Offseason GDT III

[AlphaBravo]

I can't speak for others, but my opinion of Mersch is that he can be our new Dwight King at a lower price. I don't expect him to be a Toffoli or Pearson at all. However, I think because of his committment to going to the net (as we saw in the AHL and during his brief call up in the NHL), he should be able to get up to 10 goals a season (and pray, maybe 15), which is all you an ask for his price tag.


Is he a long term solution for our top 6? Probably not. He is better suited on the third or fourth line and can probably max out as a solid bottom 6 winger in the NHL.

 

[AlphaBravo]

No he doesn't. Biggest myth about the Kings. DK has become absolutely useless on offense.

I am not a King fan (so its odd that I am defending him), but to say he is absolutely useless on offense is simply incorrect. At his cap hit, the best you can expect from him is to give you 10-15 goals a season. Last year, he had 7 goals playing only 47 games. The two years before that, he scored 13 and 15 goals. How much more production do you want from a guy that has a $1.95 cap hit?

The only reason I would want King traded is because: (1) we need to replace bottom six players with young players at less than $1 million cap space (since we cannot get rid of Brown/Gaborik contracts); and (2) the team needs to evolve into a more skilled and fast team (King is slow). Otherwise, I have no problem with the guy.

 

[The Tikkanen]

I can't speak for others, but my opinion of Mersch is that he can be our new Dwight King at a lower price. I don't expect him to be a Toffoli or Pearson at all. However, I think because of his committment to going to the net (as we saw in the AHL and during his brief call up in the NHL), he should be able to get up to 10 goals a season (and pray, maybe 15), which is all you an ask for his price tag.


Is he a long term solution for our top 6? Probably not. He is better suited on the third or fourth line and can probably max out as a solid bottom 6 winger in the NHL.

Given the current state of the NHL Mersch or Auger would be better suited for those minutes than King. The Kings need to become more dynamic and you're not going to achieve that with players like King Nolan, Clifford and Lewis. They are who we thought they were!

 

[AlphaBravo]

Given the current state of the NHL Mersch or Auger would be better suited for those minutes than King. The Kings need to become more dynamic and you're not going to achieve that with players like King Nolan, Clifford and Lewis. They are who we thought they were!

Agreed with respect to King, Clifford and Lewis. I would not pay them the $1.6-$3 million they cost or will cost. Jordan Nolan, however, has a reasonable cap hit of $950,000, plays physical and has shown enough skill where he has some up side. I would not get rid of him.

 

[YP44]

Agreed with respect to King, Clifford and Lewis. I would not pay them the $1.6-$3 million they cost or will cost. Jordan Nolan, however, has a reasonable cap hit of $950,000, plays physical and has shown enough skill where he has some up side. I would not get rid of him.

Nolan I would not get rid of because I do not think he has any trade value and if he does not proform waiving him would not be the worst thing. If someone take him than it would suck but not a big loss, if no one does his cap hit is so low that it would be buried in the minors, and he owuld be a nice insurance policy if someone went down.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Agreed with respect to King, Clifford and Lewis. I would not pay them the $1.6-$3 million they cost or will cost. Jordan Nolan, however, has a reasonable cap hit of $950,000, plays physical and has shown enough skill where he has some up side. I would not get rid of him.

The Sharks currently have a 23 year old left winger, 21 year old center and Joel Ward listed on the 3rd line on their depth chart. Put 2 younger players who can skate with unknown upside with Brown on the 3rd line.

 

[scramble91]

Agreed with respect to King, Clifford and Lewis. I would not pay them the $1.6-$3 million they cost or will cost. Jordan Nolan, however, has a reasonable cap hit of $950,000, plays physical and has shown enough skill where he has some up side. I would not get rid of him.

We all might want a change in the bottom 6 but it's a dangerous game assuming the kids in the minors could replace anything that king Clifford and Lewis provide.

Nick shore and Jordan weal were the most skilled players on the Monarchs... Especially compared to auger and mersch. We all saw how those offensive skills translated into the NHL. Auger and Mersch have to significantly improve thier foot speed in order to keep up with the NHL pace.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

All this talk about desperately needing speed and skill and youth still fails to resonate with me. The Kings didn't have problems this year because their lineup top to bottom was slow. We have a ton of average speed skaters and quite a few above average.

We PLAYED slow because the defense could never generate a crisp breakout. I really don't believe this rhetoric that the team is too slow or somehow behind the times. They're not. But they are missing quality transition defensemen. Mitchell wasn't a great skater, but he had a tremendous first pass out of the zone. He always made the right play to get the puck to a centerman and generate a rush.

Doughty and Martinez are pretty much all we have left in that regard. Muzzin is a great skater and all around solid defenseman, but he still struggles with transitional decision making. When Martinez went down, we had one defenseman capable of generating a rush. It's that simple.

It doesn't matter how fast your forwards are when Schenn or Scuderi or whoever are derping around the defensive zone under forecheck pressure, incapable of breaking out the puck.

I really don't think our forward corps deserves much attention, especially on the wing. It's all about fixing the defense. That should be, and I believe is, Lombardi's number one priority. We need another young PMD and a veteran shutdown defender, as well. Then, if there's money left, you look at the wings.

Lombardi spent all his assets on a sexy name at wing last offseason and look where it got us. Rotating King for Mersch or whoever else we can scrounge up in the pipeline will be a lateral move at best.

 

[lumbergh]

I am not a King fan (so its odd that I am defending him), but to say he is absolutely useless on offense is simply incorrect. At his cap hit, the best you can expect from him is to give you 10-15 goals a season. Last year, he had 7 goals playing only 47 games. The two years before that, he scored 13 and 15 goals. How much more production do you want from a guy that has a $1.95 cap hit?

The only reason I would want King traded is because: (1) we need to replace bottom six players with young players at less than $1 million cap space (since we cannot get rid of Brown/Gaborik contracts); and (2) the team needs to evolve into a more skilled and fast team (King is slow). Otherwise, I have no problem with the guy.

Well he did have that nice streak of ZERO goals (with 2 assists) in 24 games, including playoffs, to finish up the season. That's not useful. We're talking Nick Shore level futility there. The fact is that the Kings need more from their bottom six and they're not getting it. How King ended up with equal minutes per game as Pearson AND top line minutes in the playoffs is (S)utterly incomprehensible.

You hit the nail on the head with the reasons to trade King. If opening up that $1.95 million cap hit means being able to afford Lucic, then yeah, you definitely do that, 'cause right now he's just taking up (cap) space on this team.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

All this talk about desperately needing speed and skill and youth still fails to resonate with me. The Kings didn't have problems this year because their lineup top to bottom was slow. We have a ton of average speed skaters and quite a few above average.

We PLAYED slow because the defense could never generate a crisp breakout. I really don't believe this rhetoric that the team is too slow or somehow behind the times. They're not. But they are missing quality transition defensemen. Mitchell wasn't a great skater, but he had a tremendous first pass out of the zone. He always made the right play to get the puck to a centerman and generate a rush.

Doughty and Martinez are pretty much all we have left in that regard. Muzzin is a great skater and all around solid defenseman, but he still struggles with transitional decision making. When Martinez went down, we had one defenseman capable of generating a rush. It's that simple.

It doesn't matter how fast your forwards are when Schenn or Scuderi or whoever are derping around the defensive zone under forecheck pressure, incapable of breaking out the puck.

I really don't think our forward corps deserves much attention, especially on the wing. It's all about fixing the defense. That should be, and I believe is, Lombardi's number one priority. We need another young PMD and a veteran shutdown defender, as well. Then, if there's money left, you look at the wings.

Lombardi spent all his assets on a sexy name at wing last offseason and look where it got us. Rotating King for Mersch or whoever else we can scrounge up in the pipeline will be a lateral move at best.

Problem is the expansion draft. If Dean is only able to protect 3 d-men then he can't acquire one this summer.

 

[tsanuri]

And we now have more info on the expansion draft.
Thanks to Mouser could just copy this here
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=119221273&postcount=63

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-teams-receiving-information-potential-expansion-draft/

Key elements:
- 7F, 3D, 1G protection list. Doesn't mention the 8F/D 1G option as before but might be an oversight.
- Teams must expose at minimum of two forwards and one defense that played 40+ games the previous season, or 70+ over the previous two seasons.
- All NMC's must be protected, including modified NMC's (those usually being accompanied by a modified NTC).
- NMC contracts will take up expansion slots.
- Players with NMC's that expire June 30th 2017 will not need to be protected.
- Teams can ask a player to waive their NMC and be exposed in the expansion draft.
- Players with two years of professional experience of less will be exempt. Thresholds for a year of professional experience:
-- 10 games played in the NHL at age 18 or 19, or
-- Any AHL or NHL season for players 20+
- Any player traded away after some unstated date before the expansion draft takes place cannot be reacquired by the same team until after Jan 1st following the draft.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

And we now have more info on the expansion draft.
Thanks to Mouser could just copy this here
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=119221273&postcount=63

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-teams-receiving-information-potential-expansion-draft/

Key elements:
- 7F, 3D, 1G protection list. Doesn't mention the 8F/D 1G option as before but might be an oversight.
- Teams must expose at minimum of two forwards and one defense that played 40+ games the previous season, or 70+ over the previous two seasons.
- All NMC's must be protected, including modified NMC's (those usually being accompanied by a modified NTC).
- NMC contracts will take up expansion slots.
- Players with NMC's that expire June 30th 2017 will not need to be protected.
- Teams can ask a player to waive their NMC and be exposed in the expansion draft.
- Players with two years of professional experience of less will be exempt. Thresholds for a year of professional experience:
-- 10 games played in the NHL at age 18 or 19, or
-- Any AHL or NHL season for players 20+
- Any player traded away after some unstated date before the expansion draft takes place cannot be reacquired by the same team until after Jan 1st following the draft.

Yeah, so that makes the chances of Dean acquiring a d-man this summer extremely unlikely.

 

[AlphaBravo]

All this talk about desperately needing speed and skill and youth still fails to resonate with me. The Kings didn't have problems this year because their lineup top to bottom was slow. We have a ton of average speed skaters and quite a few above average.

We PLAYED slow because the defense could never generate a crisp breakout. I really don't believe this rhetoric that the team is too slow or somehow behind the times. They're not. But they are missing quality transition defensemen. Mitchell wasn't a great skater, but he had a tremendous first pass out of the zone. He always made the right play to get the puck to a centerman and generate a rush.

Doughty and Martinez are pretty much all we have left in that regard. Muzzin is a great skater and all around solid defenseman, but he still struggles with transitional decision making. When Martinez went down, we had one defenseman capable of generating a rush. It's that simple.

It doesn't matter how fast your forwards are when Schenn or Scuderi or whoever are derping around the defensive zone under forecheck pressure, incapable of breaking out the puck.

I really don't think our forward corps deserves much attention, especially on the wing. It's all about fixing the defense. That should be, and I believe is, Lombardi's number one priority. We need another young PMD and a veteran shutdown defender, as well. Then, if there's money left, you look at the wings.

Lombardi spent all his assets on a sexy name at wing last offseason and look where it got us. Rotating King for Mersch or whoever else we can scrounge up in the pipeline will be a lateral move at best.

I absolutely agree with this post and have said many times before that speed starts on the backend with good puck moving defensemen. However, you also need skilled and fast skaters to have a dynamic team. The way I see it, there is a good possibility that we can't find that right top 4 defenseman this off season, so it's best to try out the kids in the bottom 6 so that they develop, even if it means not making the playoffs.

 

[Reaper45]

And we now have more info on the expansion draft.
Thanks to Mouser could just copy this here
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=119221273&postcount=63

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/nhl-teams-receiving-information-potential-expansion-draft/

Key elements:
- 7F, 3D, 1G protection list. Doesn't mention the 8F/D 1G option as before but might be an oversight.
- Teams must expose at minimum of two forwards and one defense that played 40+ games the previous season, or 70+ over the previous two seasons.
- All NMC's must be protected, including modified NMC's (those usually being accompanied by a modified NTC).
- NMC contracts will take up expansion slots.
- Players with NMC's that expire June 30th 2017 will not need to be protected.
- Teams can ask a player to waive their NMC and be exposed in the expansion draft.
- Players with two years of professional experience of less will be exempt. Thresholds for a year of professional experience:
-- 10 games played in the NHL at age 18 or 19, or
-- Any AHL or NHL season for players 20+
- Any player traded away after some unstated date before the expansion draft takes place cannot be reacquired by the same team until after Jan 1st following the draft.

So who do the Kings expose based off off that?

 

[tsanuri]

So who do the Kings expose based off off that?

The protected D are easy at this point if all things stay the same.
Doughty
Muzzin
Martinez
It's harder to say on the F side
Kopitar
Carter
Toffoli
Pearson
The other 3 are going to be harder to tell but pick 3 younger guys that would need to be protected.
But the one good thing is Kempe is exempt.

 

[YP44]

The protected D are easy at this point if all things stay the same.
Doughty
Muzzin
Martinez
It's harder to say on the F side
Kopitar
Carter
Toffoli
Pearson
The other 3 are going to be harder to tell but pick 3 younger guys that would need to be protected.
But the one good thing is Kempe is exempt.

ya it's too bad the 4D way is not in there, that was perfect for LA

 

[AlphaBravo]

The player protection requirements of the expansion draft should have no impact on any defense that the Kings "sign" instead of trade for. For example, if the Kings sign Yandle and lose him during the expansion draft, it does not hurt them because they did not give up assets to get him. On the other hand, if the Kings traded for a high caliber defenseman and gave up an arm and leg for him, then its an issue because they would have to give up Martinez or that top player during the expansion draft or risk losing those assets for nothing.

 

[YP44]

Carter is expecting a baby come November so his production will be **** the 2nd half of next year

 

[YP44]

The player protection requirements of the expansion draft should have no impact on any defense that the Kings "sign" instead of trade for. For example, if the Kings sign Yandle and lose him during the expansion draft, it does not hurt them because they did not give up assets to get him. On the other hand, if the Kings traded for a high caliber defenseman and gave up an arm and leg for him, then its an issue because they would have to give up Martinez or that top player during the expansion draft or risk losing those assets for nothing.

agreed 100%.

Could actually help protect a Gravel as Vegas would be more likely to take Yandle than Gravel.

 

[tsanuri]

ya it's too bad the 4D way is not in there, that was perfect for LA

We don't know if the 8 players 1G was removed or just omitted in the article. But I think it makes sense to have it as a straight 7F 3D 1G. From the standpoint it forces teams to expose a 4D. So the expansion team/s don't get a 1D but still get some very solid players on D.

 

[YP44]

We don't know if the 8 players 1G was removed or just omitted in the article. But I think it makes sense to have it as a straight 7F 3D 1G. From the standpoint it forces teams to expose a 4D. So the expansion team/s don't get a 1D but still get some very solid players on D.

if teams have to expose a D that plays 40+games there will still be good players out there.
Plus some teams would prefer to protect 7 forwards instead of 4 so that would have exposed a D man or two.

At the end of the day each team will only lose on guy, something LA really is used to anyways

 

[tsanuri]

if teams have to expose a D that plays 40+games there will still be good players out there.
Plus some teams would prefer to protect 7 forwards instead of 4 so that would have exposed a D man or two.

At the end of the day each team will only lose on guy, something LA really is used to anyways

It's the difference of exposing a 5/6D over the 4D.

And we can hope it's one of Brown or Gaborik that gets taken.

 

[YP44]

It's the difference of exposing a 5/6D over the 4D.

And we can hope it's one of Brown or Gaborik that gets taken.

Was it you who said it was bad of me and antoher poster to hope for a trade or trades before the draft? Cause I feel like that has more of a chance happening than Vegas taking Brown or Gaborik.

McNabb would immediately come to mind as a better pick up.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Kings will keep Kopitar, Carter, Toffoli, Pearson for sure. That's 4. I think the Kings would be open to leaving Gaborik and Brown available because of age and contracts. Shore, Clifford, Nolan, Andreoff would all be exposed. 50-50 on King but he will be a UFA.

Defense is tough. Doughty and Muzzin for sure. I would even say Martinez but then McNabb could be swooped up. This also limits the Kings from pursuing a top 4 d man this summer knowing that McNabb and the UFA or trade asset could be exposed.

 

[YP44]

One thing that has gotten no attention that i have seen is what division would Vegas play in. Obvious pacific, but would anyone move to the Central?

One div would need 7 teams and I have no problem with it being the Kings, just wondering what lowers total league travel the most.