Major Changes

[ScoreZeGoals]

How can Richards be having such an awful year if he is on pace to have his most productive season yet as a King? It speaks more about the team than it does Mike Richards.

While I do think the complaining about Richards offensive numbers is a bit overblown, he's been pretty bad defensively.

Lets face reality here folks, this team is playing so poorly we can place blame on 90% of the team:

Kopitar: Tentative, refuses to use his shot
Brown: Not hitting, not shooting, not doing much of anything positive
Richards: Offensively streaky, not hitting anymore, poor defensively
The entire bottom six: Doesn't provide any offensive help to the top six
Frattin: Is nowhere close to what was advertised
Voynov: Poor the entire year
Regehr: Slow as hell
Muzzin: Might be brain dead
The entire team: No discipline
The PP: Horrific

This is not a one or two person problem...

 

[KingKopitar11*]

How can Richards be having such an awful year if he is on pace to have his most productive season yet as a King? It speaks more about the team than it does Mike Richards. Comparing Richards to Gomez is ludicrous at this point.

Hey buddy, maybe you should stop looking at his points, and more at the fact he's pretty ****** offensively, and defensively.

Richards should go before Kopitar. At least Kopitar is young and is responsible in his own end while Richards has a life time contract.

 

[Reclamation Project]

The power play is the single biggest problem. It's flat out ****ing trash and has lost us more than a few games. Throw in the lack of discipline and those are two huge problems.

 

[damacles1156]

Cough cough....Getzlaf #1 center scored 11 goals all year.

That was his career worst year and the Ducks missed the playoffs .....what's your point ?

Ara you suggesting its OK that Kopitar/Richards do that ?

And Getzlaf has 25 already this season.....hmmm

 

[Telos]

He needs to score goals , you can't have your second line center on pace for 11 goals over 82 games.

Same with Kopitar.....he needs to be a consistent 35 goal scorer...he has a 40 goal wrister he refuses to use.

The whole team needs to score goals. I wouldn't exactly throw our two leading assist machines, the primary reasons that we generate offense at all, under the bus because they are getting fed the puck by a new random winger every night and forced/told to setup plays and pass the puck every night. Richards and Kopitar are expected to take a shot every now and then, but primarily to get the puck to Carter as they are chained to the half-boards or the point.

 

[Reclamation Project]

That was his career worst year and the Ducks missed the playoffs .....what's your point ?

Ara you suggesting its OK that Kopitar/Richards do that ?

And Getzlaf has 25 already this season.....hmmm

We all know Getzlaf is a better center than Kopitar. The defensive gap isn't big enough to overcome the huge cliff in offensive production.

 

[Peter James Bond]

How can Richards be having such an awful year if he is on pace to have his most productive season yet as a King? It speaks more about the team than it does Mike Richards. Comparing Richards to Gomez is ludicrous at this point.

Because THIS is the Mike Richards you are speaking of this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ws-5435ZFw

The one that coasts around the rink at 8 mph and doesn't hit anyone and has NO fire, has NO passion, and doesn't care is the one that we now have. Watch the youtube clip and this is not anywhere far away from the player today, let alone close. Today, he's a soft, perimeter player that is almost useless.

Look at him skate at 1:36. That is a 5th gear. He doesn't even have a 4th gear today.

 

[damacles1156]

The whole team needs to score goals. I wouldn't exactly throw our two leading assist machines, the primary reasons that we generate offense at all, under the bus because they are getting fed the puck by a new random winger every night and forced/told to setup plays and pass the puck every night. Richards and Kopitar are expected to take a shot every now and then, but primarily to get the puck to Carter as they are chained to the half-boards or the point.

Thats of their own doing I refuse to. Believe NHL caliber coaches tell Kopitar to be so passive in the offensive zone and on the PP

The first power play tonight looked good cause Kopitar was attacking the net.

He just doesn't do it consistently

 

[HYORI 1963]

It's really hard to believe that this is the same team that won 9 out of 10 games in December. I don't know what's happened to our team the past month, but one thing I do know is, that we don't make knee-jerk reaction moves.

I believe in Lombardi.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Meh, people see what they want to see. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't trade Richards.

 

[Telos]

I never said trade Kopitar even at the beginning of the season, I said give him one more season. Think you're getting too attached to players. This team can be upgraded.

I think you're getting lost in fantasy, your miracle video game trade "upgrades" would wither under Sutter and destabilize whatever balance we have left on the team and we would end up right back to Stoll/Vey as a second line center. You're talking about rapid firing like 5 big trades in a row, there's just no way to make the drastic changes you're suggesting, especially for a mere postseason run. We just can't up and trade Richards, Stoll, Muzzin, a treasure trove of futures and assets, and whoever else is randomly on your **** list for likely a bunch of mercenaries or replacing them with rookies. It's just not practical, especially given the historic start this very same roster had at the beginning of the year... There is more at work here than just a couple of slumping players and "trade them all!" isn't going to fix much other than likely hurt us in the future.

Because THIS is the Mike Richards you are speaking of this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ws-5435ZFw

The one that coasts around the rink at 8 mph and doesn't hit anyone and has NO fire, has NO passion, and doesn't care is the one that we now have. Watch the youtube clip and this is not anywhere far away from the player today, let alone close. Today, he's a soft, perimeter player that is almost useless.

Look at him skate at 1:36. That is a 5th gear. He doesn't even have a 4th gear today.

You can say the same about a lot of our players. None of them are playing with passion or compete. They get sapped. Look at what happened to Toffoli. He was on fire and then he falls into a slump and is written off. I don't think it is a coincidence that every single King is offensively slumping constantly. I can post videos of a 30 goal scoring, 80 point producing, Anze Kopitar too. Now he is on pace for one of his worst seasons. It isn't a coincidence.

 

[HYORI 1963]

I'm not even joking here, but we need to double shift King. Every line King has played on, that line has done well.

Look at Toffoli with King and now without for the past 15 games or so. Heck, look what he's done with Lewis for pete's sake.

King has been one consistent player in this rollercoaster year.

 

[damacles1156]

I'm not even joking here, but we need to double shift King. Every line King has played on, that line has done well.

Look at Toffoli with King and now without for the past 15 games or so. Heck, look what he's done with Lewis for pete's sake.

King has been one consistent player in this rollercoaster year.

I 100% agree.

King only makes 750k how crazy is that.

 

[KingKopitar11*]

Telos what are you talking about. I said Richards only.

 

[Herby]

Meh, people see what they want to see. Call me crazy, but I wouldn't trade Richards.

Just remember if he has another season like this one next year he can't be bought out and the Kings will either be retaining salary or adding another bad contract in return.

That is why these super long contracts are a little bit scary.

And Telos, how is it ridiculous to compare it to Gomez or Redden. How is he immune from his career falling off, it's happened to plenty of guys. As others have mentioned it's not just the 3 even strength goals or the complete lack of a physical game, on a team that preaches defense, Mike Richards has been the worst defensive forward on the team for two straight seasons. If he finishes this season with a whimper the Kings have to evaluate what they have here, committing almost $6 mill a year for the next six seasons for a player who seems to be getting worse and worse each year may not be wise. We have seen what these contracts have done to other teams, and there will be no compliance buyouts down the road.

 

[Telos]

Hey buddy, maybe you should stop looking at his points, and more at the fact he's pretty ****** offensively, and defensively.

Richards should go before Kopitar. At least Kopitar is young and is responsible in his own end while Richards has a life time contract.

He was being praised by everyone here and on the main boards just a couple months ago for his awesome play while Kopitar was being criticized. It is a never ending cycle. I'd give him more than a couple of months before turning around and trying to deal him for a quick fix and sending us back to the second line center Stoll days.

Telos what are you talking about. I said Richards only.

Richards is the only player you would move? That is the only trade we need to make in your mind to win another cup? Just move Richards and we are done and ready to go? You said that our "roster can be upgraded" by merely trading Richards and that is it?

 

[HYORI 1963]

Richards has gone from being an untouchable earlier in the season, to now being compared to Gomez and Redden.

I'm sure he's neither, but he's still an invaluable piece to our success.

 

[Herby]

I would not consider doing it for this season, any move made on Richards has to be with the future in mind. I have already written off this season, the Kings just don't have the roster to win a championship, but if we want to contend for championships through the life of Quick, Carter and Doughty's contracts and have money to re-sign Kopitar in 2016 we need to evaluate where certain players fit into the cap, and as for Brown, lets just say he signed that contract just in time. I don't think he gets that long a deal for that kind of money if he were a FA after this season.

 

[Peter James Bond]

You can say the same about a lot of our players. None of them are playing with passion or compete. They get sapped. Look at what happened to Toffoli. He was on fire and then he falls into a slump and is written off. I don't think it is a coincidence that every single King is offensively slumping constantly. I can post videos of a 30 goal scoring, 80 point producing, Anze Kopitar too. Now he is on pace for one of his worst seasons. It isn't a coincidence.

No. Did you watch the video? This is not the same player. A video of Kopitar 4 years ago is similar. The only difference is he went to the net more and maybe had a little more speed. The diiference between the Richards video I posted and the player he is today, is lightyears.
Look at him skate at 1:30. He cannot skate 60% that fast today.
The 100's of hits with passion ans force. He hasn't thrown a hit like that in 2 years.

 

[Riposte!]

Hey guys. It will be okay. We'll always have this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwqyBlLlZSw

Good thing Willie Mitchell wasn't on the attack there for Kopitar to dish to.

 

[Telos]

Just remember if he has another season like this one next year he can't be bought out and the Kings will either be retaining salary or adding another bad contract in return.

That is why these super long contracts are a little bit scary.

And Telos, how is it ridiculous to compare it to Gomez or Redden. How is he immune from his career falling off, it's happened to plenty of guys. As others have mentioned it's not just the 3 even strength goals or the complete lack of a physical game, on a team that preaches defense, Mike Richards has been the worst defensive forward on the team for two straight seasons. If he finishes this season with a whimper the Kings have to evaluate what they have here, committing almost $6 mill a year for the next six seasons for a player who seems to be getting worse and worse each year may not be wise. We have seen what these contracts have done to other teams, and there will be no compliance buyouts down the road.

It's ridiculous because it has been two months since the guy was being praised for his play with us, and he was one of our best players a half year ago during the playoffs. The guy shows up when he is needed most. Sure, his game is fatigued and worn, he can't do it for a 82 game season, but he sure as hell can do it for 20 games in the postseason when he has to, and 56 points is still pretty darn respectable for a slumping second line center.

 

[MynameisKing]

That was his career worst year and the Ducks missed the playoffs .....what's your point ?

Ara you suggesting its OK that Kopitar/Richards do that ?

And Getzlaf has 25 already this season.....hmmm

My point is people have off years. It happens. Now if he gets 11 goals again next year then we can start to think he's fallen off the cliff!

 

[KingKopitar11*]

As a Kings fan for so long, I try not to get attached to players. It just always skews your judgement. As bad as Kopitsr is, he's younger than Richards and better than him.

I have nothing against Richards I just his reputation greatly clouds people's perception of him. He's not the same guy he was in Philly. He's putting up points decently, but his play is so casual. I wouldn't mind him that much if his contract wasn't so ****ing bad. I'd trade him while he has good value before his really bad years kick in, which seem around the corner.

 

[MynameisKing]

Because THIS is the Mike Richards you are speaking of this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ws-5435ZFw

The one that coasts around the rink at 8 mph and doesn't hit anyone and has NO fire, has NO passion, and doesn't care is the one that we now have. Watch the youtube clip and this is not anywhere far away from the player today, let alone close. Today, he's a soft, perimeter player that is almost useless.

Look at him skate at 1:36. That is a 5th gear. He doesn't even have a 4th gear today.

That's a video of "The Best of Richards". Not the video of him most of the time in Philly. He wasn't dubbed Mr. May for nothing. He MAY show up or he MAY not.

 

[Telos]

As a Kings fan for so long, I try not to get attached to players. It just always skews your judgement. As bad as Kopitsr is, he's younger than Richards and better than him.

I have nothing against Richards I just his reputation greatly clouds people's perception of him. He's not the same guy he was in Philly. He's putting up points decently, but his play is so casual. I wouldn't mind him that much if his contract wasn't so ****ing bad. I'd trade him while he has good value before his really bad years kick in, which seem around the corner.

As Kings fans, we should also try not to sensationalize losing streaks. No he isn't the same player he was when he was 24, but I've only been talking about the Richards that has been on this team for the past year. The one who was ridiculously good for us on our last playoff run, and who had a stellar start to the season and productive first half of the season this year. Having a bad third quarter doesn't warrant throwing him off the team and trying to replace him with Stoll.