for drafting and developing, while it's still too early to judge some of the drafted players, 10 of Blake's selections since 2017 have played in the NHL, of those drafted players, 8 of them have played regularly with the Kings, though 2 of those 8 are now waiver eligible in Vilardi and JAD.

You can start judging those selections from 2017, but I'd like to see what happens with them, and how guys like Kaliyev and Byfield are used in the upcoming season before handwringing their development process.

They seem to have a good handle on the dmen who have come up internally, but my biggest concern moving forward right now is in net, and I'm leaning towards scouting as being more of an issue there versus development, and the quality of goalie prospects has been on the weak side within the organization for a number of years.

 

[Statto]

So a guy breaking out after five years is a kudos for the management? Hey, it only took Danault to be almost 30 before he broke out. Must be that Blake magic.

You ask who and he answered.

However, that life needs to get much longer and very soon.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

At this point I'm just going to assume they're going to trade 4-5 kids at the deadline to really go for it this year, since they failed at development AND waiver exemption management.

 

[cyclones22]

Yanetti himself constantly refers to draft choices as capital. If my reward for having a few bad years is a big money stimulus, I expect that money to be put to good use. I'm firing my brokers for giving me zero or negative ROI on these big investments, even if they've converted a few $20 hail Mary bets to some low-level magic beans once in awhile that exceed expectations.

Drafting as high as the Kings have recently, some of those choices need to cash in as first liners or first pairing defensemen. And you need to do everything in your power to make sure that those prospects have the greatest chance of achieving their potential. The results so far are questionable at best and disastrous at worst.

If people actually believe that those of us who are concerned aren't hoping like hell to be proven wrong about doubting the Kings philosophy, you haven't been here long enough to notice the evolution of us throwing away our pom poms after years of backing up the Kings brass and giving the benefit of the doubt.

I sat in a season ticket holder meeting and listened to Luc and staff explain the Kings' plan. How the Kings needed to collect high draft choices. How they needed to draft skill. How they needed to remove obstacles from the youth by not signing veterans to block them. How the future of the team was going to be talented 24 to 26-year-olds. And I bought it. I drank that Kool-Aid. Then they proceeded to hire Todd McClellan to make him among the highest paid coaches in the NHL at the time. It's been the tough love treatment for the prospects in LA AND Ontario. The clock is ticking on delivering on this vision and making the Kings real contenders again.

 

[King'sPawn]

You said "Or"....not "and". Lombardi drafted Kempe, but he certainly was not GM during Kempe's "development". Kempe 5 years ago after his rookie start under Lombardi was a guy many wanted thrown into the sun. Kempe sure developed pretty darn good the past year+.

The issue with Kempe is the Kings had the luxury to wait 7 years after he was drafted because they had a relatively empty cupboard and their core players were younger.

Waiting 7 years for players to pan out when players start hitting the waiver wire usually within 5 years after being drafted is not a good model when you have multiple top-10 picks and a preference to keep your prospects in the bottom-6. Especially when your core is now considerably older and the organization needs more players to take over.

The biggest criticism is the lack of flexibility. There's nothing inherently wrong with slow-boiling a prospect, when looking at it in a vacuum. But with the Kings' current state, the plan is not a good one to meet their needs.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

Yanetti himself constantly refers to draft choices as capital. If my reward for having a few bad years is a big money stimulus, I expect that money to be put to good use. I'm firing my brokers for giving me zero or negative ROI on these big investments, even if they've converted a few $20 hail Mary bets to some low-level magic beans once in awhile that exceed expectations.

Drafting as high as the Kings have recently, some of those choices need to cash in as first liners or first pairing defensemen. And you need to do everything in your power to make sure that those prospects have the greatest chance of achieving their potential. The results so far are questionable at best and disastrous at worst.

If people actually believe that those of us who are concerned aren't hoping like hell to be proven wrong about doubting the Kings philosophy, you haven't been here long enough to notice the evolution of us throwing away our pom poms after years of backing up the Kings brass and giving the benefit of the doubt.

I sat in a season ticket holder meeting and listened to Luc and staff explain the Kings' plan. How the Kings needed to collect high draft choices. How they needed to draft skill. How they needed to remove obstacles from the youth by not signing veterans to block them. How the future of the team was going to be talented 24 to 26-year-olds. And I bought it. I drank that Kool-Aid. Then they proceeded to hire Todd McClellan to make him among the highest paid coaches in the NHL at the time. It's been the tough love treatment for the prospects in LA AND Ontario. The clock is ticking on delivering on this vision and making the Kings real contenders again.

I’m not sure if I’m more excited for the season to start because this looks to be the most exciting team we’ve had in years and so many questions to be answered with our plethora of high end prospects or that I can’t f***ing wait for you guys to start talking about something different.

I think I’ve read this post about 12,069 times this summer.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Yanetti himself constantly refers to draft choices as capital. If my reward for having a few bad years is a big money stimulus, I expect that money to be put to good use. I'm firing my brokers for giving me zero or negative ROI on these big investments, even if they've converted a few $20 hail Mary bets to some low-level magic beans once in awhile that exceed expectations.

Drafting as high as the Kings have recently, some of those choices need to cash in as first liners or first pairing defensemen. And you need to do everything in your power to make sure that those prospects have the greatest chance of achieving their potential. The results so far are questionable at best and disastrous at worst.

If people actually believe that those of us who are concerned aren't hoping like hell to be proven wrong about doubting the Kings philosophy, you haven't been here long enough to notice the evolution of us throwing away our pom poms after years of backing up the Kings brass and giving the benefit of the doubt.

I sat in a season ticket holder meeting and listened to Luc and staff explain the Kings' plan. How the Kings needed to collect high draft choices. How they needed to draft skill. How they needed to remove obstacles from the youth by not signing veterans to block them. How the future of the team was going to be talented 24 to 26-year-olds. And I bought it. I drank that Kool-Aid. Then they proceeded to hire Todd McClellan to make him among the highest paid coaches in the NHL at the time. It's been the tough love treatment for the prospects in LA AND Ontario. The clock is ticking on delivering on this vision and making the Kings real contenders again.

How the future of the team was going to be talented 24-26 year olds......your words.

Kempe - 24
Moore - 26
Kaliyev - 20
Durzi - 22
Lizotte - 23
Roy - 26
Grndustrom - 23
Lemieux - 25
Kupari - 21
Byfield - 19
Spence - 20
Anderson - 22
Bjornfot - 20
Vilardi - 22
Walker - 26
Moveare - 23
Fagemo - 21
Turcotte - 20
JAD - 21

Additions
Fiala - 26

Hmmmmmmmmm.........BTW all of those listed above, played games for LA this last season....

Clock is ticking, yet only 4 of those players (including Fiala) move out of that 24-26 category.....

Talk about holy overreactions

 

[bland]

Come on Axl get a life. Waiting for gotcha moments on a message board so you can defend multi millionaire Rob Blake from meaningless criticism is no way to spend your days.

He's a hardcore fan, dontcha know?

 

[Herby]

How the future of the team was going to be talented 24-26 year olds......your words.

Kempe - 24
Moore - 26
Kaliyev - 20
Durzi - 22
Lizotte - 23
Roy - 26
Grndustrom - 23
Lemieux - 25
Kupari - 21
Byfield - 19
Spence - 20
Anderson - 22
Bjornfot - 20
Vilardi - 22
Walker - 26
Moveare - 23
Fagemo - 21
Turcotte - 20
JAD - 21

Additions
Fiala - 26

Hmmmmmmmmm.........BTW all of those listed above, played games for LA this last season....

Clock is ticking, yet only 4 of those players (including Fiala) move out of that 24-26 category.....

Talk about holy overreactions

How the future of the team was going to be talented 24-26 year olds......your words.

Kempe - 24
Moore - 26
Kaliyev - 20
Durzi - 22
Lizotte - 23
Roy - 26
Grndustrom - 23
Lemieux - 25
Kupari - 21
Byfield - 19
Spence - 20
Anderson - 22
Bjornfot - 20
Vilardi - 22
Walker - 26
Moveare - 23
Fagemo - 21
Turcotte - 20
JAD - 21

Additions
Fiala - 26

Hmmmmmmmmm.........BTW all of those listed above, played games for LA this last season....

Clock is ticking, yet only 4 of those players (including Fiala) move out of that 24-26 category.....

Talk about holy overreactions

If we all agree with Yanetti that picks are capital….

You believe the ROI has been sufficient and that the picks have come to fruition like Robitaille said?

Gabe Vilardi is entering his age 23 season, is waiver eligible and looked like a classic AAAA player. He can produce in the minors but looks noticeably slow and behind the play at the NHL level. This was a player taken #11 overall. Players taken after him are captaining teams, centering 1st lines and being signed to franchise player contracts.

Alex Turcotte enters his D+4 age 21 season as a likely AHL player after being a #5 overall pick, #5 overall! How is this not a huuuuge failure based on the draft capital used on him? Players taken after him are beginning to emerge as in some cases star players in the league. What is a reasonable expectation for a player taken this high? And no, it’s not all injuries, the massive red flags about ceiling and upside were visible long before he started getting concussed in the AHL and before the poor development choice. Have injuries hurt him? Yes. Did being pulled from school hurt him? Yes. But this was not a player who was going to return what was paid for in draft capital.

Which again is his point. If you go to a car dealership with 60k and leave with a Toyota Camry it’s not a success. Is the Camry useful? Sure. But it’s not a good return on what you paid.

Playing games doesn’t mean anything, I thought it was a bit ridiculous when Ziggy used that too. That is what people used to do when they defended DL’a drafting by citing guys like Shore and Forbort as successful picks because they played games. When you draft in the top 11 four times in 5 years you have to produce big-time results or it’s a failure. Playing games but looking terrible is not an accomplishment.

Who is going to be this teams Doughty/Kopitar, Kane/Toews, Stamkos/Hedman/, Crosby/Malkin?

Is the plan to just hope that Auston Matthews wants out of the pressure cooker in Toronto and that LA is the best destination? At this point I think that might be LA’s best chance to find a true superstar to replace what AK and DD were for a decade and a half. If not that, there is just a ton of pressure on QB to be the next Kopitar that the team will need to be successful. I’m not saying that’s out of the question but it’s one guy left.

And his example isn’t wrong, if you were in the real world, in the private sector and had results this poor from your big investments you would likely be fired by now. I don’t deny the successes of the later rounds but finding 2nd pair defenders in the 4th round and 3rd and 4th line forwards as UDFA is great and deserves praise, but those don’t mean much if the big ticket investments that you spent a ton on don’t come close to returning value. Blake as GM has a bigger area to be judged from, and the FA and trades make it easier to believe in Blake, but the scouting is more black and white, either the results are there or they aren’t.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

You believe the ROI has been sufficient and that the team has come to fruition like Robitaille said?

Gabe Vilardi is entering his age 23 season, is waiver eligible and looked like a classic AAAA player. He can produce in the minors but looks noticeably slow and behind the play at the NHL level. This was a player taken #11 overall. Players taken after him are captaining teams, centering 1st lines and being signed to franchise player contracts.

Alex Turcotte enters his D+4 age 21 season as a likely AHL player after being a #5 overall pick, #5 overall! How is this not a huuuuge failure based on the draft capital used on him? Players taken after him are beginning to emerge as in some cases star players in the league. What is a reasonable expectation for a player taken this high? And no, it’s not all injuries, the massive red flags about ceiling and upside were visible long before he started getting concussed in the AHL. Have injuries hurt him? Yes, but this was not a player who was going to return what was paid for in draft capital.

Playing games doesn’t mean anything, I thought it was a bit ridiculous when Ziggy used that too. That is what people used to do when they defended DL’a drafting by citing guys like Shore and Forbort as successful picks because the way played games. When you draft in the top 11 four times in 5 years you have to produce big-time results or it’s a failure. Playing games but looking terrible is not an accomplishment.

Who is going to be this teams Doughty/Kopitar, Kane/Toews, Stamkos/Hedman/, Crosby/Malkin?

Is the plan to just hope that Auston Matthews wants out of the pressure cooker in Toronto and that LA is the best destination? At this point I think that might be LA’s best chance to find a true superstar to replace what AK and DD were for a decade and a half. If not that, there is just a ton of pressure on QB to be the next Kopitar that the team will need to be successful.

Just a random thought…it took #3 overall pick, Olli Jokinen +300 NHL games before he was premier forward in the league.

300….

 

[unicornpig]

meh, vilardi got screwed by TM with ice time. when he got regular time in 2021 he produced.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

meh, vilardi got screwed by TM with ice time. when he got regular time in 2021 he produced.

So Vilardi’s dogshit performance to start the season was TM’s fault?

 

[crassbonanza]

How the future of the team was going to be talented 24-26 year olds......your words.

Kempe - 24
Moore - 26
Kaliyev - 20
Durzi - 22
Lizotte - 23
Roy - 26
Grndustrom - 23
Lemieux - 25
Kupari - 21
Byfield - 19
Spence - 20
Anderson - 22
Bjornfot - 20
Vilardi - 22
Walker - 26
Moveare - 23
Fagemo - 21
Turcotte - 20
JAD - 21

Additions
Fiala - 26

Hmmmmmmmmm.........BTW all of those listed above, played games for LA this last season....

Clock is ticking, yet only 4 of those players (including Fiala) move out of that 24-26 category.....

Talk about holy overreactions

Your list is a little misleading.

Kempe is currently 26
Moore is currently 27 and will turn 28 this season
Roy is currently 27 and will turn 28 this season
Lemeiux is currently 26 and will turn 27 this season
Walker is currently 27 and will be 28 this season

I think the big concern is how the last playoff run was driven by veteran players. the top 8 scorers on the team were 34, 25, 29, 29, 27, 28, 32, 37.

You can list a bunch of players who spent a couple of games on the roster playing small roles, but the truth is the team did have veterans driving the team last season. I can totally get feeling optimistic, but you at least have to understand where other people are coming from when they question the future of the team.

 

[Schmooley]

So Vilardi’s dogshit performance to start the season was TM’s fault?

Iafallo had many dogshit performances last year. Brown also. AA literally handed a puck to McDavid that led to a goal and was rewarded with ice time.
Vilardi looked bad. No sugarcoating it. But youd think theyd let him work through it just like they allowed veteran players to work through it.