Lombardi did REALLY, REALLY bad long-term damage. You can win cups without doing what he did. The decision to not take a free buyout on Richards may have been the most bizarre decision I have ever seen.
The Los Angeles Kings look bad
- Thread starter Uncle Scrooge
- Start date
Little Psycho
I solemnly swear I'm up to no good
When your star Dman says for the first time in his hockey career he's worried about failing if they don't score on the powerplayer is concerning. Stevens is making a lot questionable choices and he needs to be removed first before the Kings start trading away complacent players.
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Sacha Baron Corbin
Registered User
- Jan 19, 2011
- 12,544
- 481
They need a full-blown rebuild at this point from the top down. The hirings of Luc, Blake, and Steven's basically confirmed the organization is a country club now, and those results show on the ice. Outside of a few guys everyone just looks content to be where they are at, no fire or intensity anymore.
LAKings88
First round fodder
I believe in Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick still.
Kovalchuk has been good honestly. He does tend to make risky plays but they often pay off.
LA has offensive players but they are streaky and top heavy. Always have been. They have had to be a defensive first team imho just due to personnel.
The last four years have been mediocre and underachieving for what they have proven they can do.
The two times they made the playoffs in those years they couldn’t beat the teams that made it to the finals. Teams that rolled four lines.
The PP hasn’t been deadly or consistent for sometime now. Tough for a team that has streaky scoring. Kopitar has carried the offense in LA for most of his career.
I think Stevens isn’t a good head coach. I think he made Blake’s transition easier last year but the Kings need a hard ass, problem is those coaches have short shelf lives.
The pipeline has Vilardi (big health guestion) and Kupari and not much else. I think with the parity in the league, LA will need to figure out an identity soon if they don’t want to be picking in the lottery. Hell, maybe they should be this year. Lose for Hughes.
Kovalchuk has been good honestly. He does tend to make risky plays but they often pay off.
LA has offensive players but they are streaky and top heavy. Always have been. They have had to be a defensive first team imho just due to personnel.
The last four years have been mediocre and underachieving for what they have proven they can do.
The two times they made the playoffs in those years they couldn’t beat the teams that made it to the finals. Teams that rolled four lines.
The PP hasn’t been deadly or consistent for sometime now. Tough for a team that has streaky scoring. Kopitar has carried the offense in LA for most of his career.
I think Stevens isn’t a good head coach. I think he made Blake’s transition easier last year but the Kings need a hard ass, problem is those coaches have short shelf lives.
The pipeline has Vilardi (big health guestion) and Kupari and not much else. I think with the parity in the league, LA will need to figure out an identity soon if they don’t want to be picking in the lottery. Hell, maybe they should be this year. Lose for Hughes.
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Their depth and defense corps are mediocre, but have been for several years and they still managed to almost win their division a few seasons ago and then had a torrid start to last season. They can play better than this. The reason that they're not is the coaching.
Stevens sacrificed the one thing that they were good at--team defense--to try to get more goals that haven't come, so, now, the team is bad at scoring and bad at defending. Nashville, when they wanted to move on from Trotz' defensive system, hired Laviolette, a coach known for employing a fast-paced offensive system. LA, when it wanted to move on from Sutter's defensive system, promoted the guy who managed the team's defense for 6 years under Sutter. It wasn't hard to guess that it would fail. When you want offense, you hire someone who knows offense, not someone who knows defense and then cross your fingers that sacrificing the thing that he knows will produce the thing that he doesn't.
The team has no identity anymore (unless being bad at everything is an identity) and nearly every player is underperforming. They may be old and slow, but they're getting chances, like all of the 2-on-1s last night. They're just either not getting shots (how they had so many 2-on-1s last night and failed to even register a shot, I don't know) or their shots are so bad that they don't beat even Garrett Sparks (who allowed 6 to CHI in his only other game this season). It looks like no one on the team has any confidence. It's natural for a few players, at any one time, to be slumping and low on confidence, but, when it's nearly the whole team, you have a coaching problem.
Kempe is not good. His goal a few nights ago was his first since last January or so (yes, he was healthy last season and played the final 30-some games without scoring) and he's taken 6 minor penalties in 7 games so far, and at least half of those were in the offensive zone. He might become good in a year or two, but he's still a project and ought to be scratched tomorrow because of how undisciplined he was last night.
Stevens sacrificed the one thing that they were good at--team defense--to try to get more goals that haven't come, so, now, the team is bad at scoring and bad at defending. Nashville, when they wanted to move on from Trotz' defensive system, hired Laviolette, a coach known for employing a fast-paced offensive system. LA, when it wanted to move on from Sutter's defensive system, promoted the guy who managed the team's defense for 6 years under Sutter. It wasn't hard to guess that it would fail. When you want offense, you hire someone who knows offense, not someone who knows defense and then cross your fingers that sacrificing the thing that he knows will produce the thing that he doesn't.
The team has no identity anymore (unless being bad at everything is an identity) and nearly every player is underperforming. They may be old and slow, but they're getting chances, like all of the 2-on-1s last night. They're just either not getting shots (how they had so many 2-on-1s last night and failed to even register a shot, I don't know) or their shots are so bad that they don't beat even Garrett Sparks (who allowed 6 to CHI in his only other game this season). It looks like no one on the team has any confidence. It's natural for a few players, at any one time, to be slumping and low on confidence, but, when it's nearly the whole team, you have a coaching problem.
Kempe is not good. His goal a few nights ago was his first since last January or so (yes, he was healthy last season and played the final 30-some games without scoring) and he's taken 6 minor penalties in 7 games so far, and at least half of those were in the offensive zone. He might become good in a year or two, but he's still a project and ought to be scratched tomorrow because of how undisciplined he was last night.
DudeWhereIsMakar
Bergevin sent me an offer sheet
eviohh26
Registered User
RickyHP
Registered User
Satire
Registered User
- Nov 20, 2016
- 2,974
- 3,829
Need to shake up coaching.
They're still a good team to be honest. Problem is they don't really have new guys coming in that are capable of maintaining the consistency of quality in their roster. You have a core of aging players who are great and then... nothing really. Aging players don't tend to get better.
They are a good team - but not a great one. And with their current model they certainly won't be improving any time soon.
That being said - I wouldn't be shocked to see them make the playoffs.
They're still a good team to be honest. Problem is they don't really have new guys coming in that are capable of maintaining the consistency of quality in their roster. You have a core of aging players who are great and then... nothing really. Aging players don't tend to get better.
They are a good team - but not a great one. And with their current model they certainly won't be improving any time soon.
That being said - I wouldn't be shocked to see them make the playoffs.
POVERTY
Leafs and Marchand fan
- Sep 27, 2017
- 1,482
- 4,339
It’s just you.
Raccoon Jesus
Todd McLellan is an inside agent
It's just you.
It would be a shambles. Thank you for acknowledging that. For far too long people have suggested Drew is just a passenger or cog in the system but they don't often realize how bad the Kings are until he has a bad game or he's off the ice.
If the Kings were to enter a FULL rebuild, they'd HAVE to trade Doughty and Kopitar, because those guys alone (and Quick) can will the team to the bubble.
GirardSpinorama
Registered User
- Aug 20, 2004
- 21,270
- 10,049
Toronto knows all about winning cups in the modern era. DL gave Mike the benefit of a doubt that off season but gravely underestimated the trouble he was getting in with drug abuse and his deteriorating body. What really derailed the Kings was Voynov.
Agent Zub
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2015
- 14,544
- 11,802
They are going to be bad with or without Doughty soon.
Jeff Carter and Anxa Kopitar have been two of the most underrated players in the league but they will both be hitting their mid 30s soon.
A decline by either is going to be hard to fill.
BHD
Vejmelka for Vezina
That's saying something.
EDIT: I remember Stevens being on the Pens' radar before they hired Johnston (hah).
That's probably a skill that could keep him as a PP specialist/4th liner late into his career.
KingsHockey24
Registered User
- Aug 1, 2013
- 14,213
- 12,627
Pearson, Amadio, Toffoli, Lewis, Thompson, Carter, and Kempe have all sucked really badly.
Basically a majority of our players.
Basically a majority of our players.
winnipegger
Registered User
- Dec 17, 2013
- 8,278
- 6,752
They are looking like the Red Wings from 2010 - now. Not a lot of star power under the age of 25 after a period of winning a lot.
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