GDT: 2020-21 season game 10 LA Kings vs Vegas Golden Knights @7:00pm 2/5/21

Peter James Bond III

CHROMIAK COMETH
Jul 8, 2020
520
1,383
Wags has no business being on this team...he draws penalties for an inept PP! Might as well decline...Brown,Yafallo on the PP.you have to be kidding right

I honestly believe he could not make any other NHL team. He cannot make plays, has zero vision, is EXTREMELY North South skater and cannot make cuts or changes to evade defenders...yes, he can skate by many, but 90% of the time, nothing comes of it. Watch him skate next game...and watch Kempe skate. Kempe is infinitely better, because he can cut, evade, change speeds, pull up and still have Wagner's straight away speed. And he can make plays and make more happen. Defenders have a much bigger challenge, dealing with Kempe, than Wagner.

That was a good goal last night by Wagner and he did it in tight quarters and get it over Fleury. Touche.
Please bring that every 4 games, not twice a year.

The only way for this team to improve, is going to replace ALL of the non-NHL players. All the ones that would make less than 5 (4 or less) other NHL teams:
Wagner, Amadio, Moore, Carter (he has had 2 or 3 good games and that' s where is and not going to change) Brown (0 even strength goals this year. 0 and
mostly with Kopitar / Iafallo ) Luff, Maaattaaa and the ones that have no business - Alt, Strand...

The 'replacements' ? Madden, Turcotte, Kaliyev, Byfield, Kupari, Fagemo, Thomas. No, all 7 cannot play for the Kings now. They are not ready. I think some are close.
I think 3 of them will be on the team by the trade deadline; Madden, Turcotte and one of Kupari / Kaliyev. Possibly all 4 of them, if the Kings can move several out.
 
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Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
62,128
62,615
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There is a lack of perspective guys...

This team was never in the play-off hunt, not without some other teams falling way below their expected levels. This year is about development of our new core and understanding what we have. What happens in Ontario is far more important, far more.

I think everybody understands the skill and ability down there, but look at the character and leadership. Turcotte, Björnfot, Byfield, Thomas, Madden... all 5 could be future Captain of this team. There’s possibly a couple more I’m not aware of also. Those guys will bring an instant change in not just the skill, but culture for this team. By the end of the season I’d bet they’ve all a few games in the NHL and by the end of 21\22 they will all be full time Kings. When it comes this is going to change quickly. It’s why I like that they are keeping Kalyev down there with them currently... they are the core he is part of, not the place holders in the current Kings lineup.

People need to also think about how they judge Vilardi. Not only is he a Rookie but he’s missed a huge amount of hockey over the last few years. This season he needs to focus on finding his game again and it’s going to take time. They aren’t using him as the 2C and that’s probably the right thing, especially as he’s currently trying to get through his first injury free season in... who knows how long? The fact he’s doing as well as he is with the game time he has missed is testament to the skill and character he has. He will be fine... better than fine.

Disagree.

Col, VGK, Stl, consider those locks.
We considered that 4th spot goes to Min but they (were, at least) a level below
the competition was always between Min and LA, Ana, SJS, Arizona, so most of us thought they would CHALLENGE for a spot--after all, TM and Blake and co promised improvement and to fight for the playoffs.

They absolutely SHOULD be in the playoff hunt. I figured a 5th-6th place finish would be considered improvement. One of those other teams could have surprised, but Ana is behind our rebuild, SJS is even older than we were when starting ours, AZ is a mess. So anything lower than 5th-6th should be considered an absolute catastrophe. You should NOT regress at this point--and the play looks even worse than the results. We couldn't say that last year--they started to look more competitive and players were emerging even if the results weren't really there. This year, they look completely disjointed and how many times have we been scored in in the first minute of any period?
 

Peter James Bond III

CHROMIAK COMETH
Jul 8, 2020
520
1,383
Yes, it's too early to #COWER4POWER....but need to timestamp this. Saturday, February 6th, 2021. 10:20 AM MST.

The 'tankers' are misunderstood. Almost NONE of them (maybe 3% though) want the Kings to lose or them to throw games. NO. They live in reality and value top 5 picks and are OK, when the Kings are collectively terrible and not a playoff team. Would most tankers wan the Kings to make the playoffs?
YES. They also know the lottery will not save the team, but also know a Turcotte or Byfield gives the Kings a better possible future, than a 15th overall pick. That's it in a nutshell.
 
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kilowatt

the vibes are not immaculate
Jan 1, 2009
18,497
21,267
I mean look, the team that Blake and McLellan trotted out in game one isn't nearly as bad as the team we got last night. Losing Roy, Walker, Lizotte, Frk, and Athanasiou really does hurt the team. We have a bunch of rookies trying their best and a bunch of AHL fodder playing their worst. It's just not a recipe for success. Hockey is like a tennis match, with attacks and responses to attacks, and when one line gets hemmed into their zone and can't clear, or does clear but can't get the puck deep, the next line doesn't have a chance to reset. This can snowball for the rest of the period. I'd guess thay half of Kopitar's shifts are spent in the offensive zone, but it needs to be a lot more than that. Every other line spends almost all their time in their defensive zone and then Kopitar has to come settle the game and try to make pressure. It's never going to work like that. The Kings need sustained offensive pressure to wear down the other team and force mistakes and penalties. We only have one line that can do that.

I think it might be time to use some of our cap space to acquire "free" assets and to help out our team at the same time. Guys like Yandle and Eriksson could bring in big assets for the Kings while providing warm bodies that at the very least can play bottom six or bottom pair hockey. If we could acquire some firsts or seconds while calming things down, that would be good. I am all for letting the kids play, but I didn't know they meant letting the kids play with Amadio and Wagner. We need to put our young players in a position to succeed.
 

KingsOfCali25

Start up the Bandwagon!
Feb 21, 2013
4,676
1,889
Santa Clarita, CA
Yes, it's too early to #COWER4POWER....but need to timestamp this. Saturday, February 6th, 2021. 10:20 AM MST.

The 'tankers' are misunderstood. Almost NONE of them (maybe 3% though) want the Kings to lose or them to throw games. NO. They live in reality and value top 5 picks and are OK, when the Kings are collectively terrible and not a playoff team. Would most tankers wan the Kings to make the playoffs?
YES. They also know the lottery will not save the team, but also know a Turcotte or Byfield gives the Kings a better possible future, than a 15th overall pick. That's it in a nutshell.

#Sour4Power

Because this season will leave a sour taste in your mouth with you wanting them to do more. And it will be the look you give watching the games like last night.
 
Jun 30, 2006
5,568
2,377
Todd father: “their speed overwhelmed us.”

Here we go with the same speed excuse we’ve been hearing for 4-5 years now.
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
62,128
62,615
I.E.
He's no Norris contender, but I don't remeber him trying to pinch every chance he gets. He used to play it pretty safe and wasn't a complete liability like he has been the last 2 games.

It's because Todd's system has the defensemen being super aggressive, which I appreciate.

I'm assuming a forward has to read that better and cover for them, but the knowledge of the rest of TM's system is lost on some scrolls at the bottom of the sea somewhere.

Step 1--aggressive D
Step 2--???
 

AzKing

Registered User
Feb 4, 2019
1,277
1,011
Newport Coast, CA
I dunno, he’s got the same number of goals as Kopitar though and it’s 10 games in...

A really sad comparison is that Tyler Toffoli has 9 goals this year. We can come up with 9 goals too but we need to combine Kempe, Brown, Kopitar and Carter to get to that same number.
 

bland

Registered User
Jul 1, 2004
7,411
10,724
It's because Todd's system has the defensemen being super aggressive, which I appreciate.

I'm assuming a forward has to read that better and cover for them, but the knowledge of the rest of TM's system is lost on some scrolls at the bottom of the sea somewhere.

Step 1--aggressive D
Step 2--???

With talented, stable players this system would look seamless and fluid. Right now it's filled with guys who are some combination of diaded-out, no longer capable, inexperienced and nervous, afraid of losing their spot and overwhelmed.

When the level is set high by the vets, its easier for the inexperienced to breathe and feel comfortable. When it is set low, they look panicked and nervy. They haven't found a happy medium period of consistency with this group yet, and I think that is when we will see which of the young guys are more capable than the others. We saw Roy and Walker prove themselves last year, none of the newest players have been able to show what they can do in a stable environment yet.
 
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Master Yoda

LA Legends
Aug 6, 2003
1,468
1,558
El Paso
It's because Todd's system has the defensemen being super aggressive, which I appreciate.

I'm assuming a forward has to read that better and cover for them, but the knowledge of the rest of TM's system is lost on some scrolls at the bottom of the sea somewhere.

Step 1--aggressive D
Step 2--???
You're right. It probably is a combination of the forwards not coming back to help on a pinching D. I guess you can say they've been making bad reads as a unit and it's resulted in a lot of odd man rushes. It just seems like every time he's on the ice, he's getting caught and Clague's not the most defensive dman either. So that pairings been a disaster. I have liked Clauge's overall game though.
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
62,128
62,615
I.E.
You're right. It probably is a combination of the forwards not coming back to help on a pinching D. I guess you can say they've been making bad reads as a unit and it's resulted in a lot of odd man rushes. It just seems like every time he's on the ice, he's getting caught and Clague's not the most defensive dman either. So that pairings been a disaster. I have liked Clauge's overall game though.

It definitely looks worse with MacD because he's got the turning radius of the Titanic and can't get back to close the gap to make it look competitive but they're collective brain farts that aren't just Kurtis'.

I mean look what Carter does on one of those goals to turn it into an oddman break, he inexplicably turns hard to the middle and cuts behind a VGK player before turning up ice.
 

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