Kempe--crazy he's our leading scorer after going so cold at exactly the wrong time. But what a strong two-way player he's become and hopefully he gets something going here in his prime. He'll win a Cup in his career, but probably elsewhere.
Fiala--chaos monkey. I will never not love
@bland 's description of him as an 'empty calories' scorer. Andreas Athanasiou on crack. He has playoff demons to slay but it's less about lack of production and more about handing the puck to the other team on a silver platter. He HAD been looking like he was finally over the knee injury but unfortunately somewhere he gave himself a TBI.
Kopitar--Father Time has finally arrived unfortunately. Bless him for shouldering the piano but CUT HIS f***ING MINUTES so we remember him fondly instead of as Bernie. Reinvented himself late-career for longevity it seems, Byfield helping him out a lot--but it's nice seeing him be the one to go to the soft spots and await a pass for the first time in his career.
Moore--What an emergence. You can sense his frustration in this stretch. Guy cares so much and he's fighting thru it. One guy I have no complaints about in this stretch.
Byfield--Nothing more to say about Q. Dude is our best forward already and I'm eager to see what happens next. YOu can see him starting to manhandle guys already, and now his frustration is turning into a chip on his shoulder, taking responsibility and ownership, deferring much much less. That's an important development.
Danault--he's really hurting lately but this dude is everything hockey. You can win with Danault. His stretch lately has sucked and I get the sense that from after this year he's going to start trending down but great leader and personality and will be an ideal 3C.
Doughty--two seasons for him--Norris worthy until January, then absolute trash and one of the major drags on the team. Not sure what's going on there. Reminds me of 201...6? When he was absolutely bonkers all year then inexplicably fell apart in the Jets game at the end of the year and sucked in the playoffs. It's all mental, get this guy a therapist.
PLD--lol. I mean, I like the human, i love that he loves it here, I want him to succeed. But it's becoming clear he can't be the best player on his line and he's gong to end up an overpaid winger that we gave up too much for and he'll likely never live that down. 8.5m won't be TOO painful down the road but considering this move was for NOW what a self-own.
Laferriere--what a great debut. He's picked up the pro game well. Definitely a guy who should have had some more bench/AHL time to learn and grow, the pro season is a marathon, but he'll work thru it. But for a guy whose greatest asset was his shot, we've gotta find a way to get his offense going so he doesn't just end up a good depth checker.
Anderson--Mikey's followed Doughty. Don't know why he's been so shaky lately. Nice to see him activate more and keep people honest.
Spence--being pulled down by Englund. His performance is what we expected when we were fans of his out of the draft. Maybe he doesn't fully turn into Spurgeon, but what a debut, especially on a team with expectations AND with an anchor around his neck with so much time with Englund and the 4th line.
Kaliyev--poor kid. He's gonna light it up elsewhere. He's gotta be wondering at this point what the f*** he has to do to stick because after getting benched he came out gangbusters and...got benched again. Their mishandling of him is for the ages.
Roy--Still underrated somehow.
Gavrikov--hasn't been the same since the 'lower body totally not knee' injury. Still an immense pickup butnow I'm a little worried he won't be fully 'back' until next year like the other folks. Typical Kings medical staff masterclass.
Grundstrom--showing why he shouldn't play up the lineup or necessarily be an everyday player. I love the guy and he's built for the playoffs but every time we try to make him something he's not it hurts him and the team.
Lewis--Father Time's 2nd in command, like Grundstrom, should be a 13th forward, rest him some games, etc. Smart and saavy and good with the buzzsaw kids for obvious reasons, I like him here but I don't like him blocking dudes out.
Lizotte--the beating this guy takes makes me wonder if his career is shortening as we speak. I know 18 year old me could play like a crash test dummy too but by 24 I felt every little jolt. Fantastic depth player though, and easy to root for, never a question of effort and drags guys into the game.
Englund--has turned back into the pumpkin we thought we were getting. Guy had a great start but the last 15 games have been beyond abysmal. Would really like to see Moverare get some more games. again, don't know what the fascination is of forcing guys into 82 games, rotate some kids through for coffee, earnings, etc....oh wait, Blake buttf***ed the cap so 'it's hard.'
JAD--bless him, does better with reps, good depth checker. Should'nt be blocking other kids. But in an alternate reality he's our 4C with guys like Turcotte ABOVE him instead of pushed out, so he catches stray bullets he shouldn't be catching.
Clarke--well, guess we wont' have to worry about those bonuses since the team is sucking a bag of dicks. Poor kid gets jerked all around and then begged to be our saviour
and doesn't even get an offensive zone start in his debut, liek what the f*** are we doing here.
Moverare--played so so well, needs more showtime, no reason he shouldn't be rotating thru at LHD.
Turcotte--everyone's happy for the kid. Let's prayer circle for his health and continued emergence and KEEP HIM AWAY FROM THE AHL. please. He's better with better players because he's an NHL level support player.
Talbot--poor guy reached his limit. He did all he could but we all knew he'd hit a wall.
Rittich--BSD to the rescue sort of, let's not kill him next.
Copley--will always appreciate what he did, but I think that's it for him here.