High praise from THN

[kingsfan]

I thought this was posted before, but I didn't see the thread during a brief search. If it is, mod's feel free to merge/delete.

THN has us as tops in the Pacific, as we already knew. Here's there breakdown and a video describing the thought process behind the ranking.

As they say in the video, we are very deep and loaded.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articl..._medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20130924

Click to read more...

 

[TonySCV]

"CONS: Finding a flaw in the Kings is like telling Miss America she could lose a couple pounds. Other than a lot of players headed to the Olympics, there’s no structural needs for a team that lost to the Stanley Cup champs in the conference final. Ben Scrivens may be a slight downgrade from Jonathan Bernier as the team’s No. 2 goaltender, but Quick is a workhorse, so the effect is minimal unless he gets hurt."

Bernier was the sole reason the Kings even made the playoffs so Quick could win them a Cup. To say the Scrivens downgrade effectively will be a wash/minimal is a stretch.

 

[bmr]

I still think the key to this team is how the defense anchors them. When we won the cup, our defense was out of this world and Mitchell was a huge part of that. Kopitar and Brown were also monsters. Last year's playoffs they were invisible. I still think Richards has the biggest heart on the team. Dude just wants to win. Guys like that are infectious and you want everyone on the team thinking along those lines.

 

[Whiskeypete]

i still say it is going to be LA and CHI fighting for supremacy in the West for the next 5 years. both teams are loaded today on the big club and with a strong pipeline of prospects down the line.

Kings and Hawks are the contenders, the rest of the West are pretenders

 

[Muzzinga]

"CONS: Finding a flaw in the Kings is like telling Miss America she could lose a couple pounds. Other than a lot of players headed to the Olympics, there’s no structural needs for a team that lost to the Stanley Cup champs in the conference final. Ben Scrivens may be a slight downgrade from Jonathan Bernier as the team’s No. 2 goaltender, but Quick is a workhorse, so the effect is minimal unless he gets hurt."

Bernier was the sole reason the Kings even made the playoffs so Quick could win them a Cup. To say the Scrivens downgrade effectively will be a wash/minimal is a stretch.

When you are talking about a backup who plays 20 games max, the difference between having Bernier and Scrivens will be about 4 points so it is minimal

Kings are probably the 2nd or 3rd best team in the league alongside Boston with Chicago number 1. Just need a very good reg season for a change

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Bernier was the sole reason the Kings even made the playoffs so Quick could win them a Cup. To say the Scrivens downgrade effectively will be a wash/minimal is a stretch.

Quick was coming off a surgery. I doubt Scrivens plays more than 12 games this year (if he is even the back up at the start of the season).

 

[Quattro]

Bernier was the sole reason the Kings even made the playoffs

really?

 

[KopitarFAN]

really?

Yes. Quick didn't play well early, Bernier stepped in and played really well, if he doesn't do that they would've been even further behind.

 

[Buddy The Elf]

Yes. Quick didn't play well early, Bernier stepped in and played really well, if he doesn't do that they would've been even further behind.

Or if Jeff Carter didn't score 26 goals, yadda-yadda.... Bernier certainly helped out but he isn't the "sole" reason the Kings made the playoffs last year. If Quick continued to struggle down the stretch (which he didn't) then the Kings wouldn't have made the playoffs regardless of who their back up goalie was.

Quick should be healthy to start the year which he wasn't last year. So I don't believe that Scrivens or whoever the back up ends up being is going to play a pivotal role in the Kings success (or lack thereof) this season.

 

[etherialone]

Thanks for posting that KF.

Our D is looking best in the league again so that will be an upgrade over last season. One of the unexpected keys to our D this season will be the re re re emergence of Robyn Regehr. We didn't get to see him play one game for us at 100% health last season and as it is well known his ailments got worse and worse as the season/playoffs went on. RR is going to step up this season and show us why he is a worthy (if not complete) replacement for Scuds.

Willie Mitchel is a warrior. He is a difference maker. He was sorely missed last season and it isn't a stretch to say that he was the missing piece to our repeating as champions or at least THE key missing piece.

That said I am talking about Willie of two years ago and to expect him to play at the same level after missing another full season with an injury, one that he himself is only willing to push so far (or has said) as of yet would be foolish. DL and DS aren't fools and that is why we have the deepest D corp in the NHL in camp. Willie will be in the mix no doubt about it and will according to most in the org be platooned throughout the season with the hopes that he will be fresh when the playoffs roll around.

Good for us and good for Willie the warrior but with the loss of Scuds and Willie giving us 85% most of the season we are going to have to rely on our depth in order to return to the best in the league that we were two seasons ago. I think we will and as I have said, with our depth we are going to be better then we have ever been on D. Period.

Our bottom 6 depth is for the first time in Kings history overloaded with size, grit, speed and expereince at every position. We have the kind of depth that will allow us to adjust our lineup to play against our opponents weaknesses better than ever before or at least that I can remember.

Adding Frattin and potentially Toffs give us two more great cyclers who can get on the horse and ride but also give our top 6 completely different looks if needed. We are loaded with great scoring and minute eating monsters who can either bring it to you are sit back and pounce on our opponents mistakes.

The best news about this coming season is how deep we are now at ever spot. If (jebus forbid) we end up with injuries we are deep enough with NHL ready players to where we can not only fill a spot temporarily but also in some cases potentially improve an area of need should we need to do so.

Example? If Frattin goes down (again, jebus forbid) then we can bring Pearson up and go from gritty lite power forward LW to a more gifted sniper at the position who can still play well enough in his own zone to where he shouldn't hurt us.

Then we have Vey and Shore if we lose one of our centers. Neither of which are ready to step and and flat out replace anyone but both of whom could step in and play respectable minutes on our bottom 6 freeing up other options should we lose a top 6 C type.

In other words, we are loaded enough to where we can cover any losses or well enough so to where we shouldn't lose too much if the worst should happen.

The 13/14 Kings team is better poised and better prepared to win the cup then we were back 2012. The great news is that we look set up do so for the next 3 or 4 years at least.

It is a GREAT time to be a Kings fan.


Kings in 14!

 

[Muzzinga]

Nice writeup TG

Kings and Hawks going to meet in conf finals again this year*

*new playoff format may make that impossible but i dont know the new format

 

[kingsfan]

Bernier was the sole reason the Kings even made the playoffs so Quick could win them a Cup. To say the Scrivens downgrade effectively will be a wash/minimal is a stretch.

I assume you are talking about 2011-2012 season, since that's the season LA (and Quick) won the cup. Bernier that season was 5-6-2 with a 2.36 GAA and a .908 save percentage. He wasn't the sole reason we made the playoffs.

If you actually mean last year, he was a big support for sure, but again, Bernier only seen action in less than 30% of our games (14 out of 48). He had very good numbers, I agree, but we still won a lot of games with him sitting on the bench. He wasn't the sole reason we made the playoffs last year.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Nice writeup TG

Kings and Hawks going to meet in conf finals again this year*

*new playoff format may make that impossible but i dont know the new format

-Top 3 in each division are guaranteed a playoff spot.
-The two best remaining records, regardless of division, are wild card teams
-The wild card team with the worst record plays the division winner with the best record(I believe regardless of division), and the other wild card team would play the other division winner.
-The 2nd and 3rd place teams play each other in each division
-Once it's figured out who plays who, the first two rounds are strictly a divisional playoff format, although, for example, the Kings could play in the Central division playoff bracket, depending on how the wild card teams shake out.

It's a hybrid of the divisional and conference playoff structures, and it should be both weird and interesting.

 

[KingsFanInRI]

-Top 3 in each division are guaranteed a playoff spot.
-The two best remaining records, regardless of division, are wild card teams
-The wild card team with the worst record plays the division winner with the best record(I believe regardless of division), and the other wild card team would play the other division winner.
-The 2nd and 3rd place teams play each other in each division
-Once it's figured out who plays who, the first two rounds are strictly a divisional playoff format, although, for example, the Kings could play in the Central division playoff bracket, depending on how the wild card teams shake out.

It's a hybrid of the divisional and conference playoff structures, and it should be both weird and interesting.

Are they also going to re-seed once the Conference Finals come around? i.e. will it be possible to see an LA/Chi or Boston/Montreal final?

 

[KopitarFAN]

Are they also going to re-seed once the Conference Finals come around? i.e. will it be possible to see an LA/Chi or Boston/Montreal final?

No re-seeding, at least that's what they said last night.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Are they also going to re-seed once the Conference Finals come around? i.e. will it be possible to see an LA/Chi or Boston/Montreal final?

Nope. The Final is still East/West. That's why Detroit and Columbus eventually went to the East, since the league didn't go with 4 independent conferences.

Boston/Montreal wouldn't have been a possibility anyway. Unless they were in different groups, which wouldn't happen. Or, unless the league went with a 1-16 type playoff format, and that's pretty much impossible today.

 

[MynameisKing]

That would be an interesting playoff format to experiment with. First round a divisional playoff, second round conference re-seed, and then a best 4 team re-seed for the Stanley Cup Finals. So we can potentailly get Bos/Mon, Mon/Tor, Pit/Philly, Kings/Ducks, Kings/Sharks cup finals!