Sheng Peng: Defending Lombardi? Just because a deal flops, doesn't mean it wasn't a steal at the time.

Most would argue a 4% chance to make the playoffs is "out of the playoff hunt".

Also problem w Bishop trade is he is a UFA. So I know you didn't give up much but its not likely he will be sticking around.

It was a beautiful run that resulted in two Stanley Cups, but, its over, time to re-tool that lineup and cut bait on a few contracts.

Defending Lombardi.....

Mike Richards
Dustin Brown's contract
Marion Gaborik's contract
Gamble on Andrej Sekera
Gamble on Milan Lucic and giving the Sharks that missing piece in Jones
(Possible issue) Kopitar's contract

I'm done defending him. He's in desperation mode.

The bad contracts and players imploding are solid reasons to question management.

Sutter's lack of faith in youth and speed is another.

Sutter's reluctance to bend with the direction the NHL was heading that was evident in 2014 and the continued reliance on that system that is now all but obsolete is another reason to point upwards and not down the bench. (failing PP coach, etc.)

My main gripe is that during the off season and through the pre season there was a lot of talk from Lombardi about reinventing, changing and evolving with a firm verbal recognition that what worked before will likely not work this season. I am in complete step with that notion and thought we might actually see some tweaks made.

What I see is teams in the NHL having a decent amount of fast thinking, fast skating players able to make moves at speed and also play a lot bigger and more aggressively than you would think their stature would permit.

I thought after camp some of our players that fit that style of play would make the team and if they had, even with the Quick injury, I feel the team would be an inch closer in changing toward that direction, maybe even competing down the stretch and not dog paddling.

but what did we get? same old crap, a system that in my opinion is exploitable and a power play that is so inept that I would rather play 5 on 5 or short handed.

I do think Lombardi and the coaching staff have to look in the mirror and still hold players accountable, but still, the main problem is this stuck in the past mentality and reluctance to change with the times that is killing the team.

Roland McKeown, Valentin Zykov and Julien Gauthier

for

about a month of Andrej Sekera and Kris Versteeg

And it's those big contracts that prevent big changes! If kopi, gabi, and toff play to expectations we're probably not talking about this.

well, the mastermind recalled Brodzinski with 10 games left. will take him 2 games to get in because he is just there to scare the bottom six into producing. then he will get in when they don't produce and get buried on the fourth line averaging 6:17 TOI because: Sutter

Sheng Peng: Defending Lombardi?
Just because a deal flops, doesn't mean it wasn't a steal at the time.
- Sheng Peng

Jonny Broadzinki called up!

https://www.nhl.com/kings...ontario-reign/c-287983716

Roland McKeown, Valentin Zykov and Julien Gauthier

for

about a month of Andrej Sekera and Kris Versteeg
- BINGO!

Shut your mouth...

the gamble on sekera i'm not that upset over...he rolled the dice. but it pressures the org to make sure they dont miss on the few prospects they have left. tough ask.

the gamble on lucic i have more issues with; he was being paid 3m by LAK, with bos retaining half, and if he had a halfway decent season, he'd be asking for a raise on his 6mm, which of course he did. to give up those assets knowing there's a pretty good chance you can't retain him thanks to poor asset mgmt (hello 12/23 contracts and 10 buyout a year too late) should give pause.

extensions on 2 and 22 are also longer than you'd like for less than impactful positions.

the result of all this is the dime store fixes attempted last offseason, all waived. here's to praying brodz is finally the top 6 fwd answer LAK needs, and they're able to g6et 12 or 23 or both off the books this offseason. meanwhile you still have virtually identical players in 15/13/71 in the bottom six that needs a boost in skill somehow.

I personally have been preaching for a retooling of the roster since the struggle started and we knew Quick was gonna be out for most of the year. I dont like the idea of buying out Gabby because it would take like 8 years to get him off the books. Maybe longer. Forgot how many years hes got left. I think Brown has been pretty decent this year. But like Gabby, buying him out is scarey because of the length of the contract.

I personally have been preaching for a retooling of the roster since the struggle started and we knew Quick was gonna be out for most of the year. I dont like the idea of buying out Gabby because it would take like 8 years to get him off the books. Maybe longer. Forgot how many years hes got left. I think Brown has been pretty decent this year. But like Gabby, buying him out is scarey because of the length of the contract.
- poisondhearts37

I definitely get why it would be best to get out from under Brown's contract from a business/cap standpoint, but as simply a Kings fan I'd be inclined to just let him play out the contract he has unless he asks for a trade. Like you said, he's improved his play this year compared to the last couple. Still far from what you'd expect for the cap hit, but if I kind of feel like he's earned the right to finish it out and retire a King, if that's what he wants, as the first/only captain to lift the Cup for LA and a huge part of both of those teams.

Shut your mouth...


- PancakesPenner

Hey, don't be this way. That's what happened. That's what's going to make the next few years a lot harder than they needed to be.

Hey, don't be this way. That's what happened. That's what's going to make the next few years a lot harder than they needed to be.
- BINGO!

Meh, some of the trades I have a hard time blaming Lombardi for. It's not his fault, or Sekera's for that matter, that the player they traded for got injured. And with Versteeg part of me says that Sutter just did a poor job slotting him into the lineup, but the other part admits that Lombardi probably shouldn't have made the move knowing that Sutter would do that.

For me, the more concerning moves are the cap hits/term lengths he's been handing out to players. With a core of guys like Kopitar/Doughty/Quick/Carter/Toffoli/Pearson that still have a couple of years around their prime I think a lack of available cap space to retool is more concerning than a lack of prospects to break the lineup during that time.

Brodz called up

I know that for whatever reason the Kings lost faith in Cernak, but he was just voted by the OHL coaches in his conference as the best defensive defensemen. That is really gonna hurt if he turns into a steady NHL player for a one month rental of a back up goaltender. Time will tell.

That noted, we can almost certainly agree that Bishop's ceiling is higher than Budaj's. So while Budaj outplaying Bishop isn't a complete surprise, considering the volatility of goaltending in small sample sizes, all things being equal, who wouldn't choose Bishop over Budaj?
- Sheng Peng

I'll don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll reply to the rest of this article later, but I take issue with this part of your analysis. Because Budaj has 1 more win than Bishop certainly does not mean that he is outplaying Bishop. It means that the team in front of him is actually putting some pucks in the net.

In his 2 starts, Budaj allowed 4 goals against, followed by 2 goals against.

In Bishop's 2 starts, he allowed 4 goals against, followed by 2 goals against (and had a spectacular showing in the shootout).

Budaj doesn't deserve all the credit for that W, just like Bishop doesn't deserve all the credit for those L's.

The fact that LA can't win any games is karma for ditching the goalie that saved the season.

I'll don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll reply to the rest of this article later, but I take issue with this part of your analysis. Because Budaj has 1 more win than Bishop certainly does not mean that he is outplaying Bishop. It means that the team in front of him is actually putting some pucks in the net.

In his 2 starts, Budaj allowed 4 goals against, followed by 2 goals against.

In Bishop's 2 starts, he allowed 4 goals against, followed by 2 goals against (and had a spectacular showing in the shootout).

Budaj doesn't deserve all the credit for that W, just like Bishop doesn't deserve all the credit for those L's.
- tkecanuck341

He did what was needed to win. Just like he did all season for the kings. Those additional 2 points would help getting into the playoffs.

I know that for whatever reason the Kings lost faith in Cernak, but he was just voted by the OHL coaches in his conference as the best defensive defensemen. That is really gonna hurt if he turns into a steady NHL player for a one month rental of a back up goaltender. Time will tell.
- Regulate

I've been hearing a lot of thia bogus crap coming from the Kings camp about this kid not developing as expected and losing faith and such and such.

Many of us guys have been there like waiting for him to turn pro. He might have been the most exiting prospect we had other than Kempe. Now they are down playing it or something. A big strong kid like this who can play defense on the international stage not only in the OhL is not juat a throw away.

I wish him the best in Tampa but it could be another one of these horrid trades Lombardi has made the past few seasons likely due to Sutter.

The fact that LA can't win any games is karma for ditching the goalie that saved the season.
- Razzdazzle1

Karma for Sutter. Will hopefully be his last season.

Sheng, it seems like you've overreacting to a couple of joke tweets because you interpret them as criticizing Lombardi for the Bishop trade when they're really criticizing the lack of trades to address the scoring issues, which you agreed was a worthy criticism.

Like many of us, Lombardi was waiting for the percentages to turn around on Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli's uncharacteristic campaigns, among others. For better or for worse, it looks like he might get stuck holding the bag.
- Sheng Peng

If the suggestion is that Lombardi doesn't quite deserve to be stuck holding the bag because many fans were also wrong, that's not much of a defense. He's the GM because he's supposed to know better than the average fan and realize that the team has issues even when the fans naively believe that they have a good team and everything will self-correct itself. Being just as wrong as the average fan doesn't excuse him. If anything, it probably indicts him further because it suggests that he's become too much of a fan, himself, to make the kinds of unbiased assessments and decisions that a successful GM needs to make. If so, then it's time for him to go.

The fact that LA can't win any games is karma for ditching the goalie that saved the season.
- Razzdazzle1

That move was based on the presumption that we would be in the play offs no matter what, and that Budaj could not be counted on if Quick were to re injure himself. It was an insurance move that absolutely was unnecessary now that we can see behind us.

I originally thought it was a great move, but now that we can't score on an open net for 60 minutes and we have slid right out of the picture, it is now the stupidest move I could think of making.

The only way to make up for it is to trade his rights for at least a pick or something decent during the off season.

Iginla will likely retire and I feel bad this team has drug his legacy through an extra bit of mud.