Post-Game Talk: Tough Decisions- LA Kings Off-Season

[BigBrown]

The Kings have been circling the drain in a downward spiral for years. There is simply not enough left to build around and there aren't any real difference makers available to get in free agency. The prospect pool is nothing to be excited about. I don't see a way out that does not involve a complete rebuild and tank.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Which pieces do they have, some wings? Yeah, that will get it done. This team is missing a 1C, a 1D, and a top goalie just to start, and depending on what you do with Byfield possibly a 2C. They have the worst group of centers in the league, a defense full of slow pylons that can't make a breakout pass, and a crap prospect pool

 

[johnjm22]

I assume they'll try to acquire a 1st line center, which is easier said than done. If they can't, it's hard to imagine this team making the playoffs.

I also think they'll try to re-sign Laughton

Panarin-xxxxx-Kempe
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere
Moore-Laughton-Armia

That's potentially a solid top 9. Good enough to keep them in the black hole.

The Panarin trade really pisses me off because it allows them to keep milking this charade.

 

[DtP5000]

This team looks like it’s fully on track to pick somewhere between 7 and 12 in 2027.

 

[KingsOfCali25]

This team looks like it’s fully on track to pick somewhere between 7 and 12 in 2027.

This team was on track for a top3 pick without their league record OTL helping them out. Now add in that the franchise is losing their all-time leading point scorer and 1C of 20 years, their recently acquired 3C that is a UFA, and awful prospect pool. This team will be challenging Vancouver for the #1 pick for years

 

[DyslexicTom]

This team was on track for a top3 pick without their league record OTL helping them out. Now add in that the franchise is losing their all-time leading point scorer and 1C for 20 years, their recently acquired 3C that is a UFA, and awful prospect pool. This team will be challenging Vancouver for the #1 pick for years

That would actually be a benefit to this team long term. I expect them to chase after Matthews via trade. I also think Perry will be signed again, because they really like to give their long-time fans the finger.

 

[AnThGrt]

Fire Luc. That is all

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I assume they'll try to acquire a 1st line center, which is easier said than done. If they can't, it's hard to imagine this team making the playoffs.

I also think they'll try to re-sign Laughton

Panarin-xxxxx-Kempe
Fiala-Byfield-Laferriere
Moore-Laughton-Armia

That's potentially a solid top 9. Good enough to keep them in the black hole.

The Panarin trade really pisses me off because it allows them to keep milking this charade.

They can go the way of Minnesota, not bother with a superstar C, but Minny has a few things LA doesn't, Hughes/Faber on the backend, and Wallstedt in net, even if you look at Clarke as Hughes light (he's not) the biggest hole is in net, Forsberg stood on his head for 4 games.....can he do that game in and game out for 60? I dunno,

If they go the trade for a C route, A. who are they targetting that might be had, and B. at what cost

 

[Reaper45]

As much as we'd all like to see some accountability, I'm not anticipating anything happening to Luc. I guess there could be a small possibility, but its not something we should count on. Same goes for Holland. So if we assume no front office changes from the people in charge, they need to hire a Head Coach and potential assistants and then prioritize resigning Clarke. After that I genuinely have no clue what direction they'll take.

I'd like to keep Laughton and I'm indifferent on Kuzmenko. But there aren't any quality centers available in free agency which means their only option is trade for one, but the entire league knows we're in desperate need of one. I just don't see good options if they are still delusional in thinking they can do something with this roster.

How in the f*** did Ceci, Dumoulin and Edmundson get NTC’s? Were a f***ing retirement home.

 

[Trash Panda]

Tough decisions ahead?

This team has been allowed to spin its wheels, while sliding backwards, under the guise of “being right there”. This organization has squandered an absolutely insane amount of quality assets chasing hopes and dreams.

Aging roster, zero futures, broken culture, and lots of overpaid & mediocre players. It’s one thing to be young and promising, it’s entirely another to be good- but the Kings are neither.

The correct course of action should be the easiest decision any owner could ever make.

 

[funky]

DL made some fatal mistakes during the last few years but his vision of building back end out with a strong center core seems to withstand the passage of time.

Current staff has done the polar opposite. We appear to be building around three high priced wingers,(4 if I count Byfield as a winger).

Our defence core is immobile, old and can’t make a breakout pass

Our goalies the last 5 years have been random older passerby’s renting the crease a year at a time.

I had hope we would tank at the 3/4 mark of this year with the stud dman at the top of this draft. Part of the reason I thought that is our goalie prospects. Great place to start the rebuild.

Add a Reid, Carels or Verehoff to Clarke and it helps slot Bruz and Wooley into a better more realistic slot and starts to make the future D and goalies a massive strength.

I would’ve had three second round picks and a Greentreeb to play with and try and move up.

But alas we went for it once again. Maybe we can trade up and hope a Rudolph or Smits falls but that is not realistic.

Now we’re going for it with an older roster, no true centerman and very little to trade for a guy like Matthews or Thomas or heaven forbid EP. Even if we do trade for them, we got a shit, poor defensive and.

Just no vision in Los Angeles under Luc and his cronies.

And anyone that says we’re not true fans, we are the ones that keep coming back year after year.

 

[kovacro]

Can we swap Shannahan for Robitaille?

I get that pretty much anything would be an upgrade to BLuc but why Shannahan? Don't get sucked in by the name. I'm not sold at all.

They had regular season success but only two playoff series wins in 11 years.

Looking back at the best and worst of Maple Leafs' Shanahan era

Brendan Shanahan's time with the Maple Leafs came to a close Thursday after 11 years of tumult, progress and plateaus. Sportsnet's Sonny Sachdeva looks back at some of Toronto's best and worst moves of the era.

www.sportsnet.ca

 

[Rick Knickleback]

I'm not really interested in any proposed offseason move if Robitaille (and Holland) remain. What's depressing is I'd bet $$$ they will stay on too. I watched less of the Kings this season since, well, ever. I predict that trend will continue next season.

 

[CarlSneep]

Yeah, if the Kings had missed the playoffs maybe but we probably depressingly heading towards another wasted season until they finally collapse and Luc “retires.” Luckily the Kings don’t really have the pieces to trade for a Thomas/Mathews so hopefully they can’t do too much damage until then.

If the Kings DID fire Luc, I’d be interested in going out of either of Dallas’s AGMs. Janko in particularly interests me because A) he’s from Southern California, and B) he runs their contracts and also their analytics dept. Let him be president and let him hire a GM and I’d say that’d be interesting.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Byfield + 1st for Tkachuk + Zub

Buy-out Ceci

Re-sign Scott Laughton + Andrei Kuzmenko

Sign A.J. Greer

Goodbye Malott, Moverare, Joeseph, Kopitar

Panarin / Tkachuk / Kempe
Fiala / Laferierre / Kuzmenko
Moore / Laughton / Armia
Greer / Helenius / Wright
* Turcotte, Connors

Anderson / Doughty
Edmundson / Clarke
Booth / Zub
*Dumoulin

 

[Telos]

It's sort of an impossible situation, but I would go with a scorched-earth rebuild and probably trade mostly everyone. I don't see how you retool this to become a contender, but at the same time there are too many aging vets with contract clauses, the market isn't there to trade most of them, and you have stubborn players and management in the way of completing the purge. So it is damned if you do, damned if you don't.

I would still go with a full rebuild and I would look to trade most, only partially considering keeping Kempe, Laferriere, Anderson, and Clarke; but checking the market and their values as well and would pull the trigger for the right deals.

 

[SaltyElkHunter]

The only tough decision is are you hanging around for things to get better by exploding or rooting for the team to figure itself out under Robitaille. Those are the only 2 choices same as last 3 years.

Kopitar is gone that was the only respected person left from the cup days and glory. Drew is a footnote and has no gravity to hold anything together. Best case scenario someone reads the room and decides it’s over time to start something new. Worst case scenario the flesh has to rot!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It's not a hard decision, but they won't make it.

In my perfoect world, Luc walks himself out today, Holland uses his experience to reshape the whole business side of the org, hires a forward-thinking younger GM with a vision to reshape the hockey side. It's about time one president split roles again, it takes a special man to be president of both hockey ops AND business and Luc f***ING SUCKS AT BOTH. Buyouts happen, guys get traded, vets get asked if they truly want to stay on board, we have some dark years ahead, eta 5-6 years till competitive again.

In the real world...nothing changes. Luc stays in, doens't even do offseason availability. Holland continues in service of Luc, we stay the oldest team in the league, bottom out next season but there's still 'no appetite for rebuild.'

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Rosen was being spicy yesterday, along with a few others




but...he deleted a good one, a juicy tidbit saying something like ask Luc if he's still on speaking terms with Dave Taylor and Wayne Gretzky

 

[kings11]

They need to sell, sell, sell.. obviously we know management, coaches and development all need to go so I’ll leave that there

Doughty with 50% retention should net us a solid pick(s)
Moore to Ana
Edmundson to SJ
Ceci to NYR, is moving back 10 spots worth taking that contract? Or maybe one of our 2nd rounders
Resign Laughton as our 4C and move Helenius to RW
Fiala to Bos for TML pick if Carels, Reid or Smits are there

Panarin - Byfield - Kempe
Laferriere - Turcotte - Tuch
Armia - Connors - Wright
Lee - Laughton - Helenius

Anderson - Clarke
Booth - Dumo
Kirsanov - Gudas

Kuemper
Forsberg

oh my that’s a garbage roster but in the west it might just make the playoffs

 

[CarlSneep]

It's not a hard decision, but they won't make it.

In my perfoect world, Luc walks himself out today, Holland uses his experience to reshape the whole business side of the org, hires a forward-thinking younger GM with a vision to reshape the hockey side. It's about time one president split roles again, it takes a special man to be president of both hockey ops AND business and Luc f***ING SUCKS AT BOTH. Buyouts happen, guys get traded, vets get asked if they truly want to stay on board, we have some dark years ahead, eta 5-6 years till competitive again.

In the real world...nothing changes. Luc stays in, doens't even do offseason availability. Holland continues in service of Luc, we stay the oldest team in the league, bottom out next season but there's still 'no appetite for rebuild.'

No offense but it's crazy to me that your perfect world involves Ken Holland sticking around. He only took this job as a hired gun who does Luc's bidding because no one else would give him a job and he's 71 years old. There's no reason he should stick around if Luc goes.

 

[FSL KINGS]

Kings snuck into the playoffs with a record number of loser points & Kuemper playing at a Vezina level for a decent chunk of the season. Playoffs next season aren't guaranteed. Especially not with Ducks & Sharks improving.

Obviously center needs upgrading & Defense needs at least 2 additional players that can pass the puck or they're stuck playing no transition "King's" hockey.

Going to be fun watching how Holland handles this.

EP40, 11.6 scoring around Byfield's numbers, seems like a Holland move.

Ras Andersson if he plays bad enough Vegas doesn't want to extend him could be an overpay target.

Doughty absolutely needs to be the Capitan. It'll be a riot. Trust me bro.

 

[SaltyElkHunter]

Kings snuck into the playoffs with a record number of loser points & Kuemper playing at a Vezina level for a decent chunk of the season. Playoffs next season aren't guaranteed. Especially not with Ducks & Sharks improving.

Obviously center needs upgrading & Defense needs at least 2 additional players that can pass the puck or they're stuck playing no transition "King's" hockey.

Going to be fun watching how Holland handles this.

EP40, 11.6 scoring around Byfield's numbers, seems like a Holland move.

Ras Andersson if he plays bad enough Vegas doesn't want to extend him could be an overpay target.

Doughty absolutely needs to be the Capitan. It'll be a riot. Trust me bro.

If we are going to take every player at their words as to how important Kopitar was in that locker room this will be a rudderless ship. They don’t regress they crumble.

 

[FSL KINGS]

If we are going to take every player at their words as to how important Kopitar was in that locker room this will be a rudderless ship. They don’t regress they crumble.

The Bergeron Effect: No one talks about how bad you franchise center has become that when he's replaced with a standard 3C the team actually gets a bit of a boost.

 

[SaltyElkHunter]

DL made some fatal mistakes during the last few years but his vision of building back end out with a strong center core seems to withstand the passage of time.

Current staff has done the polar opposite. We appear to be building around three high priced wingers,(4 if I count Byfield as a winger).

Our defence core is immobile, old and can’t make a breakout pass

Our goalies the last 5 years have been random older passerby’s renting the crease a year at a time.

I had hope we would tank at the 3/4 mark of this year with the stud dman at the top of this draft. Part of the reason I thought that is our goalie prospects. Great place to start the rebuild.

Add a Reid, Carels or Verehoff to Clarke and it helps slot Bruz and Wooley into a better more realistic slot and starts to make the future D and goalies a massive strength.

I would’ve had three second round picks and a Greentreeb to play with and try and move up.

But alas we went for it once again. Maybe we can trade up and hope a Rudolph or Smits falls but that is not realistic.

Now we’re going for it with an older roster, no true centerman and very little to trade for a guy like Matthews or Thomas or heaven forbid EP. Even if we do trade for them, we got a shit, poor defensive and.

Just no vision in Los Angeles under Luc and his cronies.

And anyone that says we’re not true fans, we are the ones that keep coming back year after year.

12 years of reveling in this I feel DL’s greatest attribute wasn’t the personnel moves. It was creating layers of contingency and a rock solid vision. He was smart enough to realize what he had and went all in when he saw it.