2019 Draft Discussion

[King'sPawn]

This is a real concern. Blake can draft Hughes and the next 5 overall number 1's, but this organization doesn't have a fundamental direction and style, it will fail.

I don't know if Iafallo is really a "Blake player". Sure he signed him, but all the scouting was done under Lombardi. He seems to fit the Lombardi mold better.

This is where Blake needs to address/overhaul the scouting staff. What are their priorities?

For all our criticisms of Lombardi, Futa/Yanetti and Co were dependable in hitting the kinds of players Lombardi wanted: hard working, character, plays heavy.

Blake has been GM for a year and a half. He has made three staff changes: WD for Stevens, Sturm for Nachbaur, and Oates for Turgeon. He clearly is trying to transition from hard-working to speedy and skilled, but he hasn't replaced any personnel immediately to stay in his vision.

I am excited about whomever the Kings draft, but this is why the Kings need to make top to bottom organizational changes, especially with development to mold the players to fit in his vision.

I'm genuinely worried Blake has no concerns for culture, and just hopes a mishmash of talented players will accomplish something.

 

[Sol]

This is where Blake is failing massively as a GM, and where Lombardi excelled at. There is not an identity with the organization right now. Are they trying to be faster? Obviously. Are they trying to be hard to play against? It's a tagline.

I'm also sure the Kings are trying to get more skill into the organization, and Hughes shows a lot of it.

But we can't even identify a player and say "This is a Blake player" Iafallo has integrated very well into the Kings, but we can't even imagine how certain players would fit in with Blake's vision.

The two drafts under Blake have been very different, as well. 2018 was more speed and high risk, 2017 was more skill and safety.

Yeah it's understandable though.. DL had zero great players so it was easy to tank and draft to a mold. Kings have some really solid players. DL had an easy choice to make.

I want to give Blake more time until I say this is true. Blake is definitely in a tough spot, but getting Willie was a bad mistake.

 

[kings11]

Yeah it's understandable though.. DL had zero great players so it was easy to tank and draft to a mold. Kings have some really solid players. DL had an easy choice to make.

I want to give Blake more time until I say this is true. Blake is definitely in a tough spot, but getting Willie was a bad mistake.

Oh Sol, DL had Brown, Kopitar and Quick all handed to him thanks to Dave Taylor... So, shyte yeah DL had great players... DL left Blake with a shyte show of a team with no farm and dried up role/depth players oh and minimal cap space...

 

[Sol]

Oh Sol, DL had Brown, Kopitar and Quick all handed to him thanks to Dave Taylor... So, shyte yeah DL had great players... DL left Blake with a shyte show of a team with no farm and dried up role/depth players oh and minimal cap space...

All young as well.

 

[KINGS17]

This is where Blake needs to address/overhaul the scouting staff. What are their priorities?

For all our criticisms of Lombardi, Futa/Yanetti and Co were dependable in hitting the kinds of players Lombardi wanted: hard working, character, plays heavy.

Blake has been GM for a year and a half. He has made three staff changes: WD for Stevens, Sturm for Nachbaur, and Oates for Turgeon. He clearly is trying to transition from hard-working to speedy and skilled, but he hasn't replaced any personnel immediately to stay in his vision.

I am excited about whomever the Kings draft, but this is why the Kings need to make top to bottom organizational changes, especially with development to mold the players to fit in his vision.

I'm genuinely worried Blake has no concerns for culture, and just hopes a mishmash of talented players will accomplish something.

This is a problem I think is often seen with former great players when they become GMs or executives. They think it's enough to just be a good player and show up. The way this team is playing at this time in terms of emotion and work ethic is not acceptable. The fish stinks from the head down.

 

[KINGS17]

Oh Sol, DL had Brown, Kopitar and Quick all handed to him thanks to Dave Taylor... So, shyte yeah DL had great players... DL left Blake with a shyte show of a team with no farm and dried up role/depth players oh and minimal cap space...

I will give you Brown. The other two were drafted by Dave Taylor, but I saw the organization screw up the development of many young players under his leadership.

 

[kings11]

I will give you Brown. The other two were drafted by Dave Taylor, but I saw the organization screw up the development of many young players under his leadership.

Brown was almost ruined by bullying Sean Avery but Kopitar deciding to stay in Sweden really helped his development as did Quick’s NCAA career.
Sol brought up the fact that the Kings were barren when DL took over but the fact was that he inherited the 3 most important pieces of our 2 Cup winning teams. However, the same cannot be said for Blake. He has inherited bloated contracts, bad drafting and faded depth players. I will give Blake 2 more years to truly see his vision for Kings hockey.. he’s drafted well in my eyes with Vilardi, Kuwait, JAD, Thomas, Anderson and singing Petersen, Brinkley, Strand and Iafallo.. plus he’s getting cap space to make moves so I hold out hope that whatever plan he’s implementing will be fruitful for the Org. and soon!
What can I say guys... I’m just super optimistic lol

 

[kings11]

I will give you Brown. The other two were drafted by Dave Taylor, but I saw the organization screw up the development of many young players under his leadership.

Brown was almost ruined by bullying Sean Avery but Kopitar deciding to stay in Sweden really helped his development as did Quick’s NCAA career.
Sol brought up the fact that the Kings were barren when DL took over but the fact was that he inherited the 3 most important pieces of our 2 Cup winning teams. However, the same cannot be said for Blake. He has inherited bloated contracts, bad drafting and faded depth players. I will give Blake 2 more years to truly see his vision for Kings hockey.. he’s drafted well in my eyes with Vilardi, Kuwait, JAD, Thomas

 

[KINGS17]

Brown was almost ruined by bullying Sean Avery but Kopitar deciding to stay in Sweden really helped his development as did Quick’s NCAA career.
Sol brought up the fact that the Kings were barren when DL took over but the fact was that he inherited the 3 most important pieces of our 2 Cup winning teams. However, the same cannot be said for Blake. He has inherited bloated contracts, bad drafting and faded depth players. I will give Blake 2 more years to truly see his vision for Kings hockey.. he’s drafted well in my eyes with Vilardi, Kuwait, JAD, Thomas

Brown wasn't almost ruined by Sean Avery's bully tactics. If Brown couldn't handle that, he wouldn't have made it in the NHL. By the way Avery was acquired by Taylor. Lombardi gave Avery a 2nd chance and Avery blew it and was shipped out by Lombardi.

Lombardi inherited 3 good players, who developed by Lombardi's people.

 

[kings11]

Brown wasn't almost ruined by Sean Avery's bully tactics. If Brown couldn't handle that, he wouldn't have made it in the NHL. By the way Avery was acquired by Taylor. Lombardi gave Avery a 2nd chance and Avery blew it and was shipped out by Lombardi.

Lombardi inherited 3 good players, who developed by Lombardi's people.

I would say Lombardi inherited 1 great player, 1 of the best Playoff goalies of the last 2 decades and likely the best Captain a Kings team has ever had. So to say DL inherited 3 good players is selling those players way short.
As for Brown vs Avery, he had a ton of difficulty handling it but likely DL got rid of him. What helped him develop were the veteran players DL acquired along the way which was capped by the acquisitions of Mitchell, Williams, Richards, Regher, Stoll and Greene...
With that said, you’re completing missing the point by ignoring what DL inherited from Taylor with the S*#t show Blake got after DL pensioned everyone! This team isn’t on the way up the way it was with DL, rather it’s been headed in a downward spiral that can be drastically corrected if some vets are moved for picks and youngin’s and we hopefully land Hughes...

 

[KINGS17]

I would say Lombardi inherited 1 great player, 1 of the best Playoff goalies of the last 2 decades and likely the best Captain a Kings team has ever had. So to say DL inherited 3 good players is selling those players way short.
As for Brown vs Avery, he had a ton of difficulty handling it but likely DL got rid of him. What helped him develop were the veteran players DL acquired along the way which was capped by the acquisitions of Mitchell, Williams, Richards, Regher, Stoll and Greene...
With that said, you’re completing missing the point by ignoring what DL inherited from Taylor with the S*#t show Blake got after DL pensioned everyone! This team isn’t on the way up the way it was with DL, rather it’s been headed in a downward spiral that can be drastically corrected if some vets are moved for picks and youngin’s and we hopefully land Hughes...

They had raw talent. They were developed in Lombardi's system.

We aren't ignoring anything, and many of us know Blake inherited a roster in need of a rebuild.

 

[Fishhead]

I would say Lombardi inherited 1 great player, 1 of the best Playoff goalies of the last 2 decades and likely the best Captain a Kings team has ever had. So to say DL inherited 3 good players is selling those players way short.
As for Brown vs Avery, he had a ton of difficulty handling it but likely DL got rid of him. What helped him develop were the veteran players DL acquired along the way which was capped by the acquisitions of Mitchell, Williams, Richards, Regher, Stoll and Greene...
With that said, you’re completing missing the point by ignoring what DL inherited from Taylor with the S*#t show Blake got after DL pensioned everyone! This team isn’t on the way up the way it was with DL, rather it’s been headed in a downward spiral that can be drastically corrected if some vets are moved for picks and youngin’s and we hopefully land Hughes...

On the way up? That's revisionist history, there's no other way to put it. The only young players worth a damn on the roster were Brown, Cammalleri, and Frolov. Luc and Roenick were on the roster, which was one of the oldest in the league and a complete mess. Andy Murray had lost the team and they were mired in 3rd and 4th place finishes in the division. That is not a team on the way up in any way, shape, or form. It was 100% the opposite. They had no direction and had nothing to look forward to except shitty black hole finishes. They didn't break 80 points for the first 3 years of DL's tenure, because the roster needed to be completely rebuilt from the back out. The situation was just as bad, if not worse, than it is right now. The biggest difference is that the Kings didn't have any unmovable guys back then like now, which is going to be the challenge for Blake. Lombardi didn't have to deal with that, but he had to pull off something far more difficult, he had to change the culture of a team that had been losers since 1967. Blake has his challenges, but so did DL.

Sans the championships, Lombardi was in a similar position to Blake, really. The Kings had a high payroll when they took over, they were sucking, and needed a rebuild. No one knew what we had in Kopitar, Brown, or Quick yet, so it's not like help was on the way. DL's system developed those guys into what they are today, in Taylor's system that likely doesn't happen, which had a history of screwing up young talent.

But let's not devalue what DL did by pretending he inherited these great players. The man completely built it into a team that, for a three year period, scared the league shitless. He completely f***ed up at the end of his career here but his work during the first part should never, ever be forgotten

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I'm not sure how many of you guys remember the Taylor years, even the Vachon years, this goes all the way back to the start of the team, until DL came...the only thing the Kings were interested in...were selling tickets....that's it. They didn't develop players, they didn't draft well, they sold draft picks, traded young players for vets... they had no scouting...

You can start whenever you want, but 1980, 4th OA pick hall of famer Larry Murphy, traded him 4 years into his career....for Brian freaking Englomb....

1981 they pick Doug Smith over Ron Francis....

1982 no 1st
1983 no 1st or 2nd
1984 Craig Redmond over Gary Roberts etc
1985 9th OA and 10th OA played a combined 45 games in the NHL
1986 finally hit one with Jimmy Carson, then traded him in THE trade
1987 McBean and 121 games over Sakic
1988 Gelinas in the trade

It just continues....under every GM until Lombardi.....he stripped the organization down to the studs...and rebuilt it.... It wasn't just acquiring players, he rebuilt the scouting department, rebuild player development, had a plan to actually DEVELOP young players etc, something the organization HAS NEVER DONE...

Now who knows if Blake is going to follow the sames steps/paths, but everyone is judging him based on his playing days past and not what he's doing now...he's corrected a staffing error in Stevens...bringing in Desjardins and Sturm...bringing in Oates....he's not trading picks...right now...he's gaining flexibility in the cap, he's gonna HAVE to move cap, with 6M next year and only 14 under contract....he has to move some....

This isn't a video game where you can just sim to the next day, a modicum of patience is warranted......

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Yeah it's understandable though.. DL had zero great players so it was easy to tank and draft to a mold. Kings have some really solid players. DL had an easy choice to make.

I want to give Blake more time until I say this is true. Blake is definitely in a tough spot, but getting Willie was a bad mistake.

I agree there's a bit of contrast for sure but Blake also has some truly great trade chips if he really wants to tank and draft to mold and rebuild. It's maybe a worse spot due to bloated contracts, but as far as the assets themselves, there's potential for multiple 1sts and 2nds.

 

[kings11]

On the way up? That's revisionist history, there's no other way to put it. The only young players worth a damn on the roster were Brown, Cammalleri, and Frolov. Luc and Roenick were on the roster, which was one of the oldest in the league and a complete mess. Andy Murray had lost the team and they were mired in 3rd and 4th place finishes in the division. That is not a team on the way up in any way, shape, or form. It was 100% the opposite. They had no direction and had nothing to look forward to except ****ty black hole finishes. They didn't break 80 points for the first 3 years of DL's tenure, because the roster needed to be completely rebuilt from the back out. The situation was just as bad, if not worse, than it is right now. The biggest difference is that the Kings didn't have any unmovable guys back then like now, which is going to be the challenge for Blake. Lombardi didn't have to deal with that, but he had to pull off something far more difficult, he had to change the culture of a team that had been losers since 1967. Blake has his challenges, but so did DL.

Sans the championships, Lombardi was in a similar position to Blake, really. The Kings had a high payroll when they took over, they were sucking, and needed a rebuild. No one knew what we had in Kopitar, Brown, or Quick yet, so it's not like help was on the way. DL's system developed those guys into what they are today, in Taylor's system that likely doesn't happen, which had a history of screwing up young talent.

But let's not devalue what DL did by pretending he inherited these great players. The man completely built it into a team that, for a three year period, scared the league ****less. He completely ****ed up at the end of his career here but his work during the first part should never, ever be forgotten

No one can ever take away what DL built, he built 2 SC champions.
With that said, DL wasn’t saddled with $10 million for Kopitar, $5+million for Brown, Carter and Quick.. or the penalties for Richards and the buyout for Greene(tho low)...
Everyone is far too quick to blame Blake for how this team is performing when the reality is Luc and the higher ups are delusional in their expectations. This team has grown stale, the depth players have eroded, the leadership never transferred from Mitchell/Regher/Williams over to Kopiatr/Doughty, our “youngster” regressed with one being traded and the other skating in place and let’s not forget our lack of drafting and replenishing the pipeline. Blake has had two solid drafts with some really nice college signings. We cleared some cap and will hopefully we’ll cleared some more.
But to say the team wasn’t in the way up? Well let me tell you, it in fact was. DL made a brilliant move in moving Lubo for Stoll and Greene, he drafted well enough at first to acquired Richards, Williams and Carter and was damn savvy when he signed Willie Mitchell. But that took what?, 7 years to finally achieve his vision yet you guys seems to think 1.5 years into his tenure that Blake should have achieved more??
Guys on here are unrealistic when access this team from both sides of the argument. You pointed what DL did and I added more facts to support it, but let’s not forget or ignore that the contracts stated above aren’t more damaging than what DL inherited and sure as s*#t we don’t have any prospects on the Kopitar,Brown,Quick talent level to help this team go forward unless we hit the jackpot and land Hughes then things could turn around quickly but until then I’m hoping we keep losing and we move out more guys that have become complacent on this team....

 

[Fishhead]

No one can ever take away what DL built, he built 2 SC champions.
With that said, DL wasn’t saddled with $10 million for Kopitar, $5+million for Brown, Carter and Quick.. or the penalties for Richards and the buyout for Greene(tho low)...
Everyone is far too quick to blame Blake for how this team is performing when the reality is Luc and the higher ups are delusional in their expectations. This team has grown stale, the depth players have eroded, the leadership never transferred from Mitchell/Regher/Williams over to Kopiatr/Doughty, our “youngster” regressed with one being traded and the other skating in place and let’s not forget our lack of drafting and replenishing the pipeline. Blake has had two solid drafts with some really nice college signings. We cleared some cap and will hopefully we’ll cleared some more.
But to say the team wasn’t in the way up? Well let me tell you, it in fact was. DL made a brilliant move in moving Lubo for Stoll and Greene, he drafted well enough at first to acquired Richards, Williams and Carter and was damn savvy when he signed Willie Mitchell. But that took what?, 7 years to finally achieve his vision yet you guys seems to think 1.5 years into his tenure that Blake should have achieved more??
Guys on here are unrealistic when access this team from both sides of the argument. You pointed what DL did and I added more facts to support it, but let’s not forget or ignore that the contracts stated above aren’t more damaging than what DL inherited and sure as s*#t we don’t have any prospects on the Kopitar,Brown,Quick talent level to help this team go forward unless we hit the jackpot and land Hughes then things could turn around quickly but until then I’m hoping we keep losing and we move out more guys that have become complacent on this team....

I don't really expect anything from Blake for a few years at least. I'll give him at least that much time before I pass judgement on what he's doing. Undoubtedly he's got a mess of his own to fix.

But out of curiosity, in 2006 when DL took over, what made you think the Kings were a team on the rise? I remember going to games being excited very little about the future. There was Frolov and Cammy, and Brown was developing. Gleason was OK. That's about it.

 

[King'sPawn]

Yeah it's understandable though.. DL had zero great players so it was easy to tank and draft to a mold. Kings have some really solid players. DL had an easy choice to make.

I want to give Blake more time until I say this is true. Blake is definitely in a tough spot, but getting Willie was a bad mistake.

DL had plenty. He was just able to convince ownership about the importance of building a culture and get everyone to buy into his long term vision.

He traded away players like Visnovsky and Demitra with the future in mind. I do feel Blake has inherited better pieces, but I think Blake lacks a vision, and I think he will always be trying to play catch-up with the rest of the league.

I don't mind the hiring of WD. He insulates Sturm, and since this team lacks identity anyway, I think it's important to break from the same voice which has been sounding in the system for almost 9 years.

I don't think Blake learned enough from DL. I think he missed the most important lesson of having a vision.

 

[Sol]

DL had plenty. He was just able to convince ownership about the importance of building a culture and get everyone to buy into his long term vision.

He traded away players like Visnovsky and Demitra with the future in mind. I do feel Blake has inherited better pieces, but I think Blake lacks a vision, and I think he will always be trying to play catch-up with the rest of the league.

I don't mind the hiring of WD. He insulates Sturm, and since this team lacks identity anyway, I think it's important to break from the same voice which has been sounding in the system for almost 9 years.

I don't think Blake learned enough from DL. I think he missed the most important lesson of having a vision.

Yeah well here's the thing. DL was hired specifically to rebuild though man. I get what you're saying but Blake was obviously hired to fix Dls problems.

No one is downplaying anyone, I'm just saying it's easier to blow it up and build what you want, it's more difficult to try to make the pieces you have been given work.

 

[King'sPawn]

Yeah well here's the thing. DL was hired specifically to rebuild though man. I get what you're saying but Blake was obviously hired to fix Dls problems.

No one is downplaying anyone, I'm just saying it's easier to blow it up and build what you want, it's more difficult to try to make the pieces you have been given work.

I understand now. Sorry if I didn't get it before.

I just think Blake has failed to even sell a vision. And I think it's because he lacks one. If Blake was brought in to fix DL's mess, he should have an idea of HOW he was going to do so.

 

[Sol]

I understand now. Sorry if I didn't get it before.

I just think Blake has failed to even sell a vision. And I think it's because he lacks one. If Blake was brought in to fix DL's mess, he should have an idea of HOW he was going to do so.

I thought the vision they were trying to sell us was a faster team.

Personally I think it's easier to sell a fully fleshed out vision whenever you're obviously rebuilding.

I don't think they can sell the type of vision to us fans when we all know the reason Blake was hired was to patch the holes of this sinking ship, and surely they won't say "yo we will be quicker and stop sucking" lol.


I truly hope the Kings rebuild and sell everyone and start from scratch.


I am a very very hopeful person but I haven't seen any reason to believe that this teams got more left in them.

I will always love what the core has done, but those days seem to have come to an end.

 

[Rorschach]

Yeah well here's the thing. DL was hired specifically to rebuild though man. I get what you're saying but Blake was obviously hired to fix Dls problems.

No one is downplaying anyone, I'm just saying it's easier to blow it up and build what you want, it's more difficult to try to make the pieces you have been given work.

I don’t think DL was hired to rebuild. He was hired to build because the Kings has young forwards coming and had several good players already. Initially he signed a lot of UFAs to enhance the roster, such as Calder, Preissing, Blake, Thornton, Willsie, Macauley, etc. It was later when he convinced AEG to rebuild, and he dealt away the Demitra’s, Visnovsky’s and Norstrom’s off the roster for futures.

So at first, DL was futilely trying to save the roster and then later he blew up the roster, rebuilt the defense in the farm and brought a bunch of character vets to lead.

 

[GoldenBearHockey]

I don’t think DL was hired to rebuild. He was hired to build because the Kings has young forwards coming and had several good players already. Initially he signed a lot of UFAs to enhance the roster, such as Calder, Preissing, Blake, Thornton, Willsie, Macauley, etc. It was later when he convinced AEG to rebuild, and he dealt away the Demitra’s, Visnovsky’s and Norstrom’s off the roster for futures.

So at first, DL was futilely trying to save the roster and then later he blew up the roster, rebuilt the defense in the farm and brought a bunch of character vets to lead.

Half right

Demitra, traded in 2006, the summer of

Norstrom traded in Feb 2007 (so essentially same season)

Visnovsky traded in 2008....

I think he came in knowing to blow it up

 

[kings11]

I don't really expect anything from Blake for a few years at least. I'll give him at least that much time before I pass judgement on what he's doing. Undoubtedly he's got a mess of his own to fix.

But out of curiosity, in 2006 when DL took over, what made you think the Kings were a team on the rise? I remember going to games being excited very little about the future. There was Frolov and Cammy, and Brown was developing. Gleason was OK. That's about it.

I Thought landing Kopitar was about as lucky as a franchise could get especially reading all the reports heading into the draft and of course I thought the trio of Brown-Boyle-Tambellini would be the beginning of a high octane offense(I was wrong) I thought those 4 plus some high lottery picks would help us and it did.
I look at the overall picture the good and the bad but then after the first big move you get a better idea of the direction a team is headed and DL did a brilliant job of providing the kids with real veteran leadership..
When I hear Blake talk it sounds as if he know this team needs to trade away key players but then you hear the crap that comes out of Luc’s mouth and you instantly realize where the problem are!

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

For me, Dach has passed Kakko and is closing in on Hughes. Kings just need to stay in the top three and they can't screw this up (I hope)

 

[KopitarFAN]

Cozens had a 6 point game last night, may be starting to break out of his funk (and by "funk" I mean a PPG scorer at 17).

It's really too bad Turcotte got hurt, could make a strong 2nd tier with Cozens, Podkolzin and maybe Peyton Krebs.

Alex Newhook is also kind of a wildcard.