Around the league part 2

[kingsholygrail]

I'm not surprised at all that they're protecting McDavid. There's no suspension for anyone else.

 

[DAkings20]

Found this piece of art on the Canucks forum lol

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Don't get me wrong, I loved their responses. That doesn't mean I think they should go unpunished though. Soucy DID crack a guy in the face with a cross check. That should get a look of course. Zadorov...meh, that's a run of the mill penalty or fine at worst. Those shoudlnt' be 'unpunished' acts, but that doesnt' mean i don't love them, you hAVE to send a message sometime or else you'll get guys like McDavid injuring Kempe and Mikey repeatedly and a bitch like Cogliano injuring Kempe and Fiala.

I can't deny, I was pretty stupid during the cup run era where the Kings were falling off and I thought that toughness/grit was intrinsically a part of most players so I was okay with them moving away from that and going for skill exclusively since I felt like Jordan Nolan types were too one note to be an important asset.

Narrator: He was wrong.

It's absolutely shocking to me how many grown men on the Kings team have zero grits and toughness. Absolutely did not expect this to be a thing, I took the cup era team for granted for sure.


I am now of the mind that you need some hitters and a guy who has no problem going over the line. Kings need to sacrifice players like Lizotte, Lewis, Moore/Arvidsson for some guys who have balls to not only hit, but also go out of their way and f*** up some guys who need it. Competitive edge now includes variables such as "Do we have a guy who's willing to hurt player X?" You need a player who is willing to do that because there's going to be player who will for sure do that to you. There's no reason to play from behind.

Evander Kane is going around injuring players. He knows what he's doing. We need a guy who's willing to take a guy out. McDavid doesn't even attempt to hide his head hunting.

Yeah once upon a time i remember having a big argument with someone about Stoll

is he easily replaceable from a raw production standpoint? absolutely

Is he easily replaceable from an intangibles standpoint, absolutely not.

 

[KINGS17]

Don't get me wrong, I loved their responses. That doesn't mean I think they should go unpunished though. Soucy DID crack a guy in the face with a cross check. That should get a look of course. Zadorov...meh, that's a run of the mill penalty or fine at worst. Those shoudlnt' be 'unpunished' acts, but that doesnt' mean i don't love them, you hAVE to send a message sometime or else you'll get guys like McDavid injuring Kempe and Mikey repeatedly and a bitch like Cogliano injuring Kempe and Fiala.



Yeah once upon a time i remember having a big argument with someone about Stoll

is he easily replaceable from a raw production standpoint? absolutely

Is he easily replaceable from an intangibles standpoint, absolutely not.

"Every army needs a few criminals."

- Best GM the Kings have ever had.

 

[FeartheFur]

We need a Bennet

 

[BigKing]

Don't get me wrong, I loved their responses. That doesn't mean I think they should go unpunished though. Soucy DID crack a guy in the face with a cross check. That should get a look of course. Zadorov...meh, that's a run of the mill penalty or fine at worst. Those shoudlnt' be 'unpunished' acts, but that doesnt' mean i don't love them, you hAVE to send a message sometime or else you'll get guys like McDavid injuring Kempe and Mikey repeatedly and a bitch like Cogliano injuring Kempe and Fiala.



Yeah once upon a time i remember having a big argument with someone about Stoll

is he easily replaceable from a raw production standpoint? absolutely

Is he easily replaceable from an intangibles standpoint, absolutely not.

Lowkey dirty player but did it in a kind of "oops...what happened?" kind of way. Could have included the boarding penalty that should have been called on him right before Scuderi was boarded in the SCF.

All three of the hits in the video led to injuries for a defenseman on the other team. The one on Fowler also happened while Jordan Nolan was wailing away on a dude at the same time. You're going to be a threat in the playoffs when you have the skill and the attitude: both are a requirement.

The Kings haven't had the attitude since DL's last year, save for a brief cameo from Iginla. Broken record, but they can add all of the nice guy 50 point players in the league and it isn't going to matter until teams know it isn't going to be an easy night.

 

[The Butcher]

And now playing outta his mind what a difference

The saga continues

Nichushkin of Avalanche placed in Stage 3 of Player Assistance Program | NHL.com

Forward will be suspended without pay for minimum of 6 months

www.nhl.com

 

[LAKings88]

The saga continues

Nichushkin of Avalanche placed in Stage 3 of Player Assistance Program | NHL.com

Forward will be suspended without pay for minimum of 6 months

www.nhl.com

Yikes, two playoffs in a row. Hope he can sort his stuff out.

 

[Nasti]

The Canucks are playing the way their coach used to. With grit and a never back down attitude. That’s what you need to beat the Oilers. Come to think of it, is it possible to trade Luc Robitaille for Rick Tocchet a second time?

 

[DoktorJeep]

For christs sake, take a break from the coke and hookers for a bit Val.

 

[tny760]

i'm sure his coaches and teammates really f***in appreciate that one

 

[Schrute farms]

come on no way was that hit from behind embellished.

 

[Herby]

I can understand the argument that it was "worth it" for Soucy to send a message, try and intimidate McDavid etc. But I am surprised so many people here are surprised that the suspension itself was handed down. I thought watching the hit that it was just a question of 1 or 2 games, the league doesn't want illegal head contact, especially with sticks and elbows, it's not the game a lot of us grew up with, it's gone forever. The argument "he fell because my teammate crosschecked him in the lower back" isn't really a valid argument.

And lets be serious guys, everyone here watches a lot of hockey, either on tv or in person, the slashes were not "baseball swings", these type of slashes happen nightly, many times in scrums around the net with either both players or none being sent off (depending on the temperature of the game).

 

[Nasti]

I can understand the argument that it was "worth it" for Soucy to send a message, try and intimidate McDavid etc. But I am surprised so many people here are surprised that the suspension itself was handed down. I thought watching the hit that it was just a question of 1 or 2 games, the league doesn't want illegal head contact, especially with sticks and elbows, it's not the game a lot of us grew up with, it's gone forever. The argument "he fell because my teammate crosschecked him in the lower back" isn't really a valid argument.

And lets be serious guys, everyone here watches a lot of hockey, either on tv or in person, the slashes were not "baseball swings", these type of slashes happen nightly, many times in scrums around the net with either both players or none being sent off (depending on the temperature of the game).

Context matters so I disagree with the bolded. Soucy was going for a shove that you see 100 times a game. The face contact was clearly a situational accident. McDavid also wasn’t hurt so out goes the league’s usual suspension based on result. We just saw a far more questionable play the other night in Boston with no suspension. We’ve also seen McDavid board Anderson and give him a concussion with no repercussions. You can’t tell me the league isn’t protecting its golden boy.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Found this piece of art on the Canucks forum lol

View attachment 870263

This is gold lol

 

[King'sPawn]

Context matters so I disagree with the bolded. Soucy was going for a shove that you see 100 times a game. The face contact was clearly a situational accident. McDavid also wasn’t hurt so out goes the league’s usual suspension based on result. We just saw a far more questionable play the other night in Boston with no suspension. We’ve also seen McDavid board Anderson and give him a concussion with no repercussions. You can’t tell me the league isn’t protecting its golden boy.

While true, a player is always responsible for their stick. He didn't mean to hit the face, but he did.

My biggest beef with the suspension is that there's never consistency. If McDavid did the reverse to Soucy, I doubt he'd get a suspension.

 

[BaileyFan]

Context matters so I disagree with the bolded. Soucy was going for a shove that you see 100 times a game. The face contact was clearly a situational accident. McDavid also wasn’t hurt so out goes the league’s usual suspension based on result. We just saw a far more questionable play the other night in Boston with no suspension. We’ve also seen McDavid board Anderson and give him a concussion with no repercussions. You can’t tell me the league isn’t protecting its golden boy.

That’s exactly what they’re doing, and it’s exactly what a good portion of Online Hockey Fans want, even though they’d never outright admit it. This is why there’s the perpetual whining about how the NHL “doesn’t protect its stars” from that group, usually to go along with how “Hockey Men don’t know how to market their stars” or some other dumb crap.

Soucy isn’t an insignificant loss for VAN but if you’re gonna get suspended, McDavid is the guy you want to be going after. Kings wasted their “controversial” hit on that plug Desharnais.

 

[Herby]

If Wyatt Johnston had been drafted by the Kings he would have been back in the OHL last year as a 19 year old, being completely unchallenged by inferior competition (the Clarke path). Then he would have spent a good chunk of this season in the AHL "learning to be a pro", "paying his dues" , "learning the system" or whatever other cliches the Beach Boys come up with as to why their hockey team isn't a meritocracy. He'd probably have forced his way up and onto a middle six role by the 3/4 mark. Instead he was developed by a management and development staff that knows what they are doing, and so he is nearing 200 NHL games, many of those high pressure playoff moments, and by the end of his D+3 he is now one of the best players on the team in his age 20 season, this from a player taken in the back half of round 1.

On the flip side, put a guy like Clarke on Dallas, he's probably nearing the same 200 games with likely spectacular results.

 

[FrozenKing18]

Dallas really hit homers with Robo and Johnston. Good for them.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Mackinnon nowhere to be seen.

 

[Herby]

Dallas really hit homers with Robo and Johnston. Good for them.

Dallas has drafted Heiskanen, Robertson, Oettinger, Harley, Johnston and Stankoven since Luc and Blake's coup d'état in April 2017.

Between 2017 and 2021 Dallas had six first round picks, LA also had six first round picks in that time frame. Dallas had 1 premium pick (#3 overall) and their average draft spot in round 1 was 18.8. LA had 3 premium picks (#2, #5, #8) and an average round 1 spot of 11.3. In those years combined Dallas had four 2nd round picks, LA in those same years had eight 2nd round picks. Beyond the 2nd Dallas did not produce anything currently on their roster, while LA found Mikey Anderson and Jordan Spence on defense and Alex Lafferriere up front.

Dallas is one win away from the WCF with these players all playing huge roles in key positions as under-25 players. From these drafts they have (based on current line structure) their LW1, RW1, 2C, Both first-pair defenders and 1G. Compare that to LA who when using the same criteria has (LW1, LD1, RW3 and RD3)

Dallas has produced drastically better results despite having much worse quality of picks in round 1 and having much less quantity of picks in round 2.

And they got their older veterans to buy-in to lesser but still important roles as the young guys took over ownership of the team. And Luc thinks the Kings are close to contending.

 

[Steve Zissou]

Dallas really hit homers with Robo and Johnston. Good for them.

Dadonov is slotted on their 4th line – that's some serious depth.

5 points in 11 games to boot.

 

[bouncesonly]

Does Carolina reverse sweep the Rangers? Oh how sweet would that be.

 

[Nasti]

While true, a player is always responsible for their stick. He didn't mean to hit the face, but he did.

My biggest beef with the suspension is that there's never consistency. If McDavid did the reverse to Soucy, I doubt he'd get a suspension.

Well again, McDavid was going for a body check on Anderson and boarded him while giving him a concussion. As you say, no consistency.

 

[johnjm22]

Dallas has drafted Heiskanen, Robertson, Oettinger, Harley, Johnston and Stankoven since Luc and Blake's coup d'état in April 2017.

Vilardi, Anderson, Spence, Byfield, Faber, Laferriere and Clarke ain't bad. There's still some hope for a few other guys too.

That 2019 draft hurts though.

Comparing the King's drafting to the team who's been the best at it (Dallas), is like comparing a .300 hitter to a .400 hitter. The former is still good.