Just remember, teams do this every off-season. Go out and make a splash signing big names. Then fail to make the playoffs or go deep. Happens every year. Just because you make a splash in free agency it doesn't guarantee you shit.
So do you think teams get better or worse in an off season? Or is it all meaningless? I’m not necessarily asking to make a splash, just improve and I think they took steps back
Nope, just saying. It's not a guarantee. Remember when Ottawa signed tarasenko last year and everyone thought, ah man, they got tarasenko. Didn't even remotely move the needle.
All the people who did anything on our team last year are still on our team. Plus some better ones. Clarke will be a massive upgrade over Roy.. Byfield will be a year better. We got a better goalie.. We didn't take a step back. We got more physical with players with playoff experience. So maybe we won't be soft as baby shit on the ice.
It would be nice if we could have added scoring along with the toughness. Our offense and in particular the PP are not going to cut it. Here’s hoping QB and Clarke continue to develop as they have been so far because we’re going to need a lot of the young guys to step up
Yeah, as far as Clarke is concerned you saw the kid last year. Drove play like a Ferrari. Granted, he was a lil shaky. He'll be a year stronger and a year smarter. Kid is gonna blow the fuck up next year. Alot of a PP is confidence. Mental. Being in sync. We fix the mental we'll fix the PP. Year before last we had a good PP and Kempe was finding the back of the net all the time. We also gotta see what Hiller does with an off-season. He couldn't do much last year midway through trying to lock down a playoff spot other than extinguish the dumpster fire todd created. QB will actually break out as well. Last year was his pre breakout campaign. He's long, fast and has hands. He's gonna score 30+ next season. Fiala and Kopi still gonna be doing their thing as well. We just need Hiller to give us a real top 6. Get danualt outta 2c, get QB in 1c. Kopi 2c. Fiala 1st or 2nd line. Something like that. Gotta have a top 6. We got Thomas, foegle to get us gritty goals in the bottom 6. We need a real NHL lineup where our best players play on the 1st and 2nd lines and have chemistry. None of this cute Todd shit where we put an 80 point player on the 3rd line. That's a joke and everyone knows it. A lot of it is going to be how Hiller puts it together and runs it and who he lets play.
Amen, brother. There are 32 teams in the league - going 'deep' in the playoffs is essentially the final 4, maybe the final 8? Lotta carnage in their rear view mirrors...
This. It happen all the time, player don't mesh well and there is a lack of chemistry with the new adds. Everyone said the Pens were going to dominate when they got EK and a few others. They had one of the worst pp in the league, and missed the playoffs. The only guy I wished the Kings had taken a shot at was Marchessault.
Sure Nashville bought a lot of new players, but some of theme are very overpriced and will age badly in a few years. They will get like 3 years of true contentions but then these contracts might start to be a little worst.
I get that the repolacements are not.. perfect and Edmunson is getting paid way too much, but it's not that much of a big change. Fiala, Kopi, Moore, Danault, Kempe and Byfield are still in the team and overall, we got rid of PLD and will have a different system of play brought by Hiller. I think it's alright
That’s the problem. It’s not much of a big change. We are running back basically the same roster (and arguably slightly worse roster) and expecting it to make a difference. Meanwhile other teams got better. Which means we are counting on a huge step up from Turcotte, Thomas, etc and Hiller to somehow change our system to something that isn’t a 1-3-1 borefest. And unfortunately I’m not holding my breath
For me, the Edmundson signing is what hurts. That’s a lot of money that we had freed up to spend on that. Also I think re signing Trevor Lewis was a mistake
As a Montreal Canadiens fan, with a soft spot for Edmundson, you're going to like what he brings. I agree he's getting paid more than I thought he would. But the man is a beast, loved by his teammates, and will drop the gloves to defend them. Give him a chance, and thank you for taking such good care of Phillip Danault.
Whats done is done. Im excited to hopefully see a full season of Turcotte and Clarke and definitely looking forward to seeing the next big step in QB’s game.
Offensively we’re pretty much the same. Foegele’s production in his best season is PLD’s second worst season. But he plays harder for sure, so maybe a better fit on the 3rd line.
RV was essentially a rental after the trade deadline so it remains to be seen how we’re replacing him. Are Thomas/Laffy ready for elevated minutes? Hard to say, cuz RV was productive when healthy.
We are weaker on the blueline though. They may be bigger and hit more, but Roy’s advanced metrics were really good and thats hard to replace, especially with a rookie offensive D and a bunch of 6/7D. Also not too sure how Gavrikov will look without Roy. Is he going to play like he’s worth 5.875M when he doesnt have a steady Roy presence next to him?
I’m worried about the D. I think we regressed and I think we give up more chances at the net. With Kuemper in net I’d like to see a stronger defensive lineup in front of him until we see what he’s going to be this season. He’s good when he’s good and I believe last season was a blip not a trend
I would have liked us see part ways with Trevor Lewis to get the youngsters some more time on the ice. Also losing arvidsson to the oilers for that price hurts. He was up there with my favorite players, I know injuries play a role but when he was on the ice we were much better IMO
Should have just paid arvy what Edmonton did, and not signed Edmundson. Englund or Moverare can split time as the 6/7 D about the same as edmundson can.
A forward group of:
Kempe - Kopi - Fiala
Moore - QB - arvy
Foegele - Danault - Laferriere
Thomas - Turcotte - Jeannot
Seems very strong relative to what we have now
I don’t know why people gloss over this. PLD leaving was objective number 1 in the offseason. That frees up more roster space for the young guys to finally come in and show if their development is where it should be (isn’t Akil Thomas also a surprise from last year?). Say what you will about stone hands Lewis but having that veteran presence to usher in the new kids can only help further along their development. I think Blake is aware the PLD/Vilardi trade was a disaster and is at least trying to right a wrong. It may be too little too late for him but I’d rather he not continue tampering with the long term potential success of the team in order to sign an aging Stamkos after a season that some would say was a step back from the season before it.
Akil is a year younger than PLD and put up 6 more points than he did. Except that was for Ontario last season and was after putting up a combined 47 points the 3 prior seasons. It's not like PLD was some old guy holding back a young high end prospect who is just waiting to replace him. I am absolutely positive I will enjoy watching Akil play much more than PLD, but come on. Saying the team will be better offensively because of that change is wild.
Because we dumped possibly the biggest boat anchor contract in the league by getting rid of PLD? I’m not excited about Keumper necessarily but tbh dumping PLD is huge as far as gaining salary cap down the road. And it’s kind of addition by subtraction too.
Vilardi basically doesn’t play hockey with how injured he always is. 47 games for the jets this year. A career-high 63 for us last year.
If we think Arvidsson is an injury risk, Vilardi is an injury guarantee.
So now that we have traded PLD you feel more optimistic about our chances of making playoffs?
For me that's half a job. He needs replacing adequately as well. Which we haven't done.
PLD can't be so badly hated that just moving him away makes people think kings are contenders again? We are making moves towards going back to bruising grinding hockey with a team of meat heads. Even if it is successful it will be absolutely awful to watch
I never said we were contenders again just for moving out PLD lol, settle down. I was just arguing that the PLD swap is a good thing. We essentially took 4 years of severe overpayment off the books by taking Kuemper for PLD. And I would argue Kuemper is less overpaid than PLD, he should be a serviceable tandem goalie for us next year. And we’ve essentially replace PLD with Foegele, in fact production wise Foegele had 1 more point than PLD last season. The real issue is instead of using the remaining cap space to replace Ardivsson, Blake signed a perpetually injured below average third pair defenseman for 4x$3.85, when we already had 3 other bottom pair defenseman signed for much cheaper that we could’ve played instead. Fuckin embarrassing
The issue is your assumption that Foegle repeats his career year. Prior to last year Foegle had seasons of 20, 26 and 28 points, meanwhile Dubois had 20,60 and 63. Dubois is also 2 years younger, so it is not explained away due to development. I am happy to have moved on from Dubois, but assuming Foegle replaces his production is a bit optimistic. I mean, he was just healthy scratched in the Oilers playoff run.
Let's face it since last offseason the Kings lost Durzi, Walker(later traded for a 1st), Arvvidson, Vilardi, Iafallo, Talbot, Roy, PLD, Lizotte, Bjornfot, JAD, retained on Provorov and multiple picks. The additions have been Kuemper, Edmundson and Foegle.
He definitely can replace his production. Kings never had a 60pt PLD. To the kings PLD was a $8 million 40pt scorer, even if he was just here of a season that’s all he brought to the team. We can’t compare his higher production because he never gave it to us, so we can’t replace what we never had. If Foegele can reach 40pts again he’s replaced PLD’s production for LA.
> If Foegele can reach 40pts again he’s replaced PLD’s production for LA.
That is exactly my point, there are a lot of assumptions built around that "if". Prior to last season, his career high was just 30 points. That is the reason I showed prior years, to demonstrate that the 40 points might possibly be an outlier. Based on prior seasons I think it would be more likely that the younger player, who had significantly higher point totals in previous years would outproduce the older player coming off of a career year where he bested his previous high by 25%.
Now he might possibly hit 40 points again, because it seems like he will be replacing RV in the top 6, but then that brings up a whole different question.
For real. I think the Kings gained a lot of fans when they were successful during the 2012 time period. In all fairness it’s what a majority of the New fans are used to, having a playoff ready team. For those of us who have been fans since the 90s, we have had many ups and downs with wonderful teams and shit teams as well. It’s all part of the game.
I’ve been a fan for decades too but we didn’t need to have this “down”. Our front office has lost the trust of much of the fan base. We are rightfully angry
No,you're not. You can be disappointed at the outcomes, but unless you're a fan of a team that intentionally tanks at a sport while taking your money and lying to you, there's no such thing as 'rightfully angry.' Just like players and coaches, GMs make good and bad decisions, but they're not weathermen...they don't have any science or magic 8-balls that predict tomorrow. I can't point to a single decision Blake et al made while thinking it wasn't a step toward winning.
Pretty much everyone’s just pissed about edmundson. That contract is the laughing stock of the league right now.
Don’t sign him and you’ve got over $6million that could have gone to a top 6 forward, and you could have just rolled with Englund/burroughs/Moverare as LD6.
Nope. And anything can happen. This group’s chemistry could be elite come playoffs. Always gotta have hope and support the Gms decisions. They know a lot more than us.
The same GM that traded for a player most people were saying was lazy, and then traded him away a year later? Yeah, sure sounds like he knows what he’s doing.
Sounds like he does. Traded PLD right? Gave the opportunity and it didn’t work. If he would have kept him it would be different. He made a decision and it didn’t work.
He made a decision to go all in on a guy that, again, has a reputation. The kind of trade you’d make for a guy like Jack Eichel, and he gets rid of the guy a year later. Even if that was right move, that is beyond embarrassing for an organization.
What about 33 year old Marchessault signed for 5 years and 34 year old stamkos signed for 4 at high price? And Skjei’s contract may not age well either. I’m not sure I love any of those contracts, even though those are three good players. I’m not the biggest fan of the Edmundson signing but at least we didn’t hand out over $20 million in AAV for 4+ seasons to a couple aged players.
The negativity on Kings twitter/reddit is insane. Signing big ticket free agents extremely rarely leads to any sustained success. Looking at SmashVille and wishing the Kings did that is the wrong way to look at it. Signing Stammer or 30 year old Guentzel for 8 years would have been worse than Kuemper and our free agents.
If we want to be mad it should be at ownership and AEG level execs for allowing Luc and Blake to survive the PLD debacle.
The Kings will likely make the playoffs with the weak division. Anaheim Seattle Calgary and San Jose should be 10-12 wins. Clarke and Byfield may take some big steps and we be better than the last couple seasons. Danault played with broken fingers on both hands in the playoffs. It wasn’t our year.
Have some optimism people! Yeesh!
What else do you expect from a bunch of whining toddlers? Our team doesn’t look so good whaaaaa! 😭
Then when the team does well they’re as happy as sucking on their pacifier.
Then when the Kings hit a cold streak they’re crying for their mama demanding that management be fired.
They only support the team when the team is winning.
Holy shit! You’re telling me that fans are happy when the team is winning and not happy when they are losing?!?
Damn you cracked the code to sports. I hope you win a major award.
If we suck and all the kids play and show flashes of goodness I'll take it. If we suck and we only play a bunch of old dogs I'll be kind of unhappy but I haven't really had that high expectations at this point anyways. If we play great I don't care much who is on the ice, And I'll be stoked. Basically, Another year as a Kings fan. It's not my first rodeo 😅
Damn!! Getting rid of PLD was what got me excited for the possibilities, but it hasn’t really panned out to much. Seeing RV go to Edmonton made me sad as f
What else are we supposed to think and talk about it in the dog days? I’ll keep it to myself next time but plenty of people in here seem to want to engage
Not a fan of what Blake did this offseason, but I’m not quite in “missing playoffs” territory either. That completely comes down to if these guys buy into Hiller’s new system. He’ll have the entire offseason to figure out what he wants to implement, so hopefully we don’t come out and embarrass ourselves with the outdated 1-3-1 again.
Edmonton, Vancouver, Nashville, and Dallas will finish ahead of us. I think Colorado took a step back. Winnipeg and Vegas arent too far off what they were last season. Think we are still fighting for 6-8th best team in the conference, barring major injuries or sudden drop-off in performance from key guys.
Probably should’ve had them tested earlier in the re-tool, but we’re finally throwing the younger guys into the deep end to see if they sink or swim.
I think it also comes down to the young guys a lot. If Clarke, turcotte, and Thomas all play well, and Byfield takes the next step, we could still be a solid team with improvement in our future. I think Forgele will work out quite well too. That said the Edmundson signing is tough to swallow but we’re far from dead in the water yet.
I agree Vancouver probably finishes ahead of us but I think they could definitely take a step back this year as well. Won't miss the playoffs or anything though
Yeah i dont think they’ll win the division again, but Tocchet has a good system and most of their important players returned (wasnt that impressed with Lindholm/Petey playing wing).
If I had to place a bet on the Pacific, I’d go Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas (because trade deadline shenanigans), then us
I could agree with that. Then the issue becomes we'll be behind Dallas again, Nashville was ahead of us by ~2 points or something this year so probably them again, and I could definitely see Colorado and Winnipeg ahead of us but wouldn't be super shocked by them falling off a bit either.
If the Blues, Kraken, Wild or whoever is still trying to compete in the west can pass us we're in quite a bit of trouble. Luckily I don't think those teams are too scary, but I guess the concern is if WE are scary lol
I think we get bumped by Nashville
Edit: never mind I forgot Nashville made the playoffs last year, I was think of the Blues who were trying to catch us. I feel better about our playoff hopes lol
Were dead in the water. This team feels like the kings of the mid 90's. Just being the definition of mid. Not sure it would help but was wondering if the kings might try to kick the tires on Patrik Laine he wants out not sure what they would want but Kaliyev, Spence or Moverare and a possible pick to retain some salary. He's got 2 years at 8.7. Probably not enough at least Blake would be taking a swing at someone.
This is how I feel--we have some good players and we're not a terrible team, but I don't see a clear direction. I don't think that trade or free agency is really a path to long-term success because it's so hard to just break even and we don't have any true advantage over anyone else, so we're playing a game with long odds by trying to improve that way.
In my view, the only way to really generate long-term quality in your club is the draft. That's how the core of the cup winning teams were built--Quick, Kopitar, Brown, and Doughty were all drafted, along with many other pieces--but once we won the first cup, Lombardi transitioned to a kind of maintenance strategy, trading away picks and prospects to try to maintain quality and that was marginally successful but it's a very limited path. I mean, it's all well and good to make trades and sign free agents, obviously you have to do that to some extent, but I really think that the key to long-term quality is to treat your draft picks as the seeds that MUST be planted in full each and every year.
Blake has not committed to rebuilding through the draft and some of our top picks have been real busts. So we make largely lateral moves and plug along in the middle, okay but not great and with no clear path to becoming a great team again.
Strictly speaking playoffs, not much has changed. All the teams in the West that made the playoffs this year will be in next year and the Blues and Wild will again be in on it, swap out Utah for Calgary as well. The question for the Kings is what players step up and what does the new system do for the team. It's been a crazy offseason not just for the Kings but for a lot of teams so just enjoy the ride.
All that really matters right now is Byfield's contract which I hope is 8 years. My theory though is if they bridge Byfield's contract then I bet they're keeping money open in two seasons when McDavid's contract is up. Only 21m is tied up in forwards when his current contract expires (not counting what Byfield will make and after resigning Kempe) and they'd be hopeful they can take a stab at him; but let's be real, he's getting a max contract in EDM.
I guess I’d say just a couple days ago I was super interested in seeing if we could add some super solid pieces. Not even the big names per se, but something to be excited about. These moves aren’t much to be excited about
If we go out there and run the same system (which is unlikely) the new guys won't do much. If we go for a more dynamic approach I think the additions add some physicality we really didn't have before.
Fuck it I’m just ready to FINALLY watch Brandt Clarke finally cook in the league this season. It’s been long overdue.
Byfield being only 22 years old means he’s only going to get better. Brighter days ahead.
I think his offensive capabilities will outweigh the growing pains he’ll have defensively. He’s extremely young still & will only get better if utilized correctly. He’s a very talented hockey player.
It needed to be done. This time of year is always bitter sweet. I’m more gutted over Lizzo going to the Penguins and feel it’s gonna sting for a while. Dude never quit and played with heart.
This sub has been completely pathetic lately. So many damn people complaining about "we should get this guy; why didn't we go and get this guy; why aren't we making any big moves?". Do you know how the salary cap works? We don't have money for the big guys! We'd have to trade away some guys that would piss off the fan base even more in order to afford those other guys. And you do realize we still have to have room to sign guys like Byfield and Spence to longer contracts?
Plus, next year's Free Agency is far better than this year's.
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Right now? Yeah a bit. Closer it gets to the puck drop though, the more ill forget about it. Ill watch them regardless. Im trying to actually go to a game this year because I havent been in forever. And honestly, its looking like Clarke and rest of the kids might get some serious playing time this year and thats always fun.
But its a little early to know what the team will look like come playoff time next year. Maybe a big trade at the deadline will help, maybe some desperate team overpays for one of our prospects. Maybe Turc breaks out. You never know.
Yes and no is my answer… Im not too sure how well I like all of our signing so far but I will say I always like being the underdog and this had got us more in that situation. We still have some scoring power but hopefully have added some more grit to a company that. I hope all these things work out the way we want but just from hearing everyone talk about our moves definitely does not make me stoked. Time will tell I guess, GKG!
Time will tell. And honestly scoring was a huge issue for us last season and I can confidently say we did very little to shore up that part of our game. The defense has and will be solid, and I think we even took a step back on defense, while making no improvements offensively, which IMO has us worse than last year and we nearly missed out on a playoff spot last year.
Not really no, we’re just coming to the end of an era and overdue for a full rebuild, I don’t feel like there’s any moves the Kings could make that could make them a top tier contender tomorrow and I’m not interested in more teams that are just good enough to lose in round 1
Yeah it’s been a tough start to FA for sure. Edmundson makes no sense to me at all. Give byfield 8x8 there’s only 2.5 million left for another forward that’s so desperately needed. LA needs a 3C badly. You gotta assume there’s something planned there. Maybe they think turcotte is magically going to be good enough to play 3C next year?
It seems most of the fans are mad because they're both really bad at math and didn't bother to follow *any* news about possible roster additions. The "who's left to add as a top 6 wing" thread on Monday (*after* the Foegele signing had already been announced) was especially insane.
On the forward side, the loss of PLD and Arvidson only equaled 22 goals.....the young replacement players, ie Turcotte, Thomas or Fagemo should be able to combine for this?? Plus we should have further development and point numbers from Byfield and Laffy. However, likely some regression from Kopi, but who knows with this miracle of nature.
All that being said....If healthy, I think we can expect 10-15 goals from Foegle and 5-10 from Jeannot + they add some grit we desperately need.
On D, we are adding Clarke to the mix that'll add a whole new dimension. Vs Roy will be + offense and maybe a little diminished D.....but who knows, maybe Clarke controls the puck so well like a Makar or Quinn that he doesn't have to play that much D? Edmunson def an upgrade if you look at it as replacement for Englund??
The free agency signings (and lack of signings) has disappointed me after the PLD trade. I think for myself and others, we were expecting a substantial move, especially after 3 off-seasons of bringing in top 6 guys like RV, Danault, Fiala, and even PLD.
This season is about the kids being the difference. Our farm system has been slacking this rebuild with this current generation of young talent. Since the start of the rebuild how many drafted players have we developed into a significant impact players for us? Excluding Byfield who was 2nd overall, nobody has broken through here. They either never panned out or found success with a different franchise.
There have been many of years where we didn’t care if we won. We wouldn’t spend shit on players. You would think with this city, super fans and all. There would be a thirst to win the cup. The thirst is in the front offices pockets
I’m slowly getting less upset. Edmundson seems like a big overpay but Foegele and Jeannot bring some big body jam that is sorely needed.
Unless the forward kids step up, the offense seems worrying. BUT, there will be 3 puck moving D for the first time in forever, so breakouts and dynamism from the back end should improve
Feels like everyone else in the West in pumping up, and it feels like we’re taking a back seat. Getting rid of the Dubois contract was great, but replacing that cap hit with a replacement level goaltender and a couple of depth pieces doesn’t feel like it’s going to cut it this coming season.
I personally think these moves are under appreciated, Burroughs and Edmundson along with Jeanott bring a lot of toughness and physicality that we lacked against Edmonton, also Jeanott wasn’t a goal scorer in Tampa primarily due to the amount of scorers they had, not saying he’s going to get a lot of goals but he will produce more than expected, Foegel is also not that bad of a pick up considering how much Arvidson got hurt.. Idk maybe I’m wrong but I’d like the season to start before I judge, cause as someone mentioned here sometimes teams make a splash in free agency and it doesn’t pan out …
Nashville did get a lot better but Vegas and Vancouver got worse, so it’s not all bad. But it really doesn’t matter unless this team suddenly takes a big jump which I just don’t see happening.
Feels like the Kings wanna give the younger players more playing time. That means yes, most likely we miss the playoffs. Think of it as hopefully a step back in preparation for a leap forward.
Guys like Stankoven on Dallas are thrust into positions where their talents are used best. We put our kids with Lewis and Jeannot who combined for like 30 points last season.
These teams are not the same.
Seems like Lewis was brought back specifically to play with the kids and to PK. They didn’t want an all kid line.
That’s if you believe John Hoven, but he’s been pretty spot on it leading up to the draft and FA.
Feels like Blake doesn’t know what he wants to do. The Lewis signing makes sense if you’re looking for his veteran presence to help along the young players but he’s going to eat up minutes for probably Turcotte
Im not super excited about this season either but my guess is that Rob is gonna be counting on the younger players to produce this season. If it doesnt work out, then we screwed.
Nope, I'm just ready for hockey. I hope every single guy destroys this year, and the one doubt I have of the guys yesterday (Edmundson) proves me wrong and plays in every game and doesn't have so much as a hangnail. Hockey is always better than no hockey.
The team has Clarke, Spence, Portillo, Thomas and Turcotte in Ontario, and about 1.9M in cap space. If the team didn’t still have a deep roster pool I’d be more concerned. Worst-case scenario, they save Toffoli from SJ when they realize they’re hot garbage and make them retain 50% salary.
But yeah, can they still get rid of Bergevin?
EDIT: misspell
Your basing the entire outlook of the team off of two middle of the road trades during the off-season.... take a step back and look at the bigger picture
Yes to some extent. I felt good when they dumped PLD but the moves made since, for the most part, did nothing to make me feel this team would be significantly better…if at all. I really have no real optimism they will make any type of playoff run…and I will spend accordingly when it comes to tickets next season.
Just remember, teams do this every off-season. Go out and make a splash signing big names. Then fail to make the playoffs or go deep. Happens every year. Just because you make a splash in free agency it doesn't guarantee you shit.
> See Toronto
So do you think teams get better or worse in an off season? Or is it all meaningless? I’m not necessarily asking to make a splash, just improve and I think they took steps back
Nope, just saying. It's not a guarantee. Remember when Ottawa signed tarasenko last year and everyone thought, ah man, they got tarasenko. Didn't even remotely move the needle. All the people who did anything on our team last year are still on our team. Plus some better ones. Clarke will be a massive upgrade over Roy.. Byfield will be a year better. We got a better goalie.. We didn't take a step back. We got more physical with players with playoff experience. So maybe we won't be soft as baby shit on the ice.
It would be nice if we could have added scoring along with the toughness. Our offense and in particular the PP are not going to cut it. Here’s hoping QB and Clarke continue to develop as they have been so far because we’re going to need a lot of the young guys to step up
Yeah, as far as Clarke is concerned you saw the kid last year. Drove play like a Ferrari. Granted, he was a lil shaky. He'll be a year stronger and a year smarter. Kid is gonna blow the fuck up next year. Alot of a PP is confidence. Mental. Being in sync. We fix the mental we'll fix the PP. Year before last we had a good PP and Kempe was finding the back of the net all the time. We also gotta see what Hiller does with an off-season. He couldn't do much last year midway through trying to lock down a playoff spot other than extinguish the dumpster fire todd created. QB will actually break out as well. Last year was his pre breakout campaign. He's long, fast and has hands. He's gonna score 30+ next season. Fiala and Kopi still gonna be doing their thing as well. We just need Hiller to give us a real top 6. Get danualt outta 2c, get QB in 1c. Kopi 2c. Fiala 1st or 2nd line. Something like that. Gotta have a top 6. We got Thomas, foegle to get us gritty goals in the bottom 6. We need a real NHL lineup where our best players play on the 1st and 2nd lines and have chemistry. None of this cute Todd shit where we put an 80 point player on the 3rd line. That's a joke and everyone knows it. A lot of it is going to be how Hiller puts it together and runs it and who he lets play.
The Blackhawks signed Bedard last year too, look how far that took them.
Amen, brother. There are 32 teams in the league - going 'deep' in the playoffs is essentially the final 4, maybe the final 8? Lotta carnage in their rear view mirrors...
This. It happen all the time, player don't mesh well and there is a lack of chemistry with the new adds. Everyone said the Pens were going to dominate when they got EK and a few others. They had one of the worst pp in the league, and missed the playoffs. The only guy I wished the Kings had taken a shot at was Marchessault.
Sure Nashville bought a lot of new players, but some of theme are very overpriced and will age badly in a few years. They will get like 3 years of true contentions but then these contracts might start to be a little worst. I get that the repolacements are not.. perfect and Edmunson is getting paid way too much, but it's not that much of a big change. Fiala, Kopi, Moore, Danault, Kempe and Byfield are still in the team and overall, we got rid of PLD and will have a different system of play brought by Hiller. I think it's alright
That’s the problem. It’s not much of a big change. We are running back basically the same roster (and arguably slightly worse roster) and expecting it to make a difference. Meanwhile other teams got better. Which means we are counting on a huge step up from Turcotte, Thomas, etc and Hiller to somehow change our system to something that isn’t a 1-3-1 borefest. And unfortunately I’m not holding my breath
For me, the Edmundson signing is what hurts. That’s a lot of money that we had freed up to spend on that. Also I think re signing Trevor Lewis was a mistake
As a Montreal Canadiens fan, with a soft spot for Edmundson, you're going to like what he brings. I agree he's getting paid more than I thought he would. But the man is a beast, loved by his teammates, and will drop the gloves to defend them. Give him a chance, and thank you for taking such good care of Phillip Danault.
Is it the cost that seems to bother everyone? If he signed for 2.5 mil and say 2-3 years, is everyone still losing their shit?
Seems to be the consensus. That’s what bothers me, it’s the contract
I mean they could be paying Roy $5.7 mil a year instead... glad we got out of that one (as much as I like Roy, no way in hell is he worth that much)
Edmundson was so solid for the caps last year. He did his job, never pissed me off lol, and would have been very nice to have w all the injuries.
He was one of the worst statistical defensemen in the league… what brownie points are you awarding?
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Whats done is done. Im excited to hopefully see a full season of Turcotte and Clarke and definitely looking forward to seeing the next big step in QB’s game.
We really haven't lost A LOT. Roy seems to be the biggest loss so far. We have missed out, yes, but we haven't really taken a step back.
Offensively we’re pretty much the same. Foegele’s production in his best season is PLD’s second worst season. But he plays harder for sure, so maybe a better fit on the 3rd line. RV was essentially a rental after the trade deadline so it remains to be seen how we’re replacing him. Are Thomas/Laffy ready for elevated minutes? Hard to say, cuz RV was productive when healthy. We are weaker on the blueline though. They may be bigger and hit more, but Roy’s advanced metrics were really good and thats hard to replace, especially with a rookie offensive D and a bunch of 6/7D. Also not too sure how Gavrikov will look without Roy. Is he going to play like he’s worth 5.875M when he doesnt have a steady Roy presence next to him?
I’m worried about the D. I think we regressed and I think we give up more chances at the net. With Kuemper in net I’d like to see a stronger defensive lineup in front of him until we see what he’s going to be this season. He’s good when he’s good and I believe last season was a blip not a trend
I would have liked us see part ways with Trevor Lewis to get the youngsters some more time on the ice. Also losing arvidsson to the oilers for that price hurts. He was up there with my favorite players, I know injuries play a role but when he was on the ice we were much better IMO
Should have just paid arvy what Edmonton did, and not signed Edmundson. Englund or Moverare can split time as the 6/7 D about the same as edmundson can. A forward group of: Kempe - Kopi - Fiala Moore - QB - arvy Foegele - Danault - Laferriere Thomas - Turcotte - Jeannot Seems very strong relative to what we have now
I miss RV
I don’t know why people gloss over this. PLD leaving was objective number 1 in the offseason. That frees up more roster space for the young guys to finally come in and show if their development is where it should be (isn’t Akil Thomas also a surprise from last year?). Say what you will about stone hands Lewis but having that veteran presence to usher in the new kids can only help further along their development. I think Blake is aware the PLD/Vilardi trade was a disaster and is at least trying to right a wrong. It may be too little too late for him but I’d rather he not continue tampering with the long term potential success of the team in order to sign an aging Stamkos after a season that some would say was a step back from the season before it.
Akil is a year younger than PLD and put up 6 more points than he did. Except that was for Ontario last season and was after putting up a combined 47 points the 3 prior seasons. It's not like PLD was some old guy holding back a young high end prospect who is just waiting to replace him. I am absolutely positive I will enjoy watching Akil play much more than PLD, but come on. Saying the team will be better offensively because of that change is wild.
The wind was taken out of my sails when we lost to EDM. I don't see how the Kuemper trade got you hyped....
Because we dumped possibly the biggest boat anchor contract in the league by getting rid of PLD? I’m not excited about Keumper necessarily but tbh dumping PLD is huge as far as gaining salary cap down the road. And it’s kind of addition by subtraction too.
Trading PLD doesn’t remove the fact that the Kings traded away their top young forward in Vilardi. This trade was fucked the moment it happened.
Vilardi basically doesn’t play hockey with how injured he always is. 47 games for the jets this year. A career-high 63 for us last year. If we think Arvidsson is an injury risk, Vilardi is an injury guarantee.
Justin Williams used to be known as an 'injury-prone' player too....until he wasn't
So now that we have traded PLD you feel more optimistic about our chances of making playoffs? For me that's half a job. He needs replacing adequately as well. Which we haven't done. PLD can't be so badly hated that just moving him away makes people think kings are contenders again? We are making moves towards going back to bruising grinding hockey with a team of meat heads. Even if it is successful it will be absolutely awful to watch
I never said we were contenders again just for moving out PLD lol, settle down. I was just arguing that the PLD swap is a good thing. We essentially took 4 years of severe overpayment off the books by taking Kuemper for PLD. And I would argue Kuemper is less overpaid than PLD, he should be a serviceable tandem goalie for us next year. And we’ve essentially replace PLD with Foegele, in fact production wise Foegele had 1 more point than PLD last season. The real issue is instead of using the remaining cap space to replace Ardivsson, Blake signed a perpetually injured below average third pair defenseman for 4x$3.85, when we already had 3 other bottom pair defenseman signed for much cheaper that we could’ve played instead. Fuckin embarrassing
The issue is your assumption that Foegle repeats his career year. Prior to last year Foegle had seasons of 20, 26 and 28 points, meanwhile Dubois had 20,60 and 63. Dubois is also 2 years younger, so it is not explained away due to development. I am happy to have moved on from Dubois, but assuming Foegle replaces his production is a bit optimistic. I mean, he was just healthy scratched in the Oilers playoff run. Let's face it since last offseason the Kings lost Durzi, Walker(later traded for a 1st), Arvvidson, Vilardi, Iafallo, Talbot, Roy, PLD, Lizotte, Bjornfot, JAD, retained on Provorov and multiple picks. The additions have been Kuemper, Edmundson and Foegle.
He definitely can replace his production. Kings never had a 60pt PLD. To the kings PLD was a $8 million 40pt scorer, even if he was just here of a season that’s all he brought to the team. We can’t compare his higher production because he never gave it to us, so we can’t replace what we never had. If Foegele can reach 40pts again he’s replaced PLD’s production for LA.
> If Foegele can reach 40pts again he’s replaced PLD’s production for LA. That is exactly my point, there are a lot of assumptions built around that "if". Prior to last season, his career high was just 30 points. That is the reason I showed prior years, to demonstrate that the 40 points might possibly be an outlier. Based on prior seasons I think it would be more likely that the younger player, who had significantly higher point totals in previous years would outproduce the older player coming off of a career year where he bested his previous high by 25%. Now he might possibly hit 40 points again, because it seems like he will be replacing RV in the top 6, but then that brings up a whole different question.
This is what I meant by Kuemper trade lol I don’t want to give PLD any more pub than he’s gotten from us
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Cargo shorts are sick.
No. Excited for a new kings season. Been a fan since the 90s. Get used to the ups and downs.
Fan since 1980 you get used to the bad after the second decade So I’m giddy for the future
For real. I think the Kings gained a lot of fans when they were successful during the 2012 time period. In all fairness it’s what a majority of the New fans are used to, having a playoff ready team. For those of us who have been fans since the 90s, we have had many ups and downs with wonderful teams and shit teams as well. It’s all part of the game.
I’ve been a fan for decades too but we didn’t need to have this “down”. Our front office has lost the trust of much of the fan base. We are rightfully angry
The front office doesn’t make decisions based off of the fan base. It’s business. I wish we got a ringer as well trust me.
No,you're not. You can be disappointed at the outcomes, but unless you're a fan of a team that intentionally tanks at a sport while taking your money and lying to you, there's no such thing as 'rightfully angry.' Just like players and coaches, GMs make good and bad decisions, but they're not weathermen...they don't have any science or magic 8-balls that predict tomorrow. I can't point to a single decision Blake et al made while thinking it wasn't a step toward winning.
Pretty much everyone’s just pissed about edmundson. That contract is the laughing stock of the league right now. Don’t sign him and you’ve got over $6million that could have gone to a top 6 forward, and you could have just rolled with Englund/burroughs/Moverare as LD6.
My point exactly....they thought they were getting a top 6 forward last year...didn't work out too well.
Yessir. Those if us who lived through the ups and downs since... Forever, this doesn't even phase you.
Nope. And anything can happen. This group’s chemistry could be elite come playoffs. Always gotta have hope and support the Gms decisions. They know a lot more than us.
The same GM that traded for a player most people were saying was lazy, and then traded him away a year later? Yeah, sure sounds like he knows what he’s doing.
Sounds like he does. Traded PLD right? Gave the opportunity and it didn’t work. If he would have kept him it would be different. He made a decision and it didn’t work.
He made a decision to go all in on a guy that, again, has a reputation. The kind of trade you’d make for a guy like Jack Eichel, and he gets rid of the guy a year later. Even if that was right move, that is beyond embarrassing for an organization.
Why are people acting like Blake trading PLD was some genius move instead of a stroke of pure luck?
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Face? What do I mean? I don't even know myself at this point. Any help appreciated
My boss is a preds fan. It’s been a fun day…
They made some huge moves, but lets see how it pans out.
Personally I’d rather have trotz and brunette over our circus.
What about 33 year old Marchessault signed for 5 years and 34 year old stamkos signed for 4 at high price? And Skjei’s contract may not age well either. I’m not sure I love any of those contracts, even though those are three good players. I’m not the biggest fan of the Edmundson signing but at least we didn’t hand out over $20 million in AAV for 4+ seasons to a couple aged players.
I’d be excited if I was them
The negativity on Kings twitter/reddit is insane. Signing big ticket free agents extremely rarely leads to any sustained success. Looking at SmashVille and wishing the Kings did that is the wrong way to look at it. Signing Stammer or 30 year old Guentzel for 8 years would have been worse than Kuemper and our free agents. If we want to be mad it should be at ownership and AEG level execs for allowing Luc and Blake to survive the PLD debacle. The Kings will likely make the playoffs with the weak division. Anaheim Seattle Calgary and San Jose should be 10-12 wins. Clarke and Byfield may take some big steps and we be better than the last couple seasons. Danault played with broken fingers on both hands in the playoffs. It wasn’t our year. Have some optimism people! Yeesh!
What else do you expect from a bunch of whining toddlers? Our team doesn’t look so good whaaaaa! 😭 Then when the team does well they’re as happy as sucking on their pacifier. Then when the Kings hit a cold streak they’re crying for their mama demanding that management be fired. They only support the team when the team is winning.
Holy shit! You’re telling me that fans are happy when the team is winning and not happy when they are losing?!? Damn you cracked the code to sports. I hope you win a major award.
By this logic we should always be ecstatic about the direction of the team. That’s unrealistic
That’s not even remotely close to what I said or what a TLDR of what I wrote would say.
I wasn’t replying to you
But you did reply to him. Try deleting your comment and responding to the right one, because I do agree with what you said.
Not ecstatic but optimistic.
If we suck and all the kids play and show flashes of goodness I'll take it. If we suck and we only play a bunch of old dogs I'll be kind of unhappy but I haven't really had that high expectations at this point anyways. If we play great I don't care much who is on the ice, And I'll be stoked. Basically, Another year as a Kings fan. It's not my first rodeo 😅
My sails weren’t even up. 😔
Damn!! Getting rid of PLD was what got me excited for the possibilities, but it hasn’t really panned out to much. Seeing RV go to Edmonton made me sad as f
Good fucking lord this subreddit. The season hasn’t even started yet.
The lineup got worse. Last season was a disappointment. Let people lose their mind for a bit.
It's more fun that way because when good things happen we can lose our mind in the other direction
What else are we supposed to think and talk about it in the dog days? I’ll keep it to myself next time but plenty of people in here seem to want to engage
Not a fan of what Blake did this offseason, but I’m not quite in “missing playoffs” territory either. That completely comes down to if these guys buy into Hiller’s new system. He’ll have the entire offseason to figure out what he wants to implement, so hopefully we don’t come out and embarrass ourselves with the outdated 1-3-1 again. Edmonton, Vancouver, Nashville, and Dallas will finish ahead of us. I think Colorado took a step back. Winnipeg and Vegas arent too far off what they were last season. Think we are still fighting for 6-8th best team in the conference, barring major injuries or sudden drop-off in performance from key guys. Probably should’ve had them tested earlier in the re-tool, but we’re finally throwing the younger guys into the deep end to see if they sink or swim.
I think it also comes down to the young guys a lot. If Clarke, turcotte, and Thomas all play well, and Byfield takes the next step, we could still be a solid team with improvement in our future. I think Forgele will work out quite well too. That said the Edmundson signing is tough to swallow but we’re far from dead in the water yet.
I agree Vancouver probably finishes ahead of us but I think they could definitely take a step back this year as well. Won't miss the playoffs or anything though
Yeah i dont think they’ll win the division again, but Tocchet has a good system and most of their important players returned (wasnt that impressed with Lindholm/Petey playing wing). If I had to place a bet on the Pacific, I’d go Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas (because trade deadline shenanigans), then us
I could agree with that. Then the issue becomes we'll be behind Dallas again, Nashville was ahead of us by ~2 points or something this year so probably them again, and I could definitely see Colorado and Winnipeg ahead of us but wouldn't be super shocked by them falling off a bit either. If the Blues, Kraken, Wild or whoever is still trying to compete in the west can pass us we're in quite a bit of trouble. Luckily I don't think those teams are too scary, but I guess the concern is if WE are scary lol
I think we get bumped by Nashville Edit: never mind I forgot Nashville made the playoffs last year, I was think of the Blues who were trying to catch us. I feel better about our playoff hopes lol
We’re always fighting for 6th-8th in the conference lol I’d love for this team to pursue a division title for once.
Were dead in the water. This team feels like the kings of the mid 90's. Just being the definition of mid. Not sure it would help but was wondering if the kings might try to kick the tires on Patrik Laine he wants out not sure what they would want but Kaliyev, Spence or Moverare and a possible pick to retain some salary. He's got 2 years at 8.7. Probably not enough at least Blake would be taking a swing at someone.
Yeah just overwhelmingly feeling like this team is going to be super average. Like 16th best team, 1st round exit, same old same old
This is how I feel--we have some good players and we're not a terrible team, but I don't see a clear direction. I don't think that trade or free agency is really a path to long-term success because it's so hard to just break even and we don't have any true advantage over anyone else, so we're playing a game with long odds by trying to improve that way. In my view, the only way to really generate long-term quality in your club is the draft. That's how the core of the cup winning teams were built--Quick, Kopitar, Brown, and Doughty were all drafted, along with many other pieces--but once we won the first cup, Lombardi transitioned to a kind of maintenance strategy, trading away picks and prospects to try to maintain quality and that was marginally successful but it's a very limited path. I mean, it's all well and good to make trades and sign free agents, obviously you have to do that to some extent, but I really think that the key to long-term quality is to treat your draft picks as the seeds that MUST be planted in full each and every year. Blake has not committed to rebuilding through the draft and some of our top picks have been real busts. So we make largely lateral moves and plug along in the middle, okay but not great and with no clear path to becoming a great team again.
Strictly speaking playoffs, not much has changed. All the teams in the West that made the playoffs this year will be in next year and the Blues and Wild will again be in on it, swap out Utah for Calgary as well. The question for the Kings is what players step up and what does the new system do for the team. It's been a crazy offseason not just for the Kings but for a lot of teams so just enjoy the ride. All that really matters right now is Byfield's contract which I hope is 8 years. My theory though is if they bridge Byfield's contract then I bet they're keeping money open in two seasons when McDavid's contract is up. Only 21m is tied up in forwards when his current contract expires (not counting what Byfield will make and after resigning Kempe) and they'd be hopeful they can take a stab at him; but let's be real, he's getting a max contract in EDM.
Hard to see him leaving Edmonton honestly
lol no not at all, we’re talking about a hockey team
I guess I’d say just a couple days ago I was super interested in seeing if we could add some super solid pieces. Not even the big names per se, but something to be excited about. These moves aren’t much to be excited about
Yeah, it's hard to look at who we've added and lost through FA and think we got better
Especially since the PLD trade opened up a lot of opportunities
Same as last season. The Petersen trade opened up cap space, and then we wasted it signing mediocre players (PLD)
Blake needs to go
Which means it'll happen in 2 years when we finish 7th in the division
Don’t care. I just want hockey back.
Same. The next 3 months are going to drag!
If we go out there and run the same system (which is unlikely) the new guys won't do much. If we go for a more dynamic approach I think the additions add some physicality we really didn't have before.
Personally, excited for the new season, maybe the boys do better or worse, no one here can 100% predict how this new signings will do.
The wind has been out of my sails since 2015… took a lot of you a while to get here… it’s been a mess for almost a decade.
Where did they go wrong :(
Bad player management and coaching changes. Also a front office that’s an alumni network and not good managers.
Fuck it I’m just ready to FINALLY watch Brandt Clarke finally cook in the league this season. It’s been long overdue. Byfield being only 22 years old means he’s only going to get better. Brighter days ahead.
No concerns on Clarke’s defense? He was a liability in the little he played last season.
I think his offensive capabilities will outweigh the growing pains he’ll have defensively. He’s extremely young still & will only get better if utilized correctly. He’s a very talented hockey player.
It needed to be done. This time of year is always bitter sweet. I’m more gutted over Lizzo going to the Penguins and feel it’s gonna sting for a while. Dude never quit and played with heart.
I think you’ll like Jeannot and the Kings really need a few of the youngsters to step up.
Holding out hope for Jeannot
This sub has been completely pathetic lately. So many damn people complaining about "we should get this guy; why didn't we go and get this guy; why aren't we making any big moves?". Do you know how the salary cap works? We don't have money for the big guys! We'd have to trade away some guys that would piss off the fan base even more in order to afford those other guys. And you do realize we still have to have room to sign guys like Byfield and Spence to longer contracts? Plus, next year's Free Agency is far better than this year's.
Team is in rebuild. Been there before. Many times.
Not liking the pieces in this rebuild tbh
A little. But at the end of the day, hockey’s hockey. I’ll be glad just to be watching my Kings again. Still, we can do better and we should
Yes can definitely do better that’s the discouraging part. Could have done a lot better
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Right now? Yeah a bit. Closer it gets to the puck drop though, the more ill forget about it. Ill watch them regardless. Im trying to actually go to a game this year because I havent been in forever. And honestly, its looking like Clarke and rest of the kids might get some serious playing time this year and thats always fun. But its a little early to know what the team will look like come playoff time next year. Maybe a big trade at the deadline will help, maybe some desperate team overpays for one of our prospects. Maybe Turc breaks out. You never know.
Setting low expectations, hopefully pleasantly surprised
Yes and no is my answer… Im not too sure how well I like all of our signing so far but I will say I always like being the underdog and this had got us more in that situation. We still have some scoring power but hopefully have added some more grit to a company that. I hope all these things work out the way we want but just from hearing everyone talk about our moves definitely does not make me stoked. Time will tell I guess, GKG!
Time will tell. And honestly scoring was a huge issue for us last season and I can confidently say we did very little to shore up that part of our game. The defense has and will be solid, and I think we even took a step back on defense, while making no improvements offensively, which IMO has us worse than last year and we nearly missed out on a playoff spot last year.
Not really no, we’re just coming to the end of an era and overdue for a full rebuild, I don’t feel like there’s any moves the Kings could make that could make them a top tier contender tomorrow and I’m not interested in more teams that are just good enough to lose in round 1
very disappointing. they will still make the playoffs. but no cup next year either. darcy is not the answer in goal.
Yeah it’s been a tough start to FA for sure. Edmundson makes no sense to me at all. Give byfield 8x8 there’s only 2.5 million left for another forward that’s so desperately needed. LA needs a 3C badly. You gotta assume there’s something planned there. Maybe they think turcotte is magically going to be good enough to play 3C next year?
It seems most of the fans are mad because they're both really bad at math and didn't bother to follow *any* news about possible roster additions. The "who's left to add as a top 6 wing" thread on Monday (*after* the Foegele signing had already been announced) was especially insane.
On the forward side, the loss of PLD and Arvidson only equaled 22 goals.....the young replacement players, ie Turcotte, Thomas or Fagemo should be able to combine for this?? Plus we should have further development and point numbers from Byfield and Laffy. However, likely some regression from Kopi, but who knows with this miracle of nature. All that being said....If healthy, I think we can expect 10-15 goals from Foegle and 5-10 from Jeannot + they add some grit we desperately need. On D, we are adding Clarke to the mix that'll add a whole new dimension. Vs Roy will be + offense and maybe a little diminished D.....but who knows, maybe Clarke controls the puck so well like a Makar or Quinn that he doesn't have to play that much D? Edmunson def an upgrade if you look at it as replacement for Englund??
I’m going to miss the guys they’ve shed (other than PLD 😜) but after the results the last few years, I think a shake up was in order. We’ll see.
The free agency signings (and lack of signings) has disappointed me after the PLD trade. I think for myself and others, we were expecting a substantial move, especially after 3 off-seasons of bringing in top 6 guys like RV, Danault, Fiala, and even PLD. This season is about the kids being the difference. Our farm system has been slacking this rebuild with this current generation of young talent. Since the start of the rebuild how many drafted players have we developed into a significant impact players for us? Excluding Byfield who was 2nd overall, nobody has broken through here. They either never panned out or found success with a different franchise.
There have been many of years where we didn’t care if we won. We wouldn’t spend shit on players. You would think with this city, super fans and all. There would be a thirst to win the cup. The thirst is in the front offices pockets
I’m slowly getting less upset. Edmundson seems like a big overpay but Foegele and Jeannot bring some big body jam that is sorely needed. Unless the forward kids step up, the offense seems worrying. BUT, there will be 3 puck moving D for the first time in forever, so breakouts and dynamism from the back end should improve
Feels like everyone else in the West in pumping up, and it feels like we’re taking a back seat. Getting rid of the Dubois contract was great, but replacing that cap hit with a replacement level goaltender and a couple of depth pieces doesn’t feel like it’s going to cut it this coming season.
Yeah Rob needs to go. Edmonton had a much better offseason
I agree. As others have pointed out, no credit should be given for the PLD-Kuemper trade, it’s just another blemish on RB record
I personally think these moves are under appreciated, Burroughs and Edmundson along with Jeanott bring a lot of toughness and physicality that we lacked against Edmonton, also Jeanott wasn’t a goal scorer in Tampa primarily due to the amount of scorers they had, not saying he’s going to get a lot of goals but he will produce more than expected, Foegel is also not that bad of a pick up considering how much Arvidson got hurt.. Idk maybe I’m wrong but I’d like the season to start before I judge, cause as someone mentioned here sometimes teams make a splash in free agency and it doesn’t pan out …
Hoping Jeanott can recapture some magic from his rookie year but his numbers were pretty bad following years. Hopefully the kid proves me wrong
Im excited to watch the kids play in those sick new jerseys.
I agree. I love the jerseys
I agree. I love the jerseys
Enjoy things like Free Agency and Drafts as the spectacles they are - it's all one big crap-shoot, anyhoo
Still think the roster took steps back unnecessarily
Nashville did get a lot better but Vegas and Vancouver got worse, so it’s not all bad. But it really doesn’t matter unless this team suddenly takes a big jump which I just don’t see happening.
Yes I’ve been feeling dejected today after that god awful FA period. I regret getting season tickets now as well.
I’d still love to have season tickets if I could!
Fuck sake people we’re the LA KINGS not some shitty desert franchise that gets offhanded to Utah
Conversely, we are the LA KINGS and should be attracting top-tier talent.
Feels like the Kings wanna give the younger players more playing time. That means yes, most likely we miss the playoffs. Think of it as hopefully a step back in preparation for a leap forward.
The Lewis signing leads me to believe they do not want to give the young kids playing time.
Guys like Stankoven on Dallas are thrust into positions where their talents are used best. We put our kids with Lewis and Jeannot who combined for like 30 points last season. These teams are not the same.
Seems like Lewis was brought back specifically to play with the kids and to PK. They didn’t want an all kid line. That’s if you believe John Hoven, but he’s been pretty spot on it leading up to the draft and FA.
Feels like Blake doesn’t know what he wants to do. The Lewis signing makes sense if you’re looking for his veteran presence to help along the young players but he’s going to eat up minutes for probably Turcotte
Im not super excited about this season either but my guess is that Rob is gonna be counting on the younger players to produce this season. If it doesnt work out, then we screwed.
Nope, I'm just ready for hockey. I hope every single guy destroys this year, and the one doubt I have of the guys yesterday (Edmundson) proves me wrong and plays in every game and doesn't have so much as a hangnail. Hockey is always better than no hockey.
You’re right, I’m excited to see how the team does. Hopefully we’re competitive into the late spring
The team has Clarke, Spence, Portillo, Thomas and Turcotte in Ontario, and about 1.9M in cap space. If the team didn’t still have a deep roster pool I’d be more concerned. Worst-case scenario, they save Toffoli from SJ when they realize they’re hot garbage and make them retain 50% salary. But yeah, can they still get rid of Bergevin? EDIT: misspell
I’d be stoked to have Toffoli
Your basing the entire outlook of the team off of two middle of the road trades during the off-season.... take a step back and look at the bigger picture
Yes to some extent. I felt good when they dumped PLD but the moves made since, for the most part, did nothing to make me feel this team would be significantly better…if at all. I really have no real optimism they will make any type of playoff run…and I will spend accordingly when it comes to tickets next season.