Adam Kirshenblatt: Playing a full sixty minutes still an issue as Kings lose to Flames

I know that tkecannuck thinks speed does not factor into the new NHL and that it is just a buzzword, but both of those teams have more speed in their top 9 and top 4 and it killed us because it went unchecked for 20 minutes.

should've been 6,7, or 8-3 if it wasn't for JQ... MacD needs to sit in favor of my grandma!! anyone would be better. He's not hitting anything, he's a turnover machine (mishandled a hard-around and gifted them a point blanker), and he's too slow to take anyone 1-1. Platoon his ass with Gravel!

should've been 6,7, or 8-3 if it wasn't for JQ... MacD needs to sit in favor of my grandma!! anyone would be better. He's not hitting anything, he's a turnover machine (mishandled a hard-around and gifted them a point blanker), and he's too slow to take anyone 1-1. Platoon his ass with Gravel!
- Stu17

as much as I am rooting for the guy, and love having a fighter who is not a punching bag, I have to agree with you, he just gets roasted night in and night out

should've been 6,7, or 8-3 if it wasn't for JQ... MacD needs to sit in favor of my grandma!! anyone would be better. He's not hitting anything, he's a turnover machine (mishandled a hard-around and gifted them a point blanker), and he's too slow to take anyone 1-1. Platoon his ass with Gravel!
- Stu17

Please don’t insult your grandma! It was pathetic!!

My problem with this game was the Kings not being able to get the line match ups. Watching the Flames top lines get out there against tired Kings bottom lines and dominating was ridiculous. Jokinen, Mitchell and Andreoff were all a -2, and Lewis, Shore and Clifford were -1, Fatenberg, Forbert, Mac, were -1 with Martinez a -2.

I know that tkecannuck thinks speed does not factor into the new NHL and that it is just a buzzword, but both of those teams have more speed in their top 9 and top 4 and it killed us because it went unchecked for 20 minutes.
- MikeOxbyg

That's not what I said. I said that I don't buy into the BS that the new NHL is all about speed and that slower, hard hitting teams can't succeed in today's game. Don't misconstrue my position.

The Kings don't have the personnel to play the hard and heavy game that they did 5+ years ago, and have moved away from players like Dwight King, Jordan Nolan, Matt Greene, Robyn Regehr, etc, in favor of speedy players like Torrey Mitchell, Adrian Kempe, Oscar Fantenberg, and Johnny Brodzinski. If they're going to move in that direction, then they need to be able to outskate their competition, and that clearly didn't happen last night.

6 or 7 years from now, a team is going to go all in on hard and heavy again, and they're going to outmuscle the speedy teams and win the Cup. Just wait and see.

The decision to expose McNabb in favor of Forbort is still baffling to me. Given the resurgence of players after Sutter was fired, it's reasonable to foresee a fresh start would've helped McNabb massively. Doughty had his Norris year paired with McNabb, and Forbort brings zero physical presence or offensive skill to the lineup.

The decision to expose McNabb in favor of Forbort is still baffling to me. Given the resurgence of players after Sutter was fired, it's reasonable to foresee a fresh start would've helped McNabb massively. Doughty had his Norris year paired with McNabb, and Forbort brings zero physical presence or offensive skill to the lineup.
- hiway39

I agree entirely. It was a decision made to save face and not give up on a former 1st-round pick (even though it had long been obvious that he'd never live up to it). They let a better, more seasoned player go so that they could keep a homegrown one who's only a year younger and might, at best, eventually end up being as good.

This organization can be so obtuse. They were looking for a partner for Doughty, and eventually traded two 2nd-round picks to get it, and it was a great success, culminating in Doughty's first Norris (not to mention Kopitar's Selke and almost winning the division), and what do they do next? They break the pair up and try another partner (Forbort). The Doughty-McNabb pairing never really struggled; they just wanted to break it up to try something new, which was having Doughty bring along a homegrown player (whose skill and smarts are nowhere near his, very much unlike when Blake brought along Doughty), and now they're stuck with that homegrown player, who's not good enough to play away from Doughty (creating a conundrum), while the player that he was protected over is doing just fine and burning them on a rival team.

I agree entirely. It was a decision made to save face and not give up on a former 1st-round pick (even though it had long been obvious that he'd never live up to it). They let a better, more seasoned player go so that they could keep a homegrown one who's only a year younger and might, at best, eventually end up being as good.

This organization can be so obtuse. They were looking for a partner for Doughty, and eventually traded two 2nd-round picks to get it, and it was a great success, culminating in Doughty's first Norris (not to mention Kopitar's Selke and almost winning the division), and what do they do next? They break the pair up and try another partner (Forbort). The Doughty-McNabb pairing never really struggled; they just wanted to break it up to try something new, which was having Doughty bring along a homegrown player (whose skill and smarts are nowhere near his, very much unlike when Blake brought along Doughty), and now they're stuck with that homegrown player, who's not good enough to play away from Doughty (creating a conundrum), while the player that he was protected over is doing just fine and burning them on a rival team.
- Osprey

So when are you going to start writing about the team? Step up son.

It was a decision made to save face and not give up on a former 1st-round pick (even though it had long been obvious that he'd never live up to it).
- Osprey

finally coming around...