The Los Angeles Kings look bad

[quacktastic93]

What's up with Quick? Seems like a shadow of his former self.

Do you know many times that guy has been injured

 

[kingsholygrail]

Do you know many times that guy has been injured

3. Four if you want to count his busted hand after the 2012 cup. He's had two major injuries, both groin on each leg(which was inevitable given his style of play). But he's not hurt all the time. Not sure how he's getting a rep for that.

 

[Little Psycho]

3. Four if you want to count his busted hand after the 2012 cup. He's had two major injuries, both groin on each leg(which was inevitable given his style of play). But he's not hurt all the time. Not sure how he's getting a rep for that.

He probably confusing him with his own team's goalie

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

No one asked or expected a 35 year old Kovalchuk to carry a team with names like Kopitar, Doughty, Carter, Quick, etc. He was simply to be a complimentary player. And yet he’s far exceeded expectations.

To pin any of the Kings current woes on Kovalchuk is just a huge tip off that you haven’t actually watched any Kings games.

theres no etc at all, the kings are a 4 player team, 5 with kovy now. Old, slow and very thin after those 5.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

theres no etc at all, the kings are a 4 player team, 5 with kovy now. Old, slow and very thin after those 5.

I’m not arguing whether or not the Kings are a deep team. They’re not. I’m arguing whether or not Kovalchuk is considered “the guy” and should therefore be blamed for their poor start.

Try to keep up.

 

[SettlementRichie10]

The NHl has changed. This is not a playoff roster. It's not very talented.

The Kings are supremely talented. But most of that talent started expiring circa 2015.

Kopitar is 31
Carter is 33
Quick 32
Brown 33
Kovalchuk 35

Doughty is the only one still in his prime at 28.

This is an old team.

And the NHL has not changed. The 2012-2014 Kings would wipe the floor with those soyboys in Toronto.

 

[neXis]

Their special teams suck compared to last season. Coaching could be an issue, but how much? Not sure. But Stevens as only been coaching for one full season, so Kings fans want a new one after they just fired Sutter? Who is gonna replace Stevens?

I wouldn't count them out yet, it is the Pacific, and LA has never been a dominant/flashy in the regular season, they never gotten anything over 105 points or 48 wins, so they will probably finish 3rd or 4th in their division IF they can get things going.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Help is on the way Kings fans, the Buffalo Sabres are in town! You might remember them from performances like this.

 

[Tofveve]

The curse of Sutter. We're still suffering what is it, a decade later?

 

[CashMash]

They also went and paid a 4th liner Kovalchuk a good chunk of money, that guy is a clown nowaydays. And rest of the Kings team is just too slow, NHL is so fast paced now.

Kovalchuk was always a clown. A talented clown, but a clown nevertheless...

I always remember his stupid rages and him getting heated. Very amusing. Not to mention walking out during the opposing team's anthem. No respect for the guy.

 

[King'sPawn]

I noticed Iafallo in the LAK-TOR game, looks good. Kovalchuk has come back and done better than I had thought. I know you guys are missing Brown as well and he had a good bounce back year last season.

I'll take your word on Campbell, I think we caught him on a bad night.

I liked Kempe's hustle but looking at his stats, he isn't getting the results for his hard work.

Phaneuf looks awful.

I feel like the Kings have gotten caught in that classic trap of trying to keep the band together that won a cup but the reality is the window is definitely closed and if possible, try to sell off assets at the deadline if at all possible.

Again, I don't disagree with any of what you said.

And yeah, Campbell had a bad night, but you have a lot of talented players which tend to make goalies look bad

And yes, that has been the biggest critique of Lombardi and Blake. So many of the cup winners from years ago have been kept together. Lombardi had even said at one point no team has kept everyone together to win it again, almost as if it's a bad thing... so he kept doubling down on reacquiring players to push the team over the edge and trying to outsmart everyone.

I'm not particularly mad at Blake for doing the same thing to start. Since the Kings had quickly gotten worse with Sutter after a few years, they got rid of Sutter and brought in a coach the players wanted (Stevens). Since the players wanted him, I think it's fair to have an evaluation year to see how the players responded.

Kopitar had a Hart worthy year, Doughty had a Norris caliber year. Quick had a great year. Several other players either had career years or their performance metrics went up. And this was all last year. But the Kings, as always, struggle to score and got outpaced by Vegas.

All that being said, the team lacks an identity again. They are struggling to score but not playing posession hockey or even playing good defense. Players are lifeless and are showing uncharacteristic on-ice behavior and unconfident off-ice attitude.

Stevens has employed very questionable tactics, such as putting Kovalchuk on screen duty against the Sharks, because they were trying to "confuse" them. Kopitar and Doughty are being rode with defensive assignments and expected to continue sustaining the offense.

The drafting and development haven't been great for many years either, but that's another novel.

The Kings need an overhaul to their identity. They need all but their goaltending coaches (Ranford and Imoo) to be re-evaluated as far as infrastructure. Many of the veteran players should also be moved with a goal of getting younger.

 

[These Are The Days]

I'm a tad bit more optimistic. They have a solid foundation. Make a few trades and find the right philosophy and I think anything is possible for them.

And fire Stevens already? Holy shit it's been like a year. For a team with this many supposed problems 98 points last year isn't bad. What's up?

 

[LeafFever]

I'm a tad bit more optimistic. They have a solid foundation. Make a few trades and find the right philosophy and I think anything is possible for them.

And fire Stevens already? Holy **** it's been like a year. For a team with this many supposed problems 98 points last year isn't bad. What's up?

Where? There's no depth and they're the slowest oldest NHL team and few prospects.

 

[Paperbagofglory]

Help is on the way Kings fans, the Buffalo Sabres are in town! You might remember them from performances like this.

Those have to be photoshopped?

 

[These Are The Days]

Where? There's no depth and they're the slowest oldest NHL team and few prospects.

Since when does that make or break the whole thing? They were slow as hell when they won championships too. That's why I said retool and figure out how to win with it.

Worst case scenario is that they blow it up and say "We had a good run didn't we?"

 

[These Are The Days]

Those have to be photoshopped?

If they were dressed like Oilers would it have been more believable?

 

[LeafFever]

Since when does that make or break the whole thing? They were slow as hell when they won championships too. That's why I said retool and figure out how to win with it.

Worst case scenario is that they blow it up and say "We had a good run didn't we?"

Not 2012 anymore.

 

[These Are The Days]

Not 2012 anymore.

I hate to say it but great defense whether it's played slowly or not will continue to win championships. But I digress. My biggest shock was the Kings fans advocating that Stevens be fired already

 

[LeafFever]

I hate to say it but great defense whether it's played slowly or not will continue to win championships. But I digress. My biggest shock was the Kings fans advocating that Stevens be fired already

Except the past 3 years...

 

[These Are The Days]

Except the past 3 years...

Sweet God did you not watch the Captials play trap hockey like it was 1998 or what? The Lightning and Knights got Chinese finger trapped the whole series

 

[LeafFever]

Sweet God did you not watch the Captials play trap hockey like it was 1998 or what?

No I did not see that at all. Their D is not that good and they won because their best players finally played their best come playoff time. They won a cup because their disappointing playoff centre put up the most playoff points of anyone since 2009.
To say they won because of D is just wrong.

 

[These Are The Days]

No I did not see that at all. Their D is not that good and they won because their best players finally played their best come playoff time. They won a cup because their disappointing playoff centre put up the most playoff points of anyone since 2009.
To say they won because of D is just wrong.

Lol alright we're done here.

 

[LeafFever]

Lol alright we're done here.

Kuznetsov turning into a superstar from a playoff zero got them a cup. Most points any player had since 2009.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Those have to be photoshopped?

no!

 

[These Are The Days]

Kuznetsov turning into a superstar from a playoff zero got them a cup. Most points any player had since 2009.

No dude Kuznetsov was not the only reason just a part of it. It's that I wouldn't expect a Leaf fan to know what defense is.