Speculation: 2020-21 LA Kings News/Rumors/Roster Discussion Part V

[kovacro]

Jeebus, just noticed there's a @Peter James Bond II and @Peter James Bond III on our board.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I've never been bullish on Iafallo but I can't argue with the counting stats but I still come back to he's doing it while getting primo minutes/opportunity on basically a last place team that only has one line/PP unit that can score. You can't just put Grundstrom up there instead and expect the same production so I'm not crapping on him but I agree with the idea of him not being a Top 6 winger on a contender unless you are pretty stacked in the rest of the Top 6. I'd love him in a 3rd line role but the Kings haven't been able to replace him on the top line yet so there he stays.

This is a tough one because the player does have value but does he get a four year deal and is on the 3rd line by Year 3? On the other hand, what are you doing with a late 1st round pick if you don't use it in a package for someone that can help immediately? Hope that the late first round pick is at least as good as Iafallo in three-to-four years?

Kings currently have two seconds and two thirds in this draft. Adding another first is enticing when you think about the amount of picks, prospects and cap Blake would have to work with when looking to make an impact trade.

I don't really disagree, ideally he's pushed down, but literally every contender has a player like Iafallo in their top six, both by style and counting stats. The 'problem' as mentioned isn't Iafallo but that we don't have another elite winger to take the heat off him. Iafallo's stats are the same or better than anyone that's stuck in our top six over the last decade--better than Pearson, all but one year of Toffoli, roughly equal to Jdub, only lesser than 'good' Brown. And I'm not trying to get into that part of it again, I'm only pointing it out because of this--every one of those guys gets a similar contract. It's not a 'problem.' You don't get to underpay him just because you don't 'feel' he belongs there, I'd love to be on the other side of that arbitration.

 

[BigKing]

I don't really disagree, ideally he's pushed down, but literally every contender has a player like Iafallo in their top six, both by style and counting stats. The 'problem' as mentioned isn't Iafallo but that we don't have another elite winger to take the heat off him. Iafallo's stats are the same or better than anyone that's stuck in our top six over the last decade--better than Pearson, all but one year of Toffoli, roughly equal to Jdub, only lesser than 'good' Brown. And I'm not trying to get into that part of it again, I'm only pointing it out because of this--every one of those guys gets a similar contract. It's not a 'problem.' You don't get to underpay him just because you don't 'feel' he belongs there, I'd love to be on the other side of that arbitration.

That's fine if it is just counting stats but the only guy I'm going to compare him to is Pearson. Toffoli plays with Kopitar and pots 31 goals. Iafallo's TOI is pretty insane (19 minutes last season and 20 this year!!!) so that is a huge help to his counting stats. Now that I've seen that, I might have to walk it back a bit that Grundstrom couldn't replicate similar production at 20 minutes a night with Kopitar. The Kings would be a last place team if Grundstrom was in that spot instead but that is kind of my point: they are pretty much a last place team with Iafallo eating those minutes.

Iafallo has 20 hits in 37 games this year. 49 in 70 last season. God this team is so soft. Kopitar and Iafallo are skating for an entire period a game and average less than one hit per game. Like, how the f*** can you skate around for twenty minutes a game and not throw one body check hahaha.

 

[bland]

3.5 x 3?

4 years, $20 million.

And that is perfectly reasonable.

 

[ibleedkings]

Jeebus, just noticed there's a @Peter James Bond II and @Peter James Bond III on our board.

Ok who's who?

 

[apadilla]

3.5 x 3?

Kings would sign off on this.

 

[apadilla]

4 years, $20 million.

And that is perfectly reasonable.

Iafallo would sign off on this.

 

[ibleedkings]

4 years, $20 million.

And that is perfectly reasonable.

Easy pass

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

That's fine if it is just counting stats but the only guy I'm going to compare him to is Pearson. Toffoli plays with Kopitar and pots 31 goals. Iafallo's TOI is pretty insane (19 minutes last season and 20 this year!!!) so that is a huge help to his counting stats. Now that I've seen that, I might have to walk it back a bit that Grundstrom couldn't replicate similar production at 20 minutes a night with Kopitar. The Kings would be a last place team if Grundstrom was in that spot instead but that is kind of my point: they are pretty much a last place team with Iafallo eating those minutes.

Iafallo has 20 hits in 37 games this year. 49 in 70 last season. God this team is so soft. Kopitar and Iafallo are skating for an entire period a game and average less than one hit per game. Like, how the f*** can you skate around for twenty minutes a game and not throw one body check hahaha.

Iafallo plays 'soft' like Kopitar does, though. He dives into the corner and takes his licks. He's not shy about contact imo. Maybe it's because that line is near 60% possession, too.

You may also be overlooking that some of those minutes are PK as well, it's not like 20 minutes with Kopitar means preferential offensive deployment. part of the reason Brown got off the hook this year is because Iafallo took his PK minutes and is doing very well on one of the best PK units in the league.

Look, ultimately I'm not trying to be his hype man, I just think we're projecting a lot of issues onto Iafallo that are actually roster issues, not Alex issues. No one was mentioning a thing about AI when Brown was putting up 60+.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

It's interesting observing Iafallo's points per game this season. He currently ranks in the top 30 among all left wings, and Iafallo at .62, he has a higher point per game than the following left wingers:

Jamie Benn
Brady Tkachuk
Jonathan Drouin
Pierre-Luc Dubois
Brandon Saad
Patrik Laine
Taylor Hall
Tim Stutzle
Tanner Pearson
Zach Parise
Jaden Schwartz
Jason Zucker

I think Iafallo is worthy of the contract Montreal gave to Toffoli. He's better than Pearson, might not score as many as Toffoli, but he's a significant cog on this roster.

The uneducated posters who whine about Iafallo likely don't know what he brings to the table, and there is nobody better than him on the roster who can take his spot, and who is available that can be had who would replace his offense? The more expensive and less productive Taylor Hall?

 

[MBH]

4 years, $20 million.

And that is perfectly reasonable.

Three red flags.

1) Where would Iafallo's production be on Line 2 or Line 3 and the second PP unit. Do you want to paying him $5M a year in 2-3 years when Byfield/Turcotte/Kaliyev etc are on the team, taking those top unit, top PP minutes?

2) 24-43 point guy who's taking advantage of 20 minutes a night in a contract year.

3) Term. By year 4 of that deal, guys like Byfield, Turcotte and company good need big contracts.

Iafallo reminds me of a less physical, less skilled Tyler Bertuzzi.
He's valuable because he can play up and down the lineup.
He plays the game right.
But if you're not careful, you end up with Justin Abdelkader.

 

[KingsFan7824]

The problem is, what would Iafallo do without Kopitar and without first line powerplay minutes.
You might need that $5M in 4 years when Byfield and co get their 2nd deals.

The only guy currently signed longer than 3 years from now is Doughty.

 

[Piston]

4 years, $20 million.

And that is perfectly reasonable.

That would be a huge over payment in a flat cap era that has seen wingers much better than Iafallo such as Toffoli and Hoffman have to take pay cuts. My guess is that Blake has offered substantially less, hence AI is not signed already. All things being equal, I'm sure he's rather stay in LA and be attached to Kopitar for another season or two. The reason I advocate a trade is that with another #1 pick, we can put together a package to move up significantly in the upcoming draft and potentially have 2 top 10 picks (our own + trade late#1 + a #2 and a prospect). This seems like good asset management as opposed to over paying Iafallo.

 

[Jason Squirties]

That's fine if it is just counting stats but the only guy I'm going to compare him to is Pearson. Toffoli plays with Kopitar and pots 31 goals. Iafallo's TOI is pretty insane (19 minutes last season and 20 this year!!!) so that is a huge help to his counting stats. Now that I've seen that, I might have to walk it back a bit that Grundstrom couldn't replicate similar production at 20 minutes a night with Kopitar. The Kings would be a last place team if Grundstrom was in that spot instead but that is kind of my point: they are pretty much a last place team with Iafallo eating those minutes.

Iafallo has 20 hits in 37 games this year. 49 in 70 last season. God this team is so soft. Kopitar and Iafallo are skating for an entire period a game and average less than one hit per game. Like, how the f*** can you skate around for twenty minutes a game and not throw one body check hahaha.

I really hate you for pointing that out.

 

[Johnny Utah]

This is so cray - AI has never scored more than 17 goals and people are asking for 5 million? He's 27 already, how much upside is left?

Toffoli has scord 30 goals and 20 a few times - even Pearson cracked 20.

 

[kingsholygrail]

This is so cray - AI has never scored more than 17 goals and people are asking for 5 million? He's 27 already, how much upside is left?

Toffoli has scord 30 goals and 20 a few times - even Pearson cracked 20.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the 5mil mark for this guy.

 

[bland]

Three red flags.

1) Where would Iafallo's production be on Line 2 or Line 3 and the second PP unit. Do you want to paying him $5M a year in 2-3 years when Byfield/Turcotte/Kaliyev etc are on the team, taking those top unit, top PP minutes?

2) 24-43 point guy who's taking advantage of 20 minutes a night in a contract year.

3) Term. By year 4 of that deal, guys like Byfield, Turcotte and company good need big contracts.

Iafallo reminds me of a less physical, less skilled Tyler Bertuzzi.
He's valuable because he can play up and down the lineup.
He plays the game right.
But if you're not careful, you end up with Justin Abdelkader.

1) It doesn't really matter since he IS a first liner and has been for three years

2) His production has been at a steady 50 point level for 2 seasons, putting him within the top 30 in a position that historically and currently is the lowest scoring spot of the three forward positions

3) The deal would end as his prime ends, no non-prime years included at that rate

I listed all the true comparables in another thread a few weeks ago. There are a good 15 left wingers of the same age and production, none of which are making less than $4.75 mil as a cap hit.

 

[Rusty Batch]

Iafallo's production is obviously inflated by the fact that he plays in a role above his capabilities. In an arbitration hearing he probably does get more than what he's worth. That's why you trade him for whatever you can get.

Just because all other teams have players that hurt their team by playing bigger roles than they should, doesn't mean we need to commit long term to overpaying Iafallo for that privilege. (We currently have only one legit top 6 player on our roster which is a big part of the reason why we aren't good)

The reality is that no nhl team will have 6 top 6 forwards. The good ones get pretty close to that number though. And we very well might be able to get close to that once we call up our prospects, no need to overpay Iafallo

 

[tbrown33]

I wouldn't give Iaffalo top six money past a 2 year deal (3 tops). Doesn't make sense for the Kings since he should be bumped down to the third line by then.

If you can't sign him to a 3 year or under deal, and you can get a late first rounder for him, you do that deal easily. Then use that first rounder to move up into the top 5 of the draft (if we don't finish there already) to get someone like Owen Power. The final piece.

 

[Piston]

1) It doesn't really matter since he IS a first liner and has been for three years

2) His production has been at a steady 50 point level for 2 seasons, putting him within the top 30 in a position that historically and currently is the lowest scoring spot of the three forward positions

3) The deal would end as his prime ends, no non-prime years included at that rate

I listed all the true comparables in another thread a few weeks ago. There are a good 15 left wingers of the same age and production, none of which are making less than $4.75 mil as a cap hit.

How many of those comps signed prior to the flat cap era? The market for wings has been reset, downwards. Case in point, Mike Hoffman. There are very few teams that have the cap space to sign a LW for $5mm. We would be bidding against ourselves. I don't blame AI for trying to maximize how much he gets paid on his next deal which is for his prime years, but the reality is the market sets his value, and that market has declined.

 

[tbrown33]

Hopefully in for MacD and not Clague

 

[Bandit]

Who the hell is Wolanin?

 

[BigKing]

Who the hell is Wolanin?

Amadio trade.

I'm down for it. Looked decent in my Reign viewings. Trot him out there and see what he's got.

 

[TruKingFan]

$20M/4 yrs is "reasonable" for AI?

 

[head eyes]

Iafallo will re-sign at a fair value simply because nowhere else has the surf that LA does.