Waived: [LAK] D Tobias Bjornfot waived by the Kings

[Hobnobs]

they'd have to keep him in the nhl and hes not nhl quality, at least not yet.

How do you know?

 

[dirtydanglez]

How do you know?

opinion

 

[Go Wings]

Yes.

The problem last year was the return to health of Walker and the development of Durzi leading to a logjam of defensemen who would have to clear waivers. Bjornfot was the only one eligible to be sent down, and he was put in the AHL without even being considered in camp. The team stayed healthy on the backend all year, so he wasn't called up.

Rumors have been that several Kings prospects had been openly griping that they were ready and better than the players in LA who were protected by their waiver status - and they were right. Can't say specifically that Bjornfot was part of this group, but the reasons for his stalled development all seem to be off-ice.

LA does an extremely poor job developing skilled players. They take ages to bloom and in many cases its after they are out of waiver options and/or in another organization. And its all because their management group is a frat house of former players who are stuck on the idea that Kopitar and Doughty deserve chance after chance at another Cup despite not winning a single playoff series in 9 seasons.

This is the team that traded Brock Faber and Gabe Vilardi to chase something they cannot catch.

Sean Durzi too

 

[Dr Awesome]

I hope the Oilers take a look at him. Play in 6 or 7 dman role

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

 

[Winston Wolf]

Sounds like a Luca Sbisa career trajectory.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Only if you ignore context and live in a world at face value.

What.

 

[mattihp]

Bearfoot should be picked up by the Bruins

 

[Nasti]

The Kings are the worst at identifying what a player is good at and using their strengths. They insist on turning them into something they’re not. They’ve become a farm team for the rest of the league. Can’t wait for Bjornfot to be the next ex player to kill the Kings.

 

[Seattle King]

Another huge 1st round whiff by Blake, no other way to look at it.
You dont draft well, Rob.

 

[YP44]

Would love a flames claim here if nothing else but to keep Jordan Oesterle away from this team.

Flames make a lot of sense IMO. They will need D once they unload Hanifan and Tanev.

 

[biturbo19]

If he were a RH shooter, he'd be claimed in an instant. As it stands though...unless one of the teams dealing with injuries decides to take a flyer, i doubt he's claimed.

 

[HockeyVirus]

I remember after the Muzzin trade, they drafted him with our first and he started the year with Doughty on the top pair and people were saying how big of a steal he was. This is why sample sizes matter.

 

[YP44]

Sounds like a Luca Sbisa career trajectory.

fair comparison

I remember after the Muzzin trade, they drafted him with our first and he started the year with Doughty on the top pair and people were saying how big of a steal he was. This is why sample sizes matter.

it did seem like a win right off the hope

 

[voxel]

I liked him in his draft year and at the WJC. I’m surprised. I thought he’d settle in to a role.

Meh... didn't care for any of his AHL play back in 2020-2021. Same with Soderstrom. Folks are too obsessed with draft pedigree. On the flipside I was always impressed by Byfield, Drysdale, Jarvis, and Boldy in the AHL.

 

[Jacob]

It doesn't help him that he's a lefty and doesn't stand out at anything in particular but if I was a bad team with roster room I'd take a flyer, it's basically a free prospect.

 

[KingPuckChoo]

Blake really doesn't value picks, prospects, and goaltending

it's bizarre for a dude that spent 20 years in the NHL as a player

goes to show you that EXPERTISE doesn't always translate into KNOWLEDGE

 

[Bounces R Way]

Could see the Flames making a claim.

You can put it on development or whatever if you want but I just don't think he's all that good. Doesn't have the talent to be much more than bottom pairing and doesn't have the physicality to be what teams are looking for there anyway. Maybe under the right coach and opportunity somebody could get some use out of him but I just don't see much upside.

 

[Volica]

Would love a flames claim here if nothing else but to keep Jordan Oesterle away from this team.

We're living in a world where Oesterle, Gilbert and DeSimone will be playing some non-15 minute a night minutes for this club. Calgary with them getting rid of the Zadorov contract, this is a no-brainer.

 

[Brodeur]

Another huge 1st round whiff by Blake, no other way to look at it.
You dont draft well, Rob.

While it looks like Blake was a driving force behind the Turcotte pick, I'm not sure he was necessarily pushing for Bjornfot. If it's any consolation, the ten guys taken between Bjornfot and Kaliyev aren't perennial All-Stars.

One interesting story that came out post-draft was that the Kings possibly had Kaliyev ranked higher than Bjornfot. They were aiming to get a F+D with picks #22 and #33. They didn't think a D that they liked would last until #33 and they took a calculated gamble that a forward would, so they took Bjornfot first.

 

[Kudelski37]

Like all GMs, Blake is burning through prospects faster as his firing approaches.

 

[Seattle King]

While it looks like Blake was a driving force behind the Turcotte pick, I'm not sure he was necessarily pushing for Bjornfot. If it's any consolation, the ten guys taken between Bjornfot and Kaliyev aren't perennial All-Stars.

One interesting story that came out post-draft was that the Kings possibly had Kaliyev ranked higher than Bjornfot. They were aiming to get a F+D with picks #22 and #33. They didn't think a D that they liked would last until #33 and they took a calculated gamble that a forward would, so they took Bjornfot first.

The result is Blake blew the 2019 first round spectacularly, getting literally nothing from picks 5 and 22.
Oof.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Another classic example of “making it to the NHL ahead of your peers” guarantees little in terms of your ultimate upside.

Kind of shows making the NHL early doesn’t mean you’ll be an impact player later on like many seem to think

I agree with the premise but I don't think Toby is an example of this, he's mostly been dicked around by the organization like almost every other prospect. I can see him excelling elsewhere like almost every one of our other departees.

He started well, got hurt, came back and played hurt, and then never got a spot back no matter how much he 'earned it' because he's not 25.

He'll be the next Durzi/Walker/pick a King that at lesat excels on someone elses middle pairings as a boring ass consistent guy who can give you 18-20 minutes. But he seems to thrive on reps/consistency, not being thrown into random situations with random partners on either side and then getting blamed for what the 35 year old with one leg did.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

bust

 

[YP44]

I agree with the premise but I don't think Toby is an example of this, he's mostly been dicked around by the organization like almost every other prospect. I can see him excelling elsewhere like almost every one of our other departees.

He started well, got hurt, came back and played hurt, and then never got a spot back no matter how much he 'earned it' because he's not 25.

He'll be the next Durzi/Walker/pick a King that at lesat excels on someone elses middle pairings as a boring ass consistent guy who can give you 18-20 minutes. But he seems to thrive on reps/consistency, not being thrown into random situations with random partners on either side and then getting blamed for what the 35 year old with one leg did.

I also can see him become a legit top 4 D elsewhere, and agree that he has been dicked around. They brought in guys like Edler and even Maata instead of continuing to grow Toby, when Edler and Maata maybe were slight upgrades, if at all.
Moverare is going to end up the same. Just less pedigree