well that outcome wasn't as expected. long time, folks.
to me this was more disappointing than last years failure to even qualify. supposedly this team that was looking for redemption, a chip on the shoulder, every other lame sports analogy, etc.
they fell flat on their face when it mattered most. they were outplayed, out hustled and the scoreboard bore that out.
the org and the team need to take a serious look in the mirror and individually reassess what they bring to the end result.
DL -
needs to take some of the blame for making some moves that cost them both on the ice and also prospects/draft picks. the Sekera trade especially now stands out as a major mistake. yes he was scrambling trying to recover from Voynov's mess, but that was a disaster in the making. from the start there was always going to be a problem having the cap room to re-sign Sekera and of course he jumped to EDM for the paycheck.
next are some of the current contracts and player decisions that have been largely based on past results and loyalty. the Brown albatross contract is his new nightmare, which will continue to present issues for years to follow. based on what he did in '12 and '14, along with the timing made this a tough call for DL. its a brutal situation for a guy that has meant so much, but is quickly declining or totally lost his confidence.
the depth of plumbers on the roster needs to change moving forward. the game as always evolves and LA now looks big, tired and slow to often. personally i've had enough or D King and hope to never see him on the ice for LA again. that last stat i heard mentioned was he was without a point in like his last 19 games, not even an assist. i've heard enough about his Corsi rankings and the other "attributes", enough is a enough. the guy is now a liability on the offensive side, because he can't produce. i'm tired of watching him scrum on the walls with zero results.
frankly Dean and Darryl also have not done enough to evolve the roster and the systems to adapt to how the game is changing.
Sutter -
is it time? he was badly outdone by DeBoer in the series. D King on the first line, when you are down in a series? gtfo! i think it is time for them to look for a new voice in the locker room.
Leadership -
When it mattered the most down the stretch and then into the playoffs. When teams lean on their leaders, where were they? When they went into the shutdown mode after clinching, where was Sutter and Brown?
stealing a great quote i saw on Twitter from Surly - "Kings struggled all yr to find identity. The purpose of a Captain is to set and represent identity. 2 yrs now of identity being falling down"
moving forward its time for significant shake up of the roster and staff. i'm ready to move on from Sutter and Brown (if its possible). ive had enough of others like McNabb (another DL trade I hated from the start, can we get Hudson back?), King, Clifford, etc. there is an abundance of duplicate parts on this team. i look at as the same as buying a wrench set with 20 different wrenches, but 10 of them are all 1/2".
at the end of the season two years ago, i was hoping Dean was going to move up the next batch/the next core of kids to start the transition. begin to move away from some of the older guys and FA's. he is likely going to have to do this now due to salary cap. personally i think its time to start letting guys go and bring up the kids so they learn.
the window is slowly closing on the current core. in order to benefit from the current core, Dean can go two ways. what he has done the past few years and resulted in 2 Cups, 1 WCF loss, 1 first round loss and bed sh**ting episode. or retool with his young kids under the tutelage of the core of Kopitar, DD, Carter, Quick, etc. prep them for the future and go for a few more Cups starting not next year, but the following.
it is a brutal situation, but its clear the current plan isn't working and hasn't worked now for the past two years. its time to re-tool and reroll the dice. i no longer see the fire and desire we saw just a few years ago. shake it up.....throw some gas on that ******
