Adam Kirshenblatt: Kings unbalanced again as they fall to Sharks

]Adam Kirshenblatt: Kings unbalanced again as they fall to Sharks


There ya go! Will it help?

https://www.nhl.com/kings...signed-to-ahl/c-294990948

Would the Kings be looking at Evander Kane? What kind of package do you see them willing to put together?

Would the Kings be looking at Evander Kane? What kind of package do you see them willing to put together?
- adambuffalo

Rumors have been off and on about the Kings interest in Kane, but I just don't see the Kings being able to give the Sabres what they want seeing how the Kings need to keep their prospects and draft picks. If DL was still GM I would say there would be a better chance of the Kings getting Kane.

There ya go! Will it help?

https://www.nhl.com/kings...signed-to-ahl/c-294990948
- arh777

This is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It makes no difference if they don't plug the holes on the ship.

This has seemingly been the overriding fallacy with this new administration: counting on kids to solve the weaknesses on the team. That's a bad way to run a team. You should build the best team that you can, even if it squeezes kids out, so that the kids who actually belong force you to make room for them. You shouldn't just gift them a spot, especially a prime slot like Iafallo got on the LW of the top line, and cross your fingers that they'll be good enough. Just look at what happens when the kid ends up not cutting it and you're in the middle of the season, everyone is now hesitant to make trades with you and you've got a glaring hole because the hopes and wishes that you balanced your season on before it started have fallen through.

It's perfectly OK to hope for the best... if you also prepare for the worst. Blake's strategy this past Summer and so far this season has seemingly been "hope for the best. stop"

I didn't think Amadio looked that good in the last call up, Brodzinski plays with zero confidence. Jokinen won't get claimed, unfortunately MacD could not get his proverbial poop together and this send down is not at all shocking.

Hopefully we can make something happen with the Defensive group :

Doughty, Ladue, Muzzkill, Folin, Forbort, Gravel, Martinez.

Hoping that we are shopping Forbort, Martinez and possible some expendable forwards to get Kopi a left wing sniper and get a more serviceable defenseman for the top 4

Not a fan of waiving Fantenberg. Atleast we finally get to see LaDue. Amadio has been real good in Ontario. Hes earned the right for a call up. Brodzinski has no place on the Kings roster since they cant slot him into a role he should be playing.

I just took a look at the scores for the last month and a half and noticed that the Kings haven't beaten a playoff team since December 1st. Their only wins have been against bottom feeders (EDM, CAR, PHI, VAN, etc.). It feels like they've been worse these last three games simply because all three teams were good and exposed the fact that this team has been mediocre for the last month and a half.

I just took a look at the scores for the last month and a half and noticed that the Kings haven't beaten a playoff team since December 1st. Their only wins have been against bottom feeders (EDM, CAR, PHI, VAN, etc.). It feels like they've been worse these last three games simply because all three teams were good and exposed the fact that this team has been mediocre for the last month and a half.
- Osprey

As I stated in the last blog, the goalies have been making the Kings defense look better then it really is. They were also scoring back then. This team isn’t as good as their record indicates and its beginning to show.

This is like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It makes no difference if they don't plug the holes on the ship.

This has seemingly been the overriding fallacy with this new administration: counting on kids to solve the weaknesses on the team. That's a bad way to run a team. You should build the best team that you can, even if it squeezes kids out, so that the kids who actually belong force you to make room for them. You shouldn't just gift them a spot, especially a prime slot like Iafallo got on the LW of the top line, and cross your fingers that they'll be good enough. Just look at what happens when the kid ends up not cutting it and you're in the middle of the season, everyone is now hesitant to make trades with you and you've got a glaring hole because the hopes and wishes that you balanced your season on before it started have fallen through.

It's perfectly OK to hope for the best... if you also prepare for the worst. Blake's strategy this past Summer and so far this season has seemingly been "hope for the best. stop"
- Osprey

Well under Sutter didn't everyone complain that the old guys were taking too much valuable time from the young kids? I honestly think a small stint in the AHL could do some good for Iafollo. He has the skills but some reason he just can't finish. Let him go down and find his rhythm and see if he can get ready for the playoffs.

Well under Sutter didn't everyone complain that the old guys were taking too much valuable time from the young kids? I honestly think a small stint in the AHL could do some good for Iafollo. He has the skills but some reason he just can't finish. Let him go down and find his rhythm and see if he can get ready for the playoffs.
- kingsfan626

Hes got NHL ability. But I have been saying to a buddy of mine that I would like to see Iafallo in Ontario. Id like to see if hes got the offensive punch at that level.

Not a fan of waiving Fantenberg. Atleast we finally get to see LaDue. Amadio has been real good in Ontario. Hes earned the right for a call up. Brodzinski has no place on the Kings roster since they cant slot him into a role he should be playing.
- poisondhearts37

Fantenberg is waiver exempt. He was assigned to Ontario, but not waived.

Jokinen is the one who was waived. I guess that Blake and/or Stevens like Mitchell more and don't feel that there's room for both.

The Kings should have traded for a 2C two months ago after the first slump. Shore and Kempe on the 2nd line hasn't worked out, and we can't just hold our breath and hope Carter can tear it up out of the gate after being out for 4+ months. Bringing in someone like Paul Stastny (who has become expendable due to his expiring contract and the emergence of Brayden Schenn as #1 in St. Louis), would have been attainable without selling the farm. When Carter comes back, he can move to the wing, and the Kings could have a top six of Brown-Kopitar-Carter, Pearson-Stastny-Toffoli. Iafallo gets relegated to the 3rd line with Kempe and Gaborik, and we can reunite Clifford-Shore-Lewis as the 4th line, rather than the 3rd line duties that they have been given.

Defensively, the defense has been ok. The Kings are still #1 overall in the NHL in GA/G. Some of that has to do with Quick bailing them out, but some of that is also strong systemic hockey. The Kings are solid on defense for 58 minutes per game, but a handful of mistakes here and there, in conjunction with the usual inability to score goals, has ended up costing them games. They need to clean that part up.

Offensively, the defense can use some work. They have been clumsy moving the puck out of their own zone all season, and if they're going to continue to sit Fantenberg in favor of defensive-minded guys like Gravel, MacDermid, Folin, & Forbort, then it's not going to get better anytime soon. I'm cautiously optimistic about seeing what LaDue can bring to the lineup, but I'm not expecting a miracle. The Kings could use another second pairing, puck-moving defenseman in the lineup. I'd be interested to see what is made available over the next 4-6 weeks before the trade deadline.

The Kings have always been a streaky team. This season, they started out really strong, fizzled out a bit in November, had a strong December, and are now playing poorly again. I expect that they will continue to play poorly until the All Star break, then come out on top of their game again. They just need to be able to bring in the correct supporting cast to ensure that they're able to steal some points during their cold streaks.

The Kings should have traded for a 2C two months ago after the first slump. Shore and Kempe on the 2nd line hasn't worked out, and we can't just hold our breath and hope Carter can tear it up out of the gate after being out for 4+ months. Bringing in someone like Paul Stastny (who has become expendable due to his expiring contract and the emergence of Brayden Schenn as #1 in St. Louis), would have been attainable without selling the farm. When Carter comes back, he can move to the wing, and the Kings could have a top six of Brown-Kopitar-Carter, Pearson-Stastny-Toffoli. Iafallo gets relegated to the 3rd line with Kempe and Gaborik, and we can reunite Clifford-Shore-Lewis as the 4th line, rather than the 3rd line duties that they have been given.

Defensively, the defense has been ok. The Kings are still #1 overall in the NHL in GA/G. Some of that has to do with Quick bailing them out, but some of that is also strong systemic hockey. The Kings are solid on defense for 58 minutes per game, but a handful of mistakes here and there, in conjunction with the usual inability to score goals, has ended up costing them games. They need to clean that part up.

Offensively, the defense can use some work. They have been clumsy moving the puck out of their own zone all season, and if they're going to continue to sit Fantenberg in favor of defensive-minded guys like Gravel, MacDermid, Folin, & Forbort, then it's not going to get better anytime soon. I'm cautiously optimistic about seeing what LaDue can bring to the lineup, but I'm not expecting a miracle. The Kings could use another second pairing, puck-moving defenseman in the lineup. I'd be interested to see what is made available over the next 4-6 weeks before the trade deadline.

The Kings have always been a streaky team. This season, they started out really strong, fizzled out a bit in November, had a strong December, and are now playing poorly again. I expect that they will continue to play poorly until the All Star break, then come out on top of their game again. They just need to be able to bring in the correct supporting cast to ensure that they're able to steal some points during their cold streaks.
- tkecanuck341

Wonder what the price would be to aquire Mike Green

The Kings should have traded for a 2C two months ago after the first slump. Shore and Kempe on the 2nd line hasn't worked out, and we can't just hold our breath and hope Carter can tear it up out of the gate after being out for 4+ months. Bringing in someone like Paul Stastny (who has become expendable due to his expiring contract and the emergence of Brayden Schenn as #1 in St. Louis), would have been attainable without selling the farm. When Carter comes back, he can move to the wing, and the Kings could have a top six of Brown-Kopitar-Carter, Pearson-Stastny-Toffoli. Iafallo gets relegated to the 3rd line with Kempe and Gaborik, and we can reunite Clifford-Shore-Lewis as the 4th line, rather than the 3rd line duties that they have been given.

Defensively, the defense has been ok. The Kings are still #1 overall in the NHL in GA/G. Some of that has to do with Quick bailing them out, but some of that is also strong systemic hockey. The Kings are solid on defense for 58 minutes per game, but a handful of mistakes here and there, in conjunction with the usual inability to score goals, has ended up costing them games. They need to clean that part up.

Offensively, the defense can use some work. They have been clumsy moving the puck out of their own zone all season, and if they're going to continue to sit Fantenberg in favor of defensive-minded guys like Gravel, MacDermid, Folin, & Forbort, then it's not going to get better anytime soon. I'm cautiously optimistic about seeing what LaDue can bring to the lineup, but I'm not expecting a miracle. The Kings could use another second pairing, puck-moving defenseman in the lineup. I'd be interested to see what is made available over the next 4-6 weeks before the trade deadline.

The Kings have always been a streaky team. This season, they started out really strong, fizzled out a bit in November, had a strong December, and are now playing poorly again. I expect that they will continue to play poorly until the All Star break, then come out on top of their game again. They just need to be able to bring in the correct supporting cast to ensure that they're able to steal some points during their cold streaks.
- tkecanuck341

I like your "2 months ago" solution, that would have worked up front.

I don't see how you can say they play well defensively for 58 minutes, just because a goal isn't scored on a bad play doesn't mean or count as good defense.

The problems on defense were MacD's large sample size in which he failed miserably to get better, Muzzin being on and off, Martinez being a nothing burger, Forbort's terrible clears and questionable first passes along with his ineptitude with the puck in the offensive zone.

the second half of the season could be a total disaster

I like your "2 months ago" solution, that would have worked up front.

I don't see how you can say they play well defensively for 58 minutes, just because a goal isn't scored on a bad play doesn't mean or count as good defense.

The problems on defense were MacD's large sample size in which he failed miserably to get better, Muzzin being on and off, Martinez being a nothing burger, Forbort's terrible clears and questionable first passes along with his ineptitude with the puck in the offensive zone.

the second half of the season could be a total disaster
- MikeOxbyg

The Kings defense-first system is still technically sound, they do allow a lot more shots against than they used to, but most of those shots are of the low to meduim danger variety. Their HDSA% has gone down significantly from last season to this season. After 44 games last season, the Kings had allowed 110 GA (good for 6th in the NHL), while this season they have only allowed 107 (1st in the NHL). Overall scoring has increased significantly this season, so having fewer GA is actually quite an achievement. By comparison, the league leaders last season (Washington) had only 94 GA after 44 games. The Kings are still a defensively responsible team, and many of their goals against come from turnovers or other mistakes, not from coverage breakdowns or poor defensive zone play.

MacDermid has certainly had his struggles this season, but he's playing admirably well for a player that wasn't even in the top 10 of the defensive prospect depth chart only 2 seasons ago. I don't think he should get as many starts as he has been getting. I'd much rather see Fantenberg or LaDue in the lineup. However, with the departure of McNabb, Greene, and Regehr, the Kings are sorely lacking a physical presence on the blue-line. Folin shows some physicality on occasion, but not enough to make the defense "tough to play against" as they used to be.

I think Martinez has been fine as long as you don't have unrealistic expectations of him. He's a good 2nd-pairing defenseman. He doesn't do anything exceptionally well, but he does everything decently. We could certainly do worse. If he's quarterbacking our power play or on the on the first PK unit, then we have problems, because we're using him outside of his intended role.

I agree Muzzin has been up and down this season. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he's terrible. I know how much Osprey loves to analyze his +/- stats, so it would be worth it to point out that he's 2nd in +/- among Kings defenseman at +9, trailing only Drew Doughty (+18), who is having a Norris-worthy season.

Forbort is not a puck-moving defenseman, it's no surprise that he can't move the puck well. The Kings lack of puck-moving defensemen have put him into a role that he shouldn't be in. While he was paired with Doughty, he didn't have to take on that responsibility as often, and it was relatively unnoticeable. However, once taken away from Doughty and paired with another defensively minded defenseman, he's now expected to move the puck, and it's not working out so well. I wouldn't mind seeing him play with Paul LaDue.

Wonder what the price would be to aquire Mike Green
- poisondhearts37

I wouldn't mind him as a rental, as long as it doesn't Clague, Vilardi, or a 1st round pick. If he could be had for something like Brodzinski and a 2nd, I'd do it, but I don't think Detroit would go for that. I wouldn't want to re-sign him if he wanted any more than $3.5M or so, so he'd likely only be a rental.

I wouldn't mind him as a rental, as long as it doesn't Clague, Vilardi, or a 1st round pick. If he could be had for something like Brodzinski and a 2nd, I'd do it, but I don't think Detroit would go for that. I wouldn't want to re-sign him if he wanted any more than $3.5M or so, so he'd likely only be a rental.
- tkecanuck341

Detroit got him for free though. So something like that might be possible. Demers and Hjalmarsson are also a couple of other targets that cost the Yotes almost nothing to get.

Detroit got him for free though. So something like that might be possible. Demers and Hjalmarsson are also a couple of other targets that cost the Yotes almost nothing to get.
- poisondhearts37

His all-star selection certainly doesn't help things. I think a job-fearing East coast GM needing to make a splash would be willing to give up a 1st round pick for him.

His all-star selection certainly doesn't help things. I think a job-fearing East coast GM needing to make a splash would be willing to give up a 1st round pick for him.
- tkecanuck341

Def possible. I think if any 1st rounder is traded it best be for a player we can retain for once.

Def possible. I think if any 1st rounder is traded it best be for a player we can retain for once.
- poisondhearts37

I don't think there's any way that Blake trades away the Kings 1st round pick. One of the key criticisms of Lombardi was that he was too willing to mortgage the future to win now, and it never panned out for him. As a result, the Kings didn't get a 1st round pick in 4 of 6 seasons, and the prospect cupboards are painfully bare. Picking up Vilardi was one of Blake's first major victories, and I think he'd rather be relatively quiet at the deadline, even if it means an early postseason exit, instead of losing out on a chance to pick up a quality prospect in the draft.

I don't think there's any way that Blake trades away the Kings 1st round pick. One of the key criticisms of Lombardi was that he was too willing to mortgage the future to win now, and it never panned out for him. As a result, the Kings didn't get a 1st round pick in 4 of 6 seasons, and the prospect cupboards are painfully bare. Picking up Vilardi was one of Blake's first major victories, and I think he'd rather be relatively quiet at the deadline, even if it means an early postseason exit, instead of losing out on a chance to pick up a quality prospect in the draft.
- tkecanuck341

I suppose it depends on how much ownership wants to continue to try and win now.

In case anyone missed it, the Blue Jackets claimed Jokinen.

I agree Muzzin has been up and down this season. When he's good, he's really good, but when he's bad, he's terrible. I know how much Osprey loves to analyze his +/- stats, so it would be worth it to point out that he's 2nd in +/- among Kings defenseman at +9, trailing only Drew Doughty (+18), who is having a Norris-worthy season.
- tkecanuck341

If you're suggesting that Doughty not having a Norris-worthy season would make Muzzin's stats more impressive, you have it backwards. The fact that Doughty is having a Norris-worthy season is why Muzzin and Forbort are both at +9, since they've each played much of the season with Drew.

See the stats for yourself:

http://corsica.hockey/pai...&session=Regular&team=L.A

The only two pairings all season that are above +2 G+/- and 52.5 CF%--you could say the only two good pairings--are Doughty-Muzzin and Doughty-Forbort. There's a common factor there and it's supported by how both Muzzin and Forbort see their stats drop off considerably when paired with anyone else.

Doughty and his Norris-worthy season are floating everyone around him (well, except for MacDermid, who is so bad that even Drew can't raise his stats).

And the Kings are now the final Wild Card spot in the West. I can see them out of a playoff spot by Saturday.