2017 Offseason Thread 5.0 Summer Doldrums

[deaderhead28]

That's an incredible over payment for someone we have to now resign.

Agree,way overpayment....

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[johnjm22]

I wonder what Blake has in mind for the approx. $6 million in cap space we have. He could easily use that money to sign both Jagr and Vanek if they are willing to take 1 year deals.

We have about 4.8M the way I see it.

The Kings have a lot of young players that need to be evaluated. I think Blake & Co. are waiting to see how Kempe/Brodz/Dowd/Folin/Gravel/Fantenberg/Ladue/Macdermid/amadio all perform. After that the teams needs and assets can better be assessed.

 

[KingTrouty]

Does the CAP rollover if we don't use it, ala the NFL?

 

[King'sPawn]

Does the CAP rollover if we don't use it, ala the NFL?

Nope. Use it or lose it.

 

[The Tikkanen]

Vanek makes some sense. What about Hudler?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

You can forget about getting Tatar, he re-signed with Detroit for 4-years at $5.3M per year.

The Kings passing on Tatar in favor of Clifford was such a great decision. In one year Tatar scored more goals than Clifford has in his entire career.

 

[Bandit]

You can forget about getting Tatar, he re-signed with Detroit for 4-years at $5.3M per year.

The Kings passing on Tatar in favor of Clifford was such a great decision. In one year Tatar scored more goals than Clifford has in his entire career.

How many assists on Stanley Cup winning goals does Tartar have?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

How many assists on Stanley Cup winning goals does Tartar have?

Since Darren McCarty scored a goal in a Stanley Cup Final, then I am to assume that he's a better player than Marcel Dionne.

 

[Bandit]

Since Darren McCarty scored a goal in a Stanley Cup Final, then I am to assume that he's a better player than Marcel Dionne.

Interesting. I thought the goal was to win championships, not just have better players on the team.

With Clifford the Kings won two cups. Who knows what would have unfolded differently if he wasn't on the team. Maybe they never even win one, butterfly effect and all. I'll choose to be happy that he was a part of two championships for the team I love. If you want to focus on the negative and be unhappy about what we don't have now, well... ok.

 

[KingsFan7824]

You can forget about getting Tatar, he re-signed with Detroit for 4-years at $5.3M per year.

The Kings passing on Tatar in favor of Clifford was such a great decision. In one year Tatar scored more goals than Clifford has in his entire career.

In the draft? It was a 25 pick difference. If you want to say Silfverberg, that's a little better. Clifford was also picked over Charles-Olivier Roussel, a defenseman taken by Nashville. They usually know a thing or two about defensemen.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Clifford appeared in only three games in the 2012 playoffs. Let's not make it sound like he had any impact on that one as well. It's like suggesting Kevin Westgarth played a vital role in 2012.

 

[raswilliam]

Tatar and Clifford have the same amount of fights with matthew tkachuk, 0

 

[Reclamation Project]

Clifford's value is in face washes, dirty looks, last minute penalties when his team is down 2-1 and Quick is pulled, and fanning shots.

 

[BigKing]

Clifford's value is that he would run through a brick wall for his LA Kings teammates since the second his name was called at the draft.

Whatever happened--or didn't happen--in the game up in Calgary does not negate what he has done during his time here.

He isn't a great player by any means but he's a great teammate and, once upon a time, was good enough to take shifts in double overtime of Game 5 of the SCFs.

Tatar is a better player, obviously; however, a team of Tatar's wouldn't win a Cup without a guy like Clifford on it. Not arguing it was a better pick, just saying that this exercise can be done with almost every player and this is not as egregious as Teubert/Pushkarev/Tambellini/Hickey etc.

 

[Reaper45]

Tatar and Clifford have the same amount of fights with matthew tkachuk, 0

Burn...

 

[Reaper45]

Clifford's value is that he would run through a brick wall for his LA Kings teammates since the second his name was called at the draft.

Whatever happened--or didn't happen--in the game up in Calgary does not negate what he has done during his time here.

He isn't a great player by any means but he's a great teammate and, once upon a time, was good enough to take shifts in double overtime of Game 5 of the SCFs.

Tatar is a better player, obviously; however, a team of Tatar's wouldn't win a Cup without a guy like Clifford on it. Not arguing it was a better pick, just saying that this exercise can be done with almost every player and this is not as egregious as Teubert/Pushkarev/Tambellini/Hickey etc.

Aww come on BK if any other Kings tough guy in the history of the organization handled the situation with Tkachunp the way Clifford did, you'd be pissed. His past accomplishments went out the window for me when he responded the way he did.

 

[kingsfan28]

You can forget about getting Tatar, he re-signed with Detroit for 4-years at $5.3M per year.

The Kings passing on Tatar in favor of Clifford was such a great decision. In one year Tatar scored more goals than Clifford has in his entire career.

Tatar is soft as charmin, and never would've worked out with either coaches. I could totally see him in Sutters doghouse on a regular basis, then eventually traded by Lombardi.

 

[kingsfan28]

Clifford's value is that he would run through a brick wall for his LA Kings teammates since the second his name was called at the draft.

Whatever happened--or didn't happen--in the game up in Calgary does not negate what he has done during his time here.

He isn't a great player by any means but he's a great teammate and, once upon a time, was good enough to take shifts in double overtime of Game 5 of the SCFs.

Tatar is a better player, obviously; however, a team of Tatar's wouldn't win a Cup without a guy like Clifford on it. Not arguing it was a better pick, just saying that this exercise can be done with almost every player and this is not as egregious as Teubert/Pushkarev/Tambellini/Hickey etc.

From what I remember, Tkchuck wouldn't fight Cliffy or AA, only defensemen. And when AA tried to go after him, he got kicked out.

 

[King'sPawn]

Interesting. I thought the goal was to win championships, not just have better players on the team.

With Clifford the Kings won two cups. Who knows what would have unfolded differently if he wasn't on the team. Maybe they never even win one, butterfly effect and all. I'll choose to be happy that he was a part of two championships for the team I love. If you want to focus on the negative and be unhappy about what we don't have now, well... ok.

I agree. The fact Clifford is an NHLer is great itself. He was picked as a culture changer. He did his fair share.

Besides, drafting is only the beginning. The player gets developed as well. Who's to say the Kings don't turn him into a player like Trevor Lewis?

I take Clifford and two cups over Tatar and uncertainty 10 times out of 10. And that's not a knock on Tatar.

 

[Johnny Utah]

I have mixed feelings on the whole Tkachuk situation. On one hand it's not fair for a 19 year old who only has a few NHL fights on his resume has to fight a 26 year old known NHL tough guy in Clifford. On the other, someone should have jumped this kid and fed him the business or gone after one of the other Flames star players. He still has not received any hurt or injury from what he did to Doughty, only Engelland did at the hands of Iginla (stud).

In the old days thats what happened if a non tough guy does something to your star player who either send out your tough guy to hurt one of their star players or he tries to pound the other teams tough guy. Then the player who threw the cheap shot has to live with his teammate taking a beating for him or his star teammate getting chased around or hurt by a stick or check. Essentially, that is what kinda happened, though Iginla was sticking up for Kopitar, someone had to get Tkachuk's back.

Andreoff and McNabb were the ones in that weight class that needs to send the business. Both tried but neither succeeded.

 

[BigKing]

Aww come on BK if any other Kings tough guy in the history of the organization handled the situation with Tkachunp the way Clifford did, you'd be pissed. His past accomplishments went out the window for me when he responded the way he did.

It's hard in the new NHL to gauge this stuff since it's changed so much.

I'm not happy about it, obviously, but the desire to run him out of town over it in favor of a guy who was more of a clown show in the same game and scored 0 goals last year is silly.

Clifford deserves the benefit of the doubt to make it right. He's earned it by being this teams fighter for what, seven seasons now?

 

[KingsHockey24]

YouTuber I watch did a season preview for the Kings.

 

[johnjm22]

I think it's funny that people call the Kings "slow".

They have average team speed.

When you're winning you look fast, when you're losing you look slow.

 

[damacles1156]

There really isn't any team in the NHL that is slow.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think it's funny that people call the Kings "slow".

They have average team speed.

When you're winning you look fast, when you're losing you look slow.

Their lack of any semblance of a transition game and failure to attack the middle of the ice and insistence of sticking along the boards and "slowing" down the pace of the game all are indicative of them being a slow team. As a unit, they performed at a pace far slower than that of their opponents.

This team was methodical in every way possible, slow to react, slow in their decision making with the puck, slow in transition, etc. This wasn't how they played in the post season in 2012 and 2014, but the past two seasons this team has not shown any purpose.

I don't know what approach Stevens will take that will get them to change, and I don't know if a coaching change is going to be enough to improve in that area, but given the lack of options, it's the only decision to be made at this point.

There's a reason why the Kings are viewed as a boring team, and they earned that reputation with their crappy performance over the past three seasons. If Kopitar decides to mentally check out again in the first half of the season, then I guess we should expect more of the same.