Herby and Statto make excellent points. The worst drafting mistake this century was Hextall taking Patrick with Makar (and Heiskanen) still on the board. This literally led to the destruction of the Flyers and cost him his job. Blake's mistakes maybe weren't as historically bad, but the failure to inject serious talent into the lineup via the draft is going to kill this team in the long run. Just look at who are top players are: Kopitar (35 and drafted by Taylor), Kempe (soon to be 27 drafted by DL), Doughty (34 drafted by DL), Danault (30, FA), Arvidsson (30, trade), Roy (28, DL), Gavrikov (trade, exit due to CA taxes), Fiala (trade). The only true impact player RB has drafted is Mikey Anderson. I think this says it all.
Now look at the top draft picks- Vilardi (should make it big but upside limited by skating), JAD (is he worth keeping around?) Kupari (physical talent is there, mental??), Thomas (prospect to suspect), Turcotte (bust), Bjornfot (regression), Kaliyev (worked hard but still not there), Byfield (if he finally puts on weight, he may reach his potential), Grans (who?), Faber (traded), Clarke (can't believe they are talking AHL), Pinelli (too early to tell) and Hughes (bust likely).
The Kings have had two respectable seasons riding a veteran core and some clever stop gaps to fill holes. This will not continue indefinitely due to the salary cap and Father Time taking his toll. Without youngsters coming into the lineup and making significant contributions, regression is INEVITABLE. At what point does one stop making excuses?
If RB gives McLellan a contract extension, you know that the team is doubling down on what hasn't worked. My guess/hope is that Beckerman will block this. If not, we are screwed.
I'd be shocked if TM is signed to an extension this summer or at any point next season.
My guess is that this is a do or die season for everyone involved with the Kings. Blake in year 7 as the GM and Todd in year 5 as the coach, if there are no tangible results in that time frame for both positions it usually means teams move on.
I also would absolutely consider Ovie generational. Ovie is 74 goals behind Gretzky for the NHLs all time leader and he has played 140 fewer games. Add in that Ovie didn't play in the NHL in his draft year because of a lockout(52 goals in 05-06, his delayed 1st season), he only played 48 games in the 12-13 lockout season, and finally the 45 game covid season. It is entirely possible Ovie is already the NHLs all time leading goal scorer if he was able to play these lost games.
I am not sure if you are suggesting Crosby was not generational. If you are not my apologies for the following long response.
Crosby is 100% generational in my book. He(and Malkin) carried that organization to back to back cups in his 3rd and 4th seasons. And they won 1. Then later down the road he(and Malkin) carried that organization to and won back to back cups.
While I do think McDavid has more tangible talent than Prime Crosby did, I do not think McDavid elevates his teammates play remotely close to how Prime Crosby took the penguins to different level.
McDavid(and Drai) have carried the oilers to a grand total of nothing and some shiny selfish hardware(not saying McDavid is selfish just that all they have to show for his generational talent is his individual accolades). In Mcdavid's earlier years you could point to team depth, defense, and goal tending. Now though? Goal tending I guess? There is not much to point at anymore for the oilers. I don't think Crosby ever had as deep of a roster as the current oilers team right now and....I expect nothing. Sure, Kessel made the Penguins better, Letang was a stud. But, didn't Letang actually miss one of those cup runs? The penguins had little depth. They didn't need it.
To me the largest difference between Crosby and McDavid is When 87 was on the ice all your bottom 6 forwards looked like top 6 guys. When 97 is on the ice bottom 6 guys look like bottom 6 guys that impede his success. Crosby only cracked 40 goals once, but it didn't matter. He didn't have to score a ton of goals for the penguins to score and win. Crosby created goals, for everyone on his team, so the penguins would score and win. Despite Ovie scoring 50 every other year Crosby was still considered the best player in his era. Meanwhile, if McDavid isn't scoring the oilers have to send in Drai to rescue him. McDavid's has other worldly skill, but he doesn't elevate the play of his teammates to anywhere near to the same degree.
Ultimately, if McDavid is generational(he is), Sid the no longer kid definitely was.
It just gets back to what you consider generational to be. People have different standards, just like with HOF ( I am still amazed that Frank Gore who was never once a top 5 player at his position is going likely to be in the NFL Hall. Same for Bernie Federko)
If you use the original NHL expansion in 1967 as the time-frame that is 56 years ago. If you have Orr, Gretzky, Lemieux, Lidstrom, Crosby, Ovechkin and McDavid as generational players that means you have a "generational player" coming along once every eight years, that kind of cheapens what generational means, right?
I believe McDavid at his peak right now, was a better player than anything I ever saw from Crosby or Ovechkin, and that is taking nothing away from them, they are top 6-10 players. I just think generational should be for guys who are just a little bit better than that.
I'll be shocked if the LA Kings give Gavrikov more money than they gave Mikey Anderson to play lower down the lineup than Mikey Anderson.
Not to say it can't happen... it would just be very surprising to me.
One is a 28 year old UFA to be, and one is a 23 year old who was going to be an RFA. If the Kings won't top Anderson money for Gavrikov, well, he won't be back in LA.
May i ask then who will be the future face of the franchise?
Blake let Brown retire and traded Quick.
I don't see any way that Blake resigns Kopitar and Doughty.
I think as of right now it is Brandt Clarke, I feel like he is destined for stardom.
Doughty is very likely to retire at the end of his contract. Kopitar will be interesting. It may depend on how well Byfield does this season. If QB is still treading water and Kopitar is still the #1 C you really don't have any choice but to re-sign him. Unless something crazy like Matthews were to be reality.
Can I get a list of who we consider 'good' captains in the league?
Seems like a pretty unrealistic list of demands.
I think that some of Kopitar's detractors have focused to much on the things he supposedly doesn't do well (or well enough), and never appreciated him for all the things he does very well. This may be another example.
I think that it's very obvious that in the long-run the Kings should have moved him and Doughty around the time that BLuc took over, but it shouldn't take away from him as an individual player. And plenty of players like him have been excellent captains.
And on the tax/desirable place to live stuff. I think that the money is the biggest factor by far, more than people think it is. There are some extreme examples in the NHL like Winnipeg and Edmonton where you combine high Canadian taxes, poor weather and a tiny market, but ultimately if you are offered more money by one place you are almost always going there. Most of these guys are from cold climates, and many of them are from smaller towns (although the # of NHL'ers from the GTA is staggering), I don't think the California weather is as big a deal as it is for players in the NBA and MLB. These guys have such short careers it makes very little sense to not just take whatever place is going to net you the most.
