GDT: 2020-21 season game 6 LA Kings vs St. Louis Blues @5:00pm 1/24/21

bmr

Registered User
Jan 23, 2013
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Darren Pang called him speedy at least 5 times on the blues broadcast
Agree - I haven't observed Vilardi being slow or a bad skater this season. As a matter of fact, he shows some pretty good jump when he inserts himself into plays. Pleasantly surprised. I'm actually higher on him than Byfield. This is your future #1 Center on this team.
 

bmr

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Jan 23, 2013
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Thinking ahead to the expansion draft. I don't think I leave Frk unprotected (even though we haven't seen him yet) - I like him on this team. I don't have a problem losing Wagner or Amadio.
 

HookKing

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Dec 12, 2008
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Thinking ahead to the expansion draft. I don't think I leave Frk unprotected (even though we haven't seen him yet) - I like him on this team. I don't have a problem losing Wagner or Amadio.

The Kings now have a "problem" with the expansion draft -- with Clague and Grundstrom (based on very limited sample size) looking like keepers. If they decide to keep 4 D (DD, MR, SW, KC) then they can only keep 4 forwards. Right now I would keep three Swedes (Kempe, Grundstrom, Anderssen) the last spot I think would go to Kopitar. From a pure business sense, protecting Kopi probably doesn't make sense but isn't Blake on the hook for saying Kopi is a king for life?

If Blake is willing to sacrifice a little loyalty for the good of the team I think he lets Walker get exposed and just keeps 3 D. Or, more likely, he trades Walker and keeps Maata. Blake needs to keep one or the other due to expansion rules. Now he can protect 7 forwards and more importantly has room to acquire players from other teams that don't want to lose good players for nothing.

Why Walker? He's a very good 5/6 D but we already have two of him in coming up in the prospect pool (Durzi/Faber). Interesting times.
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
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The Kings now have a "problem" with the expansion draft -- with Clague and Grundstrom (based on very limited sample size) looking like keepers. If they decide to keep 4 D (DD, MR, SW, KC) then they can only keep 4 forwards. Right now I would keep three Swedes (Kempe, Grundstrom, Anderssen) the last spot I think would go to Kopitar. From a pure business sense, protecting Kopi probably doesn't make sense but isn't Blake on the hook for saying Kopi is a king for life?

If Blake is willing to sacrifice a little loyalty for the good of the team I think he lets Walker get exposed and just keeps 3 D. Or, more likely, he trades Walker and keeps Maata. Blake needs to keep one or the other due to expansion rules. Now he can protect 7 forwards and more importantly has room to acquire players from other teams that don't want to lose good players for nothing.

Why Walker? He's a very good 5/6 D but we already have two of him in coming up in the prospect pool (Durzi/Faber). Interesting times.

Don't forget Grans!

Also Kopitar is a must-protect due to his NMC.
 

Schmooley

Registered User
Apr 5, 2016
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The Kings now have a "problem" with the expansion draft -- with Clague and Grundstrom (based on very limited sample size) looking like keepers. If they decide to keep 4 D (DD, MR, SW, KC) then they can only keep 4 forwards. Right now I would keep three Swedes (Kempe, Grundstrom, Anderssen) the last spot I think would go to Kopitar. From a pure business sense, protecting Kopi probably doesn't make sense but isn't Blake on the hook for saying Kopi is a king for life?

If Blake is willing to sacrifice a little loyalty for the good of the team I think he lets Walker get exposed and just keeps 3 D. Or, more likely, he trades Walker and keeps Maata. Blake needs to keep one or the other due to expansion rules. Now he can protect 7 forwards and more importantly has room to acquire players from other teams that don't want to lose good players for nothing.

Why Walker? He's a very good 5/6 D but we already have two of him in coming up in the prospect pool (Durzi/Faber). Interesting times.
I think Wagner is going to be taken by Seattle. Hell go there with a chip on his shoulder and be a good bottom six player for them. Kings should maybe look to move him beforehand for a late draft pick at least instead of losing him for nothing. He may have another gear to his game he has not shown yet. Much like a couple of us have been saying about Kempe for a couple years now, though he doesnt have as much upside. I hope they keep the 4 dmen, as its finally coming together back there after a couple years of having a revolving door of scrubs.
 

Docgonzo

Triple Crown Line
Jan 9, 2010
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If Clague can keep up his play I see Walker as the odd man out. Especially with Grans, Spence and Nousiainen for more offensive Dmen. Then adding in Bjornfot and Faber. Obviously all won’t make it, but they’ve all shown a lot of promise and they’re all young. I just don’t see a spot for Walker past a couple of seasons.

Also forgot Druzi but I’m not terribly high on him.
 

Sparky206

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Nov 13, 2019
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Man, your all very shallow on Walker. Hes that good that TM just staples the worst player on the team to him every night because he knows Walker can cover their mistakes. You all saw what happened to DD when he got partnered with Maatta, he looked horrible. Walker gets paired with the #6 D every single night and looks a lot better than DD did with a boat anchor. Theres minimal differences between Walker and Roy, but everyones got a hard on for Roy while he plays with good players and Walker gets dismissed while playing with MacD who keeps them hemmed in their own zone for 75% of their TOI.
 

HookKing

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Dec 12, 2008
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Man, your all very shallow on Walker. Hes that good that TM just staples the worst player on the team to him every night because he knows Walker can cover their mistakes. You all saw what happened to DD when he got partnered with Maatta, he looked horrible. Walker gets paired with the #6 D every single night and looks a lot better than DD did with a boat anchor. Theres minimal differences between Walker and Roy, but everyones got a hard on for Roy while he plays with good players and Walker gets dismissed while playing with MacD who keeps them hemmed in their own zone for 75% of their TOI.

I like Walker a lot but you have to look at the opportunity costs of keeping him.
 

Sparky206

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Nov 13, 2019
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I like Walker a lot but you have to look at the opportunity costs of keeping him.
Your choosing between Walker and Clague. Its unlikely that Seattle take a first year rookie whos in and out of the lineup in his first season, they'd have a better forward to choose from. If Walkers exposed its an instant draft who we look at in two years playing top pair wondering why we made the same mistake as McNabb again.
 

HookKing

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Dec 12, 2008
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Your choosing between Walker and Clague. Its unlikely that Seattle take a first year rookie whos in and out of the lineup in his first season, they'd have a better forward to choose from. If Walkers exposed its an instant draft who we look at in two years playing top pair wondering why we made the same mistake as McNabb again.
McNabb wasn't a mistake. He was terrible and still is. Bad players look OK on great teams.
 
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Sparky206

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Nov 13, 2019
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I wouldnt call it a mistake but in hindsight Forbort was the better option to let go.
You protect

Kopi
Kempe
Wagner
Lizotte
Andersson
Frk
Grundstrom

Drew
Walker
Roy

Peterson

AA and Iafollo resign after draft. You could get really aggressive and sign Clague to a 2 year 2.5mil extension, the cap hit won't make a difference to us but its a real deterrent to taking an unknown rookie

TBH they probably take Quick
 

kilowatt

the vibes are not immaculate
Jan 1, 2009
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There are five obvious players to protect for LA:

Kopitar, Kempe, Doughty, Roy, and Petersen.

Then we have several players that I would like to keep, but we'll need to make some decisions about:

Iafallo, Athanasiou, Lizotte, Wagner, Frk, Andersson, Grundstrom, Walker, and Clague.

I'm not totally sold on the whole "Iafallo and Athanasiou are UFAs so they won't get picked" scheme, but either way, we have one obvious decision to make: do we protect Walker and Clague? Who would it hurt to lose more, one of Walker and Clague or one of Andersson, Grundstrom, or Lizotte?

As much as I hate to say it, does Lizotte have a long-term spot on this team?

Here are my two scenarios:

7/3/1:

F: Kopitar, Kempe, Andersson, Grundstrom, Lizotte, Wagner, Frk
D: Doughty, Roy, Clague
G: Petersen

Trade Walker, likely lose one of Quick or Carter (unless we flip him at this year's trade deadline as well).

8/1:

F: Kopitar, Kempe, Andersson, Grundstrom
D: Doughty, Roy, Walker, Clague
G: Petersen

I would imagine in this scenario we likely lose Lizotte.

This all gets murkier if we don't assume that Iafallo and Athanasiou are safe, but I don't really feel like going down that rabbit hole.

I really hope we don't lose Quick, Carter, or Brown (as crazy as that might have sounded a couple years ago).
 

Sparky206

Registered User
Nov 13, 2019
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There are five obvious players to protect for LA:

Kopitar, Kempe, Doughty, Roy, and Petersen.

Then we have several players that I would like to keep, but we'll need to make some decisions about:

Iafallo, Athanasiou, Lizotte, Wagner, Frk, Andersson, Grundstrom, Walker, and Clague.

I'm not totally sold on the whole "Iafallo and Athanasiou are UFAs so they won't get picked" scheme, but either way, we have one obvious decision to make: do we protect Walker and Clague? Who would it hurt to lose more, one of Walker and Clague or one of Andersson, Grundstrom, or Lizotte?

As much as I hate to say it, does Lizotte have a long-term spot on this team?

Here are my two scenarios:

7/3/1:

F: Kopitar, Kempe, Andersson, Grundstrom, Lizotte, Wagner, Frk
D: Doughty, Roy, Clague
G: Petersen

Trade Walker, likely lose one of Quick or Carter (unless we flip him at this year's trade deadline as well).

8/1:

F: Kopitar, Kempe, Andersson, Grundstrom
D: Doughty, Roy, Walker, Clague
G: Petersen

I would imagine in this scenario we likely lose Lizotte.

This all gets murkier if we don't assume that Iafallo and Athanasiou are safe, but I don't really feel like going down that rabbit hole.

I really hope we don't lose Quick, Carter, or Brown (as crazy as that might have sounded a couple years ago).
They won't expose Walker, he just signed a very team friendly 4 year contract that has a high chance of ageing well
 
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