GDT: GM#42 LA Kings vs Tampa Bay Lightning @7:30pm 1/3/19 Halfway to Hughes!

[Peter James Bond II]

Even guys like Cirelli and Joseph have 9 goals each! Just like...KOPI!! Unreal. Their 4th line is better than the Kings' second line. Everyone can skate, pass, make plays, finish, work as a 5 man unit....I was going back and watching it again and they are all moving like a flock of birds - how they fly and turn same millisecond. It's like they train to keep moving as a unit and they do not need to do stretch passes, as they always have someone to hit with a pass. No one is standing or skating off, trying to find a lane or a hole....they manage and control and take space as a unit...and no hesitation or trying low chance passes.

I would love to see Kopi on their PK...he would pin himself against the half wall - 45 feet from the net, while Gourde, Point, Kucherov, Stamkos are ALL within 25 feet of the goal
and touch passing until one of them has a half open net...they never have to retrieve pucks and try to enter the zone and setup. They just take control and make it look like they do this blindfolded or in their sleep.

 

[kilowatt]

Our problem, really, is our second line. Kopitar, Brown, and Iafallo are a combined -1. Carter, Toffoli, and Kovalchuk are a combined -39. That’s insane. That’s not a fluke, that’s real bad. The rest of the forwards that have played for the Kings this year combined are a -41.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Part of me is glad that these guys are getting wholly embarrassed night in and night out since they basically asked for it with the Sutter canning.

Part of me is embarrassed and disgusted that these guys can just take no pride in their work or the people around them that they can just watch their teammates get run over night after night and do absolutely zero about it. I think we even stuck up for the kids no one liked on our team because Travis might be an asshole but he's OUR asshole and you don't get to touch him.

But the biggest part of me is terrified because both Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille were totally ok with this exact carefree on ice product as players and i get the feeling they're totally fine with gutless hockey since they embody it themselves. Prospects are now growing up again in a culture of failure, but not just in terms of losing, but in terms of self-preservation rather than sticking up for your teammates.

No amount of lottery picks is going to save you from yourself if that's the case. This could be an uglier stretch than pre-Lombardi if BLuc think we can just throw high picks and speed and skill at things until it all just paints a picture on its own.

 

[kilowatt]

Part of me is glad that these guys are getting wholly embarrassed night in and night out since they basically asked for it with the Sutter canning.

Part of me is embarrassed and disgusted that these guys can just take no pride in their work or the people around them that they can just watch their teammates get run over night after night and do absolutely zero about it. I think we even stuck up for the kids no one liked on our team because Travis might be an ******* but he's OUR ******* and you don't get to touch him.

But the biggest part of me is terrified because both Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille were totally ok with this exact carefree on ice product as players and i get the feeling they're totally fine with gutless hockey since they embody it themselves. Prospects are now growing up again in a culture of failure, but not just in terms of losing, but in terms of self-preservation rather than sticking up for your teammates.

No amount of lottery picks is going to save you from yourself if that's the case.

Change starts at the top. Lombardi changed the team culture at an organizational level. That seems to be breaking down.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

I’m sure this will distract us from the on-ice product.

 

[BigKing]

I’m sure this will distract us from the on-ice product.

Who is this f***ing asshole?

 

[Bandit]

Change starts at the top. Lombardi changed the team culture at an organizational level. That seems to be breaking down.

It’s no secret that the only time this organization has had success is when they brought someone from outside to run it.

GM Rogie: losers
GM Taylor: losers
GM Lombardi: two Stanley cups
GM Blake: losers

I dunno, is there a pattern?

 

[Bandit]

I’m sure this will distract us from the on-ice product.

All the laughs are on the ice.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Who is this ****ing *******?

The latest D-list celeb that Luc’s creative marketing team drew from a hat.

 

[Legionnaire]

It’s no secret that the only time this organization has had success is when they brought someone from outside to run it.

GM Rogie: losers
GM Taylor: losers
GM Lombardi: two Stanley cups
GM Blake: losers

I dunno, is there a pattern?

Good post. I almost brought this up last week. The organizational nepotism has never worked.

 

[BigKing]

Good post. I almost brought this up last week. The organizational nepotism has never worked.

It's almost like this was said the day these long time Kings losers took control.

 

[Legionnaire]

It's almost like this was said the day these long time Kings losers took control.

And it still bares repeating.

 

[Herby]

It's still the almost unbelievably bad drafting the past decade more than anything else, but I would agree that they are in an awful spot culturally. Having a bunch of bum veterans playing out the ends of their last NHL contracts is a pretty bad spot for a team to be in.

The fact that they have stayed the course is truly the most alarming thing of all about Luc and Blake.

 

[kingsfan28]

What he said...in a 6-2 beatdown. No reason why their TOI was so low.

 

[KingsFan7824]

It’s no secret that the only time this organization has had success is when they brought someone from outside to run it.

GM Rogie: losers
GM Taylor: losers
GM Lombardi: two Stanley cups
GM Blake: losers

I dunno, is there a pattern?

Which is funny, because Lombardi won the way that all these other GMs tried to win. They weren't great at drafting under DL. By the time they won, they had traded tomorrow for today, which is what every GM is Kings history had done. DL just managed to eventually be more successful in the playoffs. His grand plan had the Kings 8th before they got Carter, with a -3 goal differential, and closer to 11th than 7th. Then something just clicked, like it did in 93, but the 2012 version won. Then DL did even more of the same as every other Kings GM, trading even more of tomorrow for today. Or trading tomorrow for the past, however you want to look at it.

Lombardi was well on his way to being the same loser. Bringing his friend literally off the farm as a last ditch effort to save his own job. He recycled a coach. Trading all the future. Bringing friends in. Everything we criticize other GMs in Kings history for. The Richards deal was heading toward that all time franchise bad list. Without the Cups, that's where that trade ends up since Richards burned out. But they won, and did so convincingly in 2012, so we look at it differently. The process was the same as all the other years of Kings hockey though.

We think of DL as a drafter, but he was a trader. Those Cup teams were mostly buy low trades and free agent signings. Sprinkled with some decent picks, and guys like King, who nobody would've guessed was going to be a key to a Cup run.

 

[KingsFan7824]

What he said...in a 6-2 beatdown. No reason why their TOI was so low.

Kempe had his 2nd highest TOI of the season. Kovalchuk was 2nd on the team for forwards. Scherbak played 13 minutes. Kempe and Scherbak were, surprisingly, 2nd and 3rd on the team at ES. Thompson played less than 10 minutes at ES. Toffoli and Carter were 8th and 9th in ES time, less than Leipsic. So, not all bad.

 

[KINGS17]

It's still the almost unbelievably bad drafting the past decade more than anything else, but I would agree that they are in an awful spot culturally. Having a bunch of bum veterans playing out the ends of their last NHL contracts is a pretty bad spot for a team to be in.

The fact that they have stayed the course is truly the most alarming thing of all about Luc and Blake.

This should not come as a surprise, it's exactly what Robitaille and Blake did in Los Angeles. Luc was scratched for a game in Anaheim his last season playing with the Kings and didn't even bother driving down the 5 fwy to be at the game in person.

These two were never leaders for the Kings, and they aren't going to become leaders for the Kings.

 

[kilowatt]

Which is funny, because Lombardi won the way that all these other GMs tried to win. They weren't great at drafting under DL. By the time they won, they had traded tomorrow for today, which is what every GM is Kings history had done. DL just managed to eventually be more successful in the playoffs. His grand plan had the Kings 8th before they got Carter, with a -3 goal differential, and closer to 11th than 7th. Then something just clicked, like it did in 93, but the 2012 version won. Then DL did even more of the same as every other Kings GM, trading even more of tomorrow for today. Or trading tomorrow for the past, however you want to look at it.

Lombardi was well on his way to being the same loser. Bringing his friend literally off the farm as a last ditch effort to save his own job. He recycled a coach. Trading all the future. Bringing friends in. Everything we criticize other GMs in Kings history for. The Richards deal was heading toward that all time franchise bad list. Without the Cups, that's where that trade ends up since Richards burned out. But they won, and did so convincingly in 2012, so we look at it differently. The process was the same as all the other years of Kings hockey though.

We think of DL as a drafter, but he was a trader. Those Cup teams were mostly buy low trades and free agent signings. Sprinkled with some decent picks, and guys like King, who nobody would've guessed was going to be a key to a Cup run.

You’re mistaken about 2012. The Kings didn’t sneak into the playoffs. In fact, heading into the final weekend of the season, they had the third seed but were virtually tied with Arizona and San Jose. Kings lost both games that weekend, Sharks split, Coyotes won out, Coyotes ended up as the third seed. The “cinderella story” was pretty overblown actually.

NHL standings at the end of play on Sunday, April 1, 2012

Through 79 games, Kings were in first in the Pacific.

 

[KINGS17]

You guys are crazy and over reacting. The Kings only lost by 4 goals to one of the best teams in the NHL. They are starting to turn the corner.

 

[DoktorJeep]

The only lever management has to improve play on the ice is to cut ice time of vets who can’t keep up in the nhl anymore. It’s plain to see that Kopitar and Doughty are going nowhere. And Brown is the only one earning his paycheck, so he should stay.

Trades look to be pretty much impossible for the worst ones, Carter and Phaneuf. At this point you are paying over $10m for two players who couldn’t make a top 20 roster and who on a DFL team are a 4th line winger and a #7 defenseman. Quick is obviously still good, but not good enough to consistently bail this team out on a nightly basis. So if there is a trade possibility, you have to move him, despite the sentimental reasons not too.

Jake Muzzin is shaping up to be a prime trade piece for the deadline. It’s hard to find recent comparables, but last trade deadline NY Rangers traded D Ryan McDonagh and LW J.T. Miller to Tampa Bay for C Vladislav Namestnikov, D Libor Hajek, C Brett Howden, Tampa Bay's 1st-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft and a conditional pick in 2019.

Muzzin doesn’t have the same level of recognition as McDonagh did at the time, but I think he’s a better player today than RD was when he was traded. Looking back at the returns for both those teams, and there are no great outcomes on either side. Somehow TBL gave RD a 7 year $6m deal this offseason.

So you could see BLuc package Muzzin with a forward like Toffoli for a similar package of players and picks this deadline. I think any of the current top 8 teams in the east, except TBL, would be a good trade partner for a Toff + Muzz package.

 

[KingsHockey24]

Me: Checks to see how Kings are doing.

 

[tny760]

You guys are crazy and over reacting. The Kings only lost by 4 goals to one of the best teams in the NHL. They are starting to turn the corner.

contenders!

just gotta get into the dance and you have a chance!!

 

[Fat Elvis]

Well, that escalated quickly.

It was like watching the Canada v Denmark game. Except it was like an old timers game, where LA brought back the great names of the past in a scrimmage against true NHL stars, then charge us $150 a seat and say it counts.

 

[Bandit]

Which is funny, because Lombardi won the way that all these other GMs tried to win. They weren't great at drafting under DL. By the time they won, they had traded tomorrow for today, which is what every GM is Kings history had done. DL just managed to eventually be more successful in the playoffs. His grand plan had the Kings 8th before they got Carter, with a -3 goal differential, and closer to 11th than 7th. Then something just clicked, like it did in 93, but the 2012 version won. Then DL did even more of the same as every other Kings GM, trading even more of tomorrow for today. Or trading tomorrow for the past, however you want to look at it.

Lombardi was well on his way to being the same loser. Bringing his friend literally off the farm as a last ditch effort to save his own job. He recycled a coach. Trading all the future. Bringing friends in. Everything we criticize other GMs in Kings history for. The Richards deal was heading toward that all time franchise bad list. Without the Cups, that's where that trade ends up since Richards burned out. But they won, and did so convincingly in 2012, so we look at it differently. The process was the same as all the other years of Kings hockey though.

We think of DL as a drafter, but he was a trader. Those Cup teams were mostly buy low trades and free agent signings. Sprinkled with some decent picks, and guys like King, who nobody would've guessed was going to be a key to a Cup run.

Lombardi is a lawyer with a plan, not an ex-player that took one too many blows to the head. Could Lombardi have never won anything? Sure, but the results speak for themselves. The list of ex-players turned GM that win Stanley Cups is a VERY short list. There's a reason for that.

 

[KINGS17]

I’m sure this will distract us from the on-ice product.

One word. Stupid.