Timeline for LAKings Previous Rebuild

[BinCookin]

Does this timeline for the 2000's rebuild sound about right?

LA: Missed Playoffs from 2003-2009 (7yrs);

Drafting History
2000: Frolov(#20); Visnovsky(#118)
2001: Karlsson(#18); Cammalleri(#49)
2002: Grebeshkov(#18)
2003: Brown(#13); Boyle(#26)
2004: Tukonen(#11)
2005: Kopitar(#11); Quick(#72)
2006: Bernier(#11); Lewis(#17)
2007: Hickey(#4); Simmonds(#61); Martinez(#95); King(#109)
2008: Doughty(#2); Voynov(#32); Loktionov(#123)
2009: Schenn(#5); Clifford(#35); Nolan(#186)
2010: Forbort(#15); Toffoli(#47)
2011: Shore(#82) -- No first rounder
2012: Pearson(#30)


Rebuild Time:
7 Years (Had a losing record for 6 years, 7th year is the lockout-but there was a draft that year)


LA has won the Stanley cup 2 times with this core group so far.

Click to read more...

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Does this timeline for the 2000's rebuild sound about right?

LA: Missed Playoffs from 2003-2009 (7yrs);

Drafting History
2000: Frolov(#20); Visnovsky(#118)
2001: Karlsson(#18); Cammalleri(#49)
2002: Grebeshkov(#18)
2003: Brown(#13); Boyle(#26)
2004: Tukonen(#11)
2005: Kopitar(#11); Quick(#72)
2006: Bernier(#11); Lewis(#17)
2007: Hickey(#4); Simmonds(#61); Martinez(#95); King(#109)
2008: Doughty(#2); Voynov(#32); Loktionov(#123)
2009: Schenn(#5); Clifford(#35); Nolan(#186)
2010: Forbort(#15); Toffoli(#47)
2011: Shore(#82) -- No first rounder
2012: Pearson(#30)


Rebuild Time:
7 Years (Had a losing record for 6 years, 7th year is the lockout-but there was a draft that year)


LA has won the Stanley cup 2 times with this core group so far.

The rebuild really didn't start until Dean Lombardi took over in 2006. Dave Taylor still tried to put together a team that could make the playoffs. That is what Lombardi referred to as "the black hole."

And that is how the Kings finally ended up with high draft picks from 2007 through 2009. After Doughty was drafted in Terry Murray was hired in 2008 was when the team started to make big strides, and that's why they became a playoff team in 2009-10.

 

[Mike The Franchise]

The rebuild really didn't start until Dean Lombardi took over in 2006. Dave Taylor still tried to put together a team that could make the playoffs. That is what Lombardi referred to as "the black hole."

And that is how the Kings finally ended up with high draft picks from 2007 through 2009. After Doughty was drafted in Terry Murray was hired in 2008 was when the team started to make big strides, and that's why they became a playoff team in 2009-10.

Pretty much this.

 

[Omni Owl]

****, I remember having high hopes for Tukonen and Pushkarev.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

The rebuild really didn't start until Dean Lombardi took over in 2006. Dave Taylor still tried to put together a team that could make the playoffs. That is what Lombardi referred to as "the black hole."

And that is how the Kings finally ended up with high draft picks from 2007 through 2009. After Doughty was drafted in Terry Murray was hired in 2008 was when the team started to make big strides, and that's why they became a playoff team in 2009-10.

Exactly.

Ive tried telling people this on Jets boards but the say its impossible to build a team without a 10 year rebuild.

 

[rajuabju]

****, I remember having high hopes for Tukonen and Pushkarev.

we all did. Especially Tukonen

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Exactly.

Ive tried telling people this on Jets boards but the say its impossible to build a team without a 10 year rebuild.

I can see where the OP is going, though. I guess if you look strictly at assets that influenced the Cup team, you DO have to go back quite a few years.

I guess it's the difference between strictly defining rebuild as "any asset influencing the roster) and DL taking over and giving the team a makeover with current assets.

Even despite Visnovsky being an 'old' asset traded for Greene and Stoll I'd probably suggest the real rebuild didn't start till DL came aboard, yeah.

 

[BinCookin]

Thanks for the input guys.

I suppose terminology is key here.

I was referring to "rebuild" as when the team begins to struggle and start really acquiring talent for the future. So this included 2003-2006.

It seems Lombardi then performed what most people view as a rebuild from 2007-2009, which would be a little bit of a scortched earth system where you basically plan to lose by letting all expensive UFA's walk, and trade what you can for draft picks.

I have been defining things for each team, and will post a rebuild model for all the teams when I am done.

Does this 2007-2009 qualify as a "tank" or "scortched earth" period. Or simply more struggling like 2003-2006?

 

[jimmy1100]

Does this 2007-2009 qualify as a "tank" or "scortched earth" period. Or simply more struggling like 2003-2006?

I would not assign either title to that period of time. When Dean Lombardi came in, he had a VERY CLEAR vision for EXACTLY what he wanted to do.

The prime focus was establishing a core, building from the net out, etc. The 07-09 teams were a building team on the rise, but not one the DL was trying to make competitive by trading and signing guys.

One of those years, our Free Agent haul was Handzus, Nagy, Preissing and Calder. DL wasn't tanking to earn high draft picks so much as he was filling in holes with temporary players while the development happened.

So, I would consider 07-09 as development years because the core was there, but the core was too young to be carrying a team or trying to win a title. It was much more patient development than tanking or scorched earth.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Does this 2007-2009 qualify as a "tank" or "scortched earth" period. Or simply more struggling like 2003-2006?

It's tough to tell. In the summer of 2006, the Kings were somewhat close to signing Chara. Somewhat because who knows if that was real, or maybe Chara was just using the Kings to up the price in Boston. But, if Chara did end up signing with the Kings, how does that change history?

Same thing when the Lombardi was at least looking at guys like Gaborik, or Hossa, or Kovalchuk. Again, how close the Kings actually ever were to signing any of these guys, who knows.

The way that it ended up though, yeah, 06-07 was the start of a tank. Within about a year from the draft in 2008 to the summer of 2009, they traded for Stoll, Greene, Williams, Smyth, and signed Scuderi, in addition to drafting Doughty. Once they got Doughty, that was the turning point. It seemed like everything accelerated. They had Kopitar from 2005. Quick came out of nowhere to take the job that Bernier was drafted for. Then Mitchell works out for them from the summer of 2010. In 2011, they trade the 5th overall pick from 2009, and off they went.

I wouldn't say it was a straight rebuilding attempt, unless Lombardi wasn't serious about trying to get Chara, or Hossa, or any of the other guys. Sort of do it because you have to, even though you know it won't work, so you always keep the original plan in place, but make a good showing.

 

[BinCookin]

Ok so just a patience approach, and make sure you don't do anything unwise (bad UFA signing, or last ditch trade etc (make sure to retain your own youth))

 

[Stupid Sexy Flanders]

You also have to recognize that character-building, through veterans, is a huge part of rebuilding in Lombardi's eyes.
For instance, he brought in guys like Handzus in part to be a mentor for Kopitar, and O'Donnell for Doughty.
Those players were not brought in to tank.
In fact I would call 2007-2009 the character-building period.

 

[Rorschach]

The biggest parts are not on the list: the firing of the scouting staff and the rebuilding of that department, the rebuild of the AHL coaching staff to coach a similar philosophy as the NHL club, the changeover of Terry Murray to Darryl Sutter and staff, the hiring of dev guys like Bill Ranford...

Even though we drafted Kopitar and Quick, if Lombardi doesn't set the table for their development, they might have wound up like Tukonen.

 

[BigKing]

They definitely tanked.

DL's first move really was to ship out the team's leading scorer in Demitra for O'Sullivan and the pick that became Trevor Lewis. The 2006-07 roster sucked. You don't trade your leading scorer for a not-yet-ready prospect and a 1st if you are looking to be competitive. You also don't trade a solid, NHL defenseman in Gleason for a Jack Johnson that won't be on the team opening night either. If Kopitar isn't Kopitar in that rookie season, they could of finished as the worst team in the league. Of course, they wound up drafting #4 overall and blew it by picking Hickey. Regardless, it was a full-on rebuild. Vets with any value were shipped out at the deadline as well.

The tank continued the next season as the team's best defenseman in Visnovksy was traded. Great trade in hindsight but not a trade made to make the team better for the upcoming season. Need to remember that DL's biggest UFA signing (ever actually, for LA anyways) was Rob Blake who was no longer Rob Blake. This was all done for mentoring purposes and not to be a better team on the ice. They were horrible that season and it was on purpose as you couldn't go wrong with Stamkos or Doughty.

Quick emerged and Doughty was a stud from Day 1. That really pushes the rebuild much further ahead. They genuinely went for it that season but still weren't good enough; however, they did improve.

The rest is history, I guess. Williams and Smyth are brought in and Doughty continues to be a stud and just crushes his sophomore season. But make no mistake: DL pretty much burned this mother down. Going after Chara and Gaborik were long-term moves: the team would be better than what was iced but they were still rebuilding but would have someone--especially in Chara--to build around.

It was never a disgusting tank like Buffalo or Arizona recently, but the plan was to draft high. The funny thing is that the high draft picks only happened for three straight years at #s 4, 2 and 6 respectively. Hickey never played for LA and Schenn at #6 played in less than 10 games probably. The latter helped land Richards but the 2006-07 abomination led to the pick of a player that never suited up for the Kings. DL went a little Edmonton that season.

 

[BigKing]

The biggest parts are not on the list: the firing of the scouting staff and the rebuilding of that department, the rebuild of the AHL coaching staff to coach a similar philosophy as the NHL club, the changeover of Terry Murray to Darryl Sutter and staff, the hiring of dev guys like Bill Ranford...

Even though we drafted Kopitar and Quick, if Lombardi doesn't set the table for their development, they might have wound up like Tukonen.

There was talent that came out of Manchester before DL got here and, c'mon now, Kopitar never touched AHL ice. I'm not really going to give any credit to DL for Kopitar's development and I have a hard time doing so for Quick as well.

He also bowed down to Lord Jack and let him skip this great development system and go right to the NHL, burning a year off his ELC to get five meaningless games in. Guy became Minus Forever and desperately needed AHL seasoning.

He inherited two of the three pillars of this team and then was not dumb enough to pass on Doughty at #2. I give a ton of credit for the non-1st round drafting and the ability to develop NHL-caliber players, but I'm not going to give him an ounce of credit for Kopitar and he blew his first draft pick on Bernier because he didn't think they had a legit guy in Quick.

 

[Rorschach]

There was talent that came out of Manchester before DL got here and, c'mon now, Kopitar never touched AHL ice. I'm not really going to give any credit to DL for Kopitar's development and I have a hard time doing so for Quick as well.

He also bowed down to Lord Jack and let him skip this great development system and go right to the NHL, burning a year off his ELC to get five meaningless games in. Guy became Minus Forever and desperately needed AHL seasoning.

He inherited two of the three pillars of this team and then was not dumb enough to pass on Doughty at #2. I give a ton of credit for the non-1st round drafting and the ability to develop NHL-caliber players, but I'm not going to give him an ounce of credit for Kopitar and he blew his first draft pick on Bernier because he didn't think they had a legit guy in Quick.

Terry Murray and staff taught Kopitar, an immensely strong and talented scorer, to play defense. Development on any level is still development. Where do I say that Kopitar played in the AHL?

I'm not going to bother with the rest of it, you're reading things that aren't there.

 

[BigKing]

Terry Murray and staff taught Kopitar, an immensely strong and talented scorer, to play defense. Development on any level is still development. Where do I say that Kopitar played in the AHL?

I'm not going to bother with the rest of it, you're reading things that aren't there.

You mentioned a big part of the rebuild being moving on from Murray to Sutter, yet now Terry Murray is a big reason why Kopitar is so good and is now part of the rebuild? Which one is it? Lombardi also exposed Kopitar to Marc Crawford for two whole seasons.

Just seems like a moving of the goal posts in order to fete Lombardi for Kopitar's development.

We're actually lucky DL wasn't drafting in 2005 because he totally seems like one of these guys that would of passed on Kopitar.

 

[Herby]

The biggest parts are not on the list: the firing of the scouting staff and the rebuilding of that department, the rebuild of the AHL coaching staff to coach a similar philosophy as the NHL club, the changeover of Terry Murray to Darryl Sutter and staff, the hiring of dev guys like Bill Ranford...

Even though we drafted Kopitar and Quick, if Lombardi doesn't set the table for their development, they might have wound up like Tukonen.

Kopitar would have ended up like Tukonen?

That is crazy talk. Kopitar was NHL ready and proved it by scoring 70 points his rookie season, you are really stretching it crediting him to Lombardi. Quick it's more fair since he did develop under this management team, but give the previous scouting team credit for drafting Kopitar, Quick and Brown.

 

[The Pale King]

We're actually lucky DL wasn't drafting in 2005 because he totally seems like one of these guys that would of passed on Kopitar.

That thought hadn't crossed my mind. What a terrifying thought.

 

[CowMix]

Other than Doughty, which was a no brainer, DLs drafting in the first round wasn't the best. I guess that's why he always brought up the black hole, finding a elite talent in the second is just is likely as the middle/late first. Hickey at 4 though... yikes. I forgot Forbort was draft so high as well.