Round 1 Game 3 Sharks @ Kings: Kings Lose 4-3; Sharks Lead series 3-0

[KingsHockey24]

Lets think of the positive things guys, likee Gaboriks sick goal. When was the last time we saw someone do that in a Kings uni?

 

[skolgoar]

Like others have said, when you lose this soundly, there's plenty of blame to go around. Hopefully Lombardi is able to detach emotionally and make a roster and make the necessary moves. The 2012 run is two years removed at this point - the kiddy gloves need to come off. The "heart and soul guys" need to be honestly evaluated, as well as the D core and bottom six. One thing I will never say about DL is that he's a lazy GM. Guy burns the candle at both ends, so let's just hope he has the insight to retool properly.

You know, DL took plenty of criticism for trading for McNabb at the deadline, but now that we are seeing our old, slow defence getting exploited many are realizing that McNabb was brought in as a replacement.

DL isn't blind ... He knows that the blueline needs to get re-vamped, but most teams around the league are signing their defensive dmen to prevent them going to UFA and are asking a lot in return to move them. DL sacrificed a lot to win the Cup and he was forced to give up some good long term resources to do so, but I really doubt many Kings fans would trade the Cup to be able to beat the Sharks this season. I can't blame him trying to hold onto the same group who has played the most amount of games in the past three seasons, especially since they have been a couple of strange seasons since the Kings won - a lockout shortened year followed by an Olympic year.

He's got some work to do this summer, but he still has a strong core to work with. Brown us not having a good year, but he looks like he has been playing hurt all season long. When you compare him to Callahan, he really isn't that expensive even as a 3rd liner - I just hope he bounces back next season. After all, I remember how many people here were ragging on Kopi last season (when he was playing with a brace), and yet he came back with a monster year this year. Richards probably needs to go because it really looks like his game has gone off the cliff and we can't carry both him and Brown. Hopefully some young team will take him (Winnipeg/Edmonton?) for some veteran mentoring of a young team if the Kings take back some salary. I think Mitchell's gone - he has really slowed down and we are relying on him for too many minutes. I doubt Greene come back. Regehr would be fine if we didn't have to use him as our top defensive dman. Jones will get more starts next year and Quick will have a more even year. Pearson will continue to develop and be a strong 2/3 winger. Hopefully Toffolli will get past this year's sophomore slump (yes, I realize people still consider him a rookie, but he played enough last year & in the playoffs last year to be really in his sophomore season).

I am as disappointed as anyone that the Sharks have rolled over the Kings but the biggest issue is that out defence looks old and slow and hasn't been consistent for much of the season - mistily because of our defensive blue liners. If DL can shore up the blueline, I think that he can just re tweak other parts to bring the Kings back.

One last point - if the Kings had not been blown out the 1st two games - if they lost in 5,6, or 7 in games like last night by a goal or in OT, would we be seeing so many posts looking for DL to blow up this team?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I do feel that Brown is getting a bit of a pass. All we hear about is Richards this and Richards that (and yes, he's been awful). Hell, there even had to be a dedicated ***** about Richards thread. Look at the numbers though:

You've been here all year. You can't really believe that, can you?

I think the difference is this is clearly an outlier year for Brown and he has a publicly-known knee injury from the beginning of the year. He's taken more than enough heat all year. By comparison, maybe, it looks like he's not taking that much because Richards is taking a beating.

On the bright side, the Kings didn't give up buckets of odd-man rushes last night. And they seemed to have figured out how to take away the stretch pass and the neutral zone cross icer.

It's a process, people.

Agreed, well said. I may be the only one but I still see us taking 1-2 games. We may not win, but we're going to be a nightmare to eliminate fully.

I called Mike Richards two years ago and was vilified. Can we trade him straight up for David Clarkson?

You called him? and he answered?

 

[YP44]

Lets think of the positive things guys, likee Gaboriks sick goal. When was the last time we saw someone do that in a Kings uni?

I felt way more deflated after games 1 & 2. San Jose got the bounces last night. 3 of their goals were flukes (thank RR for knocking over Quick).
I liked the game last night as the Kings were actually hitting. Brown, Richards and mostly Stoll were throwing their weight around. Hell even Carter threw a big one.
If LA were to have played like that the first two games this series would not be all but over. If they finish it out playing like that I can wear my jerseys with pride. not that I wouldn't anyway.

 

[KingsCourt]

easy...
get rid of WM, RR, MG from D
get rid of KFC, JW from F
Pray Brown and Richie regain their form

replace with some speed and size..easier said than done.

 

[bmr]

Have King and Williams been good in this series? No, but i'd hardly blame it on them. Brown and Richards need more of the blame on this one.
QUOTE]

im not talking about blame...im talking about changes that have to be made

Brown and Richards at this point have more upside than Williams and King

thats my point

Williams is on a decline and King is King...nothing more than what we are seeing now

so they go

thats it

I'd be more open to trading Williams than I was, but I'd move Brown and Richards before anyone else. Actually, Brown first and then Richards. King and Williams don't have a huge salary cap hit for their production..that is what you need to look at.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Great post skolgar. I will say though that the criticism of McNabb is his footspeed, so there's that.

As an aside, this will be the first time Quick (and others, I'm sure) gets to rest and relax without rehabbing an injury. Theoretically, he will go into next season fully healthy, conditioned, and coached. Since the cup run, he's had back surgery and a groin injury...

 

[KingsFan7824]

Really? Did you not read the first paragraph of my post? Guess not. Well since you missed it or your reading comprehension is bad I said the Kings have done a good job finding complimentary players in the later rounds. But you are not going to build a championship caliber roster by hitting singles on bottom six and third pair defenders in later rounds , when it comes to the first round, outside of #2 overall pick Doughty the Kings have not hit a homerun and have actually struck out multiple times in round one. I think we all agree the Kings defense is aging and slowing down and there really isn't anyone in house who is ready to be anything more than a bottom pairing defender, you are crazy if you think two terrible and one questionable pick used on defenders from 07-10 isn't playing a part in that. If even one of Hickey, Teubert or Forbort had lived up to potential and been a Top 4 defenseman the Kings are in much much better shape than they currently are on the back end.

So again, not being critical of the drafting outside of round 1, and the Kings have a nice group of role players but a lot of the issues with the depth on this team go back to the misses and the traded first round picks, there is no disputing it.

How much more do you want? The Kings have 3 of their own draft picks in their top 6on defense. Muzzin wasn't a Kings pick, but he's been developed by the Kings. He's not great, but he's got more raw talent than anyone not named Doughty. That's 4 out of 7.

Should the Kings have drafted Karlsson over Teubert? Sure, but looking back, Karlsson also shouldn't have even been available for the Kings to take him. If everyone knew exactly who to draft at every pick, then every draft would look completely different.

Did anyone know Mitchell and Greene would be so hurt the last few years? Yes, there was a chance because of age and physical play, but every base can't be covered all the time. Every hole on a roster can't be filled, and every player isn't going to have a ready replacement available any time their play dips.

Is Regehr great? No, but how many defensemen changed teams last summer? Scuderi and Gonchar, that's about it. And then like half of Colorado's defense, but I doubt anyone would've been saying the Kings have solved their issues on defense with Andre Beniot or Nick Holden.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I felt way more deflated after games 1 & 2. San Jose got the bounces last night. 3 of their goals were flukes (thank RR for knocking over Quick).
I liked the game last night as the Kings were actually hitting. Brown, Richards and mostly Stoll were throwing their weight around. Hell even Carter threw a big one.
If LA were to have played like that the first two games this series would not be all but over. If they finish it out playing like that I can wear my jerseys with pride. not that I wouldn't anyway.

Amen.

I want to fire Regehr out of a cannon, maybe not his fault he's getting the minutes he's getting, but he was a big cause of last night's ultimate result

 

[bmr]

One last point - if the Kings had not been blown out the 1st two games - if they lost in 5,6, or 7 in games like last night by a goal or in OT, would we be seeing so many posts looking for DL to blow up this team?

Of course not. But that's because they were actually IN the games. At what point (other than the first period of game 2 and parts of game 3) did you feel like the Kings could actually win one of these games? To me, that is the biggest issue here..the Kings are getting completely dismantled in this series.

 

[YP44]

Amen.

I want to fire Regehr out of a cannon, maybe not his fault he's getting the minutes he's getting, but he was a big cause of last night's ultimate result

Agreed. I like Reggie as a 5/6 defender with PK time. Nothing more at this point.

 

[YP44]

Great post skolgar. I will say though that the criticism of McNabb is his footspeed, so there's that.

As an aside, this will be the first time Quick (and others, I'm sure) gets to rest and relax without rehabbing an injury. Theoretically, he will go into next season fully healthy, conditioned, and coached. Since the cup run, he's had back surgery and a groin injury...

I was hoping to see McNabb potentially get into the playoffs as a black ace.
Wasn't he getting like 20 minutes in the NHL two seasons ago? I know it was with Buffalo but still that is great experience.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I was hoping to see McNabb potentially get into the playoffs as a black ace.
Wasn't he getting like 20 minutes in the NHL two seasons ago? I know it was with Buffalo but still that is great experience.

Same. Theoretically, he's as NHL ready as they come, but I'm sure the team will like to do some development work with him. He was seeing time with Buffalo, yes

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Going back to the Chicago series, Kings have one win against teams that are fast and have an explosive offense. A record of 1-7-0 with just about the same cast of players on the roster. Something needs to be addressed.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

It will be interesting to see what DL does with the team in the offseason. Hopefully Gaborik is retained. I don't think he'll trade Brown but I guess I could see Richards being traded. I'll be disappointed if at the very least there isn't a moderate shake up. The only guys that I wouldn't trade are Kopitar, Doughty, Quick and Carter. Everyone else is fair game. Not saying everyone else needs to go but those are the only guys that should not be moved.

I wasn't sold on the team going into this season but ironically it was because I thought the defense was particularly bad. Well, they ended up keeping the puck out of the net most of the season and they deserve credit for that. I thought a big part of the problem with the Kings offense this season was the inability of the defense to move the puck up the ice. I hope Martinez has earned himself a spot on the roster moving forward. He is probably our best first passer or skate the puck up the icer guy. My guess is they'll move towards getting Pearson/Vey/Toffoli in the line up. From what I've seen of the three, I really think Pearson is likely to become the best player. He has the most tools of the three. Toffoli looks like he needs a serious confidence boost and playing on the 4th line hasn't helped him much.

Rambling

Rambling

Rambling

 

[Herby]

Going back to the Chicago series, Kings have one win against teams that are fast and have an explosive offense. A record of 1-7-0 with just about the same cast of players on the roster. Something needs to be addressed.

The Kings got zero, ZERO even strength goals from the bottom six in 18 playoff games last year and the only change Dean made was bringing in Carcillo for Richardson.

That was one of Dean's poorest decisions as GM, not addressing the bottom six after the disaster of last years playoffs. To me it sent a horrible message that no one down there was held accountable for that performance. In fact Clifford and Lewis were given extensions with raises.

 

[Telos]

A lot does need to change. I expect Lombardi to react and we will see what comes at the draft. Our defense definitely needs to become younger and faster. Regehr is the only guy I want back of the veterans, but as a bottom pairing guy.

On the bright side, it was really nice to see a few Kings attack the net. It was a breath of fresh air to see this last night:



Unfortunately, the only players we have capable of anything like that is Carter, Kopitar, Gaborik, and maybe Doughty.

 

[fsanford]

Lets think of the positive things guys, likee Gaboriks sick goal. When was the last time we saw someone do that in a Kings uni?

Tell me about it, that was a goal scorers goal, maybe last guy to do that was Ziggy. I hope we keep him here for a couple of more years.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Re: the Game last night

Kinda deflating that the Kings played about as good as they can and still came up short. Props to the Sharks.. they've played well. Maybe this their year? I'll definitely be rooting for them against the Ducks but I'm hoping Dallas pulls off an upset.

It felt like the Kings were going full boar all night and I almost knew they needed to score in that first 5 minutes of OT. I think Sutter was putting Kopitar out there every other shift. Gaborik seemed to be out there a lot. If only that one shot didn't hit the post...


sad face

 

[Bandit]

A lot does need to change. I expect Lombardi to react and we will see what comes at the draft. Our defense definitely needs to become younger and faster. Regehr is the only guy I want back of the veterans, but as a bottom pairing guy.

On the bright side, it was really nice to see a few Kings attack the net. It was a breath of fresh air to see this last night:



Unfortunately, the only players we have capable of anything like that is Carter, Kopitar, Gaborik, and maybe Doughty.

Yeah, that was a very pretty goal. It's fitting though that this season basically ended with our defense essentially putting pucks past Quick. Regher runs him over, Voynov deflects the GWG... What can you do?

 

[Telos]

The Kings got zero, ZERO even strength goals from the bottom six in 18 playoff games last year and the only change Dean made was bringing in Carcillo for Richardson.

That was one of Dean's poorest decisions as GM, not addressing the bottom six after the disaster of last years playoffs. To me it sent a horrible message that no one down there was held accountable for that performance. In fact Clifford and Lewis were given extensions with raises.

Clifford is being actively shopped and we were in on Gagner. Dean and Sutter both know that the bottom 6 is an Achilles heel for us, but at the same time it is hard to rectify and spare no expense. Remember, we were right up to the cap ceiling after acquiring Gaborik. I think it is safe to say that there will definitely be changes in the offseason in that area. How much of them depends on the market though.

 

[YP44]

The Kings got zero, ZERO even strength goals from the bottom six in 18 playoff games last year and the only change Dean made was bringing in Carcillo for Richardson.

That was one of Dean's poorest decisions as GM, not addressing the bottom six after the disaster of last years playoffs. To me it sent a horrible message that no one down there was held accountable for that performance. In fact Clifford and Lewis were given extensions with raises.

This is true however the bottom six have not been the problem this year.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

@hockey_ref: The Kings have dropped 5 straight playoff games for the 1st time since losing 14 straight from 1993 to 2001: http://t.co/sFJ1J8Izaj

 

[KingsFan7824]

Going back to the Chicago series, Kings have one win against teams that are fast and have an explosive offense. A record of 1-7-0 with just about the same cast of players on the roster. Something needs to be addressed.

The Kings were 10-1 on the road when they won the Cup. They're 1-10 on the road since. That's the yin and yang of sports.

 

[skolgoar]

Same. Theoretically, he's as NHL ready as they come, but I'm sure the team will like to do some development work with him. He was seeing time with Buffalo, yes

Reports out of Buffalo aren't that he couldn't crack the lineup as much as it was that the Sabres were cycling through their young dman to see what they had and stayed with veterans who weren't good just to avoid screwing up the development of their young blueliners. McNabb was available because the Sabres stocked up on a bunch of high end guys, but comparing him to the guys on the Sabres roster this season and judging his readiness for a starting spot next season based upon that is probably bad analysis and lack of understanding of the situation in Buffalo.