C Alex Turcotte - (2019, 5th, LAK) - PART 2

[LeafChief]

Last thread was over 1000 posts.

Looks like the kid just got called up by the Kings.

“Good chance” Alex Turcotte plays on Tuesday against Vegas

Click to read more...

 

[A1LeafNation]

Is that his dad lol

 

[Preposterone]

Is that his dad lol

Classic Alfie

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

On the eve of his debut

I thnk Wrobo's comments on Turcotte's development are pretty insightful re: trajectory vs. other guys (boldfaced emphasis mine):

"Ontario Reign Head Coach John Wroblewski on Turcotte, from earlier this season
Alex is ultimately the type of player that is going to be just the consummate teammate. I think he’s looked for reassurance before, today I just saw a guy really comfortable in his skin. He knows he’s a leader out there, his game looks amazing by the way, you can see the differences in the body type and the confidence level and the shot, like how it explodes off his stick just a little bit crisper. It’s earned confidence, that’s a term that I try to roll with, with these guys like you can’t have hubris, you can’t be cocky, but if you’ve earned it, then own it. Whether or not he cracks the Kings this year, I’m not sure it’s going to determine his career. I think that he’s in a spot where – some of these guys that are like 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 that were drafted in his class, some of the guys that are maybe a little bit better on the periphery on the outside, the game doesn’t change as much for those guys. When you navigate in the trenches like Alex does, when your job is to be at the net front, in the corners and win puck battles, especially out here in the west, every defenseman is 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, they’ll grab on, they’ll hold. So his navigation process has changed and had to evolve differently from the guys that were in his draft class. And I see somebody who seems like he’s only more determined instead of saying ‘why not me in the NHL’, he’s saying, ‘I’ll get there if I earn it’."

Alex Turcotte expected to make NHL debut this evening against Vegas - LA Kings Insider

 

[kings11]

On the eve of his debut

I thnk Wrobo's comments on Turcotte's development are pretty insightful re: trajectory vs. other guys (boldfaced emphasis mine):

"Ontario Reign Head Coach John Wroblewski on Turcotte, from earlier this season
Alex is ultimately the type of player that is going to be just the consummate teammate. I think he’s looked for reassurance before, today I just saw a guy really comfortable in his skin. He knows he’s a leader out there, his game looks amazing by the way, you can see the differences in the body type and the confidence level and the shot, like how it explodes off his stick just a little bit crisper. It’s earned confidence, that’s a term that I try to roll with, with these guys like you can’t have hubris, you can’t be cocky, but if you’ve earned it, then own it. Whether or not he cracks the Kings this year, I’m not sure it’s going to determine his career. I think that he’s in a spot where – some of these guys that are like 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 that were drafted in his class, some of the guys that are maybe a little bit better on the periphery on the outside, the game doesn’t change as much for those guys. When you navigate in the trenches like Alex does, when your job is to be at the net front, in the corners and win puck battles, especially out here in the west, every defenseman is 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4, they’ll grab on, they’ll hold. So his navigation process has changed and had to evolve differently from the guys that were in his draft class. And I see somebody who seems like he’s only more determined instead of saying ‘why not me in the NHL’, he’s saying, ‘I’ll get there if I earn it’."

Alex Turcotte expected to make NHL debut this evening against Vegas - LA Kings Insider

I’m still on parole lol… but I like this post a Jebus!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Was probably one of our best forwards on the night, though that's more a commentary on the state of the Kings tonight. But pretty strong debut otherwise--promptly went out and won his first three faceoffs, ended at 50% on the night, got about 12 minutes, was making strong passes and generally generating offense/pushing the play forwards, made a couple of good power moves out of the corners. Great pace, looked mostly confident all night. Got an unfortunate minus when he slide tackled Doughty AND lost his stick, causing chaos in our own slot (not that it wasn't a shitshow all game).

Would like to see him in a game that wasn't as much of a circus, so hope he gets another one or two this week before inevitably going back down (we'll get Danault, Byfield, Kupari all back in the next several days).

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I only saw the first. I thought he showed some flashes of nice play. His line didn’t have much offensive zone time in that period, and I don’t think it helps when you have guys like Moore on your line who have a different type of mindset on a shift than scoring forwards.

What stuck out to me was that he got 12 minutes. Maybe it’s normal for a first game and it’d be stupid to expect more, but he was 9th among Kings forwards. That Kings first line looked tremendously lazy, even if they scored once or twice. They gave up a few, as well, and were dogging it. Just seems a little stupid to not put your top prospects in a position to actually succeed, especially when you have a bunch of regulars missing. 12 minutes is not enough for a young scoring forward to succeed. But Kaliyev barely played any more, played with worse line-mates and has been there longer, so that may not be too bad.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I only saw the first. I thought he showed some flashes of nice play. His line didn’t have much offensive zone time in that period, and I don’t think it helps when you have guys like Moore on your line who have a different type of mindset on a shift than scoring forwards.

What stuck out to me was that he got 12 minutes. Maybe it’s normal for a first game and it’d be stupid to expect more, but he was 9th among Kings forwards. That Kings first line looked tremendously lazy, even if they scored once or twice. They gave up a few, as well, and were dogging it. Just seems a little stupid to not put your top prospects in a position to actually succeed, especially when you have a bunch of regulars missing. 12 minutes is not enough for a young scoring forward to succeed. But Kaliyev barely played any more, played with worse line-mates and has been there longer, so that may not be too bad.

12 minutes is a very positive sign for a 1st game because the Kings are notorious for burying youth on the 3rd and 4th lines and giving them less than 10.

Yes, don't get me started.

 

[BKarchitect]

Didn't see the game but good to hear he acquitted himself well. He's not a flashy player and the Kings aren't likely to put him into positions where he's going to be scoring a lot so I suspect that even with a run of NHL games, he's not going to have much of a chance to quell the stat-chasing critics who have long since deemed him overrated. But I still believe this is a winning player and a key cog for the Kings and it sounds like a lot of positive vibes coming out of the organization for his progress this year.

I'm just real, real curious how the Kings' ridiculously deep prospect pool shakes out over the next couple of years - especially as they simultaneously try to take nibbles at the "being competitive apple" through free agency and trades. On one side it's great to have a deep pool and just let things "work themselves out" with the cream rising to the top. OTOH - when a critical mass of these prospects hits that 21-23 year-old age range and has nowhere to go but to dominate in the AHL (or be bit players at the NHL level), I think perhaps you are wasting some latent value that you've spent all these years developing. You don't want to trade the wrong prospects (and to swing it back around to Turcotte - I definitely don't think he's a guy you'd deal) - but at some point I think this club is well-positioned to swing some 2 or 3 for 1 type deals to thin out the logjam while these guys still all have value and simultaneously accelerating the rebuild.

 

[redcard]

I only saw the first. I thought he showed some flashes of nice play. His line didn’t have much offensive zone time in that period, and I don’t think it helps when you have guys like Moore on your line who have a different type of mindset on a shift than scoring forwards.

What stuck out to me was that he got 12 minutes. Maybe it’s normal for a first game and it’d be stupid to expect more, but he was 9th among Kings forwards. That Kings first line looked tremendously lazy, even if they scored once or twice. They gave up a few, as well, and were dogging it. Just seems a little stupid to not put your top prospects in a position to actually succeed, especially when you have a bunch of regulars missing. 12 minutes is not enough for a young scoring forward to succeed. But Kaliyev barely played any more, played with worse line-mates and has been there longer, so that may not be too bad.

I was at the game watching Alex closely (as was everyone) and I noticed him deliberately keeping his shifts short. There were at least 3 times where his line had possession in the offensive zone and he was the first to turn to go to the bench. Not a terrible decision for a kid in his first game, but a big reason why he was only 9th in TOI. If you look at the actual shift count, he was tied for 6th with Lizotte at 20, one fewer than Moore and Arvidsson. He only got 0:35 of PP time and no SH time which also isn't surprising given he was just called up, but something I expect to change if he sticks around.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I think the Kings are at an inflection point. You have to give these kids a chance to break into the NHL and make their mark at some point.

The Kings are in no-man’s land with their current team. They have a few veterans who’ve had great careers that they seem to be trying to appease and a great pool of prospects. The two can’t realistically co-exist in the same window, especially when you also hoard AAAA players. Either you prioritize the window of the veterans, in which case they should already have started trading the prospects for immediate help. Or the veterans are told to keep quiet or leave.

I feel like appeasing the veterans was the wrong option all along. I didn’t think the Kings had the players for one last run, even if they traded a few of these guys. They have such a good group of prospects, but that can change quickly. Turcotte and Byfield were each drafted higher than Zegras and Drysdale across town, but the Ducks kids are now succeeding in the NHL. If you want another example to rub it in, McTavish is having a more successful season than Clarke, and nearly everyone would’ve said at the draft that Clarke was the better prospect.

The Ducks have done a great job of realizing the importance of these guys development to their eventual success. The Kings seem to be juggling some loud veteran voices trying to push the rebuild along, trying to be too greedy with asset management, and trying to develop their prospect pool. It seems to all be suffering.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I think the Kings are at an inflection point. You have to give these kids a chance to break into the NHL and make their mark at some point.

The Kings are in no-man’s land with their current team. They have a few veterans who’ve had great careers that they seem to be trying to appease and a great pool of prospects. The two can’t realistically co-exist in the same window, especially when you also hoard AAAA players. Either you prioritize the window of the veterans, in which case they should already have started trading the prospects for immediate help. Or the veterans are told to keep quiet or leave.

I feel like appeasing the veterans was the wrong option all along. I didn’t think the Kings had the players for one last run, even if they traded a few of these guys. They have such a good group of prospects, but that can change quickly. Turcotte and Byfield were each drafted higher than Zegras and Drysdale across town, but the Ducks kids are now succeeding in the NHL. If you want another example to rub it in, McTavish is having a more successful season than Clarke, and nearly everyone would’ve said at the draft that Clarke was the better prospect.

The Ducks have done a great job of realizing the importance of these guys development to their eventual success. The Kings seem to be juggling some loud veteran voices trying to push the rebuild along, trying to be too greedy with asset management, and trying to develop their prospect pool. It seems to all be suffering.

And I think that's the most popular 'nice' way to say it--the Kings have set too many conflicting goals so instead of accomplishing 1-2 things really really well, they're just mediocre at 4-5 and potentially damaging the near and far future in the process.

Not even sure I WANT to know what Blake will try to pull if we're in the race at the deadline...

 

[kings11]

And I think that's the most popular 'nice' way to say it--the Kings have set too many conflicting goals so instead of accomplishing 1-2 things really really well, they're just mediocre at 4-5 and potentially damaging the near and far future in the process.

Not even sure I WANT to know what Blake will try to pull if we're in the race at the deadline...

Not sure if it was you but someone on here brought up the offensive production of Anaheims defensemen and its outstanding. That’s actually the biggest reason why they’ve gone on such a productive run and have been able to seamlessly integrate their youth. They have leadership both quiet and vocal, their vets are producing and they’ve had key breakouts such as Terry, Drysdale and Zegras..
they’re also in a much better system to develop offensively where as TMac is quick to punish the kids if they make mistakes..
we’ve also had our last 3 first round picks go through shit luck..
Byfield - earned the 3C and broke his ankle
Turcotte - has dealt his a few injuries but by everyone’s account from last nights game is NHL ready-ish
Clarke - caught Covid and couldn’t show his skill though he’s having a great year in juniors

Im all I agree with the assessment that the Kings have slow played their youth but I doubts it’s been what they planned in rather than what they were forced into.
With that said, I fully expect this team to make room for Byfield and Turcotte by the TDL and maybe JAD..

 

[A1LeafNation]

Reminds me of Bo Horvat

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Reminds me of Bo Horvat

I could actually see that...good call. But Bo is a lot stronger. Obv Turcotte will fill out a bit but not sure he ever has the power of Horvat's game even if he's likely to be even chippier.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I didn’t see the game, but his second game he had 2 SOG, 50% on FO’s, good corsi numbers, and he hit the post.

The big problem, he played less than 10 minutes.

This has been a problem for all the Kings young forwards under this coach. It’s probably going to be a longer process for them to establish themselves. Probably the best they can hope for is the team misses the playoffs and a development type of coach takes over.

I just can’t fathom this type of stuff this coach does. How is Danault on PP1? He’s a defensive middle six center. The knock on him is his offensive game. I’m a Rangers fan and it drives me crazy that Strome plays PP1 ahead of Kakko/Lafreniere. At least he’s a big scorer, unlike Danault. How does Kaliyev rotate between 3rd and 4th line? The guy is a scorer. Putting him with grinders makes no sense. Byfield and Turcotte both played like fourth line minutes their first few games and actual fourth liners get their minutes. How is Kupari in and out of the lineup? Don’t you want to see what you have?

 

[StreetHawk]

I could actually see that...good call. But Bo is a lot stronger. Obv Turcotte will fill out a bit but not sure he ever has the power of Horvat's game even if he's likely to be even chippier.

Bo is stocky at 6'0 and 215 lbs. Alex is 5'11 and 185? Even if that was his draft weight, I don't expect that he would ever gain 30 pounds on that frame.

 

[bsu]

For some reason in my head he's either going to be as good as a mini Brayden Point or become Tyson Jost. No inbetween lol

 

[kingsboy11]

I didn’t see the game, but his second game he had 2 SOG, 50% on FO’s, good corsi numbers, and he hit the post.

The big problem, he played less than 10 minutes.

This has been a problem for all the Kings young forwards under this coach. It’s probably going to be a longer process for them to establish themselves. Probably the best they can hope for is the team misses the playoffs and a development type of coach takes over.

I just can’t fathom this type of stuff this coach does. How is Danault on PP1? He’s a defensive middle six center. The knock on him is his offensive game. How does Kaliyev rotate between 3rd and 4th line? The guy is a scorer. Putting him with grinders makes no sense. Byfield and Turcotte both played like fourth line minutes their first few games and actual fourth liners get their minutes. How is Kupari in and out of the lineup? Don’t you want to see what you have?

Kopitar played 26 minutes last night, that should tell you everything you need to know. There's been incessant discussion about this on our forum...

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Kopitar played 26 minutes last night, that should tell you everything you need to know. There's been incessant discussion about this on our forum...

Admittedly, missed this game. I checked the box-score and saw a weird PP time dispersal. Only 9 guys got time. It took me about 30 seconds to realize Kopitar got a full two minutes. Does that usually happen or just a veteran ignoring shift lengths? Kopitar is a great player, but it seems like there’s some friction with the direction of the team and he’s at one extreme.

 

[bsu]

I am starting to agree... not sure why LA isn't playing their kids more, atleast let them get time with the vets.

 

[StreetHawk]

Kopitar played 26 minutes last night, that should tell you everything you need to know. There's been incessant discussion about this on our forum...

Even with OT that seems insanely high for a forward in a game where there were not a tonne of PP time for either side.

4 centers would average 15 minutes each and with Danault he’d get more than that as well. Someone isn’t getting played if Kopitar is getting that many minutes.

 

[PAZ]

I didn’t see the game, but his second game he had 2 SOG, 50% on FO’s, good corsi numbers, and he hit the post.

The big problem, he played less than 10 minutes.

This has been a problem for all the Kings young forwards under this coach. It’s probably going to be a longer process for them to establish themselves. Probably the best they can hope for is the team misses the playoffs and a development type of coach takes over.

I just can’t fathom this type of stuff this coach does. How is Danault on PP1? He’s a defensive middle six center. The knock on him is his offensive game. I’m a Rangers fan and it drives me crazy that Strome plays PP1 ahead of Kakko/Lafreniere. At least he’s a big scorer, unlike Danault. How does Kaliyev rotate between 3rd and 4th line? The guy is a scorer. Putting him with grinders makes no sense. Byfield and Turcotte both played like fourth line minutes their first few games and actual fourth liners get their minutes. How is Kupari in and out of the lineup? Don’t you want to see what you have?

I don't think it's a problem, yet. It's quite normal to give prospects a few games to get their feet wet, if he continues playing well and doesn't get his ice-time bumped up after the 5th-6th game then it's a cause for concern.

 

[kingsboy11]

Admittedly, missed this game. I checked the box-score and saw a weird PP time dispersal. Only 9 guys got time. It took me about 30 seconds to realize Kopitar got a full two minutes. Does that usually happen or just a veteran ignoring shift lengths? Kopitar is a great player, but it seems like there’s some friction with the direction of the team and he’s at one extreme.

To be fair Danault was coming off of Covid so I figure TM didn't want to push him to hard with extended minutes, but the entire forward core was rolling through the first 2 periods it didn't make sense to play Kopitar as much as he did last night. We all thought signing Danault would help take pressure of Kopitar, but if anything he's being played just as much if not more. TM actually admitted that if we hadn't signed Danault we probably would've seen more of Turcotte earlier.

 

[StreetHawk]

To be fair Danault was coming off of Covid so I figure TM didn't want to push him to hard with extended minutes, but the entire forward core was rolling through the first 2 periods it didn't make sense to play Kopitar as much as he did last night. We all thought signing Danault would help take pressure of Kopitar, but if anything he's being played just as much if not more. TM actually admitted that if we hadn't signed Danault we probably would've seen more of Turcotte earlier.

Kopitar and Danault are signed for multiple years. So, Turcotte is going to have to find a way to contribute if he’s going to get ice time.