Confirmed with Link: What to do With Iafallo / Update: Iafallo re-signed 4 years, 16 million

[Lt Dan]

I am confused by this group of players.
Maybe we look at stats differently. I don't care much about the points, a 1st line winger has to score goals.
Rakell career high 34 goals, Forsberg 33, Pacioratty 39. Vrana bounced between 3rd and 4th line, 25 goals. Tkachuk is 21 years old and already bypassing Iafallo with 22 goals.
So yes, i would trade any of these forwards for Iafallo in a heart beat.
If Iafallo would keep scoring 47 points but 45 of them were goals, we have a different story. His 17 goals are the issue here.
Beside that, he has not much else going for him, no exceptional speed or energy or anything outstanding.

So for the point who to replace him with. Opportunities have to be made available.
This spot on the team should be up for grabs going to the player who wants it most.
Grundstrom scores the same amount of goals as Iafallo and his goals were beauties.
Not to mention, his center is Michael "AHL" Amadio.
He also brings much more to the table than Iafallo. His brute force, checking and energy reminds me of a young Dustin Brown.

Totally agree. I would much rather see Grund get the minutes that Iafallo is getting and see what happens

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Just to be clear the last several posts are agreeing that those guys are top six players, but that Iafallo isn't simply because he scored less goals? Pretty weak argument imo. Someone's gotta make plays too, the puck doesn't just go end to end through one goal scorer often. Pick almost any team in the league and I'll show you an Iafallo. But I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree even though available evidence places AI's production FIRMLY upon top 6 LWs.

Opportunities DON'T have to be made available. If no one can move up the lines themselves, they have no hope of dethroning Alex. Frk didn't have a problem winning a spot next to Vilardi. Lizotte didn't have a problem grinding his way to middle six from no expectations at all.

You're also discounting AI playing harder competition and high minutes vs. guys playing softer competition and softer deployment.

Totally agree. I would much rather see Grund get the minutes that Iafallo is getting and see what happens

I don't disagree with that at all.

 

[bland]

I don’t disagree with your assessment on the available spots but when you said “by the end of next year” that indicates that they would crack the lineup sometime next season. I’m sure a couple guys will, but 6 rookies not currently on the roster is, as I said, unlikely. Also given everything I would be surprised if Brown isn’t offered a smallish contract with the expectation of a reduced role so he can retire a King. Carter should absolutely be dealt either this deadline or next.

Roy, Walker, Clague, Lizotte, Wagner, Grundstrom, Andersson all debuted within the last two years - MacDermid and Amadio at the tail end of the year before. I think it is perfectly rational to expect the Kings to break in 6 more rookies over the next year and a half, especially since they are higher up the food chain. I fully expect the players I listed to be in the starting lineup by opening night of 22-23.

Re-signing Brown can't be serious, right? The guy can barely play in the NHL right now much less in two years.

 

[Bandit]

Roy, Walker, Clague, Lizotte, Wagner, Grundstrom, Andersson all debuted within the last two years - MacDermid and Amadio at the tail end of the year before. I think it is perfectly rational to expect the Kings to break in 6 more rookies over the next year and a half, especially since they are higher up the food chain. I fully expect the players I listed to be in the starting lineup by opening night of 22-23.

Re-signing Brown can't be serious, right? The guy can barely play in the NHL right now much less in two years.

Adding 6 rookies to a team of veterans is one thing, adding 6 to a team full of second and third year players is another. I guess we'll see.

Re: Brown, you act like the league isn't full of sentimental GMs that sign guys to ill-advised retirement contracts based on past accomplishments. I didn't say it was a good idea, I just think it's likely.

 

[lumbergh]

Iafallo is pretty much Justin Williams during his Kings years. Plays like Justin Williams, works hard in the corners like Justin Williams. Anyone complain about Justin Williams playing next to Kopitar while he was here?

 

[Lt Dan]

Iafallo is pretty much Justin Williams during his Kings years. Plays like Justin Williams, works hard in the corners like Justin Williams

you take that back!

 

[Schmooley]

Iafallo is pretty much Justin Williams during his Kings years. Plays like Justin Williams, works hard in the corners like Justin Williams. Anyone complain about Justin Williams playing next to Kopitar while he was here?

What planet do you live on? I need to take a vacation there. The reality where I am is not so kind.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Iafallo is pretty much Justin Williams during his Kings years. Plays like Justin Williams, works hard in the corners like Justin Williams. Anyone complain about Justin Williams playing next to Kopitar while he was here?

I thought about this comparison earlier but stayed away from it due to the obvious attachment as you can see in the responses so thanks for jumping on that grenade It's why I tried to use names from other teams that people typically see as synonymous with what's 'missing' from ours.

With respect to the conversation and those who I've been on the other side of the debate with, imo, ultimately this whole thread is unfortunately more about projecting our entire roster's issues onto Iafallo.

 

[Schmooley]

I thought about this comparison earlier but stayed away from it due to the obvious attachment as you can see in the responses so thanks for jumping on that grenade It's why I tried to use names from other teams that people typically see as synonymous with what's 'missing' from ours.

With respect to the conversation and those who I've been on the other side of the debate with, imo, ultimately this whole thread is unfortunately more about projecting our entire roster's issues onto Iafallo.

Haha im only teasing he is not whats wrong with the team by any means. Just an easy target to pick on because of where he is in the lineup. Hoping he gets hot and ill gladly eat crow. If he can help seal a couple cups ill eat a crow feast

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Iafallo couldn't hold Justin Williams' jock

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Iafallo couldn't hold Justin Williams' jock

Williams brings more to the table, and is one of my favorite Kings of all time, you'll never hear me say a bad word about him.

From strictly a production standpoint--Iafallo has produced better in the last two years than Justin Williams did in his last two as a King.

Let that sink in.

 

[RaymondReddington]

All this talk about how you can't play kids together reminds me of 1989-90 Edmonton Kid Line:
Adam Graves 21 y/o start of season, 65 GP before year started
Martin Gelinas 19 y/o, 6 GP
Joe Murphy 22 y/o, 81 GP

 

[Kurrilino]

Iafallo is pretty much Justin Williams during his Kings years. Plays like Justin Williams, works hard in the corners like Justin Williams. Anyone complain about Justin Williams playing next to Kopitar while he was here?

Nope, having Williams helped us making the playoff and Williams scored winning goals in game 7 in multiple series.
He also has a career high of 33 goals. There is a reason he is called Mr. Game 7

So can we please stop comparing Iafallo to those legendary players and fantasizing there are the same.
But we could give Iafallo the title "Mr Game 7" as well. He scores a goal every 7 games

 

[Kurrilino]

Williams brings more to the table, and is one of my favorite Kings of all time, you'll never hear me say a bad word about him.

From strictly a production standpoint--Iafallo has produced better in the last two years than Justin Williams did in his last two as a King.

Let that sink in.

Uhm... Williams was 34 years old at that point and scored more goals than Iafallo, just saying

 

[Kurrilino]

Double Post

 

[Kurrilino]

Nope, having Williams helped us making the playoff and Williams scored winning goals in game 7 in multiple series.
He also has a career high of 33 goals. There is a reason he is called Mr. Game 7

So can we please stop comparing Iafallo to those legendary players and not pretending there are the same.
But we could give Iafallo the title "Mr Game 7" as well. He scores a goal every 7 games

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Uhm... Williams was 34 years old at that point and scored more goals than Iafallo, just saying

Williams scored 18 and 19 goals at that point, Iafallo scored literally one fewer in 12 fewer games. This is nitpicking.

Nope, having Williams helped us making the playoff and Williams scored winning goals in game 7 in multiple series.
He also has a career high of 33 goals. There is a reason he is called Mr. Game 7

So can we please stop comparing Iafallo to those legendary players and fantasizing there are the same.
But we could give Iafallo the title "Mr Game 7" as well. He scores a goal every 7 games

Again, read my disclaimer, JDub is one of my favorite Kings of all time. But that career high of 33 goals happened FAR away from the Kings.

I showed how Iafallo compared to other top six LWs on teams that scored up to 100 more goals than the Kings and he was right in the mix. If you want to just filter it by all forwards last year, he was tied for 99th with Anders Lee, David Krecji. Are those guys not top sixers either? And before we get pedantic again and start auditing every detail, realize that I can create a list of roughly 30 similar players +/- 5 points of how he did last year or how he projected for any other year and aside from arguing against them to spite Iafallo, no one would say they're not top six talent.

Like it or not, his production compares. That is a fact, not an opinion. We can argue around that all we want, but it cannot be debated whether or not it's top six forward production.

The problem isn't Iafallo, it's having more like--or better than--him. He's not even miscast, he's in good company. This isn't a Derek Armstrong at 2C thing, this is just unrealistic expectations. I even said previously ideally he gets pushed down the lineup because we need more scorers emerging, but he could even end up a long term first line player because chemistry is a thing in hockey and you don't just load up all your raw talent and pray.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It seems like Iafallo’s critics are those who tend to be clueless of how other top six wingers performed throughout the league.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

It seems like Iafallo’s critics are those who tend to be clueless of how other top six wingers performed throughout the league.

It really is Toffoli/Pearson all over again. The moment one is traded, we're lamenting being short one-two scorers in the top six. Well, no shit, we just traded one.

 

[lumbergh]

you take that back!

 

[DoktorJeep]

Iafallo hasn’t reached Frolov level, mentioning him with Stick is comparing apples to oranges.

 

[Jericho111091]

Ideally you don't lose a player until you have somebody ready to replace them. At the moment nobody has pushed Iafallo down so I say keep him.

 

[YP44]

Williams brings more to the table, and is one of my favorite Kings of all time, you'll never hear me say a bad word about him.

From strictly a production standpoint--Iafallo has produced better in the last two years than Justin Williams did in his last two as a King.

Let that sink in.

he also is getting #1 minutes, something Williams rarely did

 

[YP44]

He was buzzing last night. Looked good and drove play. One of very few last nights. Too bad the D could not get the puck up.

 

[Token]

He was buzzing last night. Looked good and drove play. One of very few last nights. Too bad the D could not get the puck up.

That made me think ...

It’s a quality Iafallo brings to the team.

Even when he doesn’t have a stellar game, his floor remains at really good checking winger. All hustle all the time.

Having a good motor has become the standard.