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Post-Voynov, is our Defense going to be wretched?

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Minor Boarding said:
I am not talking about experience. Muzzin is positionally just better and he was way better then McNabb along the boards in the defensive zone.
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Umm Muzzin was not good on his first call-up to LA. He was a mistake machine on his first cup of coffee with the team and was still very mistake prone his full rookie season in 2013. Posters here were all over his handling of the puck like a grenade in the playoffs that season. He made a huge leap in 2014. McNabb as a rookie didn't have the luxury to be sent down to learn the Kings system in Manchester if struggling, was a better defender than Muzzin at a comparable time in their Kings careers. I don't see why McNabb can't make a similar leap. He looked great when paired with Sekera before being benched by Sutter when Marty returned. Oh and Voynov was a rookie playing 2nd pairing minutes in 2012 as well. Yeah, Voynov is a better talent, but just saying it's not an absurd notion.

Trolfoli said:
Muzzin was also way better at setting up passes to the other team. I'm not sold 100% on the defense, but I'm not worried that McNabb will screw up any more then Muzzin did.
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Exactly.
 
Trolfoli said:
Muzzin was also way better at setting up passes to the other team. I'm not sold 100% on the defense, but I'm not worried that McNabb will screw up any more then Muzzin did.
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Ummmm.....yup.
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[NHL]744420[/NHL]
 
I actually think the Kings D is better without RR. RR was where possession of the puck went to die.
 
Doughty came to camp at 201 LBS, Ten pounds lighter, than last season. He looks great.

I am Hoping Doughty can put together another 55+ point season, challenge for that Norris.

I think the defense will be solid, also the Kings have Quick stopping pucks.
 
damacles1156 said:
Doughty came to camp at 201 LBS, Ten pounds lighter, than last season. He looks great.

I am Hoping Doughty can put together another 55+ point season, challenge for that Norris.

I think the defense will be solid, also the Kings have Quick stopping pucks.
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Quick's not that good. I mean, he's basically Corey Crawford...
 
damacles1156 said:
I actually think the Kings D is better without RR. RR was where possession of the puck went to die.
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I don't want this to turn into a for/against RR44 civil war, but I agree with you. I agree with what everyone has said about RR in this thread and he helped the team win a Cup. He was solid and he was very good in cleaning up his own zone. That being said, RR and whoever he was paired with oftentimes were pinned in their zone because his first pass wasn't good when he did displace a puck from the opposition and Kings zone exits suffered because of it. Was the team hard to score against when he was out there? Yes. But there was a lot of time spent defending rather pressing the other way too. That doesn't mean he was a bad defensemen, just that his strength also came with a glaring weakness which will likely be improved on by his replacement. The question will be can that replacement be good enough on defense to make it a net positive? I think so, but we'll see.
 
Voynov cashed in after the 2013 playoffs, and a lot of us were amped up about him, but in the end I don't think not having him is some kind of deathknell. The unit still performed well without him, and will be better with Regehr our of the picture.
 
damacles1156 said:
Same with me.

I never worry about the Kings D. Doughty/Muzzin/Quick healthy, Kings D good to go.

Now the offense ? that's a different story. Even with healthy Kopitar/Carter/Toffoli/Gabo, they struggle.
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Agreed.

Lucic could be a major boon in that department. If the top two lines are scoring consistently, we're going to be winning a lot of games 2-1. Same old Kings hockey.

I don't expect much out of the bottom six. Shore could take a step forward. Idk. Pretty boring King/Lewis hockey going on down there this year, with some solid possession but few numbers.
 
damacles1156 said:
Doughty came to camp at 201 LBS, Ten pounds lighter, than last season. He looks great.

I am Hoping Doughty can put together another 55+ point season, challenge for that Norris.

I think the defense will be solid, also the Kings have Quick stopping pucks.
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I'm not so certain that this is a good thing, especially if he's playing big minutes. Over the course of the season he's gonna lose a bit too. I think some athletes overtune themselves in all honesty.
 
Ron said:
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Ummmm.....yup.
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[NHL]744420[/NHL]
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If a youtube video is your argument I can't help but just laugh at you.

The do or die games late at the end of the season:

Here is Fraser scoring a goal, while McNabb was group-hugging:
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2014021199

And just to point how stupid youtube videos are as an argument: Dewey screwing up, playing soft against Bonino:
http://www.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2014021068


Or maybe I should blame Sutter for those, like you do in Richards threads?
 
GKJ said:
Voynov cashed in after the 2013 playoffs, and a lot of us were amped up about him, but in the end I don't think not having him is some kind of deathknell. The unit still performed well without him, and will be better with Regehr our of the picture.
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Ditto. He's not as good as his 2012 run - 2013 WCF run made him out to be. He regressed in 2013-2014. Kings still need another top 4 though.
 
DontgoZiggy said:
I'm not so certain that this is a good thing, especially if he's playing big minutes. Over the course of the season he's gonna lose a bit too. I think some athletes overtune themselves in all honesty.
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This. Ray Bourque was always chubby and I remember him using his fat ass to his advantage, meanwhile fitness freak Jack Johnson is nothing special as a defensman...
 
cyclones22 said:
Umm Muzzin was not good on his first call-up to LA. He was a mistake machine on his first cup of coffee with the team and was still very mistake prone his full rookie season in 2013. Posters here were all over his handling of the puck like a grenade in the playoffs that season. He made a huge leap in 2014. McNabb as a rookie didn't have the luxury to be sent down to learn the Kings system in Manchester if struggling, was a better defender than Muzzin at a comparable time in their Kings careers. I don't see why McNabb can't make a similar leap. He looked great when paired with Sekera before being benched by Sutter when Marty returned. Oh and Voynov was a rookie playing 2nd pairing minutes in 2012 as well. Yeah, Voynov is a better talent, but just saying it's not an absurd notion.



Exactly.
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Yes Muzzin had a rough 2013 playoffs but it wasn't because of poor positioning... He tried to do too much against good playoff teams and had some giveaways.
I don't think McNabb reads the game that well and that was why he got benched by Sutter.
As for the Voynov comparison: :biglaugh:
 
I'm not worried about the D. It's possible McNabb has a sophomore slump, but I think the defense is strong enough as is. We could also consider moving one of Greene or Martinez and the hefty salary attached and either promoting Forbort to the 3rd pair or bringing someone else in for the 2nd. Hey, we've still got our 2017 1st rounder to give away, and our 2016 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, right?

Go big or go bust.
 
Regehr had about 2 great months last season, but he was a trainwreck for the rest of it, mostly due to injuries/recoveries imo.

I don't know why at all anyone would be down on McNabb. He played above his head by about every metric and considering he was up and down the lineup like crazy...was solid offensively and defensively, showed a lot of potential for a guy with not much NHL experience under his belt and with a new team. There's a reason Futa (DL? I forget) thought he was (one of, IIRC) the best defenseman not in the NHL, he has all the tools like Muzzin. If he continues improving on the trajectory he was last year, he's a sure fire 2nd pairing d-man, especially if he can pick up his foot speed.

I see, complaining about his reads. Consider how many d-partners he had last year, the new system, and that often his partner was McBain, who could get muscled by a light breeze. I see nothing but potential and improvement in his near future, he got more playing time last year initially than anyone was comfortable with and I think we're all ready to reap the rewards.
 
Other than 2013, last year was their highest goals per game in any season since 09-10. That was with Kopitar at a career low in a full season. And they were tied for 4th in goals against. And 1st in shots against. The PP wasn't terrible, but the PK was the lowest since 09-10. The possession numbers weren't awful. One of the best home records in the league. It's still sort of odd that they ended up missing the playoffs.

They were bad on the road until that last east coast trip, and then messed that up with whatever they were doing when they went to western Canada in the last week. Obviously terrible in the shootout. And then the goals against that came in bunches, with that one Calgary game at home as the brightest example of that. Plus all the points they gave away against the bottom teams in the league, whereas the Flames went a perfect 10-0 against Edmonton and Arizona, plus 8-2 against the Sharks and Kings. That's the Flames playoff spot right there.

I'm quite excited for the season, whatever questions they have. I want to see if they come out with a focus and purpose after last year. At the start of last year, they really didn't play well from the get go. It was the 2nd line and Quick. Do they have it, or is 2 in 3 the best we're going to see? Nobody saw 2012 coming the way it happened. Nobody saw 2014 coming the way it happened.

They weren't bad last year, but everything was just off here and there. It was death by a thousand cuts. There are still too many guys that have been there and done it to worry. Again, last year was just odd. If that happens this year, then there are bigger issues. 16 guys on the roster have at least 1 Cup. Drop the puck.
 
Reclamation Project said:
Ditto. He's not as good as his 2012 run - 2013 WCF run made him out to be. He regressed in 2013-2014. Kings still need another top 4 though.
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He was the Kings standard 2nd pairing defensman that also played both PP and PK minutes.
In fact he was 2nd in TOI/G till his incident...
Considering what/how Sutter used Voynov I would say, he was pretty darn high in Sutters evaluations thereby a huge loss in quality (on ice) personnel in Voynov...
 
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