Ontario Reign 21-22 Thread 2: Reigndrops keep falling on my head

[kings11]

I’m talking about AA not Vilardi.

Lmfao… f***!! I agree

 

[Statto]

Lmfao… f***!! I agree

I’m with you on Vilardi. I still hold out hope for him and he definitely seems better of late.

 

[regulate]

 

[No Name The Nameless]

Gabe even showed a little emotion. A little. A very tiny bit.

 

[regulate]

Reign are back in 1st place by pct points with a showdown game on Saturday night in Stockton. Winning the division is important. The 1st place team gets a bye in the first round of the division playoffs in a very odd Calder Cup format this year. Every team makes the playoffs except the 8th and 9th place team in the Pacific if I recall correctly. And the 1st round series is a best of 3. So you could lose two games and your season is over.

 

[regulate]

Why are we discussing re-signing Athanasiou in the Ontario Reign thread?

 

[Sleeping Dog]

It looks like they had 15 fans in the building.

 

[Statto]

Back to the Reign. So scoring apart, how is Vilardi looking on wing? Is he doing well defensively?

 

[kinghock]

Back to the Reign. So scoring apart, how is Vilardi looking on wing? Is he doing well defensively?

He is doing defensively much better than he did last year.
In my view he is not defensive liability anymore.
Also, his skating is better and he can handle longer shifts now.
It was one of his bigger problems before...

 

[kingsboy11]

Moved all the AA talk to the roster thread. Don't even know how that even made into the Reign thread.

 

[cyclones22]

Awesome non-Reign related stuff...

This place needs a heart "like". Thank you.

 

[Lt Dan]

Moved all the AA talk to the roster thread. Don't even know how that even made into the Reign thread.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Reign with a chance to gain ground on the leaders but down 2-0 vs. Stockton at start of the 3rd

 

[kilowatt]

Glad to see Turcotte score, another assist by Spence, but Wolf is gonna be a great goaltender.

 

[mysterman2]

Spence #1 in Rookie dmen scoring, and #5 in overall dman scoring....damn impressive considering how solid he is defensively. Note as well...Moverare played over 18 minutes on the big club today.

 

[kilowatt]

It's crazy that Moverare, Spence, and Grans all look like possible NHLers too. We churn out NHL caliber defensemen better than anyone I think.

 

[King'sPawn]

Request for next thread to be titled "It's Reigning Men"

 

[mysterman2]

Request for next thread to be titled "It's Reigning Men"

"It's Reigning (D)Men"

 

[lumbergh]

He is doing defensively much better than he did last year.
In my view he is not defensive liability anymore.
Also, his skating is better and he can handle longer shifts now.
It was one of his bigger problems before...

Interesting time to revisit Vilardi. Once the Kings play Detroit and go on break, the Reign have five games before the Kings play again. All eyes will be on Vilardi to see if he can up his game and earn a call up.

 

[kilowatt]

Interesting time to revisit Vilardi. Once the Kings play Detroit and go on break, the Reign have five games before the Kings play again. All eyes will be on Vilardi to see if he can up his game and earn a call up.

Who does he replace though? Everyone except Byfield, Kaliyev, and Athanasiou are roster locks. No way you send down Lizotte or Lemieux and the top two lines are obviously going nowhere. And Brown is 8th on the team in scoring — He has 20 points on the season, 19 of them coming at even strength.

Let's assume they only swap in Vilardi for Athanasiou. Where does he play? Do we trot out a third line of Brown - Byfield - Vilardi? That seems dangerous. Maybe move Kempe or Iafallo onto the "third" line and play Vilardi on line one?

Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Iafallo - Byfield - Brown
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Or do we dare reunite Bropitar?

Iafallo - Kopitar - Brown
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Kempe - Byfield - Vilardi
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Lots of questions, not a ton of answers. I wish a rookie would step up like Durzi and say "f*** you, this is my spot".

 

[Schmooley]

do we dare reunite Bropitar?

Iafallo - Kopitar - Brown
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Kempe - Byfield - Vilardi
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

I like this. Been itching to see Byfield and Kempe skate together and Vilardi has the offensive awareness to put himself in position to capitalize on those two backing off dmen.
Iafallo - Kopitar - Brown is a tried and true combination that they would probably be comfortable with.
I like Athanasiou but the circumstances with the lines right now dont have the right fit for him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Who does he replace though? Everyone except Byfield, Kaliyev, and Athanasiou are roster locks. No way you send down Lizotte or Lemieux and the top two lines are obviously going nowhere. And Brown is 8th on the team in scoring — He has 20 points on the season, 19 of them coming at even strength.

Let's assume they only swap in Vilardi for Athanasiou. Where does he play? Do we trot out a third line of Brown - Byfield - Vilardi? That seems dangerous. Maybe move Kempe or Iafallo onto the "third" line and play Vilardi on line one?

Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Iafallo - Byfield - Brown
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Or do we dare reunite Bropitar?

Iafallo - Kopitar - Brown
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Kempe - Byfield - Vilardi
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Lots of questions, not a ton of answers. I wish a rookie would step up like Durzi and say "f*** you, this is my spot".

In my observations because of the way we break out you really need at least two guys that can skate on each line. It's why I understood the AA addition to the Byfield line (even though grunstrom was more than fine....); if you have two guys that can't really skate, they can just double/triple Byfield in the neutral zone, and we saw a whoooole lot of that over the last two games since Brown may as well be left open (and because AA doesn't follow any system, he's just a freewheeling merc).

iafallo or Kempe w/Byfield is great. Pref iafallo for defensive IQ and because Kopitar and Kempe have some good chemistry.

 

[Herby]

I still think the Kings might be over Vilardi due to the skating issues. It's just tough to be a scorer in the modern NHL when you skate as poorly as he does. But that being said, it might make sense to call him up and see if he can generate some offense on the 3rd line wing to help the team in the immediate, or to perhaps showcase him to a team that might be interested in trading for him at the deadline in any deal the Kings might make to improve the team. Even if the Kings are over him long-term it doesn't make sense to let him go the Thomas Hickey route and just get claimed for nothing next season. I always say that people overreact to waivers and guys getting claimed, but as a former high pick with good hands someone would atleast take a chance on Gabe.

 

[lumbergh]

Who does he replace though? Everyone except Byfield, Kaliyev, and Athanasiou are roster locks. No way you send down Lizotte or Lemieux and the top two lines are obviously going nowhere. And Brown is 8th on the team in scoring — He has 20 points on the season, 19 of them coming at even strength.

Let's assume they only swap in Vilardi for Athanasiou. Where does he play? Do we trot out a third line of Brown - Byfield - Vilardi? That seems dangerous. Maybe move Kempe or Iafallo onto the "third" line and play Vilardi on line one?

Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Iafallo - Byfield - Brown
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Or do we dare reunite Bropitar?

Iafallo - Kopitar - Brown
Moore - Danault - Arvidsson
Kempe - Byfield - Vilardi
Lemieux - Lizotte - Kaliyev

Lots of questions, not a ton of answers. I wish a rookie would step up like Durzi and say "f*** you, this is my spot".

My hot take is that Athanasiou is on his way to getting traded at or before the deadline. The Kings did him a big favor, but the one year deal meant he has an expiration date. If he can fetch a pick then do it.

if Vilardi forces his way into the Kings roster with some offensive domination at the AHL level, I think he slots right next to Byfield and Brown. That’s a heavy third line that can cause match up problems. It could also be a defensive double edged sword.

 

[Trash Panda]

In my observations because of the way we break out you really need at least two guys that can skate on each line. It's why I understood the AA addition to the Byfield line (even though grunstrom was more than fine....); if you have two guys that can't really skate, they can just double/triple Byfield in the neutral zone, and we saw a whoooole lot of that over the last two games since Brown may as well be left open (and because AA doesn't follow any system, he's just a freewheeling merc).

iafallo or Kempe w/Byfield is great. Pref iafallo for defensive IQ and because Kopitar and Kempe have some good chemistry.

Possession numbers and the eye test confirm that Grundstrom made a far more positive impact on Q’s line than AA has.

Speed kills, but it ain’t everything.


That being said, with what Gabe has shown in this last stint with the reign, I feel like he has more than earned another shot with making it stick with the big club. His foot speed won’t be an issue if his mental game can make up for it.