Ontario Reign 21-22 : I'm only happy when it Reigns

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'd add I liked JAD's game all night too but he's a guy who you can rarely say the opposite about. It's honestly a freaking shame he's not in the NHL right now. Contributing whether directly scoring or not, the guy does it all. When he next comes up, he'd better never go back down simply due to waiver rules. He's as ripe as a player gets.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

I'd add I liked JAD's game all night too but he's a guy who you can rarely say the opposite about. It's honestly a freaking shame he's not in the NHL right now. Contributing whether directly scoring or not, the guy does it all. When he next comes up, he'd better never go back down simply due to waiver rules. He's as ripe as a player gets.

All of these players would be playing on at least 1 NHL team right now: Tkachev, Turcotte, Anderson-Dolan, Vilardi, Andersson, Grundstrom and possibly Fagemo and Durzi.
Just not the Kings. They do not call up players, until they know the system and can play 200 foot hockey. A few rare exceptions are called up for injured players.
If Doughty and Walker were not injured, Clague would be in Ontario. Only reason he got this chance. He may have never gotten 1 more chance. The Kings were forced
to get a waiver defenseman, a trade or callup Clague and you'd best know they tried to acquire a defenseman, but the right deal must have not been there.

Enter Kale Clague. He's excelled. Not because the Kings wanted to give him a chance; they were basically forced to.

How many times have you heard Todd say this, about Kaliyev's play:
Arthur is working hard and not making mistakes defensively.
Arthur is coming back and playing 3 zones, he has not hurt us
Only rookies are critiqued for their 3 zone play and defense.

Zegras would be in Ontario on this team and not playing for the Kings.
Drysdale would be in Ontario too for certain; or would he have to be in the OHL?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[Eagle Fang]

If Doughty and Walker were not injured, Clague would be in Ontario. Only reason he got this chance. He may have never gotten 1 more chance. The Kings were forced
to get a waiver defenseman, a trade or callup Clague and you'd best know they tried to acquire a defenseman, but the right deal must have not been there.

Enter Kale Clague. He's excelled. Not because the Kings wanted to give him a chance; they were basically forced to.

Clague was a baffling move to me. He certainly has work to do on his defensive game, but I thought he showed well enough last season to at least earn a shot with the team this year. Instead they sent him down and he had to clear waivers which means they were fine losing him.

I think most people are happy with his play since his call-up and he's one of the few defensemen on the team that can actually join the attack, create plays from the back end and make a solid outlet pass.

And with a completely healthy lineup, I don't know if any sane person would rather have Maatta as the 7th dman over Clague.

 

[Eagle Fang]

Villalta is definitely a weak link on the team. All of the goals were tipped/high danger chances. So, it's not that he was the cause, but these are things that need improvement:
- lateral movement. Shortly before the first goal against, he was still up against the wrong post when the opposition was halfway in the middle of a wraparound.
- playing too deep. He gives too much net and relies on reflexes, like Lundqvist. Coming out to challenge more, he may have mitigated the dangers leading to the goals
- lack of command. Similar to playing too deep, he doesn't demand the crease or battle with opponents around him. I don't expect a nut shot, but shove someone.

After re-watching the goals he allowed, I was probably too critical. Not much he could've done on a couple of them.

 

[LAKings88]

Co-chev?

 

[King'sPawn]

After re-watching the goals he allowed, I was probably too critical. Not much he could've done on a couple of them.

I agree. He wasn't the "cause" of the goals. But I think he has a lot of holes to his game that's stopping him from getting to the next level.

 

[Vino]

Fagemo, mostly invisible.
...
Grans has a nice overall game

I think Fagemo played really well, maybye his best game this season. Tkachev - JAD - Fagemo -line was overall good. Tkachev played his the most physical game, shot twice (!) and scored a goal.

Grans "long passes"-game is amazing. I don't know how his offensive game will work in the NHL, but Grans is a true high risk, high reward player. Defensively Grans is so raw and makes at least a couple bad mistakes per game, but he is nineteen years old kid, who is playing his first proseason in the North-America, so those mistakes are understandable. I just love him and in my mind he has a high potential (higher than Faber or Spence) and I eager to see how he does in the WJC-tournament.

 

[King'sPawn]

Co-chev?

That and "dis-possesses" drive me nuts.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think Fagemo played really well, maybye his best game this season. Tkachev - JAD - Fagemo -line was overall good. Tkachev played his the most physical game, shot twice (!) and scored a goal.

Grans "long passes"-game is amazing. I don't know how his offensive game will work in the NHL, but Grans is a true high risk, high reward player. Defensively Grans is so raw and makes at least a couple bad mistakes per game, but he is nineteen years old kid, who is playing his first proseason in the North-America, so those mistakes are understandable. I just love him and in my mind he has a high potential (higher than Faber or Spence) and I eager to see how he does in the WJC-tournament.

It really is. I don't think he'll be encouraged to use that as much in the NHL but just the threat of it is a nice dimension. Really does give me Brent Burns vibes, even down to the way he snaps off his wrister from the point.

 

[tbrown33]

Clague was a baffling move to me. He certainly has work to do on his defensive game, but I thought he showed well enough last season to at least earn a shot with the team this year. Instead they sent him down and he had to clear waivers which means they were fine losing him.

I think most people are happy with his play since his call-up and he's one of the few defensemen on the team that can actually join the attack, create plays from the back end and make a solid outlet pass.

And with a completely healthy lineup, I don't know if any sane person would rather have Maatta as the 7th dman over Clague.

Absolutely blows my mind the Kings were ok with losing Clague in favor of having Maatta occupy a roster spot for one more season. Makes absolutely no sense, especially when you consider Maatta is the worst defensemen - by both the eye test and underlying numbers. Can't make sense of it.

 

[Eagle Fang]

I think Fagemo played really well, maybye his best game this season. Tkachev - JAD - Fagemo -line was overall good. Tkachev played his the most physical game, shot twice (!) and scored a goal.

Grans "long passes"-game is amazing. I don't know how his offensive game will work in the NHL, but Grans is a true high risk, high reward player. Defensively Grans is so raw and makes at least a couple bad mistakes per game, but he is nineteen years old kid, who is playing his first proseason in the North-America, so those mistakes are understandable. I just love him and in my mind he has a high potential (higher than Faber or Spence) and I eager to see how he does in the WJC-tournament.

When I mentioned X player was 'mostly invisible' I should've clarified. I didn't mean it in necessarily a bad way. Certainly a lot of players played well else they wouldn't have beat a very good Stockton team. More so I was looking at moments that really jumped out.

For example, Turcotte, while not generating a ton of offensive chances (he did have a few), was noticeable due to his physical play and his compete.

Vilardi, on the other hand, did make some little plays as RJ pointed out, but for me, because of who he is and what he's capable of, I was looking for more. I know he hasn't played in a bit and is adjusting to the wing so again, it's not necessarily a criticism.

Another example is JAD. He played solid all around, but if you look at what he did in the last game (or maybe the Tucson game, I forget), he had some monster defensive shifts. The ONT guys were saying he put on a defensive clinic on one play and it was so evident to anyone watching.

Also I focus mainly on the prospects, and I don't really consider Tkachev one, but he did play well for sure! If you watch Durzi's post game interview it was kind of funny. He said Tkachev was actually looking to pass it back to him instead of taking the shot and Durzi was like, nah man shoot it!

 

[Fishhead]

The Kings weren't going to lose Clague, they put him on waivers late in camp. It's very rare anyone gets claimed at that time as teams have their rosters set, and if someone does they are established. Clague is not that, there was no risk to speak of.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

Absolutely blows my mind the Kings were ok with losing Clague in favor of having Maatta occupy a roster spot for one more season. Makes absolutely no sense, especially when you consider Maatta is the worst defensemen - by both the eye test and underlying numbers. Can't make sense of it.

And it looks like Maatta will remain in over Clague tomorrow.

 

[Eagle Fang]

The Kings weren't going to lose Clague, they put him on waivers late in camp. It's very rare anyone gets claimed at that time as teams have their rosters set, and if someone does they are established. Clague is not that, there was no risk to speak of.

You can't say there was no risk to speak of. While rare it happens and the point being, the Kings were willing to take that risk on a player who is clearly showing thus far he can keep up and contribute. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby is an example this year alone as Buffalo grabbed him. Though he did end up going back to Washington due to Visa issues. Same draft year as Clauge with even less NHL experience.

 

[Eagle Fang]

And it looks like Maatta will remain in over Clague tomorrow.

We must be missing something with what Maatta brings...

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

We must be missing something with what Maatta brings...

I feel like it says something when a group of fans with widely varying perspectives on the game that can’t otherwise agree on much else about this team these days almost collectively seem to agree that Maatta is utter garbage.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Olli Maatta must be in the Anschutz family tree. So long, Clague. It's been real.

 

[King'sPawn]

And it looks like Maatta will remain in over Clague tomorrow.

Andersson centering the third line when he was acting like a puck hound for Kopitar's line? And where did Kupa... nevermind.

 

[tny760]

Andersson centering the third line when he was acting like a puck hound for Kopitar's line? And where did Kupa... nevermind.

yeah that's pretty much where i'm at

 

[tny760]

We must be missing something with what Maatta brings...

whats that teleprompter say?

a veto- a veteran presence yeah that's it!

 

[Sleeping Dog]

whats that teleprompter say?

a veto- a veteran presence yeah that's it!

We must be missing something with what Maatta brings...

Trying to increase his trade value! Lol

 

[Fishhead]

You can't say there was no risk to speak of. While rare it happens and the point being, the Kings were willing to take that risk on a player who is clearly showing thus far he can keep up and contribute. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby is an example this year alone as Buffalo grabbed him. Though he did end up going back to Washington due to Visa issues. Same draft year as Clauge with even less NHL experience.

I dunno, if I needed a defenseman I'd definitely take Lehtonen or Hamonic (even with the vax issues) over Clague. Probably another couple guys as well.

Clague looked like trash most of the time in the AHL so it's not like he's a hot commodity. That really worked in our favor as he plays much better with the big club.

 

[Fishhead]

I feel like it says something when a group of fans with widely varying perspectives on the game that can’t otherwise agree on much else about this team these days almost collectively seem to agree that Maatta is utter garbage.

Maatta has been better lately for sure, making some pretty solid plays and reads. Way better than last year. I still don't think he's one of our 6 best though.

 

[Statto]

Absolutely blows my mind the Kings were ok with losing Clague in favor of having Maatta occupy a roster spot for one more season. Makes absolutely no sense, especially when you consider Maatta is the worst defensemen - by both the eye test and underlying numbers. Can't make sense of it.

The reality is though that Clague had a very poor camp. That seemed to be to consensus view and whilst I agree that he has subsequently done very well since his call up, let’s not pretend we were shocked that he was waived.