Ways the Kings can address goaltending next season

Telos

In Byfield We Must Trust
Aug 16, 2008
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I think it is a mix. The biggest mistake made was signing Petersen before he was proven. He was essentially signed because of his World Championship performance and middling small sample size behind Quick. The contract Blake gave him was outright egregious considering it also included a NTC...

There are not many goaltenders like Quick. They are important, can steal games, and help propel the team farther in the playoffs, but I also think they are not required. I think you need a good goaltender; otherwise, you are just hoping for one to get hot at the right time, but it doesn't have to be a star goaltender. I honestly think Korpisalo is good enough, but I think there are many out there like him and because of our mistake with Petersen we will have to let him walk if they are hoping to sign Gavrikov which I do think is the more important signing.

Goaltending is just a position you can't screw up the money on. A solid $4-6M guy and decent backup are really all you need. They are going to let in bad goals, but they just need to keep you in it. This team is built around offense. They are hoping it becomes more balanced, but it isn't right now and honestly should have been run a little more like Edmonton where you just put all your stat points in offense and pray given the deficiencies this team has on defense, or they need to play a different system that is much more aggressive.

In the end, acquiring a goaltender shouldn't be as difficult as most obstacles in the way for the team, but it needs to be a precise move as there is no room for error. Copley/Petersen is not going to do it. Unless Petersen sells his soul to the devil and proves the hockey world and gods wrong, they are going to need to figure something out or buy him out and find a decent solution. If they can't find an obvious upgrade, like Hellebuyck, etc. Then I think they honestly should just bite the bullet, trade or sign Petersen, lock in Korpisalo, and run with it. The last place you really want to be is like Toronto or Edmonton and playing musical chairs for a goaltender will save your lives when you are putting all your chips in offense and ignoring your defensive line and coaching structure. Get someone in there that can do the job well enough and move on to upgrading the defense and developing young talent while looking to jettison TMac out an airlock sooner rather than later is my advice.
 

bland

Registered User
Jul 1, 2004
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PRO TIP: Take a goalie who gives up 4 goals in a game his team wins, in which he is being scouted, then after the game when the scout asks him about his performance ----

If he says, "We won didn't we." That's your guy.
Which is exactly why they should have gone with Copley in the playoffs. He EARNED it.

Nothing against Korpisalo at all, but it just smacks of over-thinking. The Kings season was turned around by Copley, and yeah, he is a longshot but this sport is plagued by statistical nonsense that obscures the obvious. Dude played well enough to put a team into contention for a divisional title. He was the best goaltender the Kings had all year.

Now, due to amateurish managing of the cap and asset list, the best of the options is to go back to him, even though they just told him his effort wasn't appreciated and he wasn't considered to be "the" man.
 

King'sPawn

Enjoy the chaos
Jul 1, 2003
22,974
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I wrote something nasty so i deleted it.
What about the goaliefrom michigan that bleak just signed? Or does he first have to play in ustdp, echl, whl, khl and ahl first?
He's signed a contract so he's eligible to play pro. He can't play college hockey anymore and he's too old for junior hockey.

So from this point, it's ECHL, AHL, or NHL for him. Unless he opted to go play in Europe (which would be all but unheard of at this time).

He will probably spend the season in the AHL as he's not NHL ready yet.
 
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johnjm22

Pseudo Intellectual
Aug 2, 2005
21,182
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In order to have successful goaltending, you need two things:

1) A goaltender who can give you a certain level of competent play.
2) A structured team playing good defense in front of your goalie.

There's literally hundreds of goalies capable of achieving #1.

If you don't have #2, you will eventually destroy your goalie even if he's good. There's only a few goalies in the world at any given time who are exceptions.
 
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KINGS17

Smartest in the Room
Apr 6, 2006
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Disagree.

While I think shooters have more advantage these days, I think this is going to be a HUGE market inefficiency now, much like it was right after 2010 when people pointed at Leighton and Niemi and you can just win with anyone all of a sudden

"just find replacement level goaltending" was a mantra for over a decade of losing ass teams, let's not fall into that trap again. Grab Saros.
I will point to Game 1 of the Blues series in 2012, if anyone wants to see how superior goaltending can completely set the tone in the 1st period of a series.
 

Raccoon Jesus

We were right there
Oct 30, 2008
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The problem with that (at least for the 23-24 season) is that LA would need to expend significant assets to acquire Saros and then expend even more (and probably significant) assets to move Peterson. I don't see that happening. Maybe a year from now when they can more easily buy out Peterson.

I don't disagree, and I kind of just expect a 'patch' while they sort out Cal. I don't mind so much if that's the reasoning.

I DO mind if the reasoning is 'just ride a league average platoon' just because average save %s are down. That STILL means a good/great goalie is giving you better value than plugins and that can make a difference all things being equal.

We're watching an abnormal amount of great goalies getting melted down and people are overthinking because of it.
 
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Bandit

Registered User
Jul 23, 2005
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I don't disagree, and I kind of just expect a 'patch' while they sort out Cal. I don't mind so much if that's the reasoning.

I DO mind if the reasoning is 'just ride a league average platoon' just because average save %s are down. That STILL means a good/great goalie is giving you better value than plugins and that can make a difference all things being equal.

We're watching an abnormal amount of great goalies getting melted down and people are overthinking because of it.
Yeah some people think that because Varlomov is getting lit up for 4-5 a game why not just let a scrub do that? Well because the scrub would be giving up the ass to the tune of 8 or 9.
 

FSL KINGS

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May 10, 2021
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Option 1: get lucky with a team with a goalie going on a major tank job & swapping their starter for Cal. WPG & Philly come to mind.

Option 2: Ride the contract out a year & bring in a cheap AHL/NHL goalie. Buyout next year.

Option 3: Gamble on Gibson. Swapping Cal for Gibson after his bonus saves Ducks serious cash. Maybe 18M over the contract. Who adds though?
 

KINGS17

Smartest in the Room
Apr 6, 2006
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Option 1: get lucky with a team with a goalie going on a major tank job & swapping their starter for Cal. WPG & Philly come to mind.

Option 2: Ride the contract out a year & bring in a cheap AHL/NHL goalie. Buyout next year.

Option 3: Gamble on Gibson. Swapping Cal for Gibson after his bonus saves Ducks serious cash. Maybe 18M over the contract. Who adds though?
Man I like Option 3 a lot, because Gibson is the best goalie I have ever seen.
 

fsanford

Registered User
Jul 4, 2009
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Yeah some people think that because Varlomov is getting lit up for 4-5 a game why not just let a scrub do that? Well because the scrub would be giving up the ass to the tune of 8 or 9.
Ullmark got lit.
Most people thought Bob was washed up. And in the regular season he was dog crap. And yet in the playoffs he is good again
Vegas is on their 3rd string guy and he has been pretty solid



There is no great goalie in the NHL, teams are better to adopt a system like Carolina. Their system limits scoring chances or at least quality ones.Do that and you would be surprised how well goalies perform.

How old is Freddie Anderson again?
 

kilowatt

the vibes are not immaculate
Jan 1, 2009
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I think all our eggs are in the “resigning Gavrikov” basket and we’ll see a Petersen/Copley tandem next year. The best case scenario in all this is that Cal can perform at an average NHL goalie level. He wasn’t really any worse than Quick last year. That’s not saying much, but an improved defense might be a big help.

Anderson - Doughty
Gavrikov - Clarke
Bjornfot - Roy

Copley
Petersen

That’s my best guess at the moment.
 

Bruins78

Registered User
Apr 12, 2007
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Bruins might unload Ullmark out of necessity with their cap situation and the fact we have a solid back-up option in Swayman that should continue to get better. Not sure what the return would look like but I've always liked Francesco Pinelli and we are very thin down the middle everywhere and need some center prospects that can definitely stay at the position. Probably take a pretty legit + from your end but LA seems like a good fit
 

Seattle King

Registered User
Aug 19, 2022
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I think all our eggs are in the “resigning Gavrikov” basket and we’ll see a Petersen/Copley tandem next year. The best case scenario in all this is that Cal can perform at an average NHL goalie level. He wasn’t really any worse than Quick last year. That’s not saying much, but an improved defense might be a big help.

Anderson - Doughty
Gavrikov - Clarke
Bjornfot - Roy

Copley
Petersen

That’s my best guess at the moment.
You know Durzi will be in Bjornfot's spot, Todd cant get enough of the the Durzi LH-Roy pairing.
We will basically see the same pile of shit on the ice that we did the last two years.

Keeping Gavrikov is obviously a major objective, but will we? Projecting Clarke in the NHL next year is optimistic given the track record of Blake and Todd not playing youngsters in prominent roles, ever.

Cant wait for Blake and Todd to go. Blake has been here since 2014 and its been nothing but crap since his palace coup. He failed his most important job, securing quality talent with the best draft choices the franchise had in decades. Byfield couldnt put the puck into an open net if his life depended on it.
 

kinghock

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Feb 1, 2011
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Bruins might unload Ullmark out of necessity with their cap situation and the fact we have a solid back-up option in Swayman that should continue to get better. Not sure what the return would look like but I've always liked Francesco Pinelli and we are very thin down the middle everywhere and need some center prospects that can definitely stay at the position. Probably take a pretty legit + from your end but LA seems like a good fit
LA does not seems like a good fit.

Kings do not have 5 million for Ullmark.

They need to sign Gavrikov, Vilardi, Kupari, etc.
 
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KINGS17

Smartest in the Room
Apr 6, 2006
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You know Durzi will be in Bjornfot's spot, Todd cant get enough of the the Durzi LH-Roy pairing.
We will basically see the same pile of shit on the ice that we did the last two years.

Keeping Gavrikov is obviously a major objective, but will we? Projecting Clarke in the NHL next year is optimistic given the track record of Blake and Todd not playing youngsters in prominent roles, ever.

Cant wait for Blake and Todd to go. Blake has been here since 2014 and its been nothing but crap since his palace coup. He failed his most important job, securing quality talent with the best draft choices the franchise had in decades. Byfield couldnt put the puck into an open net if his life depended on it.
You forgot Moe also needs to go with Curley and Larry.
 

lumbergh

It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
Jan 8, 2007
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Bruins might unload Ullmark out of necessity with their cap situation and the fact we have a solid back-up option in Swayman that should continue to get better. Not sure what the return would look like but I've always liked Francesco Pinelli and we are very thin down the middle everywhere and need some center prospects that can definitely stay at the position. Probably take a pretty legit + from your end but LA seems like a good fit
How about Sean Durzi + Sean Walker + Pinelli for Ullmark? Then you can turn around and trade one of the Seans and play the other. Helps your salary cap situation.
 

kinghock

Registered User
Feb 1, 2011
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How about Sean Durzi + Sean Walker + Pinelli for Ullmark? Then you can turn around and trade one of the Seans and play the other. Helps your salary cap situation.
Ullmark was horrible in this year playoffs and he have 3 more years contract with 5 million per year.

We already have Petersen with 2 more years contract with 5 million per year.

I do not think Kings can afford/need him.
 

Kurrilino

Go Stoll Go
Aug 6, 2005
8,837
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Calgary
I thought Blake was really clear about that.

Petersen will play NHL and Copley has a contract while Portillo plays AHL
Our tandem is Copley and Petersen, why is that so difficult to understand?

There won't be any goalie trade
 

lumbergh

It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
Jan 8, 2007
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Richmond, VA
Ullmark was horrible in this year playoffs and he have 3 more years contract with 5 million per year.

We already have Petersen with 2 more years contract with 5 million per year.

I do not think Kings can afford/need him.
Ullmark is a legit #1 in the league, so it certainly puts to bed the Kings' big question mark in goal. He's a legitimate upgrade. I agree about the playoff performance, but it's simply hard to acquire a top goalie at a reasonable price.

I'm not really sure it's worth it, and if it means the Kings can't sign a decent LHD, it's probably not worth it.
 

kinghock

Registered User
Feb 1, 2011
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Ullmark is a legit #1 in the league, so it certainly puts to bed the Kings' big question mark in goal. He's a legitimate upgrade. I agree about the playoff performance, but it's simply hard to acquire a top goalie at a reasonable price.

I'm not really sure it's worth it, and if it means the Kings can't sign a decent LHD, it's probably not worth it.
His playoff performance year ago was not much better.
I do not think Kings can afford/need him.
 

jgs

Registered User
Oct 24, 2019
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Well the Leafs have proven that you need a good goaltender to advance in the playoffs. They made plenty of changes and still have a weakness in net. It might be working out for Vegas but that is just one team. Most winning teams in the league have a top notch goaltender between the pipes. Look at the Oilers, they're journeyman Gt didn't get it done. Look at Florida, Carolina, Dallas and Seattle, they all have really good goaltenders between the pipes.
 

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