It was funny to read the comments, the tweets, the complaints, and the message boards around the new year and approaching the trade deadline.
The Kings, apparently, needed a defenseman. McNabb was allegedly not a very good defenseman, the Kings were going to regret not having a true No. 3/4, and they NEEDED a defenseman.
At the deadline the Kings acquired Rob Scuderi and Luke Schenn, opted to roll with Jamie McBain instead of Derek Forbort or Kevin Gravel, and the rest is history. Depth certainly did come back to hurt the Kings in their playoff series against the Sharks, but it honestly had nothing to do with the defense they had established, and that had helped them achieve one of the best records in the NHL through the first half of the season.
For as much as the average fan wanted to point out their disdain for Brayden McNabb playing 17-18 minutes a night with Drew Doughty, that was not the problem.
Brayden McNabb was fine, the Kings were (for the most part) fine, and they ultimately may have tinkered too much with what was working. Hindsight is 20/20 of course.
What this is about is what can we expect moving forward from their defensive corps. As you all know there are some roster openings, and a lot of new guys trying to crack it. Where does this defense go now? What does it look like next season?
Let's recall if you will the defense that got the Kings to near the top of the league around the middle of last season.
As much as people hated the idea of McNabb, Ehrhoff, and McBain/Forbort, it was a defense with proper balance in style. Every pair had their puck mover and their safety valve. Every pair had their aggressor, and their more reserved recover defenseman (At least when Forbort was with Ehrhoff). Regardless of that bottom pair, if you stick with that top 4 the Kings had for most of an NHL season, you are going to have a wild amount of success. Those are four, very talented, stable, and intelligent defensemen. They all bring something a little bit different to the table, they all play the game well within the Kings scheme, and they are good statistical players.
The Kings really only have one job going into the season on the back end, and that is find out who the heck is going to be on the bottom pair. Last year they somehow made it work with extremely limited options, and a McBain/Forbort/Ehrhoff cocktail. That really says a lot about the quality of the Kings structure and their core defensemen. This season the team has a pretty big variety to choose from for once.
Derek Forbort will again be in the mix, a year older, a year wiser, and perhaps a year more comfortable with the pro game. Old standby Rob Scuderi will also be available, as he has one more year left on his contract before it expires. The Kings dove in on Tom Gilbert for one year to give them a little bit of added depth and (*Cringe*, cliche incoming) veteran presence. Kevin Gravel is expected to make a push for a roster spot this year after an outstanding year with Ontario and a cup of coffee with the Kings. Zach Trotman also enters the fold as a fairly low cost, low risk, right-shooting 5-7 defenseman. And finally, Matt Greene should presumably be around, albeit in a strange position having cleared waivers earlier this offseason.
For guys like MacDermid or LoVerde, this is likely not the year they find an open spot. While the absence of Jeff Schultz and Kevin Raine with Ontario may open up a spot for a defensive vet to go down, ala Scuderi, Greene, or Gilbert, the depth chart at the NHL level is loaded to the gills with guys who should be on an NHL roster.
Simply put, the Kings have a lot of options and three slots to fill. The 5-6-7 spots.
Kevin Gravel, Rob Scuderi and Derek Forbort make up the left handed group, while Trotman and Gilbert make up the right. Matt Greene is also a right handed defenseman if anyone is keeping track. Six defensemen, three spots.
If we are taking a purely upside, statistical evaluation approach to things, the choices are clear. Gilbert, Scuderi, and Greene should all be out, with Forbort, Gravel, and Trotman filling out the roster.
Done, done, everyone go home.
This preserves a right-left balance on your bottom tandem, however it keeps Zach Trotman in the lineup almost exclusively as the only right hander. The Kings would run into the same problem if they kept one lefty though, so choose carefully. Trotman has the best mixture of experience and youth to play the bottom pair role. While his corsi and fenwick were all on the sub side of 50% last year, his relatives were not all THAT bad, and his career numbers are still quite positive.
He has also proven to be a decent shot blocker, with a slight bit of puck moving upside. He played around 17-18 minutes last season, so is not unfamiliar with a fair bit of NHL ice time. All in all he has a skillset suited for a decent bottom pair guy, if that's what you expect of him.
The rotation of youth comes from Forbort and Gravel, and you can test both to see who is ready to really take over as a full time NHLer. On the other hand, even though it is a left-left pairing, Gravel and Forbort played together in Ontario for a good part of the year on the same pair and would not be unfamiliar with each other if they played together at some point during the year.
All good right?
Well, we know hockey does not work in a strictly statistical world, nor do coaches and GMs think in such a way. Otherwise there would have been no reason to get veteran Tom Gilbert.
I wish I could tell you the exact reason the Kings inked Gilbert to a one-year deal, but I can not. He is coming off a season ending knee injury that required surgery, posted his worst ever statistical season, and oh yeah, he is 33-years old (And will be 34 in January).
This is as puzzling a signing as it gets, but Gilbert does add another card to the right handed deck. He is experienced, has been around, and plays a more defensive role these days. He is calm and collected, and has the experience to go with the attitude. Coaches love that stuff. Gilbert is a stab in the dark, albeit a slightly expensive one, in terms of defensive minded right-handed depth. Look at it this way as a hypothetical: If the Kings were not entirely impressed with Trotman out of camp, they would have only had Matt Greene to fall back on without Gilbert. So Gilbert seemed a natural low-risk filler.
Does he have what it takes to steal a 6-7 spot from one of these younger players though? Who knows. Maybe the Kings run Gravel in the minors for most of the season and play Forbort, Trotman and Gilbert in order to give Forbort a REAL full time shot as the only LD option on the bottom pair. However, any combo of Gilbert/Forbort/Trotman would limit the Kings puck moving, unless the young Forbort can amp up his game in that regard.
Alright.
Now we get to Scuderi.
We have been critical of Rob Scuderi on the blog. If Rob is a reader (Doubtful), or if anyone here is a big fan of Rob Scuderi, know that our criticism of him has little to do with Scuderi, the man. Because that is where he has shone throughout his career. His cool, calm presence is something that has been a noted plus in the locker room. He has been there. He has blocked shots with his face, sacrificed, again, his face at the hands of Steve Bernier, and pretty much put it all on the line to win. He is respected, he is a great locker room guy, and has maybe one of the coolest nicknames in hockey, "The Piece".
Problem is that Scuderi has just not been very good over the last few years. He has not been good at some very key things, like retaining the puck while on the ice, excelling with high-stress minutes, or providing much of a production boon to his team.
Scuderi's usefulness unfortunately lies more off the ice than on it, and a competitive team cannot allow a roster spot to someone like that. Do the Kings fancy themselves a contender? Or do they fancy themselves a team in need of a defensive mentor for their young players? This is not to say the Kings do not carry eight defensemen and keep Scuderi around as a teacher of sorts, but he may be better served in the minors this year, putting his outstanding knowledge to use with the Kings young generation of defensemen.
Next year the Ontario Reign will feature a slew of incoming blueline talent. This includes a healthy Alex Lintuniemi, Erik Cernak, Paul LaDue, and possibly Damir Sharipzyanov. Schultz played the role of team mentor last season in the locker room of Ontario, and the players had nothing but good things and rave reviews to give when he made way to rival San Diego/Anaheim. Scuderi can do the same and be invaluable yet again to the Kings.
The Kings have ANOTHER option to play that role, and that's alternate captain Matt Greene. Greene has had the toughest of roads in his post-30 years, dealing with massive injuries that have sidelined him for almost the entirety of two full seasons. When you think Matt Greene, you think rugged, tough, warrior, the guy who blocked a shot with his forehead and poured blood all over the ice. Does he have a place? Should he get a chance to prove he does? By all means he should. His last full season in 2013-14 showed hardly anything worth keeping full time on an NHL roster though. He is, at most right now, a fringe, replacement level defenseman who can give you darn good penalty kill work. He is a bit on the slow side, and everyone is likely worried about his back and how that impacts his punishing physical game. Even though he was waived and unclaimed, he still could be in the mix, but his shot seems very limited given the transgressions of this offseason.
There is a likely mix of old and new the Kings use to put together their bottom pair. Hopefully, that is. One of Gilbert, Greene, or Scuderi likely makes the NHL roster, with a compliment of younger players stepping in. Gravel is still waiver exempt for next season, whereas Trotman and Forbort are not. Does that unfortunately put Gravel in the minors to start the year? We have seen that in the past with players, but with a "New way" of thinking, perhaps the Kings do go full youth. What then happens to Greene, Gilbert, and Scuderi? Could the Kings run eight defenseman without an extra forward next year? They have in the past, but that would leave roster exclusions to their forward group, including one or more of Dowd, Andreoff, Nolan, Clifford, and Mersch.
There are almost too many options for the Kings right now, which is never a bad thing, but it can lead to decisions you may regret later. Who do you think should stick with the NHL roster on the Kings bottom pair?
What three defensemen should stay up to start the year? (Pick Three)
Stats provided by Corsica, Hockey Reference, and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com
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