GDT: 2022-23 Western Conference Quarter-Finals Game 5 LA Kings vs Edmonton Oilers @6:30pm (Series tied 2-2) 4/25/23

[Ziggy Stardust]

The coaching staff is probably unaware of this bit of info given how they defend against him.

 

[KINGS17]

Pretty sure they said they wanted to be like Nashville.

Since the 18 seasons post-lockout, they have made the playoffs 14 times if you include the COVID play-in that they lost. Six 100 point seasons. 1 SCF appearance.

When including that play-in loss, they have been out in the first round nine times. Past the second round only once.

Blake is on his way! Has Arvidsson and Fiala on board as well.

Just for fun, LA has made the playoffs only nine times over that same span and only out of the first round three times. Of course, those three times were Cup/WCF/Cup but the rest are one and done.

Would AEG like a 78% make-the-playoff percentage v. 50%? Absolutely. Any owner would. Outside of blowing some of their money early on and then with Petersen, I'm sure AEG is plenty pleased with Blake and Co. right now.

I am on board with a post you made recently BK. It's tough watching the Kings get man handled in the playoffs. I prefer to have the Kings being the team laying the body and leaning on people on the forecheck and wearing the other team down. Seeing it in reverse is not what I am looking for in a hockey team.

When it comes to frequent appearances in the playoffs vs appearing infrequently and going Cup, WCF, Cup, I will take Door #2 Monty.

You just know what the narrative is going to be after this 1st round exit..."But, what about muh 100 points!" Really? Who gives a flying f BLuc?

 

[kingsfan28]

Man Matt Roy was absolutely roasted by the NHL Network crew during their game breakdown. They just couldn't believe he gave Kane all that time and space to just walk in and score the first pp goal. "Too passive " was used more than a few times against their 2nd pp unit. Which is very true. Its been a theme on every pk. For f-sake, get out there and pressure those guys and not give them open lanes .

 

[BigKing]

I am on board with a post you made recently BK. It's tough watching the Kings get man handled in the playoffs. I prefer to have the Kings being the team laying the body and leaning on people on the forecheck and wearing the other team down. Seeing it in reverse is not what I am looking for in a hockey team.

When it comes to frequent appearances in the playoffs vs appearing infrequently and going Cup, WCF, Cup, I will take Door #2 Monty.

You just know what the narrative is going to be after this 1st round exit..."But, what about muh 100 points!" Really? Who gives a flying f BLuc?

If Edmonton goes to the WCF or the SCF, it will be that they lost to McDrai and a very good team.

You've got Biz and Whitney on Spittin' Chicklets saying that they think the winner of this series is going to represent the West in the SCF. The Kings do have a good team. People that don't watch them as much like us see them now and think they are very good while we see every wart and wrinkle.

The consensus around the league is going to be that Blake and Co. are doing a good job.

 

[iCanada]

McDavid is going to burn out come round 3 with current usage. I do think the oilers have better depth than previous years, and Woodcroft is just an idiot....wonder who he learned from.

I was curious / nerd sniped so I ran the numbers. McDavids' only playing 24:45 instead of 23:17 last season in playoffs. That's a 6% increase.

The Oilers had 3 OT games in 16 games last season. They have 3 OT games in 5 games this season. For sake of simplicity, assuming each ot is 10 minutes, he that means last year each game averaged 62 minutes (McDavids' on ice 38% of the game), and this year each games averaged 66 minutes (7% increase) (McDavids' on ice 36.5% of the game). And I think my 10 minute assumption on OT is short for this season and quite high for last season.

I don't think he's actually playing any more than he was last year. If anything it's less.

Same goes for Kopitar, I think he's actually playing less than last year. Would lead me to believe both coaches are spreading minutes more.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Man Matt Roy was absolutely roasted by the NHL Network crew during their game breakdown. They just couldn't believe he gave Kane all that time and space to just walk in and score the first pp goal. "Too passive " was used more than a few times against their 2nd pp unit. Which is very true. Its been a theme on every pk. For f-sake, get out there and pressure those guys and not give them open lanes .

They’re specifically coached to kill penalties this way, unfortunately.

 

[KINGS17]

If Edmonton goes to the WCF or the SCF, it will be that they lost to McDrai and a very good team.

You've got Biz and Whitney on Spittin' Chicklets saying that they think the winner of this series is going to represent the West in the SCF. The Kings do have a good team. People that don't watch them as much like us see them now and think they are very good while we see every wart and wrinkle.

The consensus around the league is going to be that Blake and Co. are doing a good job.

As with many things "the consensus" is often wrong.

 

[kingsfan28]

They’re specifically coached to kill penalties this way, unfortunately.

Dude, its like the diamond they use to defend gets smaller every pk. Their last pk , I swear nobody was defending outside the bottom of the circles.

 

[AbsentMojo]

They’re specifically coached to kill penalties this way, unfortunately.

What's the honest answer to what's the teams identity? passivity. 1-3-1: passive. PK system: passive, development: passive, adjustments: passive, timeout calling: passive. Not much in life is rewarded by passivity.

 

[All The Kings Men]

I enjoy listening to his analysis and evaluations every time you have him on the podcast.

Me too.

 

[jgs]

Well Kings fans, if the Kings have any chance, Fiala will have to stop with his stupid penalties and he needs to do what he was brought in to do which create scoring chances and score goals. Vilardi will need to score also. Kempe has to do more than he has done. Kings should just roll 3 lines because the fourth line is useless. They have to spend more time in the offensive zone than their defensive zone. They will never win when 80% of the play is in their own zone.

 

[BigKing]

I was curious / nerd sniped so I ran the numbers. McDavids' only playing 24:45 instead of 23:17 last season in playoffs. That's a 6% increase.

The Oilers had 3 OT games in 16 games last season. They have 3 OT games in 5 games this season. For sake of simplicity, assuming each ot is 10 minutes, he that means last year each game averaged 62 minutes (McDavids' on ice 38% of the game), and this year each games averaged 66 minutes (7% increase) (McDavids' on ice 36.5% of the game). And I think my 10 minute assumption on OT is short for this season and quite high for last season.

I don't think he's actually playing any more than he was last year. If anything it's less.

Same goes for Kopitar, I think he's actually playing less than last year. Would lead me to believe both coaches are spreading minutes more.

You did research. I'm not going to do any so you are probably right but I'll toss this out there and you can debunk it with the research if you'd like.

Round 1 last year saw the Oilers completely shit kick the Kings in Games 2 and 3. Would think that his minutes were limited in those games. The one OT game in last year's series was Game 5 which Kempe won in like two minutes. Then it seemed like he played the entire effing game in Games 6 and 7.

I'm not interested in a total playoffs number for McDavid if we are talking about him possibly being burned out later on: it just seems like he is playing way more in this series than he was in last year's series with LA, save for Games 6 and 7.

Screw it...I looked at his playoff log. He's definitely playing more in this series than last one and, yes, the two blowouts really skew the average down. He had three sub-20 minutes games last year against LA with last night being the first one this series.

Drai is obviously playing more than last year's series as well but that is to be expected with no injuries.

 

[BigKing]

Well Kings fans, if the Kings have any chance, Fiala will have to stop with his stupid penalties and he needs to do what he was brought in to do which create scoring chances and score goals. Vilardi will need to score also. Kempe has to do more than he has done. Kings should just roll 3 lines because the fourth line is useless. They have to spend more time in the offensive zone than their defensive zone. They will never win when 80% of the play is in their own zone.

Dirty little secret is that this is basically Fiala's best playoff performance PPG wise of his career so far. Doesn't have a good playoff resume. Kings are 0-2 since his return.

Brock Faber is a +3 in his first taste of the playoffs after only two regular season games. Making game saving plays and getting noticed on a national level.

Paging @bland

 

[kingsfan28]

You did research. I'm not going to do any so you are probably right but I'll toss this out there and you can debunk it with the research if you'd like.

Round 1 last year saw the Oilers completely shit kick the Kings in Games 2 and 3. Would think that his minutes were limited in those games. The one OT game in last year's series was Game 5 which Kempe won in like two minutes. Then it seemed like he played the entire effing game in Games 6 and 7.

I'm not interested in a total playoffs number for McDavid if we are talking about him possibly being burned out later on: it just seems like he is playing way more in this series than he was in last year's series with LA, save for Games 6 and 7.

Screw it...I looked at his playoff log. He's definitely playing more in this series than last one and, yes, the two blowouts really skew the average down. He had three sub-20 minutes games last year against LA with last night being the first one this series.

Drai is obviously playing more than last year's series as well but that is to be expected with no injuries.

Is there a site that shows what the Kings pk did against the Oilers in the regular season, like shots attempts and other deep dive stats. They were not this bad from what I remember .

 

[jgs]

Dirty little secret is that this is basically Fiala's best playoff performance PPG wise of his career so far. Doesn't have a good playoff resume. Kings are 0-2 since his return.

Brock Faber is a +3 in his first taste of the playoffs after only two regular season games. Making game saving plays and getting noticed on a national level.

Paging @bland

Yea it is too bad Faber had to be included in that trade. He could have really helped the Kings but then again the way TMac treats prospects he would be burred in Ontario for the next 3 years

 

[iCanada]

You did research. I'm not going to do any so you are probably right but I'll toss this out there and you can debunk it with the research if you'd like.

Round 1 last year saw the Oilers completely shit kick the Kings in Games 2 and 3. Would think that his minutes were limited in those games. The one OT game in last year's series was Game 5 which Kempe won in like two minutes. Then it seemed like he played the entire effing game in Games 6 and 7.

I'm not interested in a total playoffs number for McDavid if we are talking about him possibly being burned out later on: it just seems like he is playing way more in this series than he was in last year's series with LA, save for Games 6 and 7.

Screw it...I looked at his playoff log. He's definitely playing more in this series than last one and, yes, the two blowouts really skew the average down. He had three sub-20 minutes games last year against LA with last night being the first one this series.

Drai is obviously playing more than last year's series as well but that is to be expected with no injuries.

I mean, maybe he's playing more in this series then he did in last year's series. But for me, I find almost no concern with playing McDavid below 25 minutes a night. Tippett had McDavid averaging 26 minutes a night.

I also think both Woodcroft and McClellan tried to take advantage of the schedule and played their top guys more than they normally would due to the long layoff between games 5 and 6.

Be interesting to see how the series proceeds from here. I expect the Kings to push hard and have their best game of the series with their backs against the wall, and I think Korpi is better than Skinner. I think series far from over, Kings are a veteran team with a lot of pride. If Oilers don't have their best game of the series on Saturday I can easily see the Kings taking game 6. That being said, I think wildcard is Nuge; guy was a 100 point player this year own his own merit and I don't think he's really had much impact yet. Also as weird as it sounds, I don't think McDavid has been particularly good for his standards, think he has another level which I think he made evident in games 6/7 last year.

That being said, I think this has been the closest series of the entire playoffs, I think game 6 is potentially a coin flip. King's at times feel like that annoying kid at checkers that despite you seemingly are destroying, he quietly just hops half your pieces in one move. Lol.

 

[johnjm22]

Pretty sure Fiala isn't 100% healthy.

Hopefully the extra days off help.

 

[Herby]

Yea it is too bad Faber had to be included in that trade. He could have really helped the Kings but then again the way TMac treats prospects he would be burred in Ontario for the next 3 years

TMac isn't the one assigning players to Ontario. If TMac were to be fired tomorrow the prospects would be handled the same way they currently are.

 

[MrGuyPerson]

Justin Williams is the guy who has that intangible that DD and Kopi dont have from the cup days. I would love for him to be involved with the org.. but only after the current regime is expelled

I am pretty sure he is working for canes front office currently. I am sure he loved his time in LA, but I am not sure if he would be willing to leave the canes. Obviously, he could leave the canes, but if he retired in LA it would seem more likely. There is also a chance of all the teams he played for Carolina just ended up feeling like home and thats where he wants his roots. This might not be a factor in his case, but the canes have also treated other former players pretty well with statements about brind'amour like "We will never fire him. He can coach until he decides he doesn't feel like it anymore"(paraphrased)

 

[kingsfan28]

Dirty little secret is that this is basically Fiala's best playoff performance PPG wise of his career so far. Doesn't have a good playoff resume. Kings are 0-2 since his return.

Brock Faber is a +3 in his first taste of the playoffs after only two regular season games. Making game saving plays and getting noticed on a national level.

Paging @bland

We can't even find icetime for Spence, so I'm not sure even if they didn't trade him he'd be in there. Same with Clarke [ but I'm hoping someone sees the way and starts him in gm 6] Faber is playing 3rd pair minutes with Klingberg, with no pk time . And team is in the exact same spot we are, losing 3-2.

 

[AbsentMojo]

I am pretty sure he is working for canes front office currently. I am sure he loved his time in LA, but I am not sure if he would be willing to leave the canes. Obviously, he could leave the canes, but if he retired in LA it would seem more likely. There is also a chance of all the teams he played for Carolina just ended up feeling like home and thats where he wants his roots. This might not be a factor in his case, but the canes have also treated other former players pretty well with statements about brind'amour like "We will never fire him. He can coach until he decides he doesn't feel like it anymore"(paraphrased)

I know he has strong ties to that area so unlikely anyone in LA could lure him. I just think he is the guy I would want to be GM or in some high leadership role more so than anyone else i can think of.

 

[Moses Doughty]

I know he has strong ties to that area so unlikely anyone in LA could lure him. I just think he is the guy I would want to be GM or in some high leadership role more so than anyone else i can think of.

If we're talking about the problem of having a bunch of former players in the front office as an old boy's club, the absolute last thing we should be doing is bringing back any former King in any role outside of some minor development/scout role. Or else we're talking about doing the same thing, just with the allure of having people who won a Cup in LA instead of people who didn't.

There's a reason why we had our success when Dean brought in a bunch of people who didn't have longstanding ties.

 

[Shellz]

 

[Nasti]

Good, even fewer excuses with a fully healthy roster.

 

[Bandit]

Good, even fewer excuses with a fully healthy roster.

Will make the choke extra special, now with more hairball.