I disagree with this, as well as the insinuation that the "new" NHL doesn't allow for hard and heavy teams.

The problem is that the Kings no longer have the correct personnel to play the hard and heavy game like they did in 2012 & 2014. They've done a half-ass buy-in of the "lets get faster" craze that's going on, and in turn have sacrificed their identity as a grinding, punishing, possession team. Dustin Brown doesn't hit people anymore, hard hitting defensemen like Matt Greene and Robyn Regehr have been replaced by non-physical but positionally sound defensemen like Paul LaDue and Derek Forbort. Heavier grinding players in the bottom six like Dwight King (230), Jordan Nolan (220), and even Jarret Stoll (215) are being replaced by players like Shore (200), Dowd (195), Setoguchi (205), and Purcell (195).

The core of the Kings doesn't thrive on speed. In fact, their size is a nightmare for speedy teams like the 2014 New York Rangers. If the Kings want to compete for championships again, they need to start pursuing bottom-six players like Pat Maroon, Joel Ward, and Cal Clutterbuck. That Slepyshev kid from last night really impressed me. They need to replace their finesse wingers like Gaborik with freight trains like Lucic. Go get defensemen like Jamie Oleksiak (6'7", 255lbs) from Dallas and Nikita Tryamkin (6'7", 265lbs) from Vancouver as your bottom pairing defensemen. The Kings should be scoring a lot more dirty goals from the crease and getting only supplemental scoring from Jeff Carter. The fact that Carter leads the Kings in goals is not a good thing.

The Kings just aren't as hard to play against as they used to be. They either need to completely buy into the fast, skill game and get rid of Sutter for an offensive-minded coach, trade away slower forwards like Kopitar and Toffoli for speedy forwards, and lean on Carter, Pearson, & Kempe as the core of the new offense. Or, they need to embrace their identity as a heavy, grinding, possession-first team and go all-in on that identity.
- tkecanuck341

I disagree with this, as well as the insinuation that the "new" NHL doesn't allow for hard and heavy teams.

The problem is that the Kings no longer have the correct personnel to play the hard and heavy game like they did in 2012 & 2014. They've done a half-ass buy-in of the "lets get faster" craze that's going on, and in turn have sacrificed their identity as a grinding, punishing, possession team. Dustin Brown doesn't hit people anymore, hard hitting defensemen like Matt Greene and Robyn Regehr have been replaced by non-physical but positionally sound defensemen like Paul LaDue and Derek Forbort. Heavier grinding players in the bottom six like Dwight King (230), Jordan Nolan (220), and even Jarret Stoll (215) are being replaced by players like Shore (200), Dowd (195), Setoguchi (205), and Purcell (195).

The core of the Kings doesn't thrive on speed. In fact, their size is a nightmare for speedy teams like the 2014 New York Rangers. If the Kings want to compete for championships again, they need to start pursuing bottom-six players like Pat Maroon, Joel Ward, and Cal Clutterbuck. That Slepyshev kid from last night really impressed me. They need to replace their finesse wingers like Gaborik with freight trains like Lucic. Go get defensemen like Jamie Oleksiak (6'7", 255lbs) from Dallas and Nikita Tryamkin (6'7", 265lbs) from Vancouver as your bottom pairing defensemen. The Kings should be scoring a lot more dirty goals from the crease and getting only supplemental scoring from Jeff Carter. The fact that Carter leads the Kings in goals is not a good thing.

The Kings just aren't as hard to play against as they used to be. They either need to completely buy into the fast, skill game and get rid of Sutter for an offensive-minded coach, trade away slower forwards like Kopitar and Toffoli for speedy forwards, and lean on Carter, Pearson, & Kempe as the core of the new offense. Or, they need to embrace their identity as a heavy, grinding, possession-first team and go all-in on that identity.
- tkecanuck341

I agree with most of what you say but I think there is a way to keep the identity and roll with the times. Not much we can do about our D- group, we just wont have that hard nosed edge until guys like McDermit crack the line up. Martinez is soft, Muzzin is pretty soft, McNab can hit, but is tied to a tree, and Forbort doesn't play up to his size, he just has zero nasty in him. I like LaDue and what he brings and personally think we need a guy like him to replace Voynov.

Most of the fast and small guys around the league play much bigger than their size would make you think and that is an area where we could improve. Lewis and Nolan have speed, they play with a little grit, but their hands and Offensive IQ suffer a little and that makes them kind of useless with the puck in their hands. I would like to see what the team would look like with the following lines:

Brown Kopi Brodz
Kempe Carter Igninla
Toff Dowd Pearson
Cliff Lewie Nolan

PP 1 Kempe Kopi Brodz
PP 2 Toff Carter Pears

- Stu17

Not only was that authentic frontier gibberish ......

Not only was that authentic frontier gibberish ......
- MikeOxbyg

I agree with most of what you say but I think there is a way to keep the identity and roll with the times. Not much we can do about our D- group, we just wont have that hard nosed edge until guys like McDermit crack the line up. Martinez is soft, Muzzin is pretty soft, McNab can hit, but is tied to a tree, and Forbort doesn't play up to his size, he just has zero nasty in him. I like LaDue and what he brings and personally think we need a guy like him to replace Voynov.

Most of the fast and small guys around the league play much bigger than their size would make you think and that is an area where we could improve. Lewis and Nolan have speed, they play with a little grit, but their hands and Offensive IQ suffer a little and that makes them kind of useless with the puck in their hands. I would like to see what the team would look like with the following lines:

Brown Kopi Brodz
Kempe Carter Igninla
Toff Dowd Pearson
Cliff Lewie Nolan

PP 1 Kempe Kopi Brodz
PP 2 Toff Carter Pears
- MikeOxbyg

If you swing a wiffle-ball bat as hard as you can, it's not going to hurt as much as if you swing a real bat. I don't care how big you play, if you don't have the size, hitting your opponent isn't going to hurt as much.