Confirmed with Link: What to do With Iafallo / Update: Iafallo re-signed 4 years, 16 million

[Raccoon Jesus]

For now I say re-sign. He’s fine where he is and will be a great complementary guy in the middle six when the team naturally improves around him. We’ll just end up shopping around for a guy like him at a trade deadline down the road. We have cap space and I doubt he’ll be breaking the bank.

Exactly.

I guess my thing is this forum is always so quick to jettison 40-50 point scorers then complaining that we have no offense.

The guy was our 2nd leading scorer last year; we'd trade him, watch him score at a 50-60 pt pace on like the Hurricanes for a year or two, and then look for a complementary player to line up next to our young Cs yet again.

 

[kingsboy11]

I'd resign him, but not for more than 4 years. I think all of management and the coaching staff love him

 

[MBH]

You should be careful with Iafallo.
Career high of 43 points. But he did in 19 minutes a night.

Iaffolo played more 5 on 5 minutes than all but 32 NHL forwards last year.
Only one player with more minutes had a worse points/60 rating. David Perron. Kopitar was right beside him at 1.71.

I kind of liken him to Tyler Bertuzzi on the Wings.
He's not a first line player. But he's a middle-six player good enough to play on the first line.

These are useful guys - but they should not be paid like a first liner.

You have to ask yourself, what role should Iafolli be in? To me, he looks like a 2nd or 3rd line winger who should play 14-15 minutes a night, not 19-20.

So take that 40-50 point production down to 30-40 and offer accordingly. If that's not good enough, see what you can get in a trade.

 

[bland]

I think the Kings must re-sign either Iafallo or Athanasiou, possibly both if they think Kaliyev needs more AHL time on the left side.

What I would hope to see by the end of next year:
Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Kaliyev - Turcotte - Madden
Iafallo/Athanasiou - Byfield - Thomas
Grundstrom - JAD -Andersson

 

[KopitarFAN]

Depends on the price, if they can get him on a short deal at a pretty low AAV because of the current economics of the sport, then sure, but I wouldn't do a long-term deal.

 

[Telos]

Re-sign, despite the recent hate, he is a good player that belongs, not many in his age bracket, and if worse comes to worst he can be one of our better bottom-6 and as long as the contract isn't crazy I find it hard to believe you can't find a taker.

 

[Anguyen92]

Resign him for 3 million x 3 years (maybe 4 million if he has a good season this year) and not give us more pain than needed and it will be ok.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Yeah, definitely not advocating giving him big money or term, if someone offers his 5x5 or some shit he can kick rocks.

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

I like him but wouldn't be sad if we dealt him for a top 4 LHD around the same age.

I'm thinking no one will offer a top 4 D-man for Yafallo...its pronounced Yafallo not I A F A LL O! I hate when names get butchered,Sports commentators,government officials,teachers that aren't Italian wouldn't know this!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Yeah, definitely not advocating giving him big money or term, if someone offers his 5x5 or some shit he can kick rocks.

I feel for Yafallo but he he's not a top line LWinger! Not on a team that's building for another Stanley Cup or two!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

For now I say re-sign. He’s fine where he is and will be a great complementary guy in the middle six when the team naturally improves around him. We’ll just end up shopping around for a guy like him at a trade deadline down the road. We have cap space and I doubt he’ll be breaking the bank.

Iafallo doesn't compliment Kopi's game and neither does Brown...never has! Kings need to surround Kopi with linemates other than the two aforementioned ones,Yafallo being one!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

That's a coaching decision. Case in point, Amadio. Case in point part 2: The Ginger got the start over JAD last night.

Wags has great great speed but isn't ever going to be a scorer or contribute much on the scoring sheet! Wags is a 4th line player! Grundstrom plays with jam,same with Lias and has some skill too!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

Look around the league, those are top-six numbers on almost every single team. I'm not going to run that report again. But going back to 2019--the Blues top 3 scorers were 77, 68, 54, then under 50. Tampa Bay had the mega line at 90s-100s, then all in the 40s. And keep in mind AI is doing this on an offensively deficient team, so those points are deflated. he was our 2nd leading scorer last year. AI in a different market is Alex Killorn.

You want to swap him for AA...Iafallo outproduced him last year and is matching him this year. AA might be more raw skilled and maybe it's worth a try, but there's more to hockey than just talent--AA needs the puck, as you've noticed, how will that mesh with Kopitar?

It's so strange he's doing things that everyone else can do but that no one else can wrestle a spot away from him. People are so ready to jettison these guys that they call 'passengers' and 'placeholders' but where's the challenge to their spot coming from? We can barely field a full complement of forwards now!

Kopi has carried Iafallo and Brown for most of his career!

 

[Ray Martyniuk]

If I have to decide right now I say re-sign; not many people his age in the org and he's a useful player even if he's had a rough start; have to believe he's going to snap out of it.

Of course by the end of the year who knows, maybe Turcotte or someone else makes him obsolete.

His contract has great value so if he rounds back into form and a contender will give up a good piece for him, I'm not wholly against it.

I think he's very much a wait-and-see.

I love Turcotte's speed! The kid can fly! Iafallo might just snap out of it! He's 27 though and what is he a 25,35,45 or 55 point producer?Not enough in my books

 

[Stimpythecat]

Blake has openly stated he will try/explore getting Iafallo signed. That tells me there is a good chance he will be a signed player by the time of the expansion draft. Whether or not that means he will be protected is a different story.

I'd guess maybe a 3 year deal if the AAV is acceptable.

 

[AlphaBravo]

The answer is easy. Depends on price and term. $4million for 3 years works. Or $3 million for 4 years.

 

[kilowatt]

I don't want to just give him away for free, but if someone comes along offering a late first or early second you think about it.

 

[Pandaman11]

Sign him to a 3rd-line deal and let him play 3rd line minutes

 

[Sol]

You keep him until you have space for better and younger players.


On a side note, how did he get so slow? I rememeber his first year he was hustling and quick to accelerate. Now it's almost like he put on 300 lbs

 

[Herby]

Is he one of those guys that can be a really good bottom six player on a contender or is he destined to be one of those guys who is a 2nd liner on bad teams (like fellow Western NY’er Lee Stempniak). I think at 27 he is still young enough where he can be a solid veteran bottom six guy when the Kings are ready to contend again. He’s in a similar situation to what Stoll was before the Kings traded for Richards, a quality player put into a position he just wasn’t good enough for.

 

[KingsFan7824]

He'll basically be 28 when a new contract kicks in. Last year was 43pts in 70 games, and x82 that's 50pts. Right now, 5pts in 8 games x82 is 51pts. That's $5m a year. Easy. Maybe covid knocks that down a bit. Still probably a 4/5 year contract though.

The first difficult decision for Blake to make. Kovalchuk was risky. Doughty was paid for the 2 Cups. Unless he wanted to leave, he was never going anywhere. Whoever the GM was at the time was going to give him that contract. Whoever sits above the GM would've made sure of it. Pearson was terrible at the time of his trade, and everything after that move was made in acceptance of how far the Kings had fallen, so those were easy moves to make when the cap allowed them to be made.

If he's a 50pt guy on a good team, he's worth the likely contract he'd get.

 

[Sleeping Dog]

I voted for trading him, but if we can resign him for 2 or 3 years, I’d prefer that and then trade him when we see what we have with all the young guns coming up. If he wants a longer contract, then I’m back to trade him now.

 

[Bandit]

I think the Kings must re-sign either Iafallo or Athanasiou, possibly both if they think Kaliyev needs more AHL time on the left side.

What I would hope to see by the end of next year:
Kempe - Kopitar - Vilardi
Kaliyev - Turcotte - Madden
Iafallo/Athanasiou - Byfield - Thomas
Grundstrom - JAD -Andersson

That's 6 guys that aren't on the team right now including the entire second line. Seems unlikely.

Trade or keep him but if you trade him I'm not sure I'd be expecting a top 4 D of his age coming back.

 

[Token]

Iafallo surfs.

Charlie don’t surf.

So unless he wants to settle with that beach-break crap they got in Florida ...

Iafallo staying in California!

Now, it would be hilarious if he trades Manhattan for Laguna beach!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I feel for Yafallo but he he's not a top line LWinger! Not on a team that's building for another Stanley Cup or two!

I don't really disagree, I think ideally he's at least 2nd or 3rd line. But on this team, being able to simply exist for 20 minutes while producing at a top 6 rate, playing special teams, and supporting/exhibiting chemistry with Kopitar has him where he's at. I just take issue with people calling out his production--he was 33rd in LW scoring last year. This forum keeps trying to jettison 40-50 point guys then complaining we can't score while looking for another 40-50 point guy. It's like Groundhog Day.

I'm not saying he's not expendable at any cost, I just want someone to WIN a role instead of being handed it, and he's a useful vet that's about the only one in his age range here.

If someone gives a 1st up for him at the deadline? Sure, why not. If kids aren't breaking in by then...we have issues anyway.