Your ideal lines for this season?

[SufferingSelfCreated]

Talent wins.

I agree. But there is literally zero chance Danault is on the 4th line. No less 3rd. You probably switch Byfield and Vilardi's spot to start the season as well. But we definitely need the infusion of young talent.

 

[bmr]

I agree. But there is literally zero chance Danault is on the 4th line. No less 3rd. You probably switch Byfield and Vilardi's spot to start the season as well. But we definitely need the infusion of young talent.

The cool thing is there are a lot of interchangeable parts. It's sometimes unfair to label a line as 1/2/3/4. Vilardi and Byfield definitely belong on this team, even if they aren't getting 1st/2nd line minutes.

 

[kevsh]

Somebody's getting 4th line minutes and it won't be Kopitar, Danault, Vilardi or Byfield. So use that as a starting point when predicting the lineup.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Byfield is going to Ontario. Mark my words.

Lizotte is the 4th center until JAD plays well enough to knock him off.

with Kopitar and Danault here for the next few years, Vilardi might have to shift to the wing so allow Byfield to play 3rd line center next season or the following.

 

[Albi]

Just got a Tkachev GW jersey from SKA shop, I have a decent jerseys collection and I love this style

 

[The Gabe Blade]

Just got a Tkachev GW jersey from SKA shop, I have a decent jerseys collection and I love this style

That SKA jersey is sick. When do you pick it up, pick it up?

 

[Albi]

That SKA jersey is sick. When do you pick it up, pick it up?

What do you mean?

 

[Basilisk]

This is my humble take:

Iafallo – Kopitar – Arvidsson
Tkachev – Danault – Brown
Kempe – Vilardi – Andersson
Moore – Byfield – Athanasiou
Lemieux
Lizotte

Anderson – Doughty
Bjornfot – Roy
Edler – Walker
Maatta

Petersen
Quick

Having said all that, I'd like to see Vilardi eventually move to wing so that Byfield takes over at 3C with JAD moving up to 4C.

I think Byfield will begin as the #1C in Ontario......



Iafallo / Kopitar / Arvidsson
Brown / Danault / Kempe
Tkachev / Vilardi / Andersson
Moore / Lizotte / Lemieux

Wagner
Athanasiou (IR)



Anderson – Doughty
Bjornfot – Roy
Edler – Walker

Maatta


Petersen
Quick

 

[Johnny Utah]

I agree with this. Grundstrom on waivers. But I also see a chance Maata goes on waivers and Strand is the 7.

 

[Gjwrams]

I agree with this. Grundstrom on waivers. But I also see a chance Maata goes on waivers and Strand is the 7.

But how soft will be be? ;-P

 

[bland]

Iafallo - Kopitar - Arvidsson
Tkachev - Vilardi - Andersson
Moore - Danault - Athanasiou
Kempe - Byfield - Brown
Lizotte, Lemieux

Anderson- Doughty
Bjornfot- Roy
Edler - Walker
Maatta

Grundstrom and Strand stay but are waived once Athanasiou and Maatta are cleared.

 

[jfc64]

Playoffs:

Arvidsson - Kopitar - Byfield
Giroux – Danault – Brown
Iafallo - Kempe - Youthanasia
Lemieux – Turcotte – Moore
4rk

Leddy – Doughty
Elder – Roy
Määtä – Walker
Anderson

Petersen
Quickson

 

[Sparky206]

Playoffs:

Arvidsson - Kopitar - Byfield
Giroux – Danault – Brown
Iafallo - Kempe - Youthanasia
Lemieux – Turcotte – Moore
4rk

Leddy – Doughty
Elder – Roy
Määtä – Walker
Anderson

Petersen
Quick

Your not making playoffs with maata on your lineup

 

[ibleedkings]

Playoffs:

Arvidsson - Kopitar - Byfield
Giroux – Danault – Brown
Iafallo - Kempe - Youthanasia
Lemieux – Turcotte – Moore
4rk

Leddy – Doughty
Elder – Roy
Määtä – Walker
Anderson

Petersen
Quick

That came out of left field lol

 

[ru4reals]

Need to zoom in juuuust a bit. It might be a bit clearer!!!

 

[jfc64]

Your not making playoffs with maata on your lineup

He was good in worlds. Also, finns are looking forward to the olympics.

 

[Basilisk]

LoL! Is it too late to put Kaliyev in there??

 

[kevsh]

Another year of waiting for this awesome, envy-of-the-league prospect pool to be NHL ready. Byfield, Kaliyev, Madden, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo?

The latter 5 are all either 20 or 21 so it's not panic time but I'd love to see at least one or two of these guys ready to make the jump. And the idea that going into his second season post-draft a #2 overall would likely also be AHL-bound if not for his age is concerning. #2's aren't supposed to be "projects".

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

 

[Lt Dan]

Another year of waiting for this awesome, envy-of-the-league prospect pool to be NHL ready. Byfield, Kaliyev, Madden, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo?

The latter 5 are all either 20 or 21 so it's not panic time but I'd love to see at least one or two of these guys ready to make the jump. And the idea that going into his second season post-draft a #2 overall would likely also be AHL-bound if not for his age is concerning. #2's aren't supposed to be "projects".

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

Kaliyev is currently on the Kings roster. This is his chance. Byfield had a spot before the ankle

I think Madden and Fagemo are a year off.

Kupari is the wild card

 

[KingsFan7824]

Another year of waiting for this awesome, envy-of-the-league prospect pool to be NHL ready. Byfield, Kaliyev, Madden, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo?

The latter 5 are all either 20 or 21 so it's not panic time but I'd love to see at least one or two of these guys ready to make the jump. And the idea that going into his second season post-draft a #2 overall would likely also be AHL-bound if not for his age is concerning. #2's aren't supposed to be "projects".

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

The biggest issue are the holdover 1 way contracts. They matter. They matter all around the league. The vast minority of 1 way deals end up in the AHL.

A second issue would be, the new 1 way contracts. Re-signing AA and Lizotte, bringing Danault and Arvidsson, etc. That, plus the holdovers, pushes/keeps young guys down.

Generally, teams open spots up for young players. That's why you don't see many expensive vets on 1 way contracts in the minors. The Kings did not do so. They closed more spots than they opened. They have 30+ forwards on NHL or AHL deals. That fills more than 2 teams.

Is that Blake not paying attention? Is that Blake not believing in the prospects? Is that the Kings being ok with spending millions of NHL dollars in the AHL after the prospects earn their spot on the Kings? I don't know.

 

[DapperDan]

The biggest issue are the holdover 1 way contracts. They matter. They matter all around the league. The vast minority of 1 way deals end up in the AHL.

A second issue would be, the new 1 way contracts. Re-signing AA and Lizotte, bringing Danault and Arvidsson, etc. That, plus the holdovers, pushes/keeps young guys down.

Generally, teams open spots up for young players. That's why you don't see many expensive vets on 1 way contracts in the minors. The Kings did not do so. They closed more spots than they opened. They have 30+ forwards on NHL or AHL deals. That fills more than 2 teams.

Is that Blake not paying attention? Is that Blake not believing in the prospects? Is that the Kings being ok with spending millions of NHL dollars in the AHL after the prospects earn their spot on the Kings? I don't know.

I think it has more to do with Blake wanting options and runway for the rookies. Several are definitely ready to make the leap but they also haven't experienced what it's like to go through a full 82-game NHL season. The ideal situation is to give them some call-ups and when the timing is right, trade away the guys that just don't quite fit anymore. There's definitely a glut of players this time of year on almost every roster but come Dec/Jan and some injuries hit, there will surely be teams looking for the services of a Lizotte, Grundstrom, or Wagner. No real harm if one or more of them plays down with Reign at some point until then either.

 

[Schmooley]

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

Byfield is better than Stutzle

 

[HookKing]

Another year of waiting for this awesome, envy-of-the-league prospect pool to be NHL ready. Byfield, Kaliyev, Madden, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo?

The latter 5 are all either 20 or 21 so it's not panic time but I'd love to see at least one or two of these guys ready to make the jump. And the idea that going into his second season post-draft a #2 overall would likely also be AHL-bound if not for his age is concerning. #2's aren't supposed to be "projects".

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

No need to rush. Byfield was ready, Turcotte is probably ready but has been hurt a lot and Kupari missed a ton of time too. The other guys aren't first rounders (other than Kupari). A former King drafted in a similar spot to Kupari didn't make it to full time status until 23 almost 24. That guy was Trevor Lewis. If Kupari turned into a TL II I wouldn't be upset.

 

[redcard]

Another year of waiting for this awesome, envy-of-the-league prospect pool to be NHL ready. Byfield, Kaliyev, Madden, Turcotte, Kupari, Fagemo?

The latter 5 are all either 20 or 21 so it's not panic time but I'd love to see at least one or two of these guys ready to make the jump. And the idea that going into his second season post-draft a #2 overall would likely also be AHL-bound if not for his age is concerning. #2's aren't supposed to be "projects".

Meanwhile, up in Ottawa Stutzle ... (Yes, I'm going to hammer that until - if - the day Byfield comes that is clearly the better player).

I'm not sure what you're talking about here, and think that you might be misunderstanding the situation. Byfield was very much going to be on the NHL roster prior to breaking his ankle. "AHL-bound if not for his age" suggests that you may be unaware that he is allowed to play in the AHL this year due to playing enough games in the AHL last year when the OHL failed to play, regardless of his age. It was not an NHL or Junior situation for the 19 year old Byfield. Now, due to the injury, he will very possibly spend some time in the AHL when he comes back to rehab and get back in game shape, but make no mistake, he had clearly earned a spot on the NHL roster.

As for the other 5, "panic" isn't even in the picture. Its not about these guys not being ready to make the jump, its about the team not wanting to have 5 rookies make the jump at the same time. We still have a lot of inexperience on the roster even without Byfield and those prospects. The clock is ticking on the guys like Tkachev, Andersson, Grundstrom, Lizotte, Wagner, Athanasiou, and Lemieux. Those guys are basically competing against each other in a game of musical chairs, the question is how quickly is the organization going to keep pulling the chairs. They're getting their last chance to earn a spot (or at least establish their trade value) first, but their feet are very much to the fire and the kids are fanning the flames.

 

[kevsh]

Byfield was very much going to be on the NHL roster prior to breaking his ankle. "AHL-bound if not for his age" suggests that you may be unaware that he is allowed to play in the AHL this year due to playing enough games in the AHL last year when the OHL failed to play, regardless of his age.

I get that re: his eligibility last season, and it's too bad that he's either on the NHL club or has to go back to junior for this year, that's the downside of the NHL/CHL deal.

But I wasn't under the impression he was a lock for the Kings team this season, at least not in the top 9. And if he's debuting on the 4th line, unless for a really shortened time period, that's not promising, least of all for his development.

As for the other forwards, I'm not suggesting any or all are or will be busts, but there's a reason Blake went out and got 3 forwards for his top 9 as this team clearly wants to take a leap forward and none of the youngsters is ready. My concern is that any hope that a few would significantly exceed expectations is in question. And to make the leap to playoff team they will need a few of them to do just that, esp. considering Kopitar and Doughty aren't going to be the stars forever.

If the best this group gets to (outside Byfield, and even he's not a sure thing) is a middle-6 forward or two or four, that won't get it done.