GDT: 2021-22 season game 82 LA Kings vs Vancouver Canucks @7:00pm 4/28/22

DoktorJeep

B2B GM of the Summer Champion
Aug 2, 2005
6,292
5,516
OC
Gabe said it himself during his intermission interview a couple nights ago. He’s been told by the coaches to work on his defensive game. For him to stick in the nhl, he has to not be on the ice for goals against more often than not.

He’d have to score at a sustained PPG+ pace for several weeks in order to prove himself otherwise. So basically, a kid has to be a top scorer on the team to get consistent top six minutes. The only exception to this rule has been Iafallo and Lizotte who are primarily checking specialists with above average scoring ability.

So a kid has to beat productive old guys getting big money and guys who would be bottom sixers on top teams playing up in the lineup on a hopeful team. The Kings are skipping the part of the rebuild where your prospects get playing time to develop at the NHL level.

It’s not surprising that no one has broken out playing 11 minutes a game.
 

cyclones22

Registered User
Apr 4, 2003
5,036
5,523
Eastvale
And as we have been saying all along, all of the young guys that get drooled over here on other teams, are terrible in their own zone. The worst on their teams and their teams stink. But the point is they are allowed to stink at defending and be risk takers and still keep their spots in the lineup and play big minutes.

I'll give leadership a pass this season, because they promised the playoffs and was delivered. There was a lot of pressure I'm sure to make sure that goal was reached. They didn't really promise development. But if they don't develop, this is going to be a flash in the pan playoff appearance, which in the end means nothing.
 

DoktorJeep

B2B GM of the Summer Champion
Aug 2, 2005
6,292
5,516
OC
And as we have been saying all along, all of the young guys that get drooled over here on other teams, are terrible in their own zone. The worst on their teams and their teams stink. But the point is they are allowed to stink at defending and be risk takers and still keep their spots in the lineup.

Jim Fox on a recent podcast talked about the difference he saw in Kaliyev and Byfield from the beginning of their seasons to now. He said their ability to make plays came from better timing. They were comfortable with the speed of the nhl game and knew when to let go of the puck. They knew when to go north vs south instead of going the opposite direction of the play.

This comes with reps. You can’t learn the speed of an nhl game in the minors. Sure you can learn how to wake up when your alarm goes off and make it to the rink on time. But after one month of that, is there really more to learn about being a pro getting a paycheck to play pro hockey?
 

Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
62,123
62,586
I.E.
I'm sorry i know it doesn't really matter in the end and we skipped over it last night in the important moment but I can't do anything but laugh repeatedly at how blatant of a trip this was :laugh:



Lizotte went full Kopitar on his stick too
 

AbsentMojo

F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
Apr 18, 2018
8,859
8,768
twitter.com
I'm sorry i know it doesn't really matter in the end and we skipped over it last night in the important moment but I can't do anything but laugh repeatedly at how blatant of a trip this was :laugh:



Lizotte went full Kopitar on his stick too

Apparently good zerbras are only to be found on the serengeti nowadays. The only consolation is that game was meaningless. Otherwise we'd have to doxx him.
 

AbsentMojo

F-ing get up and hunt! Cmon Todd!
Apr 18, 2018
8,859
8,768
twitter.com
Gabe said it himself during his intermission interview a couple nights ago. He’s been told by the coaches to work on his defensive game. For him to stick in the nhl, he has to not be on the ice for goals against more often than not.

He’d have to score at a sustained PPG+ pace for several weeks in order to prove himself otherwise. So basically, a kid has to be a top scorer on the team to get consistent top six minutes. The only exception to this rule has been Iafallo and Lizotte who are primarily checking specialists with above average scoring ability.

So a kid has to beat productive old guys getting big money and guys who would be bottom sixers on top teams playing up in the lineup on a hopeful team. The Kings are skipping the part of the rebuild where your prospects get playing time to develop at the NHL level.

It’s not surprising that no one has broken out playing 11 minutes a game.
They hung a label on Vilardi whether is deserved or not is up for debate.. i dont like it. The kid has to answer questions about his defense in every interview. The Kings org is allergic to creativity - they want robots to play a system... if you are creative it will be beaten out of you. They have no feel for how to draft or develop offensive players.
 

johnjm22

Pseudo Intellectual
Aug 2, 2005
19,827
15,431
Whenever Gabe gets a good look at the net, there's a good chance that puck is going in. Excellent shot.

Problem is, he rarely finds himself in position to take advantage of that excellent shot. Scoring chances are few and far between for him.

With Vilardi, it's like he doesn't have a motor. He plays with low intensity. In the NHL you have to be able to play at a high tempo consistently and battle. I'm not seeing that from him.
 

lumbergh

It was an idea. I didn't say it was a good idea.
Jan 8, 2007
6,351
5,616
Richmond, VA
They hung a label on Vilardi whether is deserved or not is up for debate.. i dont like it. The kid has to answer questions about his defense in every interview. The Kings org is allergic to creativity - they want robots to play a system... if you are creative it will be beaten out of you. They have no feel for how to draft or develop offensive players.
in the interview Gabe brought up defense on his own. He knows it’s an issue. He isn’t shying away from it.
 

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