So are we all on the same train with Todd?

[Mats26]

Disagree with Vilardi at Center. To clarify a #1 center. He doesn't have the speed or agility for a 1C center in today's NHL. 15 years ago he would of been a beast at center just from his size and vision and the pace being alot slower..... not anymore.

It's not about the offense either. It's the defense. How is Vilardi going to contain McDavid, Berniers, Zegras etc, they would skates circles around him in the d zone. He will need a lot of support from his wingers.

Now maybe a #3C with better matchups would be a better fit but I would want him as a fixture in our top 6 down the road.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

The comment about Vilardi being no good at wing had to be a joke...

 

[Cianide]

I got a question. Is it Phil rushing the rebuild and win now, or is it just Blake now knowing what he's doing?

 

[Kurrilino]

The comment about Vilardi being no good at wing had to be a joke...

Yep, top goal scorer is simply not enough.

 

[Cianide]

The comment about Vilardi being no good at wing had to be a joke...

No. It wasn't a joke. Vilardi should be a center.

 

[Kurrilino]

I got a question. Is it Phil rushing the rebuild and win now, or is it just Blake now knowing what he's doing?

Can we detail the question a bit?

I don't see anyone rushing anything.
I'm sure they know that our cap situation doesn't allow being a contender for next 2 years.
They just ride it out and add pieces when needed in the future.

I would say Blake knows what he is doing, since he is not throwing away our most promising youngsters for 2nd and 3rd line players like most of the peeps demand in here

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

No. It wasn't a joke. Vilardi should be a center.

Well maybe you should tell him that because he obviously wasn't performing well enough at that position to allow him to stay there.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

I got a question. Is it Phil rushing the rebuild and win now, or is it just Blake now knowing what he's doing?

My guess would be, if I was an owner, If I'm going to green-light this concept of building through the draft and slow-cooking my top prospects, I also want to see a competitive team on the ice that is going to sell tickets. I think that is EXACTLY what we have now.

 

[Cianide]

My guess would be, if I was an owner, If I'm going to green-light this concept of building through the draft and slow-cooking my top prospects, I also want to see a competitive team on the ice that is going to sell tickets. I think that is EXACTLY what we have now.

That's not the proper way to rebuild.

Well maybe you should tell him that because he obviously wasn't performing well enough at that position to allow him to stay there.

No. It was management/coaching that said he wasn't good enough to be there.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

That's not the proper way to rebuild.

Says you maybe...but last I checked you weren't writing checks to the players.

No. It was management/coaching that said he wasn't good enough to be there.

Nope, wrong again -- I think one of things most of us here will agree on is that Vilardi wasn't cutting it. You don't have to be an NHL executive to have seen that.

 

[mysterman2]

two items...

I would be shocked if Phil even follows the Kings on a weekly basis. Changes will be made when the bottom line stops being met.

Next and was pondering this- hypothetically if tonights game goes into OT....
Who do you think TMac starts? Pretty sure most of us are all thinking the same thing here.

 

[psych3man]

Eh, disagree -- especially with those two examples. TM doesn't coach Petersen to suck -- TM doesn't coach Durzi to make that pass. Let's get real, coaches coach systems, it's up to the players to perform. When the players don't perform to the system, results are not usually going to be positive.

Here's the positive though -- when the team hits 98 points like they did last year, nobody is saying that's all due to TM -- no, most of it is to to the players' performance.

Coaches have no effect on players' poor performance?
Cole Caulfield says hello.

 

[AbsentMojo]

two items...

I would be shocked if Phil even follows the Kings on a weekly basis. Changes will be made when the bottom line stops being met.

Next and was pondering this- hypothetically if tonights game goes into OT....
Who do you think TMac starts? Pretty sure most of us are all thinking the same thing here.

Id bet when TMac plays the lotto (and who doesnt when its 2 billion) he always picks 8, 9, 11

 

[mysterman2]

Id bet when TMac plays the lotto (and who doesnt when its 2 billion) he always picks 8, 9, 11

LOL.....and he hasnt won yet but its what he does.

 

[AbsentMojo]

TMac came out of the Detriot org famous for the slow boil of prospects to a fault... My guess its baked into his mentality when deciding whether to play younger guys in the top 6.. and why he gives them much less leeway than vets (e.g. why doesnt Vilardi get OT looks - but other guys not doing shit get a regular turn). But really when you look at the roster Blake has filled a lot of the spots in the top 6 with vets... so its on both of them. Still in the cap era - you cant do that.. its stealing from Peter to pay Paul because you have less $$ for the rest of the roster. You need a nice mix -- Kings have way too much money allocated to the top 6 for a team in a hybrid rebuild

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

That's not the proper way to rebuild.


No. It was management/coaching that said he wasn't good enough to be there.

Oh...there is a proper way to rebuild? Hmm....Buffalo? Edmonton? Ottawa? Detroit?

I mean...please point out a PROPER rebuild....

 

[Cianide]

Nope, wrong again -- I think one of things most of us here will agree on is that Vilardi wasn't cutting it. You don't have to be an NHL executive to have seen that.

Cutting it where? In the neutral zone? Who cares about the neutral zone. Backchecking will work fine. Teach the kid how to backcheck.

Oh...there is a proper way to rebuild? Hmm....Buffalo? Edmonton? Ottawa? Detroit?

I mean...please point out a PROPER rebuild....

Tampa Bay.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Cutting it where? In the neutral zone? Who cares about the neutral zone. Backchecking will work fine. Teach the kid how to backcheck.


Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay? Ok, sure....I will bite...first thing you gotta explain when you thought they "rebuilt" Are we talking after Cup Win in 2004?

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

TMac came out of the Detriot org famous for the slow boil of prospects to a fault... My guess its baked into his mentality when deciding whether to play younger guys in the top 6.. and why he gives them much less leeway than vets (e.g. why doesnt Vilardi get OT looks - but other guys not doing shit get a regular turn). But really when you look at the roster Blake has filled a lot of the spots in the top 6 with vets... so its on both of them. Still in the cap era - you cant do that.. its stealing from Peter to pay Paul because you have less $$ for the rest of the roster. You need a nice mix -- Kings have way too much money allocated to the top 6 for a team in a hybrid rebuild

It's funny though because they're doing neither thing 'right.'

If you want to play the team with the best chance to win, you need to play Clarke, and reduce some of the big guys' minutes, especially in OT.

If you want the kids to develop and rebuild/retool on the fly...the above still applies.

Instead they're force-feeding Kopitar and Doughty too many minutes and deploying others to the detriment of the team so they're underachieving AND stagnating prospects. Kind of impressive really. Options A B and C are all right answers but they're going with D, punching self in dick.

 

[YAYSAY]

It's funny though because they're doing neither thing 'right.'

If you want to play the team with the best chance to win, you need to play Clarke, and reduce some of the big guys' minutes, especially in OT.

If you want the kids to develop and rebuild/retool on the fly...the above still applies.

Instead they're force-feeding Kopitar and Doughty too many minutes and deploying others to the detriment of the team so they're underachieving AND stagnating prospects. Kind of impressive really. Options A B and C are all right answers but they're going with D, punching self in dick.

Yeah, it'd be one thing if the vets were actually performing how they should, but Kopi only has one more point than Kaliyev even though he has double the ice time. It's really baffling to ponder what exactly they're trying to do. The broadcast once again showed how Doughty is near the top of the league again in TOI as if it's a good thing, currently averaging 26 mins per game.

If they don't believe themselves to be contenders why are they riding them so hard? If they do believe themselves to be contenders then why are they riding them so hard? I feel like Kopi has been making more gaffes and mental mistakes than I've ever seen him make, and then you stick him out in OT? Are they expecting Kopi to be their 1C until he retires?

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

Yeah, it'd be one thing if the vets were actually performing how they should, but Kopi only has one more point than Kaliyev even though he has double the ice time. It's really baffling to ponder what exactly they're trying to do. The broadcast once again showed how Doughty is near the top of the league again in TOI as if it's a good thing, currently averaging 26 mins per game.

If they don't believe themselves to be contenders why are they riding them so hard? If they do believe themselves to be contenders then why are they riding them so hard? I feel like Kopi has been making more gaffes and mental mistakes than I've ever seen him make, and then you stick him out in OT? Are they expecting Kopi to be their 1C until he retires?

We've GOT to be watching different games here, is Kopitar the same player he was 10 years ago, no, of course not, is he the player that you guys are depicting here, with a walker, and just having fun on a Sunday, not a chance......

He's been fine this year.....just like last year, and the year before that......the way you guys are talking/acting, it is like Kopitar just graduated from E level Beer league....

 

[AbsentMojo]

It's funny though because they're doing neither thing 'right.'

If you want to play the team with the best chance to win, you need to play Clarke, and reduce some of the big guys' minutes, especially in OT.

If you want the kids to develop and rebuild/retool on the fly...the above still applies.

Instead they're force-feeding Kopitar and Doughty too many minutes and deploying others to the detriment of the team so they're underachieving AND stagnating prospects. Kind of impressive really. Options A B and C are all right answers but they're going with D, punching self in dick.

Lol re dick punch. Blake even said last year he had Kaliyev pencilled into the top 6 - and he's still logging just 10min a game - w pts/60 prob closest to best. If you know the team isnt ready to make the leap to compete with Colorado or TB - then why not lean toward more development? as you said without a clear vision you dont do either thing well.

 

[YAYSAY]

We've GOT to be watching different games here, is Kopitar the same player he was 10 years ago, no, of course not, is he the player that you guys are depicting here, with a walker, and just having fun on a Sunday, not a chance......

He's been fine this year.....just like last year, and the year before that......the way you guys are talking/acting, it is like Kopitar just graduated from E level Beer league....

But if you're supposed to take the next step this season, supposed to make the playoffs, is your 1C supposed to be fine? Or is he supposed to be great? Kopi is my favorite player, but he's not 1C caliber anymore and that's fine to admit.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

We've GOT to be watching different games here, is Kopitar the same player he was 10 years ago, no, of course not, is he the player that you guys are depicting here, with a walker, and just having fun on a Sunday, not a chance......

He's been fine this year.....just like last year, and the year before that......the way you guys are talking/acting, it is like Kopitar just graduated from E level Beer league....

He's overplayed. I think he'd be fantastic with reduced minutes. But he's statistically amongst our worst forwards in damn near every category.

Of forwards that have played 12 games, 2nd to last in possession:

Bottom third in goals for percentage, look at how the other middle six Cs are doing:

DFL in high danger possession:

And even the predictive metricsaren't flattering:

And I would definitely say all of this matches the eye test, particularly lately. And he's not even getting the hardest starts! That's Danault, and he's on the polar opposite end of the performance spectrum...

Father Time came fast and hard for Kopitar and TM just blatantly refuses to adjust accordingly, even with other options available.

 

[Axl Rhoadz]

We've GOT to be watching different games here, is Kopitar the same player he was 10 years ago, no, of course not, is he the player that you guys are depicting here, with a walker, and just having fun on a Sunday, not a chance......

He's been fine this year.....just like last year, and the year before that......the way you guys are talking/acting, it is like Kopitar just graduated from E level Beer league....

I love this post because it's 1000% accurate. Majority of posters around here have a 'flare for the dramatics.'

There was one guy not too long ago that that felt Kopitar should be banished to the press box where he could spend that time dwelling on how he's robbing the team on 11-mil dollars.