I think goaltending is TBD, Talbot was a fine goaltender prior to his arrival in Ottawa. I view him as a potential Darcy Kuemper, who bounced back after going from a cellar dweller in Arizona to Colorado.
Having a big point producing center who is going to log around 20 minutes is going to make everyone else on the ice better. It's going to favor the Kings when it comes to on-ice matchups. Of course, this is a Todd McLellan coached we are also talking about, but two centers who can produce 60-70 points, and a checking center who can also pop in 40-50 points is the kind of center depth this team hasn't had since their Cup runs. That's what has me looking forward to what this team can accomplish.
You haven't seen Englund play much, I gather?
Lol unfortunately not, only seen him give Turcotte his 5th concussion.. This reminds me of Ciarelli aquiring Manning after taking out McDavid. I'm a Blake supporter but this seems like a bad locker room move....But back on topic, i feel kopi could have taken a bit of a discount. But Killorn signed for 6 sooooo IT OK.
Doughty's contract still has four years to run at an AAV of $11 million. I hope BLuc isn't still around in three summers when they can extend him.
3-on-3 lineup:
And everyone on the boards was bitching about the coach who was coming in, just as they're doing now with the direction the team is heading in. We heard the same when they traded a young Patrick O'Sullivan, they also gave away Michael Cammalleri for a complete bust, traded away a package of future assets for a lazy Dustin Penner, wasted assets on a washed up Mike Richards, and somehow things worked out okay for them.
It's also a different league now versus then. What superstar goaltender was in net for Colorado, or Vegas? The #1 dman in Vegas is the same age as Doughty, and both have been producing similar numbers.
You have to include in the assessment assets used from the rebuild, like Jack Johnson who while not drafted by the Kings was very much part of the rebuild, which were used to acquire other missing pieces.
So Faber for Fiala, a former 1st rounder, isn't using assets? Or acquiring Dubois for a couple of former 1st rounders and a college free agent that they signed in exchange for a former 3rd overall pick? We really are getting selective with our memories.
That's because the things you mentioned prior aren't exactly true and the circumstances were completely different from this team.
You're not new here, you should be aware that there are quite a few posters on here who did not like Richards at all and felt that he was nowhere near the player he was with the Flyers.
The biggest question with Richards was the "Dry Island" nonsense. People were expecting a lot more from the Kings after the Richards trade. That's why Murray was fired 2 months into the season when they weren't there.
Those teams saw the value of doing the reverse Dubois trades, the higher caliber players dealt for the right fits while in building process. Then when the GM learned what he had in his top players, after two successive first round exits, he correctly made the right moves to address the weaknesses.
I am actually expecting a similar mutiny on McLellan if he insists on 1-3-1-ing from camp. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if he is lame duck canned after a slow start.
Richards had his numbers drop off from being a 75-80 point center to a 62-66 point center in his last two years in Philly. Not every fan was in favor of the trade at that time, and it isn’t too dissimilar to the fans upset with these recent moves.
You are selective with your memory. Lombardi made all those moves while he already held Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, and Brown in his hand, and they were all under the age of 25.
He also saw his ice time drop by 3 minutes a game.
