News Article: THE ATHLETIC - 2019-20 NHL Season Preview: Los Angeles Kings

[BringTheReign]

If anyone was surprised by the strength of the rhetoric used in the Kings season preview, go read the Oilers one. The word "evisceration" comes to mind, phew.

 

[jfont]

I really liked what Lizotte showed in his only game w the kings last year. I predict he will make the roster this year

 

[Steve Zissou]

Not sure if Ryan would be DD's
partner. ?

If so, that would be scary. Although DD has had to play with Forbort, so...

Although didn't he play some with Burns, in SJ?

Ryan started out with Burns but got beat out by Simek as a #6. Once Simek got hurt Ryan came back in and played a bit with Braun but was craptastic. Come playoffs he hardly played and couldn't be trusted by the coaching staff.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

The article does say the Kings have an 81% chance of being better than they were last season.

Willie Desjardins is gone. There is a 100% chance of the Kings being better than they were last season.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I think item number 2 on your list is the most problematic. The Kings just don't have much depth on defense.

I agree #2 is scary. But If LA doesn’t start getting Drew’s minutes trending down, he’s going to breakdown or get injured. I agree with you - not sure who can step up and allow TM to get Drew off the ice. Very concerning.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Cliffs: The numbers say Kopitar and Doughty were even worse than they looked to the eyes.

I still think we will regret not moving one of them, I was cool with one extension and making one of them the face of the franchise but giving both of them long term big money contracts well into their 30's is IMO going to be a huge mistake.

Mistake or not, if they wanted to stay, they were going to stay. They paid Quick, they paid Brown, then Kopitar got paid, and after all that they weren't going to not pay Doughty if he wanted to stick around.

It just sucks that 13-14 was the last good year, and that was the first year of Quick's thank you contract. Brown was still in the last year of his previous deal that year, and his rocky relationship with Sutter had already begun. Kopitar and Doughty were still in the middle of their better for the team contracts. They've wasted a lot of money on those 4, but I guess 2012 had to come at a price.

The Kings will only be decent this year if they return to playing good structured team defense. That's their path to competitiveness.

Which they don't have the team for anymore. For any number of reasons.

Willie Desjardins is gone. There is a 100% chance of the Kings being better than they were last season.

The day WD was hired, the Kings were 30th overall. 31st in points%. They didn't suck because of Willie. Despite the score, the team was embarrassed by Vegas, they weren't really in the series, and didn't bother showing up from day 1 of training camp last Sept. Last year was not a Desjardins problem. The players earned Desjardins.

I agree #2 is scary. But If LA doesn’t start getting Drew’s minutes trending down, he’s going to breakdown or get injured. I agree with you - not sure who can step up and allow TM to get Drew off the ice. Very concerning.

There is certainly no reason to play DD 25+ minutes every night. He's been at 25+ for basically 10 of his 11 seasons in the league. Last year were the fewest minutes he's played since the golden age ended. With even less help than he had last year, and with expectations at rock bottom for the team, if not non-existent, he needs to be in the low 20's, because I guess less than 20 would be crazy. Regardless of who else is on the roster. Who can step up shouldn't matter. Just throw some of the other warm bodies out there. He doesn't need to be out there killing penalties as much. Doesn't have to churn out 20+ minutes at ES every game.

Same with Kopitar. Get him under 20 total minutes. Again, fewer minutes on the PK, bring that ES time down a bit, but if he wants to hang on the wall on the PP again, whatever, that's easy ice time.

None of that will probably happen, because in the moment you might get that competitive juice flowing, and if you can win a game, you'll want to get your best players out there, blah, blah, blah. However, the longer you're contractually obligated to play for the Kings, the less time you should be on the ice this year. Those guys are going to be here a while, and this year doesn't count. Nobody is going to hold it against anyone if they're bottom 3 or 5 again. Last year was the blight on a career. That's the one that goes up on the mantel. This year is irrelevancy.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It would be fun to see McLellan deploy Doughty like Burns for a year

Give Forbort-Martinez the shutdown minutes (I mean, that's like all of them anyway) and Turn. Drew. Loose.

 

[RossLonsberryFan]

I agree #2 is scary. But If LA doesn’t start getting Drew’s minutes trending down, he’s going to breakdown or get injured. I agree with you - not sure who can step up and allow TM to get Drew off the ice. Very concerning.

I went to a dozen Reign games last season. I really liked what I saw from Austin Strand after Walker and Roy were called up. He is my “dark horse” to make the team out of training camp this year.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I went to a dozen Reign games last season. I really liked what I saw from Austin Strand after Walker and Roy were called up. He is my “dark horse” to make the team out of training camp this year.

I do think Strand has some major--like #2 d-man--upside. Like Brickley, he has all the tools, plus he can be pissy once in a while.

 

[Maynard]

It would be fun to see McLellan deploy Doughty like Burns for a year

Give Forbort-Martinez the shutdown minutes (I mean, that's like all of them anyway) and Turn. Drew. Loose.

I don’t think Drew has a lot of offensive skill like Burns. If you turn Drew loose you’ll see a bunch of failed dangle attempts, and big wind ups for weak slap shots that aren’t on net. He can contribute offensively with his IQ, positioning and passing as good as anyone but he can’t create on his own like Burns.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I don’t think Drew has a lot of offensive skill like Burns. If you turn Drew loose you’ll see a bunch of failed dangle attempts, and big wind ups for weak slap shots that aren’t on net. He can contribute offensively with his IQ, positioning and passing as good as anyone but he can’t create on his own like Burns.

I'm half joking because he's not EK or Burns, but I disagree about his offensive skillset, he's literally never been able to use it since his Sophomore year.

If he got soft deployment, and spent that much more time in the offensive zone, you really don't think he'd be good for another 5-10 points?

Don't get me wrong, it wouldn't be maximizing his skillset, he's a top-3 shutdown d-man in the NHL.

Edit: to illustrate, Doughty has typically gotten the fewest or 2nd fewest offensive zone starts by % on the team, and constantly faces the top competition--nevermind all the PK time and dzone starts with an in-over-his-head partner. Last year, Burns started the most offensive zone faceoffs by % on his team: 62.92%--nearly twice as many as he had in the dzone. He also faced the 2nd softest competition of any of their D. There's more than a 20% difference, and literally 300+ more faceoffs in the other zone.

I don't believe Doughty has it in him to be PPG, but I don't think 70+ would be out of the question.

Edit: This is one of the reasons I believe Doughty should have had the Norris over Hedman, too. He was insulated with far fewer minutes, a better team, more managed playing time (PP vs. PK), etc.

 

[Maynard]

It would be fun to see McLellan deploy Doughty like Burns for a year

Give Forbort-Martinez the shutdown minutes (I mean, that's like all of them anyway) and Turn. Drew. Loose.

I don’t think Drew has a lot of offensive skill like Burns. If you turn Drew loose you’ll see a bunch of failed dangle attempts, and big wind ups for weak slap shots that aren’t on net. He can contribute offensively with his IQ, positioning and passing as good as anyone but he can’t create on his own like Burns.

 

[johnjm22]

Which they don't have the team for anymore. For any number of reasons.

This is a common misconception.

You don't need a specific set of personnel in order to play good team defense. You have to commit to a lower scoring, lower risk, systemic approach. That's why a team like the Islanders can go from the worst defensive team in the league to the best defensive team in the league the following year.

Playing this style is how a near talentless team like the Coyotes were able to hang around the playoff race for much of last year.

Under current management this isn't going to happen though. They believe in the speed/up-tempo fallacy.

 

[regulate]

I went to a dozen Reign games last season. I really liked what I saw from Austin Strand after Walker and Roy were called up. He is my “dark horse” to make the team out of training camp this year.

I like Austin, but the chance of that happening is very close to zero short of injuries galore on the right side. He needs to improve his balance (he lost his balance quite a few times for a pro D man getting turned around on the rush leading to golden chances for the opponent), anticipation and strength. He has a sneaky good shot from the point, and I've never seen someone ring so many posts in one season. But let's be realistic here, it's just not gonna happen dark horse or not this year. A true dark horse to make the Kings out of camp is Blake Lizotte. That could happen.

 

[Herby]

Doughty's offensive game just never took the next step to be a consistent 60 point guy. He has been way better defensively than I think anyone would have thought when he was drafted 11 years ago, but after 59 points in his second year as a 19/20 year old he has only topped that once, in what will likely be his career year in the 17/18 season. Some of that is the Kings system and lack of talent, but Doughty on his own misses to many chances to become a part of the offense at ES and is predictable and vanilla on the PP.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Doughty needs to fall out of love with the big windup for the fake slap shot and the head fake. He does one or the other 100% of the time he has the puck in the offensive zone.

 

[lumbergh]

I really liked what Lizotte showed in his only game w the kings last year. I predict he will make the roster this year

Two words: Sample size.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I like Austin, but the chance of that happening is very close to zero short of injuries galore on the right side. He needs to improve his balance (he lost his balance quite a few times for a pro D man getting turned around on the rush leading to golden chances for the opponent), anticipation and strength. He has a sneaky good shot from the point, and I've never seen someone ring so many posts in one season. But let's be realistic here, it's just not gonna happen dark horse or not this year. A true dark horse to make the Kings out of camp is Blake Lizotte. That could happen.

Never stopped Dustin Brown

I think Rempal and Kaliyev have a chance to get some games too. This would be a bad year for Adrian Kempe's career if he were to not sign by camp, too many challengers eager to lock a spot.