TSN: Brown will no longer be Captain

[KingCanadain1976]

Dwight King shouldn't be playing top six minutes. If Brown/King are once again top six options that Sutter has come next season, Lombardi has failed once again.

Where as i totally agree with you on King playing top 6 mins The last person i blame is Dean Again He brought in Lucic to play top 6 mins. He also had Pearson there Hell Gaborik is a better option then king (yes he was hurt but when healthy) This is not Deans fault Sutter played King more than pearson/lucic combo. Out of brown or king i think brown would be the better choice not a great choice but better then king.

 

[Trolfoli]

Dwight King shouldn't be playing top six minutes. If Brown/King are once again top six options that Sutter has come next season, Lombardi has failed once again.

What do you think is going to happen if Lucic isn't resigned?


Pearson likes the front of the net/screening goalies too.

 

[JureEe]

Kopitars quote from local media. i tried to translate to my best.

http://www.zurnal24.si/ce-bi-rekel-da-ni-bilo-nic-narobe-bi-lagal-clanek-271714
he talked also about Selke, World Cup, contract negotiations and playoffs.

Tudi če jaz dobim oznako C na dres, se ne bom spremenil. Moj pravi značaj in barve se bodo videle, če se bodo odločili zame, vedo, kaj dobijo. Ne bom igral klovna v garderobi, ne bom se drl in zmerjal. Ker to nisem jaz. Je pa hudo, tudi zame, Dustin nas je pripeljal z ničle na vrh, bil je kapetan osem let, zelo dober kapetan. Zato je težko videti, ko nekomu vzamejo kapetansko črko.

translate:
Even if i get C, i wont change. If they select me, they know what they will get. I wont play clown in locker room, i wont yell and scold because thats not me. Its though, even for me because Dustin brought us from 0 to top and he was our C for 8 years. He is very good caption so its though to see when someone is stripped from capt. letter.

 

[likid]

Kopitars quote from local media. i tried to translate to my best.

http://www.zurnal24.si/ce-bi-rekel-da-ni-bilo-nic-narobe-bi-lagal-clanek-271714
he talked also about Selke, World Cup, contract negotiations and playoffs.



translate:
Even if i get C, i wont change. If they select me, they know what they will get. I wont play clown in locker room, i wont yell and scold because thats not me. Its though, even for me because Dustin brought us from 0 to top and he was our C for 8 years. He is very good caption so its though to see when someone is stripped from capt. letter.

Actually I would slightly modified translation (last sentence), because I believe this is very important:

He was very good caption so its though to see when someone is stripped from capt. letter.

Most importantly, he said that in a way as this is already fact...

 

[YP44]

What do you think is going to happen if Lucic isn't resigned?


Pearson likes the front of the net/screening goalies too.

Honestly I would rather Brown play the left side in the top 6 than King

 

[Peter James Bond II]

So Lucic gets a free pass for his playoff performance but Mersch doesnt? Talk about a selective sample size.

I'm not thinking Mersch is the answer to anything, but you've completely misrepresented him there.

No one should get a free pass...but others have contracts that played poorly. Does that mean they should let him walk? Lucic had a good season and fits in well and he wants to be here. Would suck to show no return for losing: Jones, Colin Miller and the #13 overall (which would have been Kyle Connor)

I have not misrepresrented Mersch. He's a terrible skater. I thought he was skating injured...horrible form and no speed. Sure, he works hard and is tough in the corners, big body, protects the puck and is great in front of the net. Stothers says he blocks shots and leaves it all on the ice. These are great things.

He's no sniper and NHL defensemen will stop him, as well as NHL goalies. He's going to be 24 yrs old October 2 and not good enough to
skate top 6. 2 playoff goals on 52 shots is terrible. He gets the puck in front and just tries to jam in it, any way. He does not have tons of skill ala a Gaborik or Toffoli to get pucks top shelf, pinpoint shots - he just tries to jam them in any way. Works about 1 out of 15-20 times.
Not going to cut it in the NHL.

If he makes it and can score 20 NHL goals a year, I will be first to come back and say I was wrong. I will. Hope I get to do that, actually.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

No one should get a free pass...but others have contracts that played poorly. Does that mean they should let him walk? Lucic had a good season and fits in well and he wants to be here. Would suck to show no return for losing: Jones, Colin Miller and the #13 overall (which would have been Kyle Connor)

I have not misrepresrented Mersch. He's a terrible skater. I thought he was skating injured...horrible form and no speed. Sure, he works hard and is tough in the corners, big body, protects the puck and is great in front of the net. Stothers says he blocks shots and leaves it all on the ice. These are great things.

He's no sniper and NHL defensemen will stop him, as well as NHL goalies. He's going to be 24 yrs old October 2 and not good enough to
skate top 6. 2 playoff goals on 52 shots is terrible. He gets the puck in front and just tries to jam in it, any way. He does not have tons of skill ala a Gaborik or Toffoli to get pucks top shelf, pinpoint shots - he just tries to jam them in any way. Works about 1 out of 15-20 times.
Not going to cut it in the NHL.

If he makes it and can score 20 NHL goals a year, I will be first to come back and say I was wrong. I will. Hope I get to do that, actually.

In a nutshell, you ignored his entire body of work and focused on his playoff shooting percentage solely this year to show those things. If you would have just used the above to criticize him fine, that's an opinion. But to ignore his success in last year's playoffs and throughout the year isn't right.

Only thing I really take issue with in your opinion is that his ability around the net won't work when there are historically tons of guys who have found lots of success with a similar skillset (not great skaters but excellent positionally with big bodies in front of the net and the ability to get sticks on pucks). Whether he can skate well enough to get there or not is a very fair criticism.

 

[Kingsfan1]

If Lucic walks i think Dean will get more hatred solely based on the fact that he gave up the 13th overall pick in a said deep draft that could have been Kyle Connor who looks promising to be a super star. Jones who is currently in the SCF . I always loved Jones positioning and thought he would be a better goalie for the Kings but Quick won 2 cups for us so we all saw that move coming , and we moved Colin Miller who could have potentially slotted into the top 6 during the year and would have had a development year under his belt.

Also Kyle Connor might be 3 times the player Lucic has ever been if his numbers and explosiveness so far in every league is any indication of things to come .

 

[SettlementRichie10]

The Sekera and Lucic trades together have effectively closed this team's competitive window, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Peter James Bond II]

In a nutshell, you ignored his entire body of work and focused on his playoff shooting percentage solely this year to show those things. If you would have just used the above to criticize him fine, that's an opinion. But to ignore his success in last year's playoffs and throughout the year isn't right.

Only thing I really take issue with in your opinion is that his ability around the net won't work when there are historically tons of guys who have found lots of success with a similar skillset (not great skaters but excellent positionally with big bodies in front of the net and the ability to get sticks on pucks). Whether he can skate well enough to get there or not is a very fair criticism.

You have to skate to play in the NHL. Everyone likes to bring up Robitaille, but he still skated better than Mersch and he had skill to make plays and could score ANYWHERE within 40 feet of the net.

You cannot translate AHL playoff points to the NHL...if that's the case, Jordan Weal should be a very good NHL player. He had 22 or so pts last years' playoffs...zero points in 10 nhl games with Kings and zero pts with the Flyers in 4 games. Yes, Jordan is small...but Johnny Gaudreau is smaller than Weal.

Mersch being a poor skater is a fair criticism. Only 10-15% of his time on the ice, will be in front of the net.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

You have to skate to play in the NHL. Everyone likes to bring up Robitaille, but he still skated better than Mersch and he had skill to make plays and could score ANYWHERE within 40 feet of the net.

You cannot translate AHL playoff points to the NHL...if that's the case, Jordan Weal should be a very good NHL player. He had 22 or so pts last years' playoffs...zero points in 10 nhl games with Kings and zero pts with the Flyers in 4 games. Yes, Jordan is small...but Johnny Gaudreau is smaller than Weal.

Mersch being a poor skater is a fair criticism. Only 10-15% of his time on the ice, will be in front of the net.

So you're going to hold his playoff points against him when it's convenient for you, and ignore his successes because they don't count.


I'm not pretending he's a superstar and I'm under no illusions about how things do or don't translate from the AHL, I just think it's silly to write him off because of a shooting percentage sample.

 

[KingsFan7824]

If Lucic walks i think Dean will get more hatred solely based on the fact that he gave up the 13th overall pick in a said deep draft that could have been Kyle Connor who looks promising to be a super star. Jones who is currently in the SCF . I always loved Jones positioning and thought he would be a better goalie for the Kings but Quick won 2 cups for us so we all saw that move coming , and we moved Colin Miller who could have potentially slotted into the top 6 during the year and would have had a development year under his belt.

Also Kyle Connor might be 3 times the player Lucic has ever been if his numbers and explosiveness so far in every league is any indication of things to come .

The question with Connor would be, if he's clearly that great, how could he fall to 13, let alone to 17 where he ended up going?

Jones had 0 value to the Kings. He was a RFA that wasn't going to sign, the Kings were up against the cap, and weren't going to pay a backup $3m per year. Sure, trade Quick instead. To who, and for what? What else do you have to give up, when other teams are fully aware that Lombardi is up against the cap, and looking to trade the more expensive of the two goalies?

The Sekera and Lucic trades together have effectively closed this team's competitive window, as far as I'm concerned.

And each came about because of Voynov. Who knows how 14-15 goes if Voynov doesn't get suspended. Who knows if that 1st is moved, and if it still was, maybe it's not for Sekera.

They went on a streak, and were still basically the same can't be killed Kings at the time. Get a defenseman to replace Voynov, and who knows. Then Sekera got hurt, the can't be killed Kings couldn't win a must win game against the Oilers, and the season goes down the toilet.

Then, because the 2016 1st was traded for Sekera, you can't miss the playoffs, and then maybe miss the playoffs the next year, giving Carolina a potential lottery winning pick. So Lucic comes aboard. Jones had no value to the Kings, and you weren't going to get Lucic at 50% for Miller/1st alone, so Boston also gets one or the other out of the deal too.

Voynov is what effectively closed the window. Now Kopitar has a bigger contract, which will mean some player can't be kept/brought in. Brown is another year into disappointment. There are no proven young right handed defensemen on good contracts who can keep the window open right now that the Kings can get. Gaborik and Carter are another year older. Toffoli is also that much closer to his own bigger contract, which will mean yet another player can't be kept/brought in.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

Whatever the case, the window is closed. The 15/16 regular season success was smoke and mirrors.

I don't think we should be focusing on any big UFA or trade. We should bear down, hold on to picks, and develop a pipeline again. Our "win now" window is done. We're not winning now or in the near future, not with this roster and the cap where it is.

 

[theMajor]

Whatever the case, the window is closed. The 15/16 regular season success was smoke and mirrors.

I don't think we should be focusing on any big UFA or trade. We should bear down, hold on to picks, and develop a pipeline again. Our "win now" window is done. We're not winning now or in the near future, not with this roster and the cap where it is.

so much BS in this post I dont even know where to begin.

window closed? one of the best regular seasons in the Kings history a "smoke and mirrors" show?
give me a ****ing break dude. all this alarmist, doomsday Kings talk is getting real old real fast

 

[KingsFan7824]

Whatever the case, the window is closed. The 15/16 regular season success was smoke and mirrors.

I don't think we should be focusing on any big UFA or trade. We should bear down, hold on to picks, and develop a pipeline again. Our "win now" window is done. We're not winning now or in the near future, not with this roster and the cap where it is.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's where Lombardi's head is. When did we first hear about a 5 year plan? Back in February or something?

 

[damacles1156]

Whatever the case, the window is closed. The 15/16 regular season success was smoke and mirrors.

I don't think we should be focusing on any big UFA or trade. We should bear down, hold on to picks, and develop a pipeline again. Our "win now" window is done. We're not winning now or in the near future, not with this roster and the cap where it is.

You have to still try and win, with Doughty/Kopitar/Quick/Carter still producing at high levels.

You simply can't throw in the towel.

 

[Kingsfan1]

The question with Connor would be, if he's clearly that great, how could he fall to 13, let alone to 17 where he ended up going?

Jones had 0 value to the Kings. He was a RFA that wasn't going to sign, the Kings were up against the cap, and weren't going to pay a backup $3m per year. Sure, trade Quick instead. To who, and for what? What else do you have to give up, when other teams are fully aware that Lombardi is up against the cap, and looking to trade the more expensive of the two goalies?



And each came about because of Voynov. Who knows how 14-15 goes if Voynov doesn't get suspended. Who knows if that 1st is moved, and if it still was, maybe it's not for Sekera.

They went on a streak, and were still basically the same can't be killed Kings at the time. Get a defenseman to replace Voynov, and who knows. Then Sekera got hurt, the can't be killed Kings couldn't win a must win game against the Oilers, and the season goes down the toilet.

Then, because the 2016 1st was traded for Sekera, you can't miss the playoffs, and then maybe miss the playoffs the next year, giving Carolina a potential lottery winning pick. So Lucic comes aboard. Jones had no value to the Kings, and you weren't going to get Lucic at 50% for Miller/1st alone, so Boston also gets one or the other out of the deal too.

Voynov is what effectively closed the window. Now Kopitar has a bigger contract, which will mean some player can't be kept/brought in. Brown is another year into disappointment. There are no proven young right handed defensemen on good contracts who can keep the window open right now that the Kings can get. Gaborik and Carter are another year older. Toffoli is also that much closer to his own bigger contract, which will mean yet another player can't be kept/brought in.

Jones leaving was inevitable but a bold move would have been seeing Jones potential and knowing he can take over the reigns and you move Quick while his value is high for either a young promising defenseman or forward or something of value. However i dont think you can justify moving Quick so im fine with Jones being traded. I didnt disagree with the move .

Kyle Connor it happens every year almost that a player drops for different reasons but then makes the teams that pass on him hit themselves in the head . It happens . If the Kings kept the 13th pick i dont think Connor would have dropped much as we were rumored to want him if the trade didnt go through.

 

[WHOneedsSOX]

You have to still try and win, with Doughty/Kopitar/Quick/Carter still producing at high levels.

You simply can't throw in the towel.

Yeah, in 3 years who knows where Kopitar, Carter and Quick's games are. 2 year window. If they can't win that 2 year window then I think the window is closed unless they can somehow figure out a way to get out of Brown and/or Gaborik's contracts.

 

[Kingsfan1]

Whatever the case, the window is closed. The 15/16 regular season success was smoke and mirrors.

I don't think we should be focusing on any big UFA or trade. We should bear down, hold on to picks, and develop a pipeline again. Our "win now" window is done. We're not winning now or in the near future, not with this roster and the cap where it is.

I dont think the window is closed . Every year the game evolves and if you dont evolve along with the game then you stay behind. Our system just needs to be tweaked because the big heavy game is not going to get you success anymore . This team needs speed and skill. Especially in our bottom 6. Our bottom 6 is terrible.

If Sutter plays more youth look at Rust, Dumoulin , and Sheary and others playing big roles on their current run. You dont know if Gravel wouldnt have worked out better because we never gave him a chance. Maybe Gravel continued to make solid plays and Sutter started playing him 20+ mins a night. Mersch is slow too i dont think he will make to much of a difference but having King, Clifford, Lewis, Greene, Scuderi on this team is what hurts us either because of their caphits and their roles or because they dont bring anything to the table besides being experienced and defensively responsible . We need more speed and skill. Sutter needs to change his motto of not playing youngsters more and just tweak the system.

The players have no creativity its the same damn pathetic entry or dump n chase every time they have the puck. Other teams learned our system and exposed us. Our problem is also because of our system we continue drafting slow and heavy players instead of skilled forwards that is why we dont have any players that we can inject into the lineup for the bottom 6 to make a difference.

From our prospects who i think will contribute big to our team and actually has some skill and speed is Wagner , Amadio, Kempe , Brodzinski these are all players i think will make a contribution in the near future but we really blew it with lots of other picks because of drafting size. Im dumbfounded by picking Schmalz , when Timashov , Bear and others were available .

 

[Peter James Bond II]

So you're going to hold his playoff points against him when it's convenient for you, and ignore his successes because they don't count.


I'm not pretending he's a superstar and I'm under no illusions about how things do or don't translate from the AHL, I just think it's silly to write him off because of a shooting percentage sample.

I'm not writing him off...and not based on shooting %. But if you're in the AHL and going to make the jump to the NHL, scoring 2 goals on 52 shots in the AHL, with inferior defensemen and goalies, does not bode well, to become an effective NHL player. I am pointing out 2 things - poor skating. (I thought he had a high ankle sprain one night, it was so bad) and the way he scores most goals is getting to the net and jamming them in. If he also had a wicked snap shot, laser wrist shot, slap shot and could score in several ways, I would feel better about him. But he doesn't.

I am more concerned that he cannot skate. When you add that his strong point is gettng to the net and scoring most of his goals there - without high end finishing skills - it does not bode well as translating to the NHL.
Some guys like Tomas Holmstrom made a career out of it, but not many. He could skate though and was a better overall player.

 

[damacles1156]

People keep acting like Toffoli/Pearson/King/Nolan/Muzzin/Slava/Shore/McNabb, were not worked in at a young age under Sutter.

So what coach worked those youngsters in ? Was there a different coach for the Kings in 2012-2016 ?

What the hell are you folks talking about ?

 

[Brodeur]

The question with Connor would be, if he's clearly that great, how could he fall to 13, let alone to 17 where he ended up going?

It happens. It was an above average draft last year and there seemed to be a top tier of 13. Through #11, things were looking normal. Dallas went off the board at #12 for a Russian kid that tore up the U18 tournament after being mostly anonymous during the season. Luckily for Dallas, Boston had the next three picks and went a bit wacky (I liked Senyshyn, but apparently not as much as they did).

Teams goof up. I'm sure the Devils were puzzled when Zach Parise was available and were able to trade up for him at #17 in 2003. The Capitals had to have a quick pow wow at #11 in 2012 when Filip Forsberg was there. Cam Fowler inexplicably dropped to #12 in 2010.

Connor may have been a little less visible playing in the USHL and since he was '96, he wasn't eligible for the U18 tournament which is usually the last thing scouts watch.

 

[Quattro]

so much BS in this post I dont even know where to begin.

window closed? one of the best regular seasons in the Kings history a "smoke and mirrors" show?
give me a ****ing break dude. all this alarmist, doomsday Kings talk is getting real old real fast

Agree 1000%

Kopitar, Doughty, Quick, Carter, Muzzin, Toffoli, Pearson, Martinez, Gaborik, etc would certainly be shocked to learn their "window is closed"

 

[kingsholygrail]

People keep acting like Toffoli/Pearson/King/Nolan/Muzzin/Slava/Shore/McNabb, were not worked in at a young age under Sutter.

So what coach worked those youngsters in ? Was there a different coach for the Kings in 2012-2016 ?

What the hell are you folks talking about ?

Yeah I don't get the meme either. Why is 'They're just not ready/good enough yet' not considered a real possibility with some of these players?

 

[Trolfoli]

-Window is shut until the D is fixed.
-Hard to fix the D with Brown's contract.
-Could spend Lucic money on D, but then the top 6 will suck with Brown/King in it full time.
-Could inject some young defense into the top 4. Gravel/Forbort aren't ready or probably not top4. Could draft some guys, but no first round pick and high end second rounders may not make the team until Carter/Kopitar are in the old folks home. Could trade for some near ready NHL guys, but that would cost a lot.


-Kings youth didn't get a call up because they aren't significantly better then what the Kings have. Mersch/Gravel/Forbort aren't going to have the same impact as Donskoi/Hertl/Nieto/Rust/Maatta/Pouliot. They can't even beat out guys like Scuderi for a job.

-Kings system is fine. When you play guys like Schenn/Scuderi in the top 4 the system doesn't matter as those guys will make anything look like ****.

Edit: It's actually an argument for the system that the Kings were able to make it as far as they did and win 1 game in the playoffs with Scuderi/Schenn in the top4.