GDT: 2020-21 season game 51 LA Kings vs Arizona Coyotes @7:00pm 5/5/21

[Ziggy Stardust]

I still remember when Kopitar was drafted. I remember where I was. I remember the thread on this board from that day.

I can't believe that was 16 years ago.

On that day, who could've thought that a decade and a half later he'd have 1000 points and two Stanley Cups under his belt as a King?

I recall so many being in awe that he dropped to 11, as Kopitar was projected to be a top 5-6 player. Thank God he was born in Slovenia!

We all knew we were going to witness a special player since Game #1.

 

[DAkings20]

I still remember when Kopitar was drafted. I remember where I was. I remember the thread on this board from that day.

I can't believe that was 16 years ago.

On that day, who could've thought that a decade and a half later he'd have 1000 points and two Stanley Cups under his belt as a King?

 

[DAkings20]

 

[johnjm22]

I recall so many being in awe that he dropped to 11, as Kopitar was projected to be a top 5-6 player. Thank God he was born in Slovenia!

We all knew we were going to witness a special player since Game #1.

This is fun to look back on:
Hockey's Future 2005 Staff Mock Draft - Hockey's Future

ISS Top 15 prospects for the 2005 NHL Draft - Hockey's Future

 

[SmytheKing]

This is fun to look back on:
Hockey's Future 2005 Staff Mock Draft - Hockey's Future

ISS Top 15 prospects for the 2005 NHL Draft - Hockey's Future

Even more fun is the description they used for who they mocked the Kings taking:

Martin Hanzal
fits the Los Angeles Kings draft tendency perfectly — a physical,
large-bodied forward from Europe. Additionally, Hanzal plays a position of
need for the Kings and his raw offensive skills with a keen attention to
defense have first-line centerman written all over him.

Sound like anyone in particular?

 

[ru4reals]

One of my all time favorite Kings. I only have two Kings Jersey's Gretz and Kopi a Living legend no doubt. We don't win two cups without you Congrats on 1000 points big guy. Feel bad you have to endure the trash around you the past few years. Really praying you retire a King cuz I will ball like a girl if you ever don another jersey.

 

[KINGS17]

Great accomplishment for Anze Kopitar and well deserved. His number will be in the rafters some day.

 

[bland]

Even more fun is the description they used for who they mocked the Kings taking:

Martin Hanzal
fits the Los Angeles Kings draft tendency perfectly — a physical,
large-bodied forward from Europe. Additionally, Hanzal plays a position of
need for the Kings and his raw offensive skills with a keen attention to
defense have first-line centerman written all over him.

Sound like anyone in particular?

I always liked Hanzal. Not a first liner, but dude was a gamer.

And my god what a terrible first round in retrospect, we got so damn lucky that Dave Taylor was a stickler for Central Scouting rankings that time.

 

[King'sPawn]

I always liked Hanzal. Not a first liner, but dude was a gamer.

And my god what a terrible first round in retrospect, we got so damn lucky that Dave Taylor was a stickler for Central Scouting rankings that time.

No kidding.

Pretty incredible nobody else from the 2005 draft is even CLOSE to 1k points.

Paul Stastny is 3rd with 754 points.

Kopitar achieving 1k while being a top defensive center on a predominantly defensive team is amazing.

 

[ru4reals]

Kopi is 54 goals away from 400 not a huge number to reach and I think if he plays 4 more years and averages 13ish a season he will hit that mark. Really cool if he did.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Man I can't even believe it, 1,000 points is such a massive milestone. Only 91 players EVER have hit that! What an incredible player, how fortunate LA is to have him. I strongly believe he'll play to 40 and get 65-80 for the next 5 years at least.

 

[johnjm22]

2005 Draft. Most points scored:

Round	Draft Pos.	Player	Pos	GP	G	A	Pts
1	1	Sidney Crosby	C	1037	485	838	1323
1	11	Anze Kopitar	C	1123	346	654	1000
2	44	Paul Stastny	C	996	263	491	754
1	24	T.J. Oshie	R	853	256	350	606
4	105	Keith Yandle	D	1030	102	497	599
3	62	Kristopher Letang	D	861	134	446	580
1	2	Bobby Ryan	R	866	261	308	569
2	33	James Neal	L	845	293	259	552
7	230	Patric Hornqvist	R	814	252	260	512
1	25	Andrew Cogliano	C	1062	170	240	410
1	28	Matt Niskanen	D	949	72	284	356
1	17	Martin Hanzal	C	673	127	211	338
2	35	Marc-Edouard Vlasic	D	1082	73	259	332
1	3	Jack Johnson	D	950	71	232	303
7	216	Anton Stralman	D	855	55	215	270
1	4	Benoit Pouliot	L	625	130	133	263
1	8	Devin Setoguchi	R	516	131	130	261
2	42	Justin Abdelkader	L	739	106	146	252
5	132	Darren Helm	L	742	112	139	251
2	51	Mason Raymond	L	546	115	136	251
3	67	Kris Russell	D	881	46	199	245
3	79	Cody Franson	D	550	43	169	212
1	12	Marc Staal	D	946	46	152	198
1	29	Steve Downie	R	434	76	120	196
7	200	Sergei Kostitsyn	R	353	67	109	176
4	108	Niklas Hjalmarsson	D	820	25	147	172

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

#55's first point on 5/5 and same game of Kopitar's 1000th pt.

 

[kingsholygrail]

Kings magic number is 2.
Colorado should not be resting players. They are in a heated competition with Vegas for who gets stuck against the Wild in the first round. St Louis or by some miracle, the Kings would be a much more favorable opponent.
The Kings have 4 remaining against Colorado and a head to head with the Blues.
The Blues face Vegas twice and the Wild twice with their head to head with the Kings.
It's quite feasible that St Louis will need Colorado to pummel the Kings to get in. The Kings CAN afford to drop one to Colorado. If they take 3 of 4 and beat the Blues, they can be in assuming Vegas and the Wild do their jobs.

Like these scenarios? Tie breakers...
Kings lead St Louis in RW 19-17
St Louis leads the Kings in ROW 22-20
St Louis leads the Kings in W 24-21
Kings dominate the Blues in Head to Head. Yay

We all know it's not happening, but hey, there's the math.

 

[KingsFan7824]

The Kings were 4-0 in Arizona this year. 1-3 at home though.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

The Kings were 4-0 in Arizona this year. 1-3 at home though.

Almost certainly family/home distractions. I’ve come to expect this sort of record from this team.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Almost certainly family/home distractions. I’ve come to expect this sort of record from this team.

It's not even all that odd. For whatever reason, most of the time, throughout the years, regardless of either team being good or bad at any given time, the Kings tend to do well in Arizona, and the Coyotes tend to do well in LA.

 

[DAkings20]

#55's first point on 5/5 and same game of Kopitar's 1000th pt.

 

[BigKing]

Nice to see Kopitar so pumped and for the rest of the team to be as well. Kind of surprising was Lemieux seeming to be the most pumped up about it but I guess cozying up to the team captain isn't a bad move politically if you want to stick around.

Guy has just been a machine for the most part. Knew from a rookie game against the Ducks at Staples that he was the real deal and he didn't disappoint.

I was out at dinner so I wound up watching the game on fast forward, stopping for what looked like goals and/or scrums so not a lot of analysis here except to say I've loved Andersson/Vilardi since they've been put together and hope that Seattle doesn't pluck the former. He's pretty much dominated in the AHL this year and seems to get a dangerous chance close to the net in each NHL game he is in. I don't get too caught up in small sample sizes during garbage time of the season but it's nice to think/hope that these two can play together next season and keep it going.

 

[kilowatt]

Nice to see Kopitar so pumped and for the rest of the team to be as well. Kind of surprising was Lemieux seeming to be the most pumped up about it but I guess cozying up to the team captain isn't a bad move politically if you want to stick around.

Guy has just been a machine for the most part. Knew from a rookie game against the Ducks at Staples that he was the real deal and he didn't disappoint.

I was out at dinner so I wound up watching the game on fast forward, stopping for what looked like goals and/or scrums so not a lot of analysis here except to say I've loved Andersson/Vilardi since they've been put together and hope that Seattle doesn't pluck the former. He's pretty much dominated in the AHL this year and seems to get a dangerous chance close to the net in each NHL game he is in. I don't get too caught up in small sample sizes during garbage time of the season but it's nice to think/hope that these two can play together next season and keep it going.

I was about to mention that too. Lemieux was more excited than even Kopitar. I wonder if he's turning into a fourth line locker room guy. The Kings are 7-6 with him in the lineup.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Lemieux has been great and seems like an awesome teammate. He also had a great moment with Miller during the handshake line.

 

[tny760]

Nice to see Kopitar so pumped and for the rest of the team to be as well. Kind of surprising was Lemieux seeming to be the most pumped up about it but I guess cozying up to the team captain isn't a bad move politically if you want to stick around.

Guy has just been a machine for the most part. Knew from a rookie game against the Ducks at Staples that he was the real deal and he didn't disappoint.

I was out at dinner so I wound up watching the game on fast forward, stopping for what looked like goals and/or scrums so not a lot of analysis here except to say I've loved Andersson/Vilardi since they've been put together and hope that Seattle doesn't pluck the former. He's pretty much dominated in the AHL this year and seems to get a dangerous chance close to the net in each NHL game he is in. I don't get too caught up in small sample sizes during garbage time of the season but it's nice to think/hope that these two can play together next season and keep it going.

i think the problem with andersson (before the last couple games) has been that he gets that dangerous chance but doesn't do a whole lot else for the rest of the game. i do think the kid's very talented but i feel like he's still gonna need to do more -- more often -- in order to stick outside of the bottom 6.

might be some lightning in a bottle though between him and vilardi, they're both willing to be creative around the net and try some flashy stuff which is very welcome to me. i think 2 or 3 times last night alone they were flinging spinning backhand passes to each other around the paint and connecting

 

[BigKing]

I was about to mention that too. Lemieux was more excited than even Kopitar. I wonder if he's turning into a fourth line locker room guy. The Kings are 7-6 with him in the lineup.

Call me crazy, but Sather's teams were always tough. If Sather has Dolan's ear, the Ranger's firings could be due to constructing a weak roster that has no answer for a Wilson-type rag-dolling their best player. I believe Messier and Sather are tight and the former goes on the radio yesterday talking about how soft the Rangers are.

So back to Lemieux...he's fought Wilson before and did pretty well. Under five minutes with the Rangers up big, Wilson takes a huge run at Lemieux and Lemieux gets up and drops the gloves first. Then this year, Lemieux kicks out the skate of the Caps goalie for no reason with like seven seconds left in the game in another Rangers win. It's the only guy in their lineup that truly brings that element (Smith doesn't look as good last night if he doesn't get the jump on Wilson first) and they move him for a 4th round pick when they already have a lot of youth and a good prospect pool. Doesn't seem like a big deal until your team looks like weak to the entire hockey world. Dolan's ego would lead me to believe that he didn't like his team looking weak and that played in to the firings. If he's listening to Sather, I can guarantee that Sather told him that these guys are building a soft team and I wouldn't be surprised if he panned trading Lemieux for a 4th round pick.

Lemieux hasn't been an out-of-control psycho for the Kings but he has drawn a few penalties and has still provided more edge than any other Kings forward this year. It was something lacking on the roster so I'm happy Blake addressed it. It was something lacking on the Rangers roster outside of Lemieux and the Rangers felt it wasn't necessary: then they caught with their pants down in front of the entire NHL.

 

[SFKingshomer]

Lemieux is friends with DeAngelo and the Kings need a defenseman that can rack up points. I don’t hate the idea if he comes in with the right attitude.

 

[Ollie Weeks]

Might have been a preview of our forward “pairs” for next year:

Kopitar and Kempe
Vilardi and Andersson
Byfield and Moore
JAD and perhaps Grundstrom?

Iafallo, Brown, AA, Lemieux to mix and match, plus a couple rookies challenging for spots in camp. Not great, not terrible.

Would be amazing to plop a magical Landeskog overpayment in the middle of that group, but I would settle for Foligno.