The Kings are.. oof

[Machinehead]

This excuse doesn’t fly for the leafs vs Boston or Tampa the last 4-5 years.. why should it fly for the kings? Please enlighten me

It should fly for the Leafs but the Leafs are a meme.

Outside of not being able to beat Boston (who were generally the higher seed anyway!) the Leafs haven't done anything but lose to better teams.

Outside of beating each other, the Eastern Conference hasn't beaten a team from Florida in a 7 game series since 2019, and somehow only the Leafs take heat for it.

 

[thebeernerd]

The Oilers may have had at least one Cup already if not for Holland's inability to build around McDrai. And in LA he's going to have less to work with. Awful hire. I don't understand how so many GMs get so many chances in this league. If it was possible to resurrect Ray Shero he'd have a GM position the next day.

It should fly for the Leafs but the Leafs are a meme.

Outside of not being able to beat Boston (who were generally the higher seed anyway!) the Leafs haven't done anything but lose to better teams.

Outside of beating each other, the Eastern Conference hasn't beaten a team from Florida in a 7 game series since 2019, and somehow only the Leafs take heat for it.

I don't know where you're sitting but from where I am, the Bruins get plenty of heat for having the best regular season ever, going up 3-1 against the Panthers, then collapsing in the greatest non-reverse sweep fashion ever. And they deserve it. And they're only going to get more of it as we get further away from that season and realize that was their last, greatest shot at a Cup that they pissed away.

 

[Osprey]

They have no control over running into the best team in the West in the first round.

A team figured out how to beat the Oilers in each of the last 3 years, and it was not only a different team each time, but a team that hadn't faced them in the playoffs in a long time (if ever). Each one figured out how to beat the Oilers in 7 or fewer games on their first attempt, so the Kings have no excuse for not figuring it out over 24 games and beating them even once in 4 attempts.

 

[Machinehead]

A team figured out how to beat the Oilers in each of the last 4 years, and it was not only a different team each time, but a team that hadn't faced them in the playoffs in a long time. Each one beat the Oilers with their first opportunity, so the Kings have no excuse for not beating them even once in 4 attempts. They played them 24 times in those 4 years and learned less about how to beat them than 3 other teams learned in 7 or fewer games.

I'm not saying that don't deserve any criticism for it but if it wasn't always in the first round, I don't think anybody would even notice it.

 

[yankeeking]

No one is going to blow up a playoff competitive team, not even worth discussing outside the hockey sim forum

This is the thing , which team has rebuilt since the Kings last won a cup , red wings, hawks,sabres, ducks , sharks , canadiens got the closest in the covid year but not since. Rebuilds are fun on here but not in owners pockets, here in SoCal if you’re not putting winning teams on the ice your building is half empty just ask the ducks , so you are right they are not going to tear it down just yet .
Its unfortunate that 11 and 8 are in their mid thirties and 97 and 29 are in their 20’s still and have that hunger to get their names on the cup , would have been some great hockey like it was with the hawks .
With a change in GM and possibly coaching coming in anything is possible but a tear down seems unlikely until the President of hockey operations is gone

 

[Lahey]

??

It should fly for the Leafs but the Leafs are a meme.

Outside of not being able to beat Boston (who were generally the higher seed anyway!) the Leafs haven't done anything but lose to better teams.

Outside of beating each other, the Eastern Conference hasn't beaten a team from Florida in a 7 game series since 2019, and somehow only the Leafs take heat for it.

the leafs beat Tampa in 2023

 

[Lahey]

That's not at all what I said, but I understand you can't refute the actual point, so I get it.




Like I said earlier another point you can't refute...2 reasons why TBL and LA are different and one why Boston is.

No one will be as hard on the Kings as Kings fans but exalting the Leafs over them is pretty foolish thus far.

Cups were over 10 years ago. This is current point in time and you have lost in the first round 4 years in a row to the same team.
Grow up and admit you’re wrong

 

[Machinehead]

??

the leafs beat Tampa in 2023

Even better!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Cups were over 10 years ago. This is current point in time and you have lost in the first round 4 years in a row to the same team.
Grow up and admit you’re wrong

Ill try to write it in crayon so you can keep up since you're forgetting your OWN arguments anyway

1. Everyone DOES bag on the Kings, sorry you aren't paying attention;
2. If you're wondering why the Leafs get so much shit, it's commensurate with the shit you're trying to sling in here at teams that have actually won. You don't get to make fun of franchises with recent success like LA TB and Boston until you actually do something.
3. Again, no one is harder on the Kings than Kings fans. Pay attention. Still doesn't mean "you guys are failures see you're just like us" is true. Yes, the Cups are in the recent rearview, but if you're going to act smug about other teams losing in the first round, we're going to "1967" your nose in your own shit until you knock it off or win. Otherwise, I have no ill will towards the Leafs, just correcting you for slagging Kempe and the Kings with your clear lack of knowledge.

 

[kingsfan28]

Ill try to write it in crayon so you can keep up since you're forgetting your OWN arguments anyway

1. Everyone DOES bag on the Kings, sorry you aren't paying attention;
2. If you're wondering why the Leafs get so much shit, it's commensurate with the shit you're trying to sling in here at teams that have actually won. You don't get to make fun of franchises with recent success like LA TB and Boston until you actually do something.
3. Again, no one is harder on the Kings than Kings fans. Pay attention. Still doesn't mean "you guys are failures see you're just like us" is true. Yes, the Cups are in the recent rearview, but if you're going to act smug about other teams losing in the first round, we're going to "1967" your nose in your own shit until you knock it off or win. Otherwise, I have no ill will towards the Leafs, just correcting you for slagging Kempe and the Kings with your clear lack of knowledge.

 

[symbology]

If you’d take Kempe over Matthews then that’s enough of what I need to see. Homerism at its finest

In the playoffs would you rather have a .89 PPG player, or a 1.03PPG player? I know there is more to the story than that, but to try and call out this comment as Homerism, is well..... kind of nonsense.

 

[Jarvi]

A team figured out how to beat the Oilers in each of the last 3 years, and it was not only a different team each time, but a team that hadn't faced them in the playoffs in a long time (if ever). Each one figured out how to beat the Oilers in 7 or fewer games on their first attempt, so the Kings have no excuse for not figuring it out over 24 games and beating them even once in 4 attempts.

Each of those teams also won the Cup that year. Only 1 team can do that, and it may be that Edmonton was the 2nd best team each year and LA may have beaten every other team besides the Oilers, or the team who beat them. 3rd out of 32 isn't bad at all, not that I think that's the case, but there is an argument the Kings are better than just a first round fodder team considering their opponent.

Idk, it's hard to say. The Kings were scary this year, and without some bad coaching decisions, or Byfield actually clearing 1 puck, maybe they get over that hump and make some noise?

 

[symbology]

While they have a competitive roster now, they've obliterated their pipeline. Its basically just Byfield and Clarke. The Kings have some critical thinking to do.

My hope is that the new GM is that critical thinker. Not sure that one exists within the org currently.

 

[symbology]

The Kings original prime was cut a couple years short by the Voynov scandal, which not only robbed them of a critical #2 D but ruined all the vibes of the whole team.

After a few middling years, Luc “Littlefinger” Robitaille finally got to have lunch in the big kids room and got Lombardi fired.

This promptly ushered back in the same toxic country club atmosphere that had existed pre-Lombardi.

Luc hired all of his buddies and tried to contend with the same-ish core from 2012-2014. That failed spectacularly because Luc and all of his buddies are idiots and the team was quickly facing a rebuild.

They definitely made some good picks but insist on slow cooking everyone in the AHL from 7th rounders to bluechip lottery picks until they’re 24 and “learn how to check.”

And then Drew Doughty cried to the media about wanting to contend, and everyone hopped to because as covered previously Luc and all his buddies are idiots.

So the “rebuild” ended with its best picks
literally traded away.

This most recent push for relevancy has seen them run into prime Mcdavid and the funky bunch for four years in a row. And now we’re here.

Kopitar and Doughty’s legacies will likely take a hit from never winning anything outside of a small three year window in which they were surrounded by famously clutch playoff performers.

Once the wheels really fall off post-Kopitar, maybe Luc will actually face some accountability and they’ll need to bring in an outside guy like Lombardi and change the culture again. But until then we are a first round exit literally at our best.

Good times.

It pains me to think it, but I have to agree with this entire post.

 

[Bandit]

If you have to try and take a crack at the Kings, a team that has actually won not one but two cups in the last 60 years while your team has won nothing but “respect in the handshake line”, in order to try and make yourself feel better, you might wanna talk to a therapist.

 

[brentashton]

For all the smack talk Leafs got about consistently losing to Boston, and running back with the same core “the definition of insanity”..

This kings team is brutal. 4 straight years of losing to the oilers who have started sieves in net, including this year where career backup/AHL goalie Calvin Pickard 4-0’s them.

Since 2015 they have either missed the playoffs or lost in the first round.

At what point do we stop ignoring this teams faults and ask if they should blow it up?

They’re are on the verge of hiring Holland.
I’d say they have decided to blow it up (they just don’t realize they decided it yet).

 

[zenator]

The Kings are a pretty good team. They just had the misfortune of playing the Oilers, who now that they've put it all together, look like a powerhouse, the best team in the NHL.

This is why the inter-divisional playoffs should be replaced by 1-8 conference playoffs. It sucks if you have to play a powerhouse team in the 1st round every year.

 

[Lahey]

In the playoffs would you rather have a .89 PPG player, or a 1.03PPG player? I know there is more to the story than that, but to try and call out this comment as Homerism, is well..... kind of nonsense.

Good thing that players are not measured only in the playoffs - and ya it’s homerism despite how far you move the goal posts to fit the narratives. Please enlighten me on the accolades of kempe vs Matthews.

What a joke

 

[Sol]

The Kings are a pretty good team. They just had the misfortune of playing the Oilers, who now that they've put it all together, look like a powerhouse, the best team in the NHL.

This is why the inter-divisional playoffs should be replaced by 1-8 conference playoffs. It sucks if you have to play a powerhouse team in the 1st round every year.

Respectfully man, as a Kings fan…


You’re wrong.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Good thing that players are not measured only in the playoffs - and ya it’s homerism despite how far you move the goal posts to fit the narratives. Please enlighten me on the accolades of kempe vs Matthews.

What a joke

the goalpost was simple--you called Kempe "not even half the player" despite Matthews slipping in the playoffs to a LOWER PPG than Kempe, who elevates heavily.

Facts >>>> vibes, have a good night.

 

[AlwaysSunnyInTampa]

Where do you think they finish next season after trading those players? Reminder that they had 105 points this season. As of right now, who would you picked in the 2025 draft with the 12th overall pick who will be a difference maker to (see below) in the rebuild around Byfield?

Cool. Step 2, they are now rebuilding around a player who scored 54 points in his draft+5 season. What's step 3?

Profit

 

[ChaoticOrange]

A team figured out how to beat the Oilers in each of the last 3 years, and it was not only a different team each time, but a team that hadn't faced them in the playoffs in a long time (if ever). Each one figured out how to beat the Oilers in 7 or fewer games on their first attempt, so the Kings have no excuse for not figuring it out over 24 games and beating them even once in 4 attempts.

Every team that's beaten Edmonton in the last 3 years has been the eventual Cup champion. Beating the Oilers 4/7 games is no easy feat.