Speculation: 2021-22 LA Kings News, Rumors, Roster discussion part IV Playoffs? I Danault

[Axl Rhoadz]

Some fodder for discussion here from a polarizing writer. Looks like some spreadsheet calculates the Kings as one of the most improved teams this offseason.

If I’m reading that correctly, the Kings have added between 3-4 wins over last season. Is that right, $15M spent would result in 6-8 additional points?

If so, based on last season’s 72 point pace, we might see an 80 point team this year. I guess that’d be an improvement, technically.

Eh, I hate these predictions...always just based on what was last season. The reality is, for a team like the Kings, you are eventually going to have some of these prospects hit and start to contribute to success of the team. Will we have that next season? Should be...and that should reflect even more of a point increase. We won't know until April.

 

[tny760]

strand's a good signing imo, good backup plan

i was impressed with his limited showing last season

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Oh man, it must have KILLED Dom to see that.

Hell just take away those Wild collapses and a few other games that we just coughed up inexplicably and we should be better. We will at the VERY least be harder to play against.

Just go back to these.

Tyler Toffoli and Jordan Nolan are gone, man, let it go

Want those jerseys all the time though, man.

 

[Sol]

Man. If Nolan had the toolbox he could have been a real solid NHLer.

Big, fast, good shot, good hands, and hit like a truck.


You'd see him play like that a bit but he never put it together consistently.

 

[Johnny Utah]

Loved Nolan. Think the issue is he didn’t like to fight and that was basically his role. 4th like hitter fighter with some decent hands.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Man. If Nolan had the toolbox he could have been a real solid NHLer.

Big, fast, good shot, good hands, and hit like a truck.


You'd see him play like that a bit but he never put it together consistently.

He really did, he'd have a shift where he looked like Malkin and then disappear for a week.

 

[KINGS17]

In case anyone is looking to pick up some work for the Kings …

Gene, Gene The Dancing Machine for mascot!

 

[cyclones22]

Oh man, it must have KILLED Dom to see that.

Hell just take away those Wild collapses and a few other games that we just coughed up inexplicably and we should be better. We will at the VERY least be harder to play against.

What leaves a sour taste is the finish of the season. But a lot of that is because the Kings got steamrolled by Colorado and punked by Vegas down the stretch. Last year's team didn't match up with those teams at all, but did against Minnesota and St. Louis. In a weaker division and actually being able to play teams outside of the division, I think this team could surprise. We're gonna find out really quick if TMc is even up to "bridge coach" quality like Terry Murray was. Stop throwing line combos out there that even message board jockeys know won't work, Todd.

 

[King'sPawn]

Oh man, it must have KILLED Dom to see that.

Hell just take away those Wild collapses and a few other games that we just coughed up inexplicably and we should be better. We will at the VERY least be harder to play against.




Tyler Toffoli and Jordan Nolan are gone, man, let it go

Want those jerseys all the time though, man.

I'm pretty sure Dom is happy the projections suggest the Devils will do better while spending less. Anything to make New Jersey look relatively better in any capacity to LA makes him happy.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

We’re staring down strike 3 with Todd and a Russian.

Hey! That's our 4th line LW you're talking about

 

[DoktorJeep]

Hey! That's our 4th line LW you're talking about

I’ve got him down as the dark horse LW 2 on opening night. Third times the charm!

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I feel like Brendan Lemieux can be another Nolan type, and just like Nolan, it seems like getting him motivated to show up on a nightly basis is going to be a challenge. Might be that he was under more challenging circumstances joining the team in the late stages of the season, but I'm hoping we see more out of him in the upcoming season.

His biggest highlight was beating the shit out of Josh Manson.

 

[Johnny Utah]

BL scored 9 goals in 44 games a few years back and he was a high second round pick. He has some skills. Looking forward to seeing him in a full year.

Btw on his hockeydb he was teammates with AA and Vilardi previously in juniors.

 

[King'sPawn]

BL scored 9 goals in 44 games a few years back and he was a high second round pick. He has some skills. Looking forward to seeing him in a full year.

Btw on his hockeydb he was teammates with AA and Vilardi previously in juniors.

Also teammates with former Kings picks Spencer Watson, Roland McKeown.

Not to sound creepy like Pierre McGuire or anything.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I've referenced that play before and I still can't give it enough love

Lemieux is just driving the net and gets tangled up taking Manson in with him. Manson initiates the fight and Lemieux obliges immediately even though he doesn't need to up 4-o in the dying minutes of the game...just following the code. Lemieux throws lefts before going to the rights and absolutely rocks him with a straight. Manson is one of the toughest "good" players in the NHL! Immediately Lemieux calls over DLo and others to help Manson off the ice before patting him on the back.

That's seriously everything I love about hockey in one play and he earned a LOT of rope with me for that.

 

[mysterman2]

I've referenced that play before and I still can't give it enough love

Lemieux is just driving the net and gets tangled up taking Manson in with him. Manson initiates the fight and Lemieux obliges immediately even though he doesn't need to up 4-o in the dying minutes of the game...just following the code. Lemieux throws lefts before going to the rights and absolutely rocks him with a straight. Manson is one of the toughest "good" players in the NHL! Immediately Lemieux calls over DLo and others to help Manson off the ice before patting him on the back.

That's seriously everything I love about hockey in one play and he earned a LOT of rope with me for that.

On one note is brutally sad Lemiuex is probably our full time fighter/enforcer going into next season. By same token its a brand new NHL and that role diminished. Totally agreed- he is total pro and thought the same thing when he not only holds Manson up- but calls and notifys the trainer. Total pro move there.

And side note- Manson is a tough dude and dropped with Lucic as a rookie....I was shocked as hell when this fight happened. Probably a lucky punch that 5% of the time but for sure got my attention. Like the time Tim Waters fought Cam Neely but im dating myself.

 

[DapperDan]

Really curious to see what happens with Clague this season. I get the feeling Blake and co fully expected Seattle to take him and now aren't fully sure what to do with the guy. He's in a weird limbo with having to go through waivers now, where he'd for sure get taken. May as well trade him for a pick. Question then becomes: do you play him ahead of Toby for some games? Either he excels and makes the decision to trade him a lot harder, or tanks his value. I guess we're talking difference between a 2nd and a 4th... I hope he crushes in camp and forces their hand a bit. I know he was a bit of a mixed bag last season but he shows a lot of promise. And I want to see more momentum-swinging hits like this...

 

[The Lukeman]

That new TV deal and the return of fans will surely help push the cap up, and if the cap does get to that level in four years, then we should expect to see a pretty massive contract heading towards Leon Draisaitl's way when he becomes a UFA.

Just did some math:

The NHL increased its TV revenue from 200 million to 400m (ESPN) + 225m (Turner). That’s a $425m per year increase, or $13.2 million per team. Since players and owners are 50/50. That means it’s 6.6 million cap hit added once escrow is paid from the pandemic.

NHL would need growth by ~15% in revenue from 2019 or to $6.1 billion including the TV deal. 2019 was $5.1 billion in revenue. From 2013 to 2019, the NHL was growing at a healthy pace of 7.4% per year.

I don’t think we will see a $100 million salary cap in 4 years, because I don’t think the player escrow from this season will be paid off by then. The NHL missed $3.6 billion in 2020, and about $1 billion in 2021.

 

[Reclamation Project]

Some of the BEST photos were Nolan bringing it home!

 

[kilowatt]

jordan nolan is my least favorite king of all time dont even at me

delete this thread please

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I don't think anyone can beat King

 

[Token]

Did Nolan do the Cup in the horse buggy or was that Dwight King?

edit- haha! RJ read my mind!

 

[kilowatt]

Really curious to see what happens with Clague this season. I get the feeling Blake and co fully expected Seattle to take him and now aren't fully sure what to do with the guy. He's in a weird limbo with having to go through waivers now, where he'd for sure get taken. May as well trade him for a pick. Question then becomes: do you play him ahead of Toby for some games? Either he excels and makes the decision to trade him a lot harder, or tanks his value. I guess we're talking difference between a 2nd and a 4th... I hope he crushes in camp and forces their hand a bit. I know he was a bit of a mixed bag last season but he shows a lot of promise. And I want to see more momentum-swinging hits like this...

Bjornfot is still waivers-exempt. There's a part of me that thinks we should just send all the kids down and start the season with a bunch of guys in the NHL that need to sink or swim.

Kings

Iafallo - Kopitar - Arvidsson
Kempe - Danault - Tkachev
Athanasiou - Andersson - Brown
Grundstrom - Lizotte - Moore
Lemieux, Wagner

Clague - Doughty
Edler - Roy
Wolanin - Walker
Maatta

Quick
Petersen

Reign

Turcotte - Byfield - Kaliyev
Fagemo - Vilardi - Kupari
Madden - JAD - Thomas
Burke - Tynan - Sutter

Anderson - Spence
Bjornfot - Grans
Moverare - Durzi

Villalta
Parik

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Reclamation Project]

 

[The Lukeman]

I got bored so here's this: How much did we actually improve in the goal scoring department? Not much, IMO.

Last year per 82 games
Iaffalo - Kopitar - Brown
Vilardi - Carter - Kempe
Grundstrom - JAD - Moore
Athanasiou - Lizzote - Wagner

Anderson - Doughty
Bjornfot - Roy
Maata - Walker

21 Goals - 21 Goals - 28 Goals
16 Goals - 13 Goals - 23 Goals
10 Goals - 17 Goals - 16 Goals
17 Goals - 6 Goals - 7 Goals

1 Goal - 13 Goals
2 Goals - 4 Goals
0 Goals - 9 Goals

Total: 195 Goals over 82 games, 2.37 Goals per game. We were 26th in scoring last season.

Did we really add much scoring? Assuming everyone hits near or above last season's actual:

Guessing next season's output:

Iaffalo - Kopitar - Arvidsson
Kempe - Danualt - Vilardi
Athanasiou - Byfield - Brown
Andersson - JAD - Moore

(Interchange whoever in the bottom 6, there are no 20 goal scorers.)

Anderson - Doughty
Edler - Roy
Bjornfot - Walker

20 Goals - 20 Goals - 20 Goals
20 Goals - 12 Goals - 15 Goals
15 Goals - 15 Goals - 10 Goals
10 Goals - 15 Goals - 15 Goals

3 Goals - 12 Goals
3 Goals - 4 Goals
3 Goals - 10 Goals

Total: 222 Goals over 82 games, 2.7 Goals per game, which would move us to 20th in scoring (based off last season).

Unless multiple players have a major outbreak season, the goal-scoring is still not there. Last season, our ENTIRE LD squad put up 5 goals, led by MacDermid, WHO IS GONE. It is a glaring hole offensively. How much can we provide when our LD is offensively mute? While I am optimistic about next season, I am worried that we are not a playoff team. Honestly, we wouldn't be in the conversation if we were in any other division. Anyways I am going to get some tacos lol