Speculation: LA Kings Offseason Thread

[Raccoon Jesus]

Thats it right there. Kopitar excels in it and so does Doughty. Everything still revolves around these 2. When will they turn the page???
Danault can play that system well cause hes a heady player but he sure looks better when hes playing aggressive on the forecheck making things happen.

Imagine having a team full of 5-10 waterbugs like Arvidsson, Moore, Fiala, Lizotte, et. al. and thinking the best game plan is "yeah sit back and wait"

Let's completely neutralize a roster strength but keep building that way

 

[KingsFan7824]

I've felt this way for decades now. It is the same merry-go-round of the same coaches that just play musical chairs with all the teams every year. Unless there is a top 5 or so coach available (which itself is a very subjective list), I would much rather go off the board and find a fresh face.

Guess what happens to fresh faces? They end up in the same place as the old guard. Get to the pro level, that's a lot of money in your own pocket. What can't you do as a coach? Trust players not to f*** up. And if they do, what usually happens as a result? You're the first one to be let go. Then you get another job, and become another in the line of recycled coaches.

Who took the Kings to a Cup? A semi-retired, literal Canadian farm boy, recycled coach, who was buddies with a desperate GM. Normally, that's the kind of thing that would be a recipe for disaster, but it happened to work out that time. Then, of course, eventually the players got sick of him, and they revolted. Plus even Justin Williams couldn't save the 14-15 season.

Panther fans have been bemoaning Paul Maurice all year, the most recycled and non-winning coach you could possibly find, and right now the Panthers might be the best team in the playoffs. It just goes to show that nobody knows what the right mix is. Or why it happens. Or when it's going to happen. What is it that's making Jordan Martinook a 25g, 74pt player right now? What got into Jesper Fast to be a 33g, 57pt player? Is it all Rod The Bod God? Why weren't those players doing this all year? Why are injuries to better players making career role players more productive than they've ever been?

 

[bland]

Imagine having a team full of 5-10 waterbugs like Arvidsson, Moore, Fiala, Lizotte, et. al. and thinking the best game plan is "yeah sit back and wait"

Let's completely neutralize a roster strength but keep building that way

That's not the only thing either. Imagine having an organization filled with average sized to smallish puck moving right handed defensemen and choosing to implement a 1-3-1 that requires that player to be the first one back on puck retrievals and take the brunt of the forecheck while facing the boards instead of up ice to use their skill sets.

Doughty and Roy can absorb those hits, but they have been chipping pucks to their less skilled partners for the first breakout or whipping it around the boards to seriously physically overmatched wingers. That entire system is based around teams that absorb contact and win battles - two things a smaller, thinner roster cannot do on a regular basis, especially in a playoff series.

 

[Lt Dan]

Imagine having an organization filled with average sized to smallish puck moving right handed defensemen and choosing to implement a 1-3-1 that requires that player to be the first one back on puck retrievals and take the brunt of the forecheck while facing the boards instead of up ice to use their skill sets.

 

[All The Kings Men]

It's long. It's dry. It's comprehensize.

 

[MartinS82]

Funny you use the word tornado, late 90's, early 2000's maybe, there was a European style/movement, that used that, didn't have your traditional positions, used P1 through P5 etc....

It started out well, teams won......until....teams figured it out, there's a reason it never held...

At it's base....hockey is a very very simple game.....skate, hit, pass, shoot....those 4 things.

Was that the Torpedo? I remember that...it had halfbacks and one defenseman if I recall.

 

[All The Kings Men]

Was that the Torpedo? I remember that...it had halfbacks and one defenseman if I recall.

Torpedo system - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[FSL KINGS]

The Blukks have already gone all in on a pair of 7’s. Do you think that they will start doing it right in the last year of Kopitar’s contract?

Nope. Next season I just want them to fix the D to where goalies won't be scared off by playing in LA.

The season after that the fix isn't that hard. Find the best Center & Goalie you can get your hands on. LA as a playoff team with $10M AAV to burn should be able to land a center.

It seems like Blake has realized the need for another center & scrambling to fill the hole after Lizotte got destroyed physically in the first round, should have gotten it through his head. King's should really draft some centers.

It's summer. Got a whole couple months of hope before reality sets in & Durzi on the second pair forces Todd into turtle hockey the entire season.

 

[LAKings88]

It's long. It's dry. It's comprehensize.

Gonna have to unpack this one with a few listens.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Was that the Torpedo? I remember that...it had halfbacks and one defenseman if I recall.

Yes, that was it......it was a very interesting system, extremely hard to teach when everyone else was stuck on 3 and 2 etc

 

[Schmooley]

It's long. It's dry. It's comprehensize.

So lets get this straight. You have been around the team every single day for years and you still have no clue what they are doing?
Everything is a question mark? They have hit a wall with a capped out roster with lots of holes and no high draft picks for a couple years.
No space for young players like Clarke and Blake has shown no willingness to get creative and let go of guys under contract.
Seems like you agree with all of us on here that it does not make sense.

 

[AbsentMojo]

That's not the only thing either. Imagine having an organization filled with average sized to smallish puck moving right handed defensemen and choosing to implement a 1-3-1 that requires that player to be the first one back on puck retrievals and take the brunt of the forecheck while facing the boards instead of up ice to use their skill sets.

Doughty and Roy can absorb those hits, but they have been chipping pucks to their less skilled partners for the first breakout or whipping it around the boards to seriously physically overmatched wingers. That entire system is based around teams that absorb contact and win battles - two things a smaller, thinner roster cannot do on a regular basis, especially in a playoff series.

So the one thing that TM sometimes gets kudos for - his systems- is actually the worse possible system for the roster as provided (shocking!). And to think he stuck to the 1-3-1 when down a goal in game 2 I think it was.

 

[All The Kings Men]

So lets get this straight. You have been around the team every single day for years and you still have no clue what they are doing?
Everything is a question mark? They have hit a wall with a capped out roster with lots of holes and no high draft picks for a couple years.
No space for young players like Clarke and Blake has shown no willingness to get creative and let go of guys under contract.
Seems like you agree with all of us on here that it does not make sense.

Have you listened to the conversation?

 

[Schmooley]

Have you listened to the conversation?

Yea you have lots of questions and no answers just like the rest of us

 

[SettlementRichie10]

It’s quite sad that a number of us posters knew the team was doomed against Edmonton with Durzi and Edler on the ice, and it played out exactly like that. And to top it off, a historically bad penalty killing unit, and you have the perfect combination for failure. I guess people who get paid well and do this as a profession are either too dumb to realize this, or they’re just full of their own bullshit.

Considering the Blake brain trust is currently trying to re-invent the wheel with bluechip prospect development, I'm going to go with the latter.

 

[AbsentMojo]

Was that the Torpedo? I remember that...it had halfbacks and one defenseman if I recall.

Actually has a wikipedia page.. very interesting: Torpedo system - Wikipedia

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Actually has a wikipedia page.. very interesting: Torpedo system - Wikipedia

Yea, I was wrong with calling it the Tornado, but I was close, and this is over 20 years ago....I tried teaching that at some youth hockey levels.....the pushback I got was amazing......tried some other stuff that is now standard today as far as mini-games etc....back then it was blue line back, red line back, blue line back, far goal line back.....and ....again lmao

 

[AbsentMojo]

Yea, I was wrong with calling it the Tornado, but I was close, and this is over 20 years ago....I tried teaching that at some youth hockey levels.....the pushback I got was amazing......tried some other stuff that is now standard today as far as mini-games etc....back then it was blue line back, red line back, blue line back, far goal line back.....and ....again lmao

Having played and coached roller, it opened my eyes up to some new ways of thinking when I got involved with coaching youth ice hockey... but parents dont want you trying new things w their kids if they dont think it will help them at next level.. so something as radical as this is a no go as for a system. Some of the ideas I was still pushing was for both forwards and D to feel comfortable playing outside their normal role - so forwards do D drills and visa versa.. and scrimmages would have them play out of position.. then Id tell the D to pinch whenever they felt like it and forwards were very responsible since it was part of the mindset - if you didnt fall back and cover the point you may not get your next shift... that way it freed up the D to be more aggressive offensively. This all came out of roller mentality where roles were hardly there in 4 on 4.

 

[Statto]

Yea, I was wrong with calling it the Tornado, but I was close, and this is over 20 years ago....I tried teaching that at some youth hockey levels.....the pushback I got was amazing......tried some other stuff that is now standard today as far as mini-games etc....back then it was blue line back, red line back, blue line back, far goal line back.....and ....again lmao

Good to know it wasn’t just the U.k lol

 

[All The Kings Men]

Yea you have lots of questions and no answers just like the rest of us

I am reminded of one of my favorite lines from The Princess Bride.

"Life is pain, highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

 

[Statto]

Thats it right there. Kopitar excels in it and so does Doughty. Everything still revolves around these 2. When will they turn the page???
Danault can play that system well cause hes a heady player but he sure looks better when hes playing aggressive on the forecheck making things happen.

That’s my issue with it though because it’s not like #11 and #8 can’t play different systems.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Depresses me when Jesse and the Mayor lay out the roster for next year after watching the Oilers and Knights. We are so small and soft compared to these teams especially on D.

The Kings were kinda tough when they had Lemieux and Durzi. Now one is gone and one might be traded. Leaving who…?

 

[AbsentMojo]

Depresses me when Jesse and the Mayor lay out the roster for next year after watching the Oilers and Knights. We are so small and soft compared to these teams especially on D.

The Kings were kinda tough when they had Lemieux and Durzi. Now one is gone and one might be traded. Leaving who…?

Bailey

 

[MartinS82]

Yea, I was wrong with calling it the Tornado, but I was close, and this is over 20 years ago....I tried teaching that at some youth hockey levels.....the pushback I got was amazing......tried some other stuff that is now standard today as far as mini-games etc....back then it was blue line back, red line back, blue line back, far goal line back.....and ....again lmao

I know your pain. I love coaching - but dealing with some of the parents makes me want to gauge my eyeballs out.

To keep this on topic...I understand the thought process of a 1-3-1 (trying to clog the neutral zone and force dump ins - which if you watch McDavid he doesn't like to do) but it seems to me if you let him or MacKinnon, Eichel etc build up speed in their own end that its too difficult to get a good gap. If you set a tight gap early or even before they get the puck, you can keep them from crossing over and gaining speed through the neutral zone.

To negate speed you have to play them close, not back off and allow them to come at you.

 

[Maynard]

Yea you have lots of questions and no answers just like the rest of us

The Kings sponsored podcasts are the last place to go if you want answers. These guys are audio fluffers for BLuc. This “10 questions” type of podcast is perfect for Jesse because it’s just questions for nobody. No deficiencies will be discussed, zero criticism of anything, zero new information provided, zero insight as to what may happen moving forward. Just the Kings and Reign PR team reading the roster and going “yeah man…it’s crazy right? Who knows?”