Post your half-way mark observations/get it off your chest.

[unicornpig]

-TM is a horrendous coach should have been canned two years ago.
-Kempe, regressed from last season
-Byfield making huge strides in his game, hopefully it continues.
- re-singing Moore was a great decision. thought he would gate keep young wingers from breaking in but hes been too good.
-PLD massive disappointment, hopefully he gets better with the coach change.
-having nothing but left shots is idiotic and mostly why the PP has regressed.

 

[Lt Dan]

I am not going to leggo anyone's eggo until Todd is fired

 

[chris kontos]

With all the negativity ive posted and bitched, cried and complained about, i thought id post something positive.

Lets go red wings!

Yep they did it. Starting in 1967 i followed this team and since the advent of luc and blake and rebuild that was never done or incomplete at best the managements goal for this team, despite what manure comes out of thier mouths is obvious. The goal is mediocrity. Just good enough to make the playoffs.
f*** all that participation award weakness.
Im not investing my time and attention to luc, blake and luc's cronys scam on keeping thier jobs. Appearently aeg is disconnected and as long as people keep showing upsnd buying crap there will be no change.
Frankly, im not going to live long enough to see the kings truly compete foranother championship.
The hustle that bluc and bergevin are running is much too anger producing and obvious to me.

 

[Telos]

-Kempe, regressed from last season
-having nothing but left shots is idiotic and mostly why the PP has regressed.

I dunno if I would say Kempe has regressed, he's the team scoring leader and is on pace to far surpass his career-high point total from last year - you can't ask for much more than that. If anything, he is becoming a more complete player.

But I do agree that our almost pure left-shot lineup is affecting the powerplay and is not something that is pointed out all too often. The team is missing Arvidsson and Vilardi who were two right shots that helped with that a bit last season.

 

[DoktorJeep]

The identity is clear, its defense first hockey built around Kopitar and Doughty. What’s unclear is why so many fans are bought into a weak strategy. Why expect an old formula to work after so many seasons of failure?

 

[LAKings88]

I also think the 1-3-1 is just a broke system that teams have figured out.

 

[LeftKinger]

The identity is clear, its defense first hockey built around Kopitar and Doughty. What’s unclear is why so many fans are bought into a weak strategy. Why expect an old formula to work after so many seasons of failure?

If that’s the formula and they don’t want to deviate then why bring in guys like Fiala and Dubois??? And can’t even justify Dubois by referencing depth at center since the guy blows at faceoffs.

 

[DoktorJeep]

If that’s the formula and they don’t want to deviate then why bring in guys like Fiala and Dubois??? And can’t even justify Dubois by referencing depth at center since the guy blows at faceoffs.

The left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing. Luc does some stuff to provide “leadership”. Blake does some stuff to look “sharp”. Bergy does some stuff to create “opportunities”. It’s a team effort and anything can happen once you make the playoffs.

 

[LeftKinger]

I also think the 1-3-1 is just a broke system that teams have figured out.

This! The lines are the same from the beginning of the season and yet the product on the ice looks completely different. They refuse to change up the system and any in game adjustments are nullified by the opposing team after the first. Add individual mistakes, pressing, Talbot coming back to Earth, Todd overplaying Doughty/Kopitar, Dubois being Dubois, no OT adjustments and we have the perfect recipe for dogshit. It has to be apparent to the players on the ice as well, if we’ve figured it out.


Bet half this board could’ve done better with 8.5m in cap space and trade pieces we sent in the Dubois deal.

 

[Mooselum]

PLD trade was horrible and I don't think anyone thought it was a good move. Signing him to that ridiculous contract magnified the problem and it's playing out as most expected. Pure disappointment and makes my disdain of Blake even stronger.

I like certain aspects of the trade.
1. Vilardi is a stud, but health is a serious concern (and has continued - freak play or not). PLD doesnt have that problem.
2. We had too many tweener players taking up cap space, but more importantly roster space from young players. I'd rather see Turc over Iafallo/Kupari who quite honestly are a dime a dozen...

However! I think it sucks to make this trade and then continue with the same problem(s). We signed Lewis and Englund for what reason? We are playing JAD over Turc - why (when healthy of course)?

In my opinion, management needs to make a definitive decision. Either trade the players you are blocking from developing and make a serious run at the cup (with the aging roster), or allow the young players to have their ideal roles for the future and let the mistakes happen.

And to understand fully, we aren't taking Danault off the 2nd line because Moore is having a career year? That chemistry is important for the team going forward? Looking at a very small sample size of minutes (sigh), Dubois + Moore - CF 63.08

PLD + Fiala + Moore should be driving offense on the 2nd line...

Team overall is soft as shit with not even a fraction of the 'compete' many of us loved from the Lombardi days. Always felt it was an issue and makes my hate for Blake as a GM even stronger.

Totally agree though I blame this on the trap system. I think it inherently brings passiveness to the game in all aspects, and doesn't work for this team. I know I am repeating myself, but you can't build a system around the older core. I love Danault as a player, but he shouldn't be your #2 on a great team.

 

[Mattias]

Ooh this is fun! Good idea. I’ll try to add some hopefully unique ideas.

- Blake will not fire Todd as he feels his job security is intertwined. Shades of Dean and Suter. TMac was paid the highest amount of money to be a head coach and the decision to extend a final year is the last straw (in Blake’s mind) to keeping his GM position.

Both will go down together like Dean/suter.

- Luc will stay like Litterfinger from game of thrones. Sorry everyone.

- Dean trades a large package for Soros or a smaller package for Knight.

- We are closer to being the 2015 kings than the championship years. Kings retain Roy, RV, Talbot in an attempt to fight for a championship. All players leave and our forum cries at the loss of assets.

- IF we make the playoffs, it’s Edmonton in the first round. We lose in 5. TMac plays a 1-3-1 while being down 2 in the third period of game 5.

To quote Abed from community: “this is the darkest timeline”

 

[lumbergh]

Some observations through 48 games:

It’s been a tale of two seasons so far. Kings were flying high all the way until Christmas and then it’s been severe constipation since then.

- Kings are still comfortably in a playoff spot, although they are closer to #9 in the conference than #1. Sportsclubstats.com puts them at 92% probability of reaching playoffs.

- MVP: Quinton Byfield. Team best +14, makes whatever line he’s on measurably better. He is positively impacting the game from one end to the other. The heir apparent to Anze Kopitar. If there is joy to be had this season, it is watching QB blossom into the force he is. Still room to grow.

Pleasant surprises:

- Trevor “Thousand Oaks” Moore: close second for MVP in my eyes. Consistently better in every way this year
- Jordan Spence: Baby Doughty is awesome. Close second to Doughty on assists from D
- Penalty Killing: best in the league
- Cam Talbot and David Rittich: Goaltending was a major question mark coming into the season, but these two have been way better than expected.

Very good:

- Anze Kopitar just keeps trucking. Amazingly consistent.
- Adrian Kempe brings it every night. Kings need to feed him the puck on the PP more.
- Drew Doughty bringing back his slap shot this season, 11 goals so far.
- Mikey Anderson just doing what he does as Drew’s wingman.

Meh:

- Todd McLellan. Making adjustments has never been his forte. Keeps deploying the 1-3-1 and playing not to lose, only to lose.
- Power play. Just not getting the goals they did last year.
- Philip Danault, Kevin Fiala, Matt Roy, Vlad Gavrikov. The Kings middle guys are good some nights, bad some nights
- The fourth line. Good at the beginning of the year, then completely disappeared.
- Arty Kaliyev. So much potential, working so hard, but shooting everything into the goalie’s chest. Shooting percentage of 7% doesn’t cut it for a guy that lives on his shot.

Bad:

- Pierre-Luc Dubois. Trade and contract didn’t make any sense to me when it happened. Total disappointment. Not much more to say that hasn't already been said.
- Rob Blake. Obviously the Dubois trade and contract drags down all the successes over the past few years.
- Alex Laferriere. A few moments of good play, but seems completely incapable of actually scoring. 6% shooting percentage.
- Brandt Clarke. Rookie defenseman playing like a rookie defenseman. Hopefully he’ll figure it out. I wouldn’t mind seeing him next to Doughty; I think he’d learn a lot.
- Andreas Englund. Play has really dropped off. He’s been watching the puck go into the Kings net a lot lately.

Kings as a team need to score more. The defense and goaltending have been good, but this McLellan team lives and dies by scoring. It’s not a 3-2 league anymore. It’s a 4-3 league. When the Kings score 4 or more goals, they win (19 wins out of 20). When they don’t, they lose (4 wins out of 28).

Over the break they need to work on the power play. Big difference between 21% (middle) and 25% (top 10). An extra goal every 2 or 3 games from the PP is huge. They also need to work on OT and shoot out. Their inability to grab bonus points is kinda slow-killing their season.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

This! The lines are the same from the beginning of the season and yet the product on the ice looks completely different. They refuse to change up the system and any in game adjustments are nullified by the opposing team after the first. Add individual mistakes, pressing, Talbot coming back to Earth, Todd overplaying Doughty/Kopitar, Dubois being Dubois, no OT adjustments and we have the perfect recipe for dogshit. It has to be apparent to the players on the ice as well, if we’ve figured it out.


Bet half this board could’ve done better with 8.5m in cap space and trade pieces we sent in the Dubois deal.

I will take that bet for all you are worth, this board is bi-polar, and wouldn't know the first thing to do on how to build a better, all this BS of we would have signed UFA Player A who signed in Nashville for half the money, never takes into consideration that a player has to say yes, people on this board would make that offer, then stomp their feet when the player says no....and have no idea but to rinse and repeat.... you repeat half the BS like it has merit, this board is just a f***ing parrot talking to itself.

 

[YAYSAY]

I will take that bet for all you are worth, this board is bi-polar, and wouldn't know the first thing to do on how to build a better, all this BS of we would have signed UFA Player A who signed in Nashville for half the money, never takes into consideration that a player has to say yes, people on this board would make that offer, then stomp their feet when the player says no....and have no idea but to rinse and repeat.... you repeat half the BS like it has merit, this board is just a f***ing parrot talking to itself.

They traded for PLD before free agency even started didn't they? You like to harp on O'Rielly, maybe he wouldn't have signed here, but there were other players available as well. I still just don't see why you seem to think their only option was trading for Dubois, as if their hands were completely tied.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

They traded for PLD before free agency even started didn't they? You like to harp on O'Rielly, maybe he wouldn't have signed here, but there were other players available as well. I still just don't see why you seem to think their only option was trading for Dubois, as if their hands were completely tied.

Not saying that, I'm saying that for all of the UFA that LA Kings SHOULD HAVE SIGNED.....always, completely, always, ignores the fact that there's no evidence of any FA wanting to sign in LA, go back the past 25 years, look for top end players signing FA deals in LA......

Could they have waited an extra week or two for the PLD deal, sure....I don't think anything would have remotely changed by that though, they still thought/think they were getting the best player in the deal etc,

 

[Lt Dan]

This team is horribly coached.
Englund is not good a D
It's a war crime that Spence and/or Clarke or Moverare are getting scratched in favor of him

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

So....after last night games, here's my half-season observations, will try really hard to focus on the team and not the bi-polarness of it's fans.

Can split this into two seasons,

First half, things were coming easy, they were paying attention to details, executing the system with minimal effort, things were looking fine.

Second half, things weren't coming easy, they stopped paying attention to detail, with not paying atteniton, they couldn't execute, and they looked like the worst team in the league,

The true team is probably somewhere in the middle, everyone wants to bitch about the 1-3-1 system without recognizing when and how it's used, they think that by spouting off, see ,they play 1-3-1 and teams have figured it out, that it makes them look like they know WTF they are talking about, here's a hint, you don't. Teams HAVE adjusted to a 1-3-1 system, but that's not the reason why the last half of the first half happened, it's more of a getting the puck in etc, teams that have a McDavid, or a McKinnon, can break through without having to dump in because of the skill those players have.

Byfield has finally broken through, and I think he will keep improving to be a top line player, be it W or C, I could care less, if a player isgoing to score 40 goals and chip in 50 assists, the last thing you care about, is where he lines up on a faceoff.

Kopitar - Kempe have been there typical selves.

Danault has been worrisome defensively, turnovers, missing assignments, hopefully that gets turned around, Moore, playing lights out, need to do that season to season, and not have this be a one season wonder, Fiala, PPG Kings player, live and die by the sword.

Lafarierre, has never found a shot he doesn't like to take, and that's a good thing, care less about shooting percentage in his first 40 games....he's played well, he's defensively solid, playing PK, he will make life difficult when Arvidsson comes back, I see him going down only because Waivers...when Arvidsson comes back.

Turcotte, might have finally shown what he can do, and is a good replacement,

Kaliyev had multiple opportunities couldn't seem to hang on to them.

Spence/Clarke, rookies playing rookie D, second goal against, Nashville last night, anyone care to tell me who he was covering? Rookie mistakes, they just have to work it out,

Overall, team is fine if they pay attention to detail and put the work in, if they don't, it doesn't matter who they have, they will lose.

 

[YAYSAY]

Not saying that, I'm saying that for all of the UFA that LA Kings SHOULD HAVE SIGNED.....always, completely, always, ignores the fact that there's no evidence of any FA wanting to sign in LA, go back the past 25 years, look for top end players signing FA deals in LA......

Could they have waited an extra week or two for the PLD deal, sure....I don't think anything would have remotely changed by that though, they still thought/think they were getting the best player in the deal etc,

Danault was one of the more coveted FA in the off-season he was available. I agree that their history isn't good, but it's definitely not impossible.

 

[LAKings88]

The 1-3-1 needs to be worked to perfection. Also, the Kings play not to lose in this system instead of playing to win.

That was part of the issue with the two Oiler series. Never really took the game to them. No killer instinct.

The Oilers exposed the 1-3-1.

 

[Lt Dan]

The 1-3-1 needs to worked to perfection. Also, the Kings play not to lose in this system instead of playing to win.

That was part of the issue with the two Oiler series. Never really took the game to them. No killer instinct.

The Oilers exposed the 1-3-1.

It wasn't just the Oilers. In retrospect the Islanders broke us

Before

Flashback to the Islanders game

The Kings were winning 2-0. Lee w/ a questionable hit on Gavrikov. Englund doesn't beat Lee in to next year and Lee goes on to score 2 goals in regulation to tie and it we lose in overtime

and we have been broken ever since

 

[tny760]

i knew it was ugly, didn't think it was that ugly

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Danault was one of the more coveted FA in the off-season he was available. I agree that their history isn't good, but it's definitely not impossible.

LOL forgot about Danault, so 1 in 25 years, and yea it's not impossible, no one ever said it was, but it's highly highly improbable....

 

[Lt Dan]

i knew it was ugly, didn't think it was that ugly

It's Kathy Griffin ugly my friend

 

[Gjwrams]

It's Kathy Griffin ugly my friend

Come on. Nothing is as bad as that vile, Talentless hatchet wound.

 

[Trash Panda]

The 1-3-1 needs to be worked to perfection. Also, the Kings play not to lose in this system instead of playing to win.

That was part of the issue with the two Oiler series. Never really took the game to them. No killer instinct.

The Oilers exposed the 1-3-1.

I don’t think that it takes a rocket scientist to realize that sitting back & waiting for Drai/McDavid to build up steam is a f***ing horrific strategy.

With how their D plays under pressure, that team needs to be constantly pressed.