GDT: 2023-24 season game 34 LA Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs @7:30pm 1/2/24

[chris kontos]

When Kaliyev can't make basic hockey plays on a nightly basis, thats a problem. Time after time he has chances to get the puck in deep, instead, he stops 2 feet into the blueline and makes a pass into the middle that misses everyone or turns it over. He loses basic board battles...and he's 6-2", 210. He's played on 3 dif lines, same issues. You'd think he would've picked something up playing with lizzo by now. This is on him now. He has to be more than a shot.

He has to be more than a king.
Stop torturing him and trade him

 

[kingsfan28]

He has to be more than a king.
Stop torturing him and trade him

Right now he's playing like the 2 of clubs.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I'm not too worried about it anymore.

They'll move Kaliyev for a 3rd/4th when Arvidsson returns so he can go cruise around and score 25-30 goals in Nashville or something

You're not allowed to f*** up when you're under 25. But if you are, you can trip over the blueline and hand the puck to the opponent and it's all good.

 

[tny760]

When Kaliyev can't make basic hockey plays on a nightly basis, thats a problem. Time after time he has chances to get the puck in deep, instead, he stops 2 feet into the blueline and makes a pass into the middle that misses everyone or turns it over. He loses basic board battles...and he's 6-2", 210. He's played on 3 dif lines, same issues. You'd think he would've picked something up playing with lizzo by now. This is on him now. He has to be more than a shot.

this post is 100% applicable when you replace "kaliyev" with "PLD" and bump up the size a bit which makes it even worse

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

this post is 100% applicable when you replace "kaliyev" with "PLD" and bump up the size a bit which makes it even worse

Yeah but when you're Kaliyev you get benched for it

When you're PLD you get 68 million reasons to just keep doing it

 

[kilowatt]

To be clear though, Kaliyev hasn’t shown consistent levels of effort. He needed to take the same leap in assertiveness and drive that Byfield took (and that Vilardi took last year) and he flat out didn’t. There are likely a million different reasons why it hasn’t worked but the bottom line is it hasn’t. When you take a seat in the press box and watch the most milquetoast player in the league take your spot (JAD), your time with the club is likely coming to an end.

Maybe Kaliyev will turn it around. It’s still wild to me that guys like Kaliyev and Laferriere have had very little time in Ontario when I think they’re prime candidates for playing down there. It’s too late for Kaliyev of course, he might reach 200 games played in the NHL by the end of this season.

I’d still love for Turcotte to get some shifts with Arty and see what happens.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

To be clear though, Kaliyev hasn’t shown consistent levels of effort. He needed to take the same leap in assertiveness and drive that Byfield took (and that Vilardi took last year) and he flat out didn’t. There are likely a million different reasons why it hasn’t worked but the bottom line is it hasn’t. When you take a seat in the press box and watch the most milquetoast player in the league take your spot (JAD), your time with the club is likely coming to an end.

Maybe Kaliyev will turn it around. It’s still wild to me that guys like Kaliyev and Laferriere have had very little time in Ontario when I think they’re prime candidates for playing down there. It’s too late for Kaliyev of course, he might reach 200 games played in the NHL by the end of this season.

I’d still love for Turcotte to get some shifts with Arty and see what happens.

But again--that's the guy they drafted, an enigmatic scorer. They can't surprised pikachu him now. And then go trade for....an older enigmatic scorer and give him tons of leash and Kaliyev none. That's the maddening part of it.

The amount of effort they've gone to to jumpstart PLD is the amount of effort I'm asking to be put into the kids as well.

 

[kilowatt]

But again--that's the guy they drafted, an enigmatic scorer. They can't surprised pikachu him now. And then go trade for....an older enigmatic scorer and give him tons of leash and Kaliyev none. That's the maddening part of it.

The amount of effort they've gone to to jumpstart PLD is the amount of effort I'm asking to be put into the kids as well.

I agree. We’ve done a pretty bad job of playing prospects to their strengths. This isn’t news to you, but the organization is so hell-bent on making sure guys play “the right way” rather than “their best way” that certain guys like Kaliyev just don’t make the cut.

Maybe that’s a good thing. I can’t say for certain. But if they knew that he couldn’t do it a while ago, why not move him sooner for someone that could? And why trade for a guy like Dubois with the “we can rebuild him” mentality instead of going out and trying to get guys that play that way in the first place (like, I don’t know, Ryan O’Reilly)?

 

[tny760]

Maybe that’s a good thing. I can’t say for certain.

i'm not trying to dismiss the rest of this post but quite frankly, whatever they're doing with this "right way" thing has gotten us nothing but a couple of first round exits and a very questionable future

i know it's a long season and i'm not throwing in the towel by any means but i've got a lot of questions. hopefully i'm 100% wrong and kaliyev responds to this by lighting it up but it's certainly not the way i'd go about it, especially so publicly

 

[kilowatt]

i'm not trying to dismiss the rest of this post but quite frankly, whatever they're doing with this "right way" thing has gotten us nothing but a couple of first round exits and a very questionable future

i know it's a long season and i'm not throwing in the towel by any means but i've got a lot of questions. hopefully i'm 100% wrong and kaliyev responds to this by lighting it up but it's certainly not the way i'd go about it, especially so publicly

I agree with you. Especially when you look at this:

 

[tny760]

I agree with you. Especially when you look at this:

View attachment 795775

just do yourself a favor and don't look at the comparison to JAD

 

[lexlavender]

But again--that's the guy they drafted, an enigmatic scorer. They can't surprised pikachu him now. And then go trade for....an older enigmatic scorer and give him tons of leash and Kaliyev none. That's the maddening part of it.

The amount of effort they've gone to to jumpstart PLD is the amount of effort I'm asking to be put into the kids as well.

Lets just say it all out loud. It's clear to me that this org is obsessed with perception. PLD is an 8.5 million dollar. 3rd overall anchor. Kaliyev is making at or just above league minimum as a 2nd round pick. He is the easy odd man out to pile on for why that line was struggling without having to ask tough questions.

Throughout McClellan and Blake's tenure, problem solving goes from the bottom of the reputation list to the top, not based on any actual analysis.

Why did they work so hard to pump Byfield while letting Vilardi rot? 2nd Overall vs 13th, it is really that simple. Remember that Vilardi was getting prime playing time before Byfield came along, because he was the golden goose.

 

[Brownie to Pancakes]

Kaliyev has been trending down and PLD has been trending up over the last couple weeks. No it's not a meteoric ascent but it ain't nothing. The only way out of this black hole is if PLD builds on his momentum and finds his form. He's not gonna get scratched. He's not gonna get ripped publicly by TMac. Give up your impotent bloodlust--it ain't happening. The coaches are desperate to get him going and Kaliyev pulled too much in the opposite direction. The season doesn't hinge on Arty, it hinges on PLD.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Kaliyev has been trending down and PLD has been trending up over the last couple weeks. No it's not a meteoric ascent but it ain't nothing. The only way out of this black hole is if PLD builds on his momentum and finds his form. He's not gonna get scratched. He's not gonna get ripped publicly by TMac. Give up your impotent bloodlust--it ain't happening. The coaches are desperate to get him going and Kaliyev pulled too much in the opposite direction. The season doesn't hinge on Arty, it hinges on PLD.

What your'e saying makes a lot of sense

but it's still total dogshit headgames for the kids and I hate it

Especially Arty, making him the sacrificial punchingbag for an entire organizational circus is bunk